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The Crowd Says (12) | Page 1 of Comments

• Midfielder said | January 27th 2008 @ 3:38pm | Report comment

  As a Mariner supporter I thank you for your kind words.

  However after watching sport for to many years, a often important line is the work off the ball is as important as the ball work.

  The Mariners have taken this to a new level and in building a club from nothing its their work off the park that has been as important as their play.

  Go the Mariners ” THE PEOPLE’S TEAM”

  Reply

• onside said | January 27th 2008 @ 8:46pm | Report comment

  Eamonn,
  In another of your articles, the limited exposure of the A League due to no free to air was discussed.
  I live a couple of hours out of Brisbane. I picked my son up from football training this week along with a
  couple of his mates.Most kids (generalisation) in our area do not have an interest in the A League even
  if they play football.The reason is socio economic, most kids dont have pay TV..So here we are in the .
  football heartland,the local junior football club,and most kids have zero interest in the A League. They
  just dont relate to it. I just wanted to mention my experience even though it is off the subject.

  Hey Midfeilder,how about that dodgy offside call on Aloisi. Dreadfull.And the poor bugger did a Beckham.
  Sport’s like that .

  Both CCM and N C have done well haven’t they. It’s no easy task knocking off the likes of teams from capital
  cities with huge resources.

  I look forward to the Asian Cup becoming front and centre in Australian sporting history.It will happen for sure.

  I reckon the CCM will get total support from Australian football supporters in Asia. It happens in the
  Premier League when its down to one or two English teams against teams fro other countries in
  UEFA or The Champions Cup .

  I hope Queensland Roar get a birth.

  .

  Reply

• Midfielder said | January 27th 2008 @ 9:27pm | Report comment

  Onside, it was a bad dodgy call and we missed a penalty along with Matt Simon having and open goal and hitting it straight to the keeper.

  Karma will work I hope and at some stage in the finals the ball my bounce our way.

  You make two interesting points, 1 the A-League only on fox and therefore no FTA exposure and small towns being able to compete with capital cities.

  There is little that can be done about the Fox deal, however I believe the smaller clubs are touching base with the football associations and local park clubs in a way the big city teams have still not tried. By working with your local associations I believe helps develop all aspects of a club. Its a pity the flying circus still do not know how to work with their associations and it shows in their crowds and management.

  One positive about the A-league not on free to air is a don’t think its standard is up to free to air as yet. Rugby when they put the ARC made a similar mistake it was not S14 standard and being FTA hurt the ARC I think rather than helped.

  I also hope the Roar get by the flying circus, but not the Mariners.

  Reply

• Eamonn Flanagan said | January 28th 2008 @ 8:39am | Report comment

  Onside,

  I agree that many the kids who play miss out on watching the A-League and perhaps for them more importantly the Socceroos. And of course this has resricted the growth of the game. (Not that you would know it from crowds etc)

  But the FFA need to overcome this. Engaging with their grassroots, their massive player base is the key to increased and sustained growth. It is a missed opportunity, absolutely.

  The Socceroos game against Qatar is on Fox on Wed Feb 6th at 7.30pm which little Aussie footballer wouldn’t have tuned in if it was on FTA?

  But the point I was making, or trying to, was that the coverage of Australian sports on FTA in Australia is so poor it ruins or would ruin my football watching experience if they ever got hold of football (SBS and ABC aside).

  It is amazing to me the game has grown so fast at all, given the limited but increasing media coverage. And interesting that the Jets and Mariners are getting such big crowds.

  Is it because the local media TV and Papers in these regions have little else to cover in summer so have really pumped their local teams, where in Sydney the focus would still be national cricket, national tennis and of course all the other codes.

  These teams are getting the sort of media coverage normally reserved for AFL in Melbourne, League teams in Sydney etc, which may well be part of the reason the crowds are flocking in.

