Fake magic round (a.k.a. gather round) is used to refer to the AFL's poor imitation of the NRL's magic round.
The real magic round, originally a Super League invention, was designed to allow fans to watch every minute of every game of a round of footy at the same venue, with double and triple headers over multiple days. The AFL fake magic round defeats the purpose of that as games are at different venues all over the place and overlap, making it impossible to be at every minute of every game.
The real magic round, originally a Super League invention, was designed to allow fans to watch every minute of every game of a round of footy at the same venue, with double and triple headers over multiple days. The AFL fake magic round defeats the purpose of that as games are at different venues all over the place and overlap, making it impossible to be at every minute of every game.
AFL's fake magic round needs to give out free tickets to members because not every game has sold out, and nearly half their games will be played in front of less than 10000 people because it's a poor imitation of the NRL's magic round. If the AFL just did a real magic round with every game at Adelaide Oval, every game would be sold out by now without needing to give anyone any free tickets. NRL sold out every magic round game three years running without any free tickets.
by Rian Gigs II April 09, 2025