By Adrian Musolino
November 16th 2008 @ 4:50am
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Reds defeat not the death knell of football
An article in The Advertiser by Rebecca Wilson has caused quite a storm in Adelaide having labelled the Reds ACL defeat as “humiliating” and leaving “soccer in crisis.” Rather, the Reds ACL journey should be seen as an opportunity for the game to grow and does not represent its death knell.
Adelaide’s defeat was down to three critical factors: the discrepancies between the salaries and squad size of the two teams, the decade plus development the J–League has over the A-League and more fundamentally the difference in skill and tactics between Japanese and Australian club football
Adelaide should not be tagged with headlines such as “humiliating”, should not be discredited for finishing runners up in a competition of such depth.
But it does show the lessons Aussie clubs need to learn in not relying on strength or the English one-dimensional style of play.
There needs to be a fundamental change in the way Australian club football is played, moving toward the example so brilliantly displayed by Gamba Osaka – a creative, flowing, attractive possession based game.
That will hopefully come with time when the revolution of the last few years that rebuilt the foundations of the Socceroos, the A – League and the W – League filters down into the grassroots levels of the game, coaching and junior development.
We can be thankful that structures to enable this to happen are in place.
The Asian Champions League has given Australian clubs the opportunity to experience firsthand the tactics we should aspire to. In that regard, thank goodness for our inclusion into the competition.
It will also come as more clubs experience those tactics and skills firsthand – Central Coast and Newcastle your up next!
It is up to the likes of Aurelio Vidmar to embed those tactics in his players and start playing like that in the A-League.
Perhaps our current generation of Socceroos will bring it into the A-League when they return from their current leagues, not just England but also Italy, Holland, Germany etc and come home to play.
It is a necessity if club football is to follow the successful path of the Socceroos.
But let’s bear some simple facts in mind.
This is only the fourth year of the A-League. To expect a club to enter such a demanding competition, essentially being pioneers for Australian football and win is short sighted.
Once again it is the same sections of the Australian press, spoilt by sporting success in the Commonwealth only codes that deride the achievements of athletes who deserve credit even if they don’t return with winner’s medals.
The Wilson article represents how in some facets of the media there remain serious doubts about footballs potential.
According to Wilson football in this country is “in grave danger of going the same way as basketball did a decade ago.”
She also says, “Australia has no real soccer culture.”
She was obviously not at Hindmarsh Stadium, Elder Park or the numerous pubs across Adelaide full of supporters.
And how can you calculate culture?
How is footballs culture any worse off than League or the AFL?
Take League (and apologies if I offend any of my Roar colleagues here). Living in Adelaide you wouldn’t even know there was a World Cup on. A World Cup in this country!
We don’t win at football all the time like in other codes because the football world extends beyond Commonwealth nations. This is its beauty and great challenge for Australia.
We remain small with much to still learn but that journey has taken leaps in the last few years and the Reds run is part of that continual growth.
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Pippinu said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:06am | Report comment
It is possible to view the Reds’ run as part of an ongoing journey that has many years to run.
But even from the perspective of being one step back in a series of many forwards steps, it was still an absolute humiliation of the sort that we have not witnessed since, I don’t know, the 2006-07 A-League grand final (and that particular humiliation was a doozy!).
Norm said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:47am | Report comment
maybe Rebecca Wilson and Pippinu are the same person.:D
dasilva said | November 16th 2008 @ 8:05am | Report comment
I once talk to a friend from the UAE and talk about their football team and how they qualified and played in the World cup. He said he and the whole population was embarrass about their team who participated at the world cup. I said “Why were you embarrass? Wasn’t it a great achievement for your country to even qualify to the world cup. Especially when it was the first time”
He said “You’re right it was a great achievement to even qualify but before the World Cup we were a crap team. After the World Cup the whole world knows we are a crap team.”