  And at least Aloisi scored the penalty that really mattered, phew…apologies midfielder:)

  Reply

• onside said | January 28th 2008 @ 12:17pm | Report comment

  Eamonn,
  I think the FFA are on the right track with the A League ,ie,consolidate ,then gradually expand.
  As you point out the growth is amazing.There must be a few more tough years to consolidate
  considering the money needed to keep clubs afloat.According to the media, Sydney needed
  rescueing by Mr Lowie, Auckland failed, and Newcastles wealthy owner has underpined that
  club to the tune of several million dollars. So steady as she goes, and stick to pay TV. Tthere is
  a lot of work required to gradually improve the standard of football and expand the long term
  supporter base. FTA wont do it. FTA is a one night stand.In the meantime games in small stadiums
  are a buzz.Everybody is involved. It can be part of the attraction of the A League.The easiest
  way to sell something is to tell somebody they cant have it. Small stadiums do that. I am not
  qualified to determine stadium size versus club profitability, but when the time comes to consider
  FTA, smaller packed stadiums look better on TV, than do one third full huge stadiums.

  An aside,
  What is the distance between Perth and Wellington,I keep meaning to look it up ,but havent done so.
  Is there another local sports competition in the world where a home and away match is so far away
  How many other teams have to fly the equivilant of from Perth to Wellington for a home and away match.

  Reply

• Midfielder said | January 28th 2008 @ 1:04pm | Report comment

  Eamonn, & Onside

  Football is expanding at a huge rate and will continue to do so. However the small stadium thing you both talk about is wrong.

  I wrote nd article on football code crowd numbers “Football codes crowd attendance – AFL leads the way” its on this page if you click the table at the bottom you can clearly see the A-League has quite good crowds compared to the NRL.

  Football has a national mens and womens teams playing in world cups, Natioanl under 23 / 20 / 17 teams with Olympic games a highlight for the U 23, Asian Champions league, Pan Asian league, A-League and Womens league coming up.

  But not all are ready for FTA just yet, the National Matches, Olympic matches, Asian Champions League, be FTA.

  In time the A-League will improve its standards and have either 10 or 12 teams, then go FTA.

  AS I mentioned by a broadcasting a product not quite ready for FTA you can do more long term damage than good.

  As an aside on the Mariners it is interesting what a derby match can do, and I think Roar & Gold Coast could have a similar feel, local media in the gold coast and Brisbane will in time join in.

  Great chant from the Mariners yesterday made me laugh to the tune and song

  “Were not gonna take it
  No were not gonna take it”

  Some Newcastle fans were singing there sides victory and a big song wenr out from the Mariners

  Were not all related
  No were not all retaled.

  Reply

• onside said | January 28th 2008 @ 2:53pm | Report comment

  Eamonn
  re stadium size
  Big tiime National games in large stadiums ,sure.But an A Leaugue crowd of say 15.000 , ,in a 60.000
  seat stadium can look a bit light on However you might be correct, I just dont know enough about it.

  re comparisons with AFL
  AFL is probably the only football code in the world that is better live than on TV. I am not saying
  I dont enjoy the atmosphere of live games, not at all. But the biggest percentage of sports fans
  never see a game live.They watch sport on TV. Cost of tickets etc must also play a part

  Great camera work make Rugby, League,Football and GridIron excellent sports to watch on TV

  AFL works to a degree on TV , but the game is far far better live . The reason to some extent is
  the ball is always in the air and in view. Plus it is not possible to get the feel of the size of the
  ground ,and the lengths of the kicks on TV..The game on TV lacks perspective.

  The compact nature of the other codes ,all played on similar size grounds are perfect for TV viewing.
  This is even more important in codes where disguising which player has the ball, makes it impossible
  to see who has the ball from the stands.As much as I enjoy rugby it can be frustrating waiting for the
  result of a try under all those bodies.TV does a great job of showing what is going on in the scrums.
  Forget trying to figure that out if you are at the ground. Football works well on TV , especially showing
  subtle things like vital offside decisions or replays of sublime touches. Once again, for either the fortunate
  or the fanatical, there’s nothing like being there . But TV is an adequate substitute..

  I recall reading somewhere , that the new stadiums being built in the USA were smaller rather than larger
  The reason given was the power of TV was more financially rewarding than trying to fill stadiums for all
  games, including both blockbuster ‘top of the table’ clashes and lesser contests.

