By Eamonn Flanagan
July 15th 2009 @ 1:30am
Loading ...A-League quality means big World Cup presence
Perth's Wayne Shroj (22) and Sydney's Beau Busch go for the ball during Round 16 of the Hyundai A-League between Sydney FC and Perth Glory in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008. Perth won 4-1. AAP Image/Jenny Evans
Too young, quick, slow, fragile, I’m sure you’ve heard the criticism of the A-League. But with the Socceroos heading to the 2010 World Cup, few fans would expect to see the squad without a pack of A-League players.
Yes, that’s right, the A-League will be sending a host of players to the World Cup. Who would bet against Craig Moore, Chris Coyne, Jason Culina or Mile Sterjovski making the squad.
Add in Jacob Burns, possibly a New Zealand-led Shane Smeltz, Costa Rica’s Carlos Hernandez at the tournament as well, and who knows how many more local boys will make the grade?
Maybe it’s time for the critics to actually acknowledge what the game is achieving and the quality going around.
If New Zealand and Costa Rica make the World Cup, then there will be as many as 10-15 A-League players heading to South Africa.
Add in Robbie Fowler, Archie Thompson, Charlie Miller, and a host of others who have played in international teams, and the signs for A-League growth in quality are clearly increasing.
And while the quality of the league continues to improve, it will be our young players, our first Youth League graduates, now starting to stake their claims at their respective A-League clubs, who will benefit the most.
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(8)
collin said | July 15th 2009 @ 1:55am | Report comment
amen brother. love the a-league, dont care about comparisons with the epl, its still damn exciting and great fun to watch. a huge contributor to the future development of the mighty socceroos (the greatest sporting team of Australia)
Tom said | July 15th 2009 @ 9:29am | Report comment
Love the article and agree with the sentiment.
Nonetheless, its amusing to read after the piece on cultural cringe.
GeneralAshnak said | July 15th 2009 @ 10:29am | Report comment
The sentiment is spot on, the actuality of it at the moment is not there. The HAL is going to get better and better. However this will take time, I personally am amazed at how far we have come in such a short period – I feel the HAL is punching well and truely above its weight.
Kazama said | July 15th 2009 @ 11:05am | Report comment
Agree with the General, we aren’t there yet, but we need to stay positive. This year should be an improvement on the last and it will be great to see A-League clubs represented at the World Cup.
Watching Adelaide City play in front of 3,000 people at Hindmarsh seems like a different lifetime now, yet it was only six years ago. I’ll never forget that in 2004 I watched the Socceroos (including Tim Cahill, who scored a hat-trick) play a World Cup Qualifier at Marden in front of 2,000 people. The fact that people already laugh when I tell them about that game suggests how much the mainstream perception of the sport has changed in a short amount of time.
Tom said | July 15th 2009 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
Agree with GA on punching above weight.
Towser said | July 15th 2009 @ 1:53pm | Report comment
“The fact that people already laugh when I tell them about that game suggests how much the mainstream perception of the sport has changed in a short amount of time.”
Kazama people have short memories unfortunately(or they didnt have a clue about the history of football in Australia) when judging the massive progress from a low base since Frank Lowy took over.
Similar to your Adelaide experience I’ve lived in Brisbane for nearly 30 years. I’ll limit crowds to that time frame. Prior to FL era there was one crowd the 1997 grand final of 41000 that stood out. Next game after that the Strikers failed to capitalise & it was 6000 against Sth Melbourne. Towards the end of the NSL ,lucky to get 2000. The next Highest crowd down from that GF was from memory around 18000 for a World youth match Australia vs Uruguay around 1993. After that dont remember any over 10000. As most matches were at Perry Park lucky to get 5000 even for the biggest games. This is remember over 30 years. Prior to that it was from talking to locals worse.
Contrast that to the crowds from the start of FL era.
Roar averaged(from memory) Season 1 -14400 season 2 -14700 season 3-16900 season 4-13000
Socceroos Paraguay-48000 Iraq -48000 Qatar -35000
Celtic-31000
I for one aint complaining about that sort of improvement.
Agree with this article. The 4th season was a watershed. Clubs like SFC & PG realising that the bar has been raised & you cant sit on your laurels & hope. GCU were fortunate Miron knew what was required by his experience at the Roar to be competitive from the start, NQF were somewhat naive in the larger world of Association football,but they are learning. The hard way maybe,but its sometimes the best way.
Towser said | July 15th 2009 @ 2:00pm | Report comment
Dont forget also the contribution overseas clubs can make to our improvement as per this TWG article:-
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/blogs/philip-micallef/silly-season-comes-alive-204782
jimbo said | July 15th 2009 @ 5:25pm | Report comment
The last NSL game I went to in Sydney, the crowd was announced at “about 800” and the NSL ran for 27 years.
Have a look at some of these highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=actAiZ27I6o
Maybe its not the EPL, but its provided us with some good entertainment in 4 years so far.