Now I’m’ not going to call ourselves a crap team but we were humiliated in the final. In the Club World Championship we can make this up where we will represent the Asia and Australian Football. Adelaide has to put up a good show. If Australia get’s spank by Gamba and then get spanked in the 5th place playoff (or heaven forbid we lose to New Zealand side). We will be the laughing stock of the world. A 3-0+ defeat may actually do more harm for Australian football then if didn’t actually participated to the event.
keeper11 said | November 16th 2008 @ 10:42am | Report comment
Rebecca wilson….FFS…just another agenda driven clueless NRL hack from that terminally anti-football media mob..news-limited….
an australian club team in only its second attempt made the final of a pan-continental Asian competition…lost…yeh….
and this hack concluded and labels the WHOLE code is in crisis ????
umm..i wonder which code that wilson and her employers are intricately linked acheived these ‘milestones’ in its centenary year ::
-crowds down 2%
-sydney crowds down 7%
- NO sydney sellouts in test matches, state of origin or grand final
- grand final national audience down 16%
- world cup…ummm..yeh……acres of empty seats and interest for this ‘major international event’…basically ZERO beyond Albury…..
as for her the crux of her argument…
wasn’t there a team in another code that made the final and lost 40-0 ????
oh..but melbourne storm are 100% owned by news-limted….who also happen to own 50% of that code…
australian commercial media…..what a joke..
oikee said | November 16th 2008 @ 11:04am | Report comment
Keeper 11, you really dont know this woman, she bags rugby league all the time, even worse than what she has said here in this article, guess what, welcome to aussie media. League and aussie rules and union get bagged daily, you boys in soccer are only just becoming a play thing for the media, wait until one off your guys are caught drunk or even worse, taking drugs. She is a cow and constantly bags league, now she seems to have a new target, your welcome to her.
oikee said | November 16th 2008 @ 11:08am | Report comment
Adrian, no worries about saying nobody in aderlaide knows the League World Cup is on, just like nobody outside aderlaide knew the acl was on, its a harsh country for sports.
Apparently more people knew that the wallabies beat england overnite.
westy said | November 16th 2008 @ 11:18am | Report comment
Keeper11…. do not confuse Rebecca with league
She is shallow and swaps between league then rugby then AFL and back where ever she wants. She has never been a friend to it either. She is a News Limited journalist who own 50% of the NRL , plus interests in pay tv world rugby , super 14 rugby and English Premier football coverage Rebecca writes for controversey not constructive comment.
A good journalist would have written that any team involved in the ACL should be allowed to get another marquee player and local outside the salary cap. That expansion is necessary to add more variety of teams although 4 in 3 years seems to outstrip available talent unless all those second tier players overseas return home.
A good journalist would make clear the great achievement of Adelaide in beating a top J league team in the semi final. Yet she was silent. A good journalist would have queried perhaps the continuing mediorcre performance of Sydney FC. All these thing s are constructive. Her aim was to hurt …get a response …it is for her profile alone and her “national ” exposure that she is after.
The Link said | November 16th 2008 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
Wilson is head and shoulders above all as the worst sports journalist in Australia. Kerry Packer somehow took a liking to her and she’s been taking it out on all and sundry ever since.
keeper11, so Wilson is defending League in an Adelaide newspaper? A-League crowds are significantly down so those in glass houses….
Koala Bear said | November 16th 2008 @ 12:22pm | Report comment
Norm,
I think you are right…
I don’t think Rebecca has ever really recovered from her one night stand on the CH9 RL footy show with the lads; and when Reg Reagan snubbed her advances; she resorted to the biff, that about sums up her credibility…… Now she’s desperately wanting to do a gig on the SBS TWG….
~~~~~~~
KB
James Ward said | November 16th 2008 @ 12:45pm | Report comment
oikee said - Adrian, no worries about saying nobody in aderlaide knows the League World Cup is on, just like nobody outside aderlaide knew the acl was on, its a harsh country for sports. Apparently more people knew that the wallabies beat england overnite.
There can be no comparison. One is a club from a little city involved in a continental competition the other is the country involved in a WORLD CUP!
Koala Bear said | November 16th 2008 @ 1:20pm | Report comment
Westy,
I think the Broncos, without Bennett, will be tested, on how mediocre, or well supported, they are in 2009 ..
nice balanced post and a few RL types could certainly learn a lot from your writings.. Except for your last comment on SFC…
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KB
Midfielder said | November 16th 2008 @ 1:42pm | Report comment
RW is a crap headline seeking jurno ………Pip I sometimes wonder about you and what you expect….. AU making it as far as they did was anything but good for football is without question. ………. I can think of an AFL grand final two seasons ago where the winning side won by more than 100 points …… meaning the end of AFL ….. OH ya BS you say end of AFL my arse ……… OH ya BS the same way on the AU game.
