By Guy Hand
August 8th 2008 @ 6:08am
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Competition in holding pattern as growth spurt beckons
Now established as a legitimate part of the Australian sporting scene, the A-League enters its fourth season with at least one eye on season five.
That’s when the eight-team league will be boosted to 10 with the introduction of north Queensland and Gold Coast teams – the first step in a two-stage expansion plan for a [...]
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Michael C said | August 8th 2008 @ 6:24am | Report comment
I saw this effectively an FFA press release – - presented as an ‘article’ in Fairfax yesterday afternoon.
Talk about a fluff piece.
Well, if the A-League want’s to base it credibility on a 40 yr old and well passed it Romario, or a 36 yr old Bosnich – - – then, ’nuff said really.
Expansion wise, well – we know the AFC requirements that the FFA might be pushing towards – - which will require perhaps a level of expansion that may or may not go one bridge too far.
For now though, we know the upward trending of crowds was based mostly last year on Wellington Phoenix compared to the previous Auckland NZ side. It’ll be interesting to see what happens this year.
Koala Bear said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:14am | Report comment
Guy,
great article and I endorse all you have written.. As well as the mounting interest of media outlets sitting up and taking notice.. The Anchor man on channel 7 network, introducing the Football match, Australia v Serbia 1-1; had said at the introduction that, Australian Football has arrived at the Olympics .. This is quite a huge step forward for Network 7, to now announce that Australian Football now means FFA; where as before in the past, it always referred to it as “Socca” . I congratulate the network for taking this bold and rightly so initiative; of recognising that the Olyroos are Australian Football on the World Stage, and not Marn Grook. Although Marn Grook (Grooky) has a place in Australia, it is not Australian Football.. Australian Rules Football maybe, but not Australian Football; I shall affectionately call Marn Grook “Grooky”.
~~~~~~~
KB..
True Tah said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:26am | Report comment
KB,
who was commentating on the Olyroos game?
Q: if rugby ever got accepted to the Olympics (which I hope it doesn’t) would the Australian team be the Olybies?
Koala Bear said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:55am | Report comment
True Tah,
If you watched the telecast last night it was the good looking young man with dark brown hair that fronts the 7 sports program. I don’t honestly know his name (Rugby man I think) but I shall tune in tonight and make a note of it.. And announce it to all tomorrow, or as soon as I find out.. Unless someone know and posts it up before hand..
Olybies, Yes, Yes, Yes.. I would love to see an Olybies 7s compete in the Olympics and why not? I would be cheering on..
~~~~~~~
KB
jimbo said | August 8th 2008 @ 10:50am | Report comment
KB and TT,
the presenter was Matthew White, who used to be on Ten and is a Mexican and an AFL widget.
Don’t know who the match commentator for the game was, but sounded like he was out of his depth and not there physically or mentally. Every second phrase began with “not much happening . . . ”
Apparently Ray Hadley (NRL Champion) did an excellent job of calling the game live on radio, but didn’t listen to it.
I thought the Olyroos did remarkably well and what about the Zad kid scoring a goal and what about the Mohegan hair do?
MC
can’t help yourself, just have to jump in with negatives about A-League marquee players.
Would be interested in discussing the AFL international and world-class players in your AFL competition, but can’t seem to be able to identify any.
BTW you forgot to mention that AFL has much bigger attendances than A-League.
Koala Bear said | August 8th 2008 @ 12:39pm | Report comment
Jimbo,
Mathew White an O’Marngrook advocate saying “Australian Football has arrived at the Olympics” … It’s working..!!!!
Johnny Warren, you told us so..
~~~~~~~
KB
Pippinu said | August 8th 2008 @ 2:48pm | Report comment
I like the developments re the salary cap – that’s the way it has to keep going – a little gradual loosening with each new season.
Add $200,000 next season, and have a 3rd category of Marquee, say, attracting an Australian home from overseas with a cap of whatever it is.
