I have been saying to mates for a long time. There are two, no three guarantees in life. Death, Taxes and Richmond being fixtured to play Port Adelaide in Adelaide each year.
(1) Port have been in the competition since 1997. With the fixture having been released for 2024, this marks 28 years of Port Adelaide in the competition. From these 28 years, Richmond has been fixtured to play in Adelaide all bar just 3 of them.
The years that Richmond have not had to travel to Adelaide when playing Port Adelaide are:
1998 (Port Adelaide's second year in the competition)
2011 (Really we shouldn't count this year as Richmond didn't get a home match in VIC vs Port Adelaide either... They played the one game for the season against each other at TIO Stadium in Northern Territory).
2014 (The second time only that Richmond actually got to play Port Adelaide once in a season and have it fixtured in Melbourne since 1998..... As it turned out by circumstance Richmond played Port Adelaide in Adelaide in the final that year).
So in 28 years of the Port Adelaide's fixture, Richmond has had 2 clear years of playing Port Adelaide once in that season and playing them in Melbourne (one of those being at the beginning of Ports existence). So the rule to Fixture Richmond vs Port Adelaide is if they play each other once in a year, that game is played in Adelaide. Only if they play each other twice in a season do Richmond play Port in Melbourne that year.
Given there are 18 teams in the competition and each team plays only 6 teams twice per season, most years it means Richmond play Port Adelaide one time and Port gets that game on their home ground. Is this a fixturing "Anomaly"? Is it an agreement that has been made between the two clubs? 28 years of data now and no one ever seems to speak about it? I am sure the Tigers are sick of having to travel to that Shanty Town!
(2) Speaking of that Shanty Town, counting the 2024 upcoming fixture, Richmond will play Adelaide just once. This will mark 6 years in a row where Richmond has played Adelaide once a season with no games being played in Melbourne in that time. In 2021 they played each other once but that was played in Sydney Showground Stadium. All other years of playing Adelaide once between and including 2019 to 2024 (6 Years) have been played in Adelaide. Is this the start of another fixturing "Anomoly" creeping in?
(3) It didn't take long for the AFL to Fixture Richmond having to play in Geelong again. Richmond had to travel to Geelong multiple times (8 times) in the 2000's including the premiership year in 2017. Now they get fixtured to go there again in 2024! It took Richmond to win a Premiership to be granted as being good enough to not to have to get that fixture. They then handed that honour to Carlton who had been rubbish for decades but never had to travel there. Prior to being given this fixture in 2018, the last time Carlton travelled to Geelong was in 1997.
Other teams record of travelling to Geelong:
Collingwoods last game in Geelong was in 1999
Hawthorn had a long period of not travelling to Geelong. The last two times for them was 2020 and 2006 (although they are now fixtured to play them again in Geelong in 2024).
Essendon's last game in Geelong was 1993. They weren't fixtured to play them again in 2021 but due to the changing fixture that Covid required, they then had to play them again in Geelong that year. They played them there again in 2023.
I have no problem with Richmond playing in Geelong but share it out with all the other so called big teams. Collingwood is due big time and Essendon, Calton need to stay on this fixture cycle.
Throw in the times Richmond has in the past travelled to Tassie to play North and Hawthorn whilst the Collingwoods/Essendons of this world never have to do that. What is so special about them never getting these fixtures?
(4) When the ANZAC day game between Collingwood and Essendon comes up every year, call back radio is always having discussions on should we let other teams have this game. Personally I don't mind letting Collingwood and Essendon play this game every year but the real issue is never discussed. Why is it that every single year, these two teams are always guarenteed to play each other twice? They can still play the ANZAC fixture without playing each other a second time that season.
SUMMARY: Clearly there is a lot of rigging in play here with the fixture each year. In even a somewhat random draw, you wouldn't get one team that has a home game every season against another that only gets a home game when they play twice. There are unwritten rules in place that teams like Collingwood and Essendon play each other tiwce a season, or don't need to travel to Tassie/Geeloong because they are a BIG TEAM.... and they wear BIG BOY PANTS! The tigers with 100K membership 5 years straight now get this Geelong game once again. So this big boy pants rule only applies to rigging the draw in favour of the teams that the AFL wants to help.
