Language Study

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Whereas shows like the Footy Show will encourage a much broader audience due to the more casual language approach in the show and the element of comedy sometimes teasing one another by calling each other names like “yamug”. Sometimes it’s been under fire due to the occasional course language and controversy surrounding the panellist on the show. Despite that the Footy show enables an audience that may not necessarily know much about the game of Australian rules to still watch the show and enjoy the content of it due to the humour. Its aim to entertain people is why its consistently one of the highest rated Football shows as it entertaining for all fans. (Wikipedia, 2016)

The audience of a live Aussie rules game involves a much wider audience and includes young children, teenagers and adults. Adults that are passionate about AFL will encourage their children to come along to the games. It does not matter if some fans aren’t into the technical side of the sport, they can all attend a live game and enjoy watching their side play. The language used at a live game can be understood by all fans and for those new fans, they will very quickly understand when the crowd yells “high!” or “ball!” which is in reference to a high tackle or holding the ball. Fans have created slang for most rules in the AFL like “MAN!”. Using the kind of slang that the sport has created will very quickly teach new fans to use the same language so that all the fans can easily interact together. (GLoBALL's, 2016)

A live Aussie rules “Footy” audience is strongly influenced by many factors in a particular game. Their language and attitude towards a game can change greatly depending on many factors. If their team is not playing well it can anger some fan which can cause them to speak in a fiery way. Even a few fans speaking in an aggressive manner can influence all the fans around them to become aggressive as well. The same can be said for fans who act in a positive or excited mood, the fans will speak in the same way as the fans around them using encouraging and positive language or aggressive and profane language depending on how the match is panning out.

Fans that are there to “barrack” for their team becoming angry at the proceedings of the game can influence everyone around them to become angry and frustrated too which leads to hostile atmospheres. Having hostile crowds are dangerous as at times the crowds can take the attention away from the game as they may start abusing players and in sad and extreme cases fans have used racist language ruining the game and leaves a bad reputation on the match and the sport. Because of the tone and emphasis on the language used, it can put people in a bad mood and make them think twice about attending a live match again. On the other hand, it can make fans more excited for the next “fixture”. (Albergo, 2016)

Umpires seem to be a particular target for negative comments and abuse during both live Aussie rules games and also from audience members watching from home. Even though an umpire is there to make sure the game is played fairly and the game is kept moving, they are generally blamed for negative things that happen in a game and usually get “booed” off at the breaks like “Quarter time” or “half time”. They are held responsible by fans for making wrong decisions, influencing the game and sometimes blamed for a side winning or losing or a particular player being picked on by an umpire and having unfair decisions made against them. This explains why there’s such negative language used against umpires during games. This language includes heavy swearing and any kind of abuse towards the umpires. Unfortunately, the fans sometimes blame the umpires for why their team loses.

Panel TV shows are in a position where they can give their personal opinion about games or players or teams. In the cases of panellists being previous players, they could show favouritism or bias in their comments about games or players or skills of players. The panellists however never seem to make comments on the umpires as they have to try and see the game from a neutral point of view and focus on analysing the players and he action that transpired throughout a match which rules out the factor of an umpire deciding the result of a match. At times panellists on the TV shows say controversial things about players such as when a player gets “reported” which either can anger or inspire supports, usually it’s both which can divide the fans but it’s good for TV ratings.

The same could be said for commentators who are there to describe the action to the viewers. They never make comments about umpires unless a decision that is made was baffling. The commentators also speak a similar language to the fans using phrases like “good leg” to describe a big “kicks” or “screamer” to describe a high quality ‘’goal”. They don’t comment on umpires or favour any teams though as they aren’t allowed to show bias towards any team. At times commentators could affect fans watching from home on TV if they were to use criticism against a player or a team. (Wikipedia, 2016)

Conclusion

AFL fans identify with other AFL fans as they have a joint interest. Fans are aware of the language of AFL and the meanings and terminology and therefore feel some bond with fellow AFL fans as they have a shared knowledge and interest in that subject. They are able to socialise with each other due to their common interest in Australian rules. They can attend social gatherings, speak on the telephone and have casual conversations with each other due to having AFL as common ground to talk about. This is more so too if they share a common love of the same team. Their common interest is then even more deep.

Panellists and hosts of AFL shows present themselves as somewhat experts of the game and see their role to inform or educate or just to give their opinion about the game in order to influence or educate the audience. The more technical based AFL shows analyse the game and the players and the hosts see themselves as educators to the audience whereas in the more entertainment based AFL shows, although there is an AFL outline to the show, their aim is to entertain and therefore perhaps encourage more people to enjoy AFL and become fans because they are being entertained by the lighter side of AFL players or panellists.

Fans of Australian rules football see these shows as a way of extending their enjoyment of the game by being able to watch not only the game side of AFL but also the technical analysis and entertainment side to their favourite players or teams.

The Footy Show Panel[pic 1]

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