In Adelaide the press has turned on her in a number of polls across a broad cross section of people in Adelaide are voting 84% against her …… meaning AFL types are just as pissed. The whole city is insulted …… what is not well understood is the how when international aspects come into a city everyone gets behind them and RW was well over the mark attempting to build her own career as a hard hitting never back down juno …… she has hurt herself with this article ….. whatever respect she had is gone. When you attack a team that has overcome so much to get where it was …. you have attacked an underdog that achieved a lot ……… you get the feeling if AU had won the article would still have been written but with Asia being the joke and overrated.
RW is a joke that no one will take seriously
oikee said | November 16th 2008 @ 2:52pm | Report comment
True Midfeilder, i dont really know where she lives, maybe Melbourne , but she would never show her face outside that state.
I can back them with confidence, 
any other tips K.B
K.B dont know what you have against the broncos, your little rants are not going to make a ounce of difference to their crowds. As for your underdogs you keep backing, i see aderlaide is now in the dog house with you, and we will see the soccerdoos go around (hopefully) next world cup, another one of your underdogs. Good luck with that by the way, not long now. And thanks for not supporting the Broncos, at least now i know they have a chance of winning.
oikee said | November 16th 2008 @ 2:53pm | Report comment
Thats a big smile K.B
Towser said | November 16th 2008 @ 3:18pm | Report comment
Oikee
Maybe shes a “Bag lady” with her own personnel shopping trolley.
Having seen many lows in football over the 40 years I’ve lived here (In fact I cant remember too many highs)the AU V Gamba result is just a pit stop in the evolution of football in Australia.
Aurelio Vidmar has already stated that AU were inferior & Daniel Mullen? youth coach has already had a meeting with the Gamba coaching staff to see how they developed their football players from Junior level.
Australians should thank their lucky stars that “Australia has no real soccer culture”.
Having a football culture is whats held back Englands National team over the years. That is there own style & mindset of the way football has been played & the fact that that way is right because they invented the game.
In other words football tradition the English way has been a yoke around their neck.
Having no such tradition here is a bonus. IF Aurelio Vidmar was say Kevin”The Puddin” Keegan & AU were Doncaster Rovers “Ar Kevin” would have said “Theres nowt Gamba can teach us,they were lucky cos we ad so many injuries” or other excuses to cover up the fact that Gamba crapped all over them as a football team.
No such approach from Aurelio & his coaching staff. You only stagnate if you fail or choose to overlook were your really at in any aspect of life or fail to make the most of a change in oppurtunities.
Pippinu said | November 16th 2008 @ 5:14pm | Report comment
Midfielder
My post expresed a view that was not all that different from Towser’s - maybe you didn’t read it carefully enough?
What I have done is say straight out that it was a humiliating result (and dasilva seems to agree).
Let us all think back to 1997, how incredible it felt that Australia had actually won its way to the confederations final, defeating some decent countries along the way (Mexico and Uruguay).
But we can all be honest now, we were absolutely humiliated by Brazil, made to look second rate, and it was soon after this result that we meekly succombed to Iran for the final spot in the 98 WC. It felt like a massive step before the final, it felt like little had been achieved immediatey after the final.
5-0 over two legs in any type of cup is about as bad as it gets - check the record books and you will not find many worse results - in fact you may not find any that are worse - a bit like losing a grand final 6-0 - it really doesn’t get much worse.
oikee said | November 16th 2008 @ 5:35pm | Report comment
Agree. T
Koala Bear said | November 16th 2008 @ 6:33pm | Report comment
Oikee,
(good to see you have finally cleaned you teeth.. 
)
you know, Wayne knows, and I know, the Broncos are set for 27 years in wilderness. Now that Waynie has pulled the plug and I would have thought you would be delighted of having me in Queensland and aboard the Broncos bandwagon especially to help bail out of the players from the old bailey, after a night out on the town with my new bargain cut price share port folio … No I won’t attack the ARL only to support it as the underdog of world football but the dreaded Broncos .. Be careful that Bronco’s sombrero needs a dry clean …
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KB
Dave said | November 16th 2008 @ 6:34pm | Report comment
Pip
That’s why its called the World Game…if it was that easy football wouldn’t have the following it does around the world. AU have done brilliantly… a real David v Goliath adventure which didn’t have a happy ending for AU. However it is only the START of this adventure with so many more rich and exciting chapters to come…bring it on l say and hopefully next time it will be MV leading the charge into the final.
