Good Friday Football

[TroyGFC]

All in for Good Friday footy BUT the players should be given extra money if playing on that day as if in normal employemnet (triple time).

[Mr66]

Bear in mind that it is triple wages for everyone that is employed to work on the day and that there are approximatley 1/5 of the public transport available on the day. Alcohol cannot be sold at the ground on the day either which no doubt cuts profits significantly. When it has been looked at in the past, the costs are prohibitive and there is no real evidence to suggest that the crowds would make any significant increase, bearing in mind that there is already a percentage of the population that wont be able to be there because of religious commitments.

Isn't this the problem with all matches on public holidays?
It makes me laugh when the religious do-gooders whinge about
the AFL whilst they barely raise a peep regarding other sports.
I may be wrong but I think that the NBA,NHL & Baseball all schedule
games for this day but the VERY politically powerful US conservative
right barely raises a whimper.

[Ecky]

I may be wrong but I think that the NBA,NHL & Baseball all schedule
games for this day but the VERY politically powerful US conservative
right barely raises a whimper.

That's because Good Friday isn't even a public holiday in many states in the USA.

[smac]

I may be wrong but I think that the NBA,NHL & Baseball all schedule
games for this day but the VERY politically powerful US conservative
right barely raises a whimper.

That's because Good Friday isn't even a public holiday in many states in the USA.

I thought it was the religious significance, not the public holiday, that was the issue here?

[Rushby Hinds]

They also play NBA Basketball on Christmas Day

[Benchwarmer]

Depends on if you believe all that stuff, I suppose.

If the AFL was scheduling matches for that day, then I wouldn't be advocating increased match fees for the players as they get enough already, plus I'm fairly sure that they don't factor public holidays into their current pay (just base + match).

If it was state-league level, then I'm still not sure about raising the pay - the clubs would use the old ACB "there are many others who would play for nothing" line.

[Blue Boy]

Hope one day it happens - I would go !!!

[Benchwarmer]

SJABC ... Carey18 ... BlueBoy ...

It's like a smorgasboard of optical delights in here!

[HeartBeatsTrue]

They also play NBA Basketball on Christmas Day

Very interesting point. If Christmas Day was during the football season, would everyones views be the same. ie play football on Christmas Day?

[smac]

Probably not - it has an entirely different social significance.

[Ecky]

I may be wrong but I think that the NBA,NHL & Baseball all schedule
games for this day but the VERY politically powerful US conservative
right barely raises a whimper.

That's because Good Friday isn't even a public holiday in many states in the USA.

I thought it was the religious significance, not the public holiday, that was the issue here?

But it is all connected of course...

If people don't have a problem with people working on a significant religious day, they are less likely to object to them playing sport too.

[Ecky]

As for my view on this...

I am a committed Christian who attends church basically every week (I get annoyed if I can't for some reason) and I would have attended church on Good Friday every year of my life.
However, church only takes up an hour or so in the morning, leaving plenty of time in the rest of the day, where I would do things like watch videos of old footy games, and I know I used to drive my mother crazy on days like this when there was no sport on TV!

I doubt there would be many Christians who would be seriously offended by sport being played on this day. I would still happily attend a game in the afternoon, as would many others. As mentioned above, the day isn't even a public holiday in most of America, which is a much more Christian country than Australia!

However, if I were to vote on whether to play on Good Friday (putting aside other practical issues like whether alcohol could be sold), I would still vote against it. This is because I don't believe that Christianity gets as much recognition as I would like in secular life in Australia, and if people are willing to put one day/weekend aside for that in a year, then that is a good thing.

It is a bit like having an AFL-free weekend which gives great free advertising for the SANFL. If AFL was played on this weekend, I would still go along (if there was a game I wanted to see), but I would still prefer to see one weekend set aside for the SANFL.

[locky801]

Fair enough Ecky, I think that everyone would appreciate your point of view in regards to alcohol, not being very religious I cannot see the difference in the sale of alcohol on Good Friday, its is not as though the whole world sits back on this day of celebration and doesn't have a drink of alcohol. In guess we all have our points of view, that is just the way I see it

[Ecky]

It doesn't bother me whether people drink alcohol or not on Good Friday.

Just another point, SANFL crowds have traditionally been fairly low on the Easter weekend, so I don't think this is a significant issue - I doubt you would get a great crowd on that day anyway, with many people going away or have other activities (religious or otherwise) planned for that weekend.

[smac]

Thanks for the insight Ecky, interesting to try and understand anothers lifestyle.

I would imagine the booze issue will be the clincher for both clubs and SANFL - if it can be done then a game would be worthwhile but the lost income for clubs in the event of no booze sales would make the game a loss in terms of revenue.

I can't imagine a liquor license being issued in SA for a one off sporting contest, we don't traditionally cope well with such change.

[Benchwarmer]

I'd hope that Peel Thunder and the WAFL have already gone through these issues before putting this info out into a public forum ... but then, they may be seeing if there is any significant backlash.

One puzzling aspect is that one WA church official wants both teams to wear black armbands for Jesus

[MagareyLegend]

No footy on Good Friday is Christians' selfish view only - society has had enough of their control and is over it - Easter (not Good) Friday must have SANFL & AFL footy.

[godoubleblues]

I dont know if they still do now but when I was living in Canberra in about 1998 the ACT comp had a game on good friday
a reasonable crowd (for ACT standards) from memory

[Sojourner]

For those that study theology, there is actually a fairly simple solution which I am surprised hasnt been mentioned.

I am not a Seventh Day Adventist, nor an Orthodox Jew yet if you look at the way that they celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, the Sabbath begins on Friday Night at Sunset and goes through until Sunset on Saturday Night.

Considering that the majority of Churches now believe that the Sabbath is on Sunday and have no problem with Friday Night Football in General, then doesnt that then solve the problem?

Good Friday would traditionally have begun on Thursday Night and gone through until Friday Night. Therefore on Friday Night, Good Friday is actually completed.

Besides which, The Bible states that Jesus was entombed for Three Days and Three Nights, so what we know as Good Friday should actually be celebrated on Wednesday.......

[Wedgie]

Actually its not a bad point Sojourner as I remember reading an article with quotes from Geelong's Frank Costa who is a devout Christian but said he'd have no issues with a game around 5pm or after.
Apparantley the big fellas son bit the dust about 3pm so anything after that is OK, or so I'm told.
Mind you, that would be 3pm Israel time so that would probably mean we can't start playing till Saturday again!