Michael C said | August 8th 2008 @ 3:39pm | Report comment
KB -
It’s ‘football’ on the Olympic schedule. There’s no ambiguity. It’s still a frivolous compromise tournament.
Pippinu -
they gotta be careful, if there’s supposed to be 12 teams – and then a potential B-League – - – the costs need to not be rising too much too soon………however……I’d have thought the most important thing is the ‘marquee’ categories and increasing the capacity of the wealthy clubs to spend as big as they can reasonably afford – especially for international club tourneys.
Koala Bear said | August 8th 2008 @ 3:54pm | Report comment
Comrade C,
non more so frivolous as the Grooky international Cup; 10 nations series.
~~~~~~
KB
True Tah said | August 8th 2008 @ 3:58pm | Report comment
KB et. al,
in terms of P & R, which seems to be a necessity for Australian soccer to progress, which leagues are the best examples for FFA to follow? People seem to want to compare HAL to EPL and its associated structure…I think that this is not the best approach, it takes 3 hours to travel from London to Manchester by train.
Given Australia’s geographic circumstances and population distribution, I would have thought some good examples may be Russia, Brazil, USA, Canada, Kazakhstan and China, these are big countries with large distances in between.
I know in Brazil, the bulk of the population is concentrated in the southeast – Sao Paulo, Rio, etc, and therefore the bulk of the top soccer clubs are concentrated here, the sparselessly populated northeast which is a huge area is not represented. In fact, it was only until fairly recently that Brazil had a national comp, prior to this, it was based on state leagues.
Im not sure about US, Russia, Kazakhstan and China, how does it work there? Are the clubs profitable? In the professional rugby union competition in Russia, the clubs are concentrated in and around Moscow and in Siberia, and the distances are massive, and I would expect soccer being a far more popular sport in Russia to have pro clubs all over the country, making travel even more daunting.
Are the FFA looking at using Russia as like a blueprint for us, because I think it fits Australia best, but no one seems to compare Australia to them.
Redb said | August 8th 2008 @ 3:59pm | Report comment
Matthew White is from Sydney/Newcastle with a generalist sports journalism background, best known for Sports Tonight on Ch 10. He covered rugby, AFL, V8’s, Melb Cup,etc doubt he has ever called an AFL game…sorry to burst the Johnny Wombat bubble..:-)
Redb
Koala Bear said | August 8th 2008 @ 4:46pm | Report comment
True Tah,
I’m not sure how those massive nations handle the traveling. But in the USA they have conferences based on the Gridiron model. I have not explored it fully. However, the Australian model will in my opinion be totally different again.. No one has actually sat down to work it out yet..
But, I can think of a way a promotion and relegation system can be employed in Australia to satisfy AFC without the vast distances of travel. For instance if Perth Glory ran dead last they could face the winner of WA state league to re-enter the A-League in a best of three playoffs; and the same in Melbourne with Melb Victory, if they were to finish last to play off with their state league champions; to see who will represent the Vics in the HAL.. This would work and it is a P&R system. Not ideal, but until there are enough quality teams it would be a acceptable working model, that I’m sure would satisfy FIFA and the AFC.
Of course in Melb’s case, they should retain its HAL status. All nations have tailored P&R systems to suit local conditions. So why not Australia; no real big deal as long as you have some sort of P&R in place for a club with real aspirations to take on the last placed HAL club to gain promotion.
~~~~~~~
KB
Pippinu said | August 8th 2008 @ 4:53pm | Report comment
Michael C
Personally, I don’t give a damn about the other clubs – Melbourne has the cash, and I want them to be able to spend it and dominate the comp – isn’t that what we all want from our teams – the capacity to dominate the comp??
jimbo said | August 8th 2008 @ 5:25pm | Report comment
True Tah,
there are some good things and bad things about the EPL, some of which we are not able to copy.