BTW One sided finals well AFL has a catologue of them as mentioned by Midfielder and the NRL was a classic this year 40-0!
I have a feeling that over the next 5 years or so a HAL club is going to be successful and lets hear Rebecca what’s her name bleat on then…unlikely as it appears she is another of the anti football brigade who probably has never been to a HAL game. Think her request for an autopsy on the death of football just a tad early.
Koala Bear said | November 16th 2008 @ 6:51pm | Report comment
Midfielder
Pip is only reflecting on Melb Vic’s performance in the ACL .. Remember, they were out, before they begun; not that Pip was ever a Melb Victory member … Yes ! ! That 100pts Grooky grand final is right up there…
Apparently Adelaide United had covered twice the klms in getting to venues than any other ACL entrant .. That has to be addressed properly next year .. I hope Qantas could arrange some chartered flights if that was possible.?. Maybe some more government funding now that the AFTL and the Rugbies have realized that Football is the only code that matters on the planet; with them submitting to the FFA’s wishes of first call on the stadia in 2018 FIFA world cup … Marvelous that sanity has finally prevailed …
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KB
Dave said | November 16th 2008 @ 6:58pm | Report comment
KB
MV finished 2nd behind…Gamba Osaka in the group…not too shabby considering the Costa Rican One and Arch were both out of their 2 matchups. 2nd would have been good enough under the new system in the ACL and remember it was 4-3 to Osaka with a goal in injury time at TD. MV were not too far away and will be ready to achieve immortality as the 1st Oz ACL winner in 2010!!
BTW Was looking for Chelski’s name in the next round of the League Cup…what!…Burnley!!… amazing. Oh well thats another trophy the Ski wont be winning this season
Koala Bear said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:12pm | Report comment
BTW One sided finals well AFL has a catologue of them as mentioned by Midfielder and the NRL was a classic this year 40-0!
Dave,
Must say it was a tad boring… and what of Hawthorn’s shallow victory with its 11 rushes; the equivalent of 66pt. that could have easily went the way of Geelong.?. That’s what I mean about Marn Grook; its full of folk who just like to cheat the system and what of us punters ? Who just want to put their money on an honest team. You just can’t, when that sort of shananigins is going on.. hmm 
How lucky were the Broncos. ?? It could have easily been 80 nil… Had the Broncos gone through to face Manly…
~~~~~~~~
KB
Dave said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:19pm | Report comment
KB
l get your drift…l think
BTW Who is Rebecca Wilson? Not a Melb Journo although reading her article she would fit in beautifully down here! Is she from Queensland or Sydenee? What is her sporting background?
Koala Bear said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:19pm | Report comment
Dave Laddie,
Big Phil has bigger fish to fry and I have not checked the ladder but the Blues are starting on a new trophy room to house the EPL and Big Ears… Looking like a formality …
~~~~~~~~
KB
Koala Bear said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:27pm | Report comment
Dave,
haven’t you got a Wilson down in Drab City .?.. do you think they are related…? It wouldn’t surprise me if they were both originally Queenslanders…
~~~~~~~~
KB
Pippinu said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:37pm | Report comment
MV had a meritable 4-3 loss at home, with its two most influential players missing: Arch and Carlos (and actually led twice during the game).
Toss it up any way you want, 5-0 is a humiliation.
I’m not sure why anyone would try and argue otherwise - next you’ll be telling me that AU got close when it lost 6-0 in a grand final nearly two years ago.
Koala Bear said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:37pm | Report comment
Dave,
RW, synchronized swimming I think.. Some say she was the RL Bulldogs Hooker…
~~~~~~~
KB
Koala Bear said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:42pm | Report comment
Pip,
you have to remember the AU only had 10 players and the 3 blind mice were affiliating the GF… I think it was a FFA conspiracy to keep AU out of the ACL…
~~~~~~~~~
KB
Pippinu said | November 16th 2008 @ 7:57pm | Report comment
But AU earned their ACL spot on the strength of that very same 6-0 shellacking.
Midfielder said | November 16th 2008 @ 8:18pm | Report comment
Back on topic and its not pick on Pip day … BTW Pip re read your post maybe took it the wrong way ….
