Euro-snobs drive me insane
Columnist By Mike Tuckerman, 16 Jul 2009 Mike Tuckerman is a Roar Expert
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- A-League, Borussia Dortmund, Brisbane Roar, Bundesliga, Craig Moore, EPL, European football, football, Frank Farina, Fulham
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Celtic's Paddy McCourt (centre) kicks ahead during the friendly match between Scottish club Celtic and the Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Sunday, July 12, 2009. Celtic defeated Brisbane 3-0. AAP Image/Dave Hunt
I can’t stand Euro-snobs. You know the type. They yammer on about how inferior the A-League is – oblivious to the fact that you’re rolling your eyes and glancing at your watch – before admitting that they’ve never actually bothered to attend a local game.
There were plenty of Euro-snobs milling around Caxton Street in the build-up to Brisbane Roar’s high-profile friendly with Celtic last Sunday.
“They’re only A-League opposition,” was the consensus of some fans kitted out in the famous green-and-white hoops, as though playing Brisbane Roar was somehow beneath Celtic.
Granted, the majority of the pro-Celtic support consisted of genuine fans, some of whom had travelled internationally to witness their heroes in action.
They were boistrous in and around the ground, and deserve praise for generating what Craig Moore later described in the press conference as a European-style atmosphere.
But you can bet that hidden amongst the bona fide Celtic supporters were plenty of Australians for whom the match represented a chance to watch “top class” football.
More power to them.
However, I’m always amazed at just how many fans are completely ignorant of the league contested in their own backyard.
After the game, some of those fans reacted incredulously to the fact that Brisbane dominated the opening twenty minutes.
If Robbie Kruse had managed to take either of two outstanding chances early on, the complexion of the match would have changed completely.
Goals win games, of course, and in Celtic shot-stopper Artur Boruc, the mercurial Kruse more than met his match.
But the free-flowing football played by Frank Farina’s side pinned Celtic on the back foot and gave Roar supporters the sniff of an upset.
I just wonder how many of the Euro-loving fans were actually paying attention to the action on the pitch, rather than the singing in the stands.
Of course, there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with watching European football.
I’ve travelled the length and breadth of Germany to watch Borussia Dortmund play, and my weekend routine for the past three years mostly consisted of catching Shimizu S-Pulse in action, before coming home to settle in for some Bundesliga on TV.
However, the key point is that I turned out to watch local football in the first place.
Be it as a Borussia Dortmund, Sydney FC or Shimizu S-Pulse fan, I’ve always been a firm believer in supporting my local league.
Yet how many of the fans who turned out to watch Celtic – or games against Fulham or Wolves elsewhere around the country – will be back to watch more A-League games this season?
It’s all well and good attracting new supporters to high-profile friendlies, but it will count for little unless those fans stick around and start investing some time and money into their own domestic league.
That’s why it was disappointing to note that some Brisbane Roar fans actually stayed away from the Celtic clash.
You can hardly blame them.
Brisbane already have some of the highest season ticket prices in the league, and tickets for the Celtic game weren’t exactly cheap.
Many of those Roar fans simply chose to invest their cash in competitive football, rather than a well-meaning but relatively pointless friendly.
The “Roar Against Racism” initiative is laudable, but what many established fans are crying out for is more recognition from clubs and the FFA in general.
Pricing regular supporters out of friendly games is one way to get fans offside before the season has even kicked off – regardless of whether those friendlies are controlled by external event promoters.
That said, I still think the visit of British clubs to our shores this pre-season has been a success.
The matches have drawn attention to the A-League, and our teams have held their own against supposedly superior opposition.
But I hope that some of those fans who arrived with pre-conceived notions about the standard of the A-League, returned home with a new-found appreciation of just how strong it has the potential to be.
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July 16th 2009 @ 3:16am
Kurt said | July 16th 2009 @ 3:16am | Report comment
Mike – so what you’re saying is you can’t stand Europhile snobs who desperately try to prove their supposedly superior cultural credentials by looking down upon local sporting products? Wow you’re right, people like that sound really, really annoying.
July 16th 2009 @ 4:47am
John Doherty said | July 16th 2009 @ 4:47am | Report comment
Try living in Ireland. Supporting and promoting a local team is angst at best, with Celtic and the EPL next door.
July 16th 2009 @ 6:24am
tifosi said | July 16th 2009 @ 6:24am | Report comment
what the “euro-snobs” dont understand is that the more support the local leagues get( ie a-league mls etc) the higher the chance that the euro clubs will see it and come for more games.
July 16th 2009 @ 6:37am
The Answer said | July 16th 2009 @ 6:37am | Report comment
The only thing worse is the self proclaimed Aussie football fan who’ll tell you long into the night “just how far we have come” but have never attended an A-League game….or did in Season One.