The PR system won’t work unless you’ve got a lot of teams of fairly close stature. The A-League is not in that position and realistically may never be able to have a viable PR system.
The main criteria for getting in the A-League now is the financial backing and a good business plan. 12 teams would probably prove to be the absolute limit.
Auckland were relegated out of the A-League because they weren’t viable financially.
Redb,
Matthew White is not a commentator, but an anchor man and presents a lot of AFL games on Ten and now 7 in Sydney as well as the AFL GF and the Melb Cup, so I assumed he was Mexican and I couldn’t google his place of birth.
G Mastro said | August 8th 2008 @ 7:34pm | Report comment
Koala Bear,
YOUR BORING !
Anyway, for those Soccer/Football followers who saw the game could you please give an uneducated Soccer / Football person such as myself a little help. From a score out of 10 how did that match rate ?
I am serious
Midfielder said | August 8th 2008 @ 7:55pm | Report comment
KB
The best and worst in last nights game was Gordon Brey the voice of rugby called the match. He has no F……ing idea about what is going on ……… either Ch 7 are managed by utter dickheads or it’s the email all over again. (Nobody screws soccer like 7)
But the best was when Gordon was commenting how China has taken the world game to heart and made it the nations number one game and how much the people of China loved their football ………. this is good for footballs future ……and to hear a non football say these words is music to my ears.
GA did himself no good last night how he can pick TS as the left FB …….. Fark me TS…… get a hair cut son and you might see the ball instead of chopping people all night and giving away cheap ball.
But back to the A-League …… its expansion will continue but not at the expense of other sports as each sport is responsible for their own actions via their management.
The FFA are continuing to broaden the base on which to build football, the youth league, womens’s league, under 14 international side, development of a P & R system. So with the management team we have under Frank we will continue to grow.
Norm said | August 8th 2008 @ 7:56pm | Report comment
Well MC if you say its fluff then it must be so. Given that practice makes perfect you would know. What has me beat is why the world’s latest sport juggernaut – Aussie Rules – is not on the Olympic calander. What’s wrong with those IOC people? Don’t they know that 3.7 million Melbourians just love the game to death? The fact that the rest of the world’s 6.7 billion popoulace couldn’t give two hoots about the game is irrelevant. If only the IOC delegates could see a game they would fall instantly in love with it. Fortunately they will not fail to miss it once the global TV coverage of AFL IC Cup commences sometime soon. Soccer out & Aussie Rules in for London 2012.
Midfielder said | August 8th 2008 @ 8:03pm | Report comment
GM
Missed your comment on the game ………. the match on a rating out of 10 maybe a 3.5, but the matcher caller dragged it down even further. As I said earlier he was F……ing hopeless has NFI about football and try as he might he has no feel for what is going on and then explain this to those watching.
What made me so mad was when Australia were just holding the ball at the back, attempting to open up the defense and make space for our midfield, the Ser’s held their nerve, and kept their shape it was what some call a lot of cat and mouse but Gordon had no idea and just siad North to Matthew Sp and so on ……….. hopless …….. We should have got flogged but they left their boots behind.
As a game not the best and GA played a long ball game on the break type game and well its just looks shit when you play very good teams. I think GA at this level is out of his depth as a coach.
Joe FC said | August 8th 2008 @ 8:20pm | Report comment
Midfielder
the commentator for last night’s match was actually Mike McCann formely of ABC – but otherwise you are right he was out of his depth, not a football person.
G Mastro said | August 8th 2008 @ 8:35pm | Report comment
Norm,
Grab an atlas, open the page which has a map of Australia on it, grab a crayon or something thats not to sharp and circle Western Australa, South Australia, Victoria, Southern NSW, the Northern Teritory, Tassie, the ACT and parts of QLD and thats who loves Aussie Rules. No one ever said about playing it at the Olympics, even though it has been done before as an exhibition.