BUT back to RW article from SBS today a gem of a reply (see KB they are returning to their roots this year) I shall write the last line only …..” So the message to any surviving members of the anti-football brigade out there is: Don’t you worry about football, we’ll solve our problems on our own and in our own time.”….. read the link if you want to its a decent reply.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/australia/anti-football-mafia-strikes-again-151388/
James Ward said | November 16th 2008 @ 9:08pm | Report comment
I agree completely. You have to wonder what influence the papers (with their interests in NRL etc) have over what she writes. I hate how she pretends to be an expert on all sport matters. Focus on one or two sports and don’t try and be an expert on all sports.
Pippinu said | November 16th 2008 @ 9:49pm | Report comment
We know she’s not an expert, and we know she is a rabble rouser - so why on earth would Micallef and TWG bother responding to such an article??
Also, I don’t think it’s very smart for Micallef to be publicly belittling RL, afterall, the RW article had very little to do with RL.
James Ward said | November 16th 2008 @ 9:58pm | Report comment
She makes the assumption that “soccer” doesn’t have the culture of RL or AFL so it’s a far enough point to make.
jimbo said | November 16th 2008 @ 10:19pm | Report comment
Rebecca Wilson is a fliphead and wouldn’t know the first thing about “Soccer”. She is a News Limited journalist from Queensland, so what is she doing writing in the Adelaide newspaper on a sport she is not an expert on?
She is obviously being fed this stuff in a carefully aimed attack on football from the Anti-Soccer Hooligans in the Australian media.
No only did they publish Rebecca’s “article” they also published a “news” article” about Rebecca’s article
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24654341-5006373,00.html
and another “news story” the day before it apperard telling us it was coming the next day
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24650955-5006373,00.html
Times are tough and the other codes are anticipating a tough year ahead, so they need to get some ground on the other codes and hit them while they are down.
Pip,
you’re sounding more and more like MC every day.
I thought your two favourite things were Sicily and football?
keeper11 said | November 16th 2008 @ 11:10pm | Report comment
People miss the point of her reference to NRL/AFL….
her vitriolic anti-football piece personifies the agenda of most of the commercial media
i.e. news-limited, ch9 especially … to protect their interests and treat football not just as another sport but as a ‘threat’ ..
and actively harm footballs image to prevent further acceptance as a major mainstream sport….
tonight …in Sydney :..
in the semi final ( i.e. top 4 in the ‘world; ) of RL ‘world cup’ ‘ Australia beat fiji ‘ 52-0 in front of a crowd of just…15000..
me thinks… this result and embarrasing crowd may say infinitely more about the lack of any credibiliy for international rugby league and its perilous state and waning appeal in its self-confessed spiritual home sydney….
comment Rebecca….oi..rebecca ???
Matt said | November 17th 2008 @ 12:34am | Report comment
5-0 is not a humiliation, its dissapointing for fans yes, but these results happen in football, but its also just one result, Melbourne’s showing in the ACL would be considered more of a humiliation than Adelaide’s. Any decient journo creates a balanced article highlighting the pro’s and con’s of the game & reasons to back up any arguments when evaluating the state of the game in the county, or of any game in this country for that matter, be it basketball, football, AFL or NRL.
Its come in a week where rival codes have agreed to a stadium deal in the chance of a FIFA World Cup coming to our shores, showing the respect football now gets from rival codes who 10 years ago would have laughed off any such idea.
As for a “Soccer culture” being absent in this country, a culture is something you grow over time, and one we are growing fromt he ground up, if Rebecca looked into Footballs past she would have seen an old culture of race/nationality (Croatian , italian & other european herritage clubs etc) which we successfully wiped away from the game.
The passion of people and entire cities as we have seen in Adelaide is there and giving an A League club longer that 5 seasons to establish culture would be a start.
Rolling Maul said | November 17th 2008 @ 8:41am | Report comment
I quite like Rebecca Wilson because she polarizes people with her articles - I think she tries to get a response and you are either with her or against her. On this particular article I’m against her though, I think that Australia has come leaps and bounds with soccer (I can’t call it football sorry) and the domestic comp has been great for the profile of the game. Five years ago you would never have had the results on the 6pm news or on the likes of Wide World of Sports. Domestic soccer players have become celebrities and often mentioned in the press and kids finally have players to look up to who aren’t playing overseas.
How long has the J League been running in comparison to the A League?