The only caveat I would have Mike is that many people have a strong emotional investment in their European team if they grew up with them, and thanks to the wonders of Tv are able to follow them closely. Of course, they is no excuse for bagging the A-League but it is for not attending.
July 16th 2009 @ 8:36am
Slippery Jim said | July 16th 2009 @ 8:36am | Report comment
Self righteous rants about our moral obligation to attend A-League football matches drive me insane…
I would prefer some sound reasons why attending local football matches, regardless of quality of football is so eminently laudable. Should expats, for example, abandon their loyalty to the clubs they and their families have supported for decades for clubs that are in some cases, yet to kick a ball in competitive football simply because of geographic location? If so why? Would such a willingness to abandon your original club loyalties simply because a new franchise sets themselves up in your backyard would make you less a ‘genuine’ fan, and more of a bandwaggoner.
Was the old NSL superior to watch then say, the EPL or La Liga, or in some way compulsory viewing if you wanted to still be able to call yourself a ‘genuine’ football fan of the club? Should, for example, Tasmanians watch their local premier league clubs and avert their eyes from those ‘overseas’ A-League clubs (let alone EPL clubs) due to not being truly local clubs? And where does that leave clubs like the Phoenix who really are from overseas nations? Can they really be called a local domestic club?
Personally, I have tried hard to support the A-League and want it to be successful for the benefit of football culture in this country, and the flow on effect for the national team (which is so far yet to materialize in any meaningful way). However, being far from ignorant of the A-League, I have found the format and quality of the league are quite honestly, shocking, and I have had enough. Why subject yourself to watching hours of rubbish football simply because it is ‘local’? Never mind the cheesy Americanised format, club names and styling.
July 16th 2009 @ 8:52am
Midfielder said | July 16th 2009 @ 8:52am | Report comment
Mike top top top article … the ES’s fail to understand they are really Champions League Snobs… many would not watch a lower league game from a non top league … say Scottish or Danish league..
Moreover they hurt the local product by both not attending and they way they talk about it… often never having been to a game … always pointing out the worst as norm… they are feed and nourished to a large extent by the Footballs tabloid press who delight in providing their readers with more reason to ignore..
Hopefully the ES’s can come and play and help build the game …
July 16th 2009 @ 9:15am
Michael C said | July 16th 2009 @ 9:15am | Report comment
Actually – -
there can be people out there who are more fans of the Club, the league than they necessarily are of the ‘code’.
Therefore, all they care about is the drama and tradition of a specific component part – - i.e. the EPL and or the Serie A for example. Is it being a ‘snob’ to not care about the broader elements of the code? How many who made the treck to see Celtic the other day are die hard NRL and AFL fans domestically but also love the Celtic and that might be as far as their ‘support for soccer’ goes outside of following a FIFA WC.
Just as some people only care about the NBA whilst others get fully into the College basketball circuit etc.
It’s not all about snobbery. For some people, it’s allows variety, they take what they want from soccer and from other sports – - there’s no doubt that there’s sufficient soccer product out there globally that there will be people who need never surface for air.
btw – for many people, the local product is not a priority – as it does not have the appeal of ‘tradition/romance/ye olde homeland ties’ as can be attached to following a Man Utd or Inter Milan. Will that change generationally??
July 16th 2009 @ 9:21am
Tom said | July 16th 2009 @ 9:21am | Report comment
I don’t like this tactic of labelling a bunch of people with a perjorative term like ‘euro snob’. Some European football fans might stay away from sheer bloody mindedness but some really try and support the A-league, just find it frustrating to get into. Broad, insulting terms like that run the risk of mixing up the two.
July 16th 2009 @ 9:31am
mahony said | July 16th 2009 @ 9:31am | Report comment
Kurt – you forget that those of us who hail from outside southern Australia who don’t care for Aussie Rules would rather follow the Australian A-League 1st – EPL 2nd – Democratic Repulic of Congo Football League 3rd – Daylight – and then AFL (only if we were chained to a fence at the MCG and made to watch) It is not that we are anti Austrlain sport – let me be clear – we just don’t enjoy your sport. You on the other hand have no choice. So enjoy!
July 16th 2009 @ 10:02am
Ryan Steele said | July 16th 2009 @ 10:02am | Report comment
What a lot of people seem to be missing, in this article, is the fact that it mentions the “Euro-snob” described undermines the Australian competition, but has never been to a game.
How would they know whether they would enjoy it, if they’ve never watched a single match? What gives them a right to criticise something of which they know nothing?
Many football fans follow more than one team. Mike follows three, I follow four, and friends of mine – both here and overseas – follow similar amounts. Even a lot of Aussie Rules fans tend to follow more than one – particularly in South Australia, where the Crows and Power have no SANFL teams.
It’s not frowned upon, and it’s really no different to following teams from separate sporting codes.