But go on mate, move back to where you came from. You couldnt be a true Australian if you promote games invented outside these shores over ones invented within and adored by most in Australia
Midfielder, thanks for your view
G Mastro said | August 8th 2008 @ 8:38pm | Report comment
Midfielder,
Dont most teams who feel they are underdogs play a long ball on the break type of game. Eg Guus in the Word cup
Midfielder said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:06pm | Report comment
MG
No playing a long ball game on the break does not work at international level even at A-League level. (Sorry KB if I talk about the Choppers this way) What Guss did was play on the break but with a short pacing game and players getting in numbers behind those in attack with speed. He needed a super fit team to play that way and flogged the players to death to be able to play that way. But as i said he played on the break but with short passes and players everywhere in support.
Guss is in a class all of his own. Over football’s history one of the top 10 coaches of all time I think.
But GA he is very poor at this level.
Norm said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:13pm | Report comment
Re – “even though it has been done before as an exhibition” correct G Mastro, Melbourne 1956. The IOC have seen the game – which explains their uninterest.
jimbo said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:28pm | Report comment
Serbia played long balls into the Olyroos half as well.
You choose the right tactic for the situation and when pressured like the Olyroos defence was at times, the long ball out of danger is the most effective play.
GA’s tactics were to use our speed in attack, hence Thompson and Rukavytsya instead of Bridge. Looked worse than it did because of poor passing from midfield by Milligan and Musialik and giving away cheap possession when rushing the play up front.
Serbia were a class team and we gladly accept the point because of their missed chances.
The focus will be even more defensive against Argentina and man-to-man marking Messi and the other forwards.
I thought the Serbian defence was excellent and we will probably have more chance of scoring on the counter against Argentina, but the key will be stopping them from scoring, especially in the first half.
Koala Bear said | August 9th 2008 @ 10:44am | Report comment
Norm,
you’re wrong; we have the Clayton’s Marn Grook World Cup” coming. To be played at the MCG in late August I believe.. Maybe Gastro will oblige in confirming the date for us when he gets off the toilet. However, it will be the curtain raiser to the Carlton v Collo match.. This sort of innovative thinking has taken Marn Grook to become the most popular code on the planet; not to mention Blacktown and the Gold Coast.. Something that FIFA could learn from. Now of course you don’t have to take my word for it, but I urge you to see for yourself. Drive down to the Melbourne’s Luna Park, there you’ll find the Clayton’s Gooky World Cup on display, until the tournament is over.. You’ll will not get a second chance to see it again, as it will be woshed off back to its home in Xanadu; who knows when it will reappear again.?. The ques are long, but worth the wait, and the tickets are free, as Roy Masters (myth buster) had brought to our attention as to the matches played on the Gold Coast ..
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KB
Koala Bear said | August 9th 2008 @ 11:09am | Report comment
Midfielder and Joe FC
Gordon Brey was to be the commentator, and I realised that it was not the voice of Gordon, that one hears during a Wallabies match.. I didn’t think it was too bad of a telecast. I thought it was fair enough; but would have liked a real Football commentator to call the game like all of us. Nevertheless, it was not a great performance by no means by our lads, and we are certainly in a group of death.. In saying that, I don’t think GA had any choice in playing the tactics he played; as the Serbs were really a class above us in technique.. I think he wanted to get a draw at the very least by playing a counter attacking system, and catch them on he break which was obvious.. It nearly worked and if Celeski (sp) put his goal away, we would be saying GA is a genius..
~~~~~~~~
KB
Koala Bear said | August 9th 2008 @ 11:12am | Report comment
Jimbo,
Right on; that’s the way I read it as well..
~~~~~~~
KB
Joe FC said | August 9th 2008 @ 12:24pm | Report comment
Koala Bear
agree the Serbs were the better side & yes we must play whatever style will get us points. At the end of the day a draw wasn’t a bad result ( all things considered ). Sunday’s game against Argentina will be a big test of our tactics & resolve.