Swann clarifies his fans “don’t care” comment

The discussion comes after AFL chair Craig Drummond recently said the league would look at shortening quarters when Tasmania enters the competition in 2028.

Swann was a guest on Fox Footy’s AFL360 on Wednesday night and was asked by Garry Lyon about the potential plan to shorten the length of the game.

“And how we get there? Again we’ll have a look how you get to there. Whether it’s instead of 20 (minutes) and time on, is it 19 and time on, 18 and time on?

Lyon indicated that fans of the game might not love the fact there are plans to make things shorter, which Swann dismissed.

“What I actually meant was the fans didn’t really care about our debate, Garry, whether it was 32 minutes or 30 minutes.

“The fans are hugely important, obviously. We’re loving that they’re coming to the games and we’re loving that they’re watching on TV, and we listen to them.

“If there was a bit of misconception there, that wasn’t what it was meant to be. They do care, they care a lot about the game and we get a lot of advice about changing rules and not changing rules.

“But that was the context. Its was just that I don’t think the fans, from what I understand, are too fussed whether it’s 32-minute quarters or 30-minute quarters. They just want to see good footy which we’ll certainly get this weekend and we’ve had for most of the year.”

Both were firm in their belief that the game’s supporters do in fact care quite strongly about how long a footy game is.

But Lyon, who does think the game can be shortened, says don’t get too worked up about Swann’s comment.

“He and I have been talking about length of game for years, and I will keep bringing it up because that’s what I believe,” Lyon said.

“Don’t get too upset everyone, the game’s not going to go back to 80 minutes. All I’m suggesting is if we could get it back to something like 120 it would be a good result.

“The length of the season is going to get longer with Tassie coming in. He and I have been talking about it for a long time, and we spoke about it again last night.

“The ‘they don’t care’ part of Swanny’s response has been taken as the supporters just don’t care about it. Of course the supporters care. He’s been at clubland forever and a day, he knows that they care.”

“The average fan looks forward to a football season and they want it to continue on long after the season is over.

Lyon said further: “We know very well they care and they care about the length of the season.”

“It’s averaging out to about 32 minutes at the moment, so tighten it up, keep it moving and get it down to the 30 minutes, it would be great.

“It’s a long season and there are a lot games in amongst all the good ones that drag. That’s what I think.”

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