It’s early days and Australia is a competitive sporting market and you have to agree that soccer is holding its own and actually winning ground in some areas. It was never going to be an easy win for the code in Australia where each state has it’s own favourites that are long established. Growing up in Sydney and being a Rugby fan, I only ever remember crowd violence being reported in the NSL days but I now enjoy getting along to A League matches and will continue to.. there is room in my life for 2 codes
If we can keep young talent in the country, give them a competition that they can grow in and give Australians a reason to love soccer.. I think the ALeague is doing well. Who expects a EPL after a handful of seasons?
keeper11 said | November 17th 2008 @ 9:19am | Report comment
RW and the anti-soccer hooligans that infest the commercial media simply wait to tick the ‘right’ box to attack football:
The order goes like this:
- soccer ‘violence’- been a bit quiet lately …although channel 9 is curuosly obsessed with disciplinary issues in the a-league..beacuse thats about the only coverage they give to the game….else crowd trouble in some Paraguan second divison match..are always useful to sterotype the game everywhere…
- soccer boring- oh yes…all those nil-nils….
- soccer- ‘australians don’t care’ - mmm….the unprecedented scenes of support during WC06 were quite a shock to the media ‘establishment’ ….and since then ….socceroos have proved unquestionably they’re a bigger drwcard than the Kangaroos and the a-league has received respectiful crowd averages….only a few thousand lower than the NRL infact…
so since then…..bury all football stories……give no previews of upcoming matches…avoid any reference to good crowds
e.g soceroos v china….70000…yet no crowd reference in the Tele ..whole story was about the loss….
and…..socceroos v qatar in brisbane…34000 crowd and match was even delayed due storm……
the tele described it as…” lower than expected crowd”
a weel later….the opening league league match aust v NZ in the RL WC ..on a balmy night in sydney also got 34000..
..and the Teles ’spin’…. ” a healthy crowd of 34000 that surprised league organisers ”
…In contrast …the farce of last nights RLWC leagu semi -final 52-0 scoreline infront of 15000..
so today….NO reference to the crowd but..” an entertining match but great effort by the brave fijians”
..Obviously Wilson and the rest of the scriptwriters in news-limited don’t fuss too much over that qaint concept called facts…
Pippinu said | November 17th 2008 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Jimbo
I don’t have a chip on my shoulder about getting a raw deal from the mainstream media.
Everyone has to grow up a bit a join the real world.
Koala Bear said | November 17th 2008 @ 9:36am | Report comment
Jimbo and Keeper 11,
Can you smell the fear…?? FIFA under 17’s girls World Cup Final in Auckland NZ (of all places) drew 16,162 In contrast, the ARL, WC League Semi Final Aust. v Fiji drew15,000 and the scoreline of 52-0.. Can you Semll the Fear..?
~~~~~~~~
KB
Towser said | November 17th 2008 @ 9:44am | Report comment
keeper11
Just read an article on TWG by Phil Micallef about this. To be honest Boring.
These articles for & against I now place in the Ho-hum boring chum category.
You ask yourself one question & one question only. In your mind are you satisfied that Football is progressing in Australia & more to the point is their a wiil” in place by the Football community at all levels for the game to continue to do so?
In my mind the answer is YES. Therefore I look at Adelaide’s performance in the ACL final from this viewpoint.
Are we progressing-Yes AU reached the final of the ACL after only 4 years of the A -League.
But more to the point after the bad loss is the “will” to improve in place? Yes the coach recognised AU’s deficiencies in relation to Gamba & publically stated so. The Youth coach had a meeting with the Gamba coaching staff the next day & gleaned that their success started at the 13-14 year old level teaching one touch,possession football.
I’m sure the FFA have also taken note of where were at in club football & the areas we need to improve.
Koala Bear said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:00am | Report comment
Midfielder,
Philip Micallef’s article summed it up and I hope Simon Hill will respond to RW article accordingly “Smell the Fear” … I bet he is now just doing that.. Micallef make a valid point; these type of articles are really immature journalism also hi-lighted by Westy….
~~~~~~~
KB
Rolling Maul said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:15am | Report comment
Koala Bear,
I don’t think you can say it’s ‘immature journalism’ - I think it certainly reflects the feelings of a section of Australia and that’s what the media is about. Soccer should stand up and counter the articles and show why they are wrong.. which isn’t that hard to do as it’s been displayed here. The fact that the article has received so much attention is a credit to the code.
