Recently I heard a discussion about participation numbers in various sports where a caller claimed that basketball had large numbers, and I paraphrase, "because it's just so easy to play". The caller went on to deride the sport based on this premise.
I remember another caller I heard on a post-game AFL talk back session describing how brilliant a player had been. The reputedly very intelligent ex-AFL coach who responded, said something like "yes, and his performance is even more amazing because this is the hardest game in the world to play".
Both opinions were way off the mark.
I can forgive the first; the caller just didn't like basketball. No problems with that, I guess he was just looking to justify why he didn't like it.
The second I cannot forgive. It was perhaps the dumbest thing I have ever heard an elite sports coach say about their own sport, no matter how jingoistic they might be.
My immediate reaction was, "what about ice hockey?". How hard is ice hockey to play? Now, I have no idea; never played it, and I can't skate or ski for that matter.
I have just no concept of what it would be like to hit a puck moving at blinding speed with a stick I hold in a hand using big bulky gloves while skating (not running) at rapid speed on a surface I know I can't even walk on, while other blokes are trying to belt me.
I could go on and on: Water Polo anyone? Lacrosse? Why did this ex-AFL coach say this? Does he really believe that AFL is the "hardest game" in the world to play or was he just pumping up the tyres to ingratiate himself with the football adoring public in Victoria?
In this country AFL is probably the easiest sport to become a professional in. There are hundreds and hundreds of jobs, close to 700 in fact at the "elite" level, and thousands more "paid" jobs below that. With those sort of numbers, you can be very mediocre and get well paid, if you think about it solely as a numbers game.
What about Netball's ANZ Championship players? There are more of them participating and probably less than 70 Aussie jobs in the professional league so making the grade is mathematically much harder. Likewise the A-League or the NBL or even the NRL provide much fewer opportunities than AFL. It's considerably harder to make the Hockeyroos side for the Olympics than it is to be named in the AFL All-Australian team.
Not that this has anything to do with how hard the game is to play. AFL is an exhausting game. League and Union are tough games, table tennis is lightning quick, synchronised swimming is precise and ... err ... synchronised (yes, I hear you all - synchronised swimming is NOT a sport). All of those characteristics contribute to how hard a sport is to play but none of them make me feel one is harder than the other.
I am guessing every sport is difficult to play in some way. It's a certainty that the higher up you go the harder it is. Everyone learns to run fast at some point, but it is bloody hard for anyone to beat Mr Bolt.
Maybe the radio commentator is right, maybe if I had grown up with ice skates strapped to my feet it would be far easier than running around? What's your choice...which sport IS the hardest to master?
It's a subjective topic, but in my opinion it's easier to pinpoint a Sherrin than it is a soccer ball because the Sherrin has a point that you can use to guide the ball and as it spins straight (with a drop punt) it goes straight, so you can kick straight through the thing and only have to take the wind to account for accuracy. This is much harder with a spherical-shaped ball. Proof enough of this is watching AFL players try to kick a Gaelic football. You just cant teach it to the same level that you can with the Sherrin.
On that note, not many people rate the kicking skills of Rugby League players, but watching an elite player put a kick along the ground across the field that pops up just at the right time so their teammate can break the line and catch the ball without breaking stride at decent speed is pretty impressive too.
Basketball players in general dont find it too hard to switch to AFL, in fact they usually have a distinct advantage over someone that has never played bball because their peripheral vision, general awareness and hand skills are usually more developed.
The endurance and physical resilience required by an AFL player however, is without question, and in my opinion is the point of differentiation for AFL in terms of difficulty over other sports.
Having coached lots of little kids sport, basketball and soccer are easy for them to play and hence very enjjoyable, but the fact that lots of kids enjoy those sports is hardly a basis for criticism!