I'd like to talk to someone at the AFL about all this to find out what they have to say about it all. I am sure it is just an "anomoly".
(1) Port have been in the competition since 1997. With the fixture having been released for 2024, this marks 28 years of Port Adelaide in the competition. From these 28 years, Richmond has been fixtured to play in Adelaide all bar just 3 of them.
The years that Richmond have not had to travel to Adelaide when playing Port Adelaide are:
1998 (Port Adelaide's second year in the competition)
2011 (Really we shouldn't count this year as Richmond didn't get a home match in VIC vs Port Adelaide either... They played the one game for the season against each other at TIO Stadium in Northern Territory).
2014 (The second time only that Richmond actually got to play Port Adelaide once in a season and have it fixtured in Melbourne since 1998..... As it turned out by circumstance Richmond played Port Adelaide in Adelaide in the final that year).
So in 28 years of the Port Adelaide's fixture, Richmond has had 2 clear years of playing Port Adelaide once in that season and playing them in Melbourne (one of those being at the beginning of Ports existence). So the rule to Fixture Richmond vs Port Adelaide is if they play each other once in a year, that game is played in Adelaide. Only if they play each other twice in a season do Richmond play Port in Melbourne that year.
Given there are 18 teams in the competition and each team plays only 6 teams twice per season, most years it means Richmond play Port Adelaide one time and Port gets that game on their home ground. Is this a fixturing "Anomaly"? Is it an agreement that has been made between the two clubs? 28 years of data now and no one ever seems to speak about it? I am sure the Tigers are sick of having to travel to that Shanty Town!
(2) Speaking of that Shanty Town, counting the 2024 upcoming fixture, Richmond will play Adelaide just once. This will mark 6 years in a row where Richmond has played Adelaide once a season with no games being played in Melbourne in that time. In 2021 they played each other once but that was played in Sydney Showground Stadium. All other years of playing Adelaide once between and including 2019 to 2024 (6 Years) have been played in Adelaide. Is this the start of another fixturing "Anomoly" creeping in?
(3) It didn't take long for the AFL to Fixture Richmond having to play in Geelong again. Richmond had to travel to Geelong multiple times (8 times) in the 2000's including the premiership year in 2017. Now they get fixtured to go there again in 2024! It took Richmond to win a Premiership to be granted as being good enough to not to have to get that fixture. They then handed that honour to Carlton who had been rubbish for decades but never had to travel there. Prior to being given this fixture in 2018, the last time Carlton travelled to Geelong was in 1997.
Other teams record of travelling to Geelong:
Collingwoods last game in Geelong was in 1999
Hawthorn had a long period of not travelling to Geelong. The last two times for them was 2020 and 2006 (although they are now fixtured to play them again in Geelong in 2024).
Essendon's last game in Geelong was 1993. They weren't fixtured to play them again in 2021 but due to the changing fixture that Covid required, they then had to play them again in Geelong that year. They played them there again in 2023.
I have no problem with Richmond playing in Geelong but share it out with all the other so called big teams. Collingwood is due big time and Essendon, Calton need to stay on this fixture cycle.
Throw in the times Richmond has in the past travelled to Tassie to play North and Hawthorn whilst the Collingwoods/Essendons of this world never have to do that. What is so special about them never getting these fixtures?
(4) When the ANZAC day game between Collingwood and Essendon comes up every year, call back radio is always having discussions on should we let other teams have this game. Personally I don't mind letting Collingwood and Essendon play this game every year but the real issue is never discussed. Why is it that every single year, these two teams are always guarenteed to play each other twice? They can still play the ANZAC fixture without playing each other a second time that season.
SUMMARY: Clearly there is a lot of rigging in play here with the fixture each year. In even a somewhat random draw, you wouldn't get one team that has a home game every season against another that only gets a home game when they play twice. There are unwritten rules in place that teams like Collingwood and Essendon play each other tiwce a season, or don't need to travel to Tassie/Geeloong because they are a BIG TEAM.... and they wear BIG BOY PANTS! The tigers with 100K membership 5 years straight now get this Geelong game once again. So this big boy pants rule only applies to rigging the draw in favour of the teams that the AFL wants to help.
I'd like to talk to someone at the AFL about all this to find out what they have to say about it all. I am sure it is just an "anomoly".