Koala Bear said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:27am | Report comment
Towser,
I think you have missed Philip Micallef’s point … If the Roar FC had acievieved the same heights as AU did and the acclaimed from all of the Football journalists and followers .. The standing ovation of Craig Foster and David Basheer on TWG Sunday program for AU to reach the final of the ACL; you may feel differently about RW’s article .. I read a post from “Westy” that out shone her rediculous piece and I think his points were so valid coming from a Rugby enthusiast; not a professional scribe ..
I think as Philip Micallef has rightly pointed out it was a club punching above its weight and for her to publish her article in the Adelaide Advertiser was bewildering to say the least .. If it only appeared in the Courier Mail or that Gold Coast Bulletin I don’t think even Philip Micallef would have taken issue with it …
As Westy said the article by RW was designed to hurt the AU supporters, and of their great historical achievement.. I had only wished it could have been SFC .. We have had some notable AFTL posters here trying there damn hardest to belittle this great achievement by an Australian Club… Very childish actually, and unsporting wouldn’t you say..??
~~~~~~~
KB
Redb said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:30am | Report comment
I think Wilson’s article was old hat and shallow. It could have been written 5 years ago maybe.
On the other hand Adrian’s article and the very title is just as absurd as Wilson’s ill informed article.
In my opinion, AU were always going to be beaten and beaten well, I remember questioning the quality of the A League against a big japanese club with a huge salary cap advantage, the result was always a foregone conclusion IMO.
AU’s rise was much hyped and it seems so AU and by extension soccer’s apparent fall the same.
Redb
James Ward said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:35am | Report comment
Redb what’s wrong with this article? The title and article is a fair reaction to Wilson’s exaggeration. If you believe her article the Reds defeat is a signal for the slow death of football hence the title.
Pippinu said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:36am | Report comment
Towser is spot on - both articles are ho-hum - Wilson’s rave didn’t even deserve to be given the time of day, and Micallef should have ignored it, rather than taking the boring indignant line (and she was right that the ACL final was a humiliating result).
Don’t bother bringing AFL into the discussion, it’s not relevant, most southerners would barely know who Rebecca Wilson is.
I wrote on a Guardian blog 18 months ago that the ACL may one day rival the UEFA CL - no Australians came onboard to back me up then - now everyone’s an expert.
I wrote glowingly of AU’s first win in this ACL campaign away to Pohang - read it here:
http://pippinu.blogspot.com/2008/03/adelaide-learns-its-lesson-from-last.html
(and check out some of the comments from a range of footballing fans - it just goes to show that different people see different things).
Only a few days ago I corrected Jesse Fink in saying that Adelaide and Vidmar showed very good tactical awareness right up to the final.
Equally, I can say that the final aggregate scoreline in the final itself is about as bad as it gets, almost as bad as the 6-0 capitulation two years ago in the grand final against MV.
Some people need to open their eyes a bit.
Redb said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:36am | Report comment
It gives credibility to a senseless and baseless article.
Redb
James Ward said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:40am | Report comment
But if you don’t question it casual fans will just go with it. If the hundred plus people who bagged it on the Advertiser website didn’t comment, people didn’t say it was way off in the poll and articles weren’t run like this and the TWG one people would just go with Wilson’s article. Not everyone is an expert like the people on this site and many would just agree with her because they don’t know any better.
dasilva said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:46am | Report comment
Rebecca Wilson is a hack journalist. If you search rebecca wilson on google you’ll get rugby league forums about how they want to form a I hate Rebecca wilson club.
In Adelade Graham Cornes and KG - the sport talk show who concentrate mostly on AFL have nothing but contemptfor Rebecca Wilson as with most AFL fans.
Now she has now alienated Football supporters.
Really don’t get too piss off with this article. Football isn’t the only one to suffer from dodgy journalism from Rebecca Wilson and I seriously doubt anything she says will be influential to anyone
Koala Bear said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:47am | Report comment
Rolling Maul,
Yes it reflects the feeling of the anti-football establishment “Smell the Fear” the only time football journalists respond to the short cummings of other codes is when we have to read such tripe from ignoramouses like Wilson .. If it had any constructive thought behind it; or some in depth research; she would have realised that AU traveled about three times the klms than any other club in the tournament with wins against a higher regarded J-League club and against the Uzbeks, with the top Brazilian Rivaldo in the team… AU were left short on a number of accounts and it was not exclusively on the football side of things; it had a lot to do with fatigue .. ie three times the air travel distance in 3 days of the other clubs.. If you are going to crucify an Australian club put all the facts out there; instead of rabbiting on with some knowledge.. As they say a little knowledge can be dangerous…
~~~~~~~
KB
Redb said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:49am | Report comment
JW,
It goes both ways, the hype surrounding AU’s progress in the ACL should also be questioned by casual fans.
