Aerie wrote:I do believe that more people follow the AFL because of their alignment to clubs as opposed to "the AFL".
I believe you're right. I actually hate the AFL, and everything it stands for. The only reason I am interested at all is because a club I have followed since 1968 (and won 8 flags in that time) unforunately found themselves involved in it
Although not opposed to a national competition in theory, Hawthorn was one of two clubs who voted against the expansion of the VFL. The other club was Collingwood who, ironically, has probably gained more from it's involvement in the AFL than any of the other 11 clubs.
If Hawthorn left the AFL for whatever reason, it would give me the perfect excuse to ignore AFL football altogether. I can envisage the day when the AFL award the Eddie McGuire Trophy to the club with the highest profit margin for each season, and over time this would be more prestigious than the premiership cup!!
I recall one season when the membership renewals came out, they were actually cheaper than the year before. The Hawthorn Board announced they were cheaper because they had a good year financially and decided to pass it on to the MEMBERS!!! You would never see that happening in today's AFL.