I HAD an epiphany of a most unpleasant kind during the 2012 AFL grand final.

It happened because someone working for, or on behalf of, the AFL saw fit to impose upon a great sporting occasion by adding sound effects. Of the banal sort that might otherwise be heard in a computer game, they ceased only when the ball was bounced and the game was actually in motion. What was thereby blotted out was the grand final's great intangible - the atmosphere of the day.

It had never previously occurred to me that anyone would presume they had the right to interfere with the grand final in this way. No club had suggested the change. There was no push among football supporters for it. There had been no public discussion about whether this was a good idea and something that people actually wanted.

No, it happened because someone charged with marketing or promoting the AFL saw the grand final as an opportunity to do just that. In a column I wrote at the time, I warned that we were starting down a slippery slope that would lead to each goal being met with blasts of loud music. What is being lost is the right of individuals to enjoy the game in their own way.

AFL football cannot be characterised solely as corporate sport, but what happened on grand final day was an expression of corporate thinking. But the AFL doesn't own the game. They are servants of the game. The question of who owns football is a very important one and something that now needs to be discussed. Who is serving whom?