I just think it’s amazing that anyone would think soccer has slid off the radar in this country as a result of AU’s loss. - it is just a stupid assertion.
Redb
James Ward said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:52am | Report comment
Redb, as this article suggests. You agree with this article but bag it.
Towser said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:52am | Report comment
KB
If the Roar had been beaten in the same way & as convincingly as AU were beaten a journalist writing an article about it & another replying to it isn’t going to make one iota of difference as to my feelings on it. These would be exactly the same as for AU.
That Frank Farina would publically state that we were inferior in the tactical technical & indeed the physical areas of our game. Then Frank , the youth coach & the club in general would immediately look at ways of starting to correct our deficiencies As did AU.
Redb said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:56am | Report comment
JW,
I think the title of this article in particular is hysterical (not the funny type).
I think what is more interesting is how the ACL stretches a club’s resources which is both and good and bad. The ACL is an interesting concept in Australian club sport - heres a question - what is more important now to an A League club - winning the HAL or making the finals in the ACL?
Redb
James Ward said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:59am | Report comment
I disagree. It is a comment on the hysterical point made by Wilson that the Reds defeat is part of larger failure of the sport that could lead it down the same path as Basketball went down.
Rolling Maul said | November 17th 2008 @ 10:59am | Report comment
Any publicity is good publicity.. cliche but I think it works here. It’s got this messageboard ticking over and it was published across the country and got quite a bit of attention.
RW loves to cause a stir and seldom writes in agreeing with popular consensus.
You aren’t going to get ONLY glowing coverage of soccer in Oz.. it wont ever happen and RW doesn’t write glowing articles about anything - she just tries to upset people.
Dave said | November 17th 2008 @ 11:00am | Report comment
Redb
“It goes both ways, the hype surrounding AU’s progress in the ACL should also be questioned by casual fans.”
How so? The hype was warranted in that it was a first time and the progression was greater than expected…like the hype when Essendon win a few games on the trot.
Also remember that AU defeated one of the top Japanese sides Kashimir Antlers in the 1/4 final.
Redb said | November 17th 2008 @ 11:06am | Report comment
JW,
There is some potential for the HAL to become ho-hum for soccer fans in this country, especially when it expands to include GC and Nth QLD which further stretches the talent, but I see very few parallels with basketball. For instance the status of the national teams are chalk and cheese (Boomers v Socceroos).
The ACL represents more of threat to the A League becuase it takes the hearts and minds of fans to another level, comning back to the HAL is a let down. Look at AU, made their way through international club games only to fall to local HAL clubs due to a variety of reasons/excuses. That is confusing for fans.
Is the ACL the rainbow on the horizon or the golden toilet seat?
Redb
James Ward said | November 17th 2008 @ 11:10am | Report comment
Redb I was mainly referring to your criticism of this article and title that I think is unjustified.
Redb said | November 17th 2008 @ 11:11am | Report comment
Dave,
I think the hype surrounding Adelaide’s progression in the ACL was over blown. How can they keep losing to local HAL sides? I don’t doubt the effort and in soccer tems it made history, no problem, but the reality was a salary cap handicapped team could only play to a certain standard until they hit a decent by world standards.
Exciting progression for AU’s fans no doubt but super human I dont think so. As I’ve said though Dave, the downside of the loss has also been well and truly over played.
Essendon winning two games in a row is of course big, huge, awe inspiring and world beating .
Redb
Redb said | November 17th 2008 @ 11:13am | Report comment
decent ‘team’ by world standards.
James Ward said | November 17th 2008 @ 11:15am | Report comment
Redb, have you thought they may be fatigued from all the travel and extra games compared to other HAL teams.
Redb said | November 17th 2008 @ 11:18am | Report comment
JW,
Yes and that’s all very understandable, hence by question, which is more important to a A League team now, HAL or ACL? It appears that unless you ge knocked out early in the ACL, the ACL becomes more important than winning HAL club games. Does this compromise the HAL competition?
Redb