Editorial: Freo robbery latest stain on AFL record

Long live the VFL.

That’s how so many West Australians felt yet again on Saturday night and Sunday morning after the Fremantle Dockers lost a crucial game against Carlton thanks to a diabolical and now officially wrong decision with a little over a minute to go that gifted the Blues a goal.

To rub salt into the wound, the Dockers then had a free kick straight in front of goal given against them too for “dissent” after a player reacted to the aforementioned now-officially-wrong decision.

Writing yesterday for The West Australian, our state political reporter and Dockers diehard Dylan Caporn said “fans, including this one, were yelling at their screens in disbelief”.

“Respect for umpires is important — but the autocratic, unaccountable approach the league takes on respectful dissent is a position that would make Vladimir Putin proud,” he wrote.

Dylan is not wrong.

The impact on the Dockers’ season will, whether the AFL wants to admit it or not, be monumental.

Four points can mean everything.

And the Dockers were robbed of four points pure and simple.

It comes at a tumultuous time for an AFL that is still reeling from significant controversy over its soft drugs policy.

From the moment independent MP Andrew Wilkie dropped the bombshell in Parliament that the AFL was conducting an off-the-books testing regime to help players dodge the consequences of illicit drug taking, the league’s response has been one of arrogance and obfuscation.

Its approach of “don’t ask, don’t tell and (in the case of the Dockers) don’t complain” is wearing thin.

The AFL is sleepwalking into its Woolworths moment and it doesn’t even know it.

The game’s new chief executive, Andrew Dillon said he was “unapologetic” about the league’s illicit drugs loophole, which he said was devised with player welfare in mind.

Dillon is regarded as an all-round nice, smart and pragmatic leader.

If that’s true, he should ask mums and dads of young aspiring footballers how they feel about players testing positive to cocaine and their clubs not disciplining them.

He should explain to the general footy fan too why the police aren’t notified, as would happen in any other workplace in Australia.

What makes AFL player so special? Why do their sins get covered up?

The fact is that the AFL drugs policy doesn’t pass the pub test.

It enables drug addiction rather than addressing it properly.

It’s a well-known fact among administrators that Aussie Rules is currently in a serious battle for the hearts of minds of the next generation of athletes.

More and more kids are choosing to play basketball and soccer instead of the oval-shaped ball.

Some of this is down to the way the AFL has also mishandled concerns about the debilitating impact of concussions.

A lot of it is down to the way the AFL is currently mishandling the way it communicates to the public.

On the bright side, it’s only round four and they have plenty of time to get the narrative right before the end of the year.

I just hope they’re listening.