  There’s an intimacy in ‘smaller ‘ crowds where supporters are are right on top of the game.I love Suncorp
  Stadium in Brisbane. But the A League must strike a balance between stadium capacity and intimacy.Once
  patrons feel too removed from the game ,they wont come.

  So even though AFL has experienced huge success with massive stadiums, I am not sure it serves the
  needs of domestic football

  I long for the day though when football can be played on a surface not butchered by other sporting codes.

  At the moment ,thats Playstation

  Reply

• Midfielder said | January 28th 2008 @ 3:16pm | Report comment

  Onside i agree with you, except for one minor part. Football too with the speed of movenment and the off the ball work plays much of the game outside the view of the camera. not to the extend of AFL mind. League, Cricket, Tennis, GridIron, Golf, and mostly Union you get most of the game on the box.

  I watch a lot of football live and when you see sweepers directing play or a skillfull mid fielder make a defensive or attacking run that comes to nothing……….however if the run had not been made or space closed down or opened up the game could have changed.

  Tim Cahill, Vince Griller, David Beckham, these guys and some many others do so much work off the ball never on camera.

  But the general thrust of your arguement is correct. At Bluetounge (Central Coast) stadium it rocks with anything above 12, 000.

  There is also a certain knowledge between the non AFL codes in understanding how each game works without needing to be told. In both league & union drive up the centre and then try to spread it wide, angles and runs off those angles are similar. So too football with trying to spread the ball wide then cross into the centre and the angles are similar because the fields are similar.

  Being honest I have only been to a handful of AFL games, but found them scrappy and untidy due to the passing and the amount of dropped ball. I guess its just my up bringing in rugby league but thats my view. Also the constant scoring drove me mad, no great build up to be repelled by a defence. I guess its what your brough up with.

  In closing Onside you should look at the A-league crowds they are bigger than most people think and when the Gold Coast & Townsville come inI think crowds sizes will become much more even.

  Second closing …………Go the Marniers

  Reply

• DJ of Sydney said | January 28th 2008 @ 5:35pm | Report comment

  Well i am a football fan. I also watch football, football and football. I tend to agree with you all that football is better watched at the game than on tv. And that football is a game that is watched on tv more. I also think that most sports lovers will only watch their sport on tv.
  I however am someone who has grown up watching football on tv, while also attending the occasional match. I played football when i was a kid, idolising the footballers on tv as well as my local team footballers. There are a lot of football lovers who enjoy watching football on tv and at the ground equally.
  Football is a game that can draw large crowds because of the stadium size as well as the popularity. But as the ball can go anywhere on a large football field it is harder for the tv crew to manage the picture shown, unlike football and football where the football is constantly moving up and down, and across with the occasional kick. Or like football where the ball is in clear view the whole time. Football has been made to work on tv because it has a huge commerical aspect to it.

  Reply

• onside said | January 28th 2008 @ 8:47pm | Report comment

  Midfeilder,
  I dont get the Townsville thing. The Gold Coast ?, well Ok, But surely Wollongong deserve a start before either
  of the above. Economically the fringes worry me,Perth andNew Zealand. Cost cost cost. Rugby has a similar
  fixation, of needing to be seen as a National body. I am not so sure. Firstly, be seen as a profitable league.Then
  in time maybe expand. In the interim there is plenty of room and population on the eastern seabord.

  My son spent time in UK and told me SKY TV offer a choice of which part of the ground you can view the game.
  Say, behind either goal,the stands or amongst supporters. And all locations with legitimate local crowd noise.Plus
  a choice of dedicated camera that follows one player around for the whole game.Maybe Lucas Neil,thats what
  you get,every where Lucas goes so does the vision.

  And all the way back to the Central Coast Mariners. I am sure many people have a vague idea of the area ,sort of
  north of the outskirts of Sydney somewhere , between Woy Woy and Newcastle .Seriously ,I wonder just how
  many people outside of NSW know where the CCM home ground is located. No, not the street mate, the town.

  Reply