The J League numbers are good, don’t get me wrong. They’re close to the all-time record for attendance. But football, and sport in general, is not part of the culture like it is in Australia. So even if you have a population disadvantage, the interest in sport relative to the population is significantly higher in Australia and somewhat easier to market to. If Australian football is having problems I’d say it has more to do with the strangehold that ARL and NRL have on domestic sport in Aussie.

Is it wrong that I get a guilty pleasure from the thought that should set them back a bit? They are competitors after all.
I don’t want too see Japan or Korea face such a mess because their success helps us somewhat (they will provide 2/3 of our group opponents in the ACL)

Good lesson for all those calling for the cap to be thrown out.

AndyRoo, I know a Gibbo that’s from New Zealand. Guess it’s a Southern Hemisphere thing!

Kashima also had a stoop in form, let’s not forget. Everyone has, at some point in the season.
Everyone thinks Inukai is a Reds fan… wouldn’t that mean if match tampering were in place, it would give Urawa at least a slight upper-hand?

The A-League clubs are run as franchises, which means it could never be at a high standard, until the FFA releases their death grip on each club. And we know that won’t happen until all the clubs are foolproof from financial trouble (or at least as far from it as possible). That’s a long way away.

I think the aim is to make the A-League as strong as the J. League, in terms of AFC ranking/pulling power.
The closer we are to individuality for each club, the more power the league holds. The more money, the more power. Et cetera, et cetera. We know how it works.

Refereeing isn’t at the best standard, here, but it’s getting better as time goes along. So long as the FFA and clubs work on referee and coaching education respectively, we should be on the steady rise to great heights. One hopes.

By the way, looks like we were both pretty wrong, about the ACL. I won’t have my Nagoya v Bunyodkor final, and Kawasaki didn’t make it through… and Pohang? What a story that’s become.

One of the good things about the J-League is that even without a salary cap there less disparity in the wealth of clubs as opposed to the Uzbek example. Were we to get rid of the cap would we tend towards a J-League result or an Uzbek League? I’m sure Clive Palmer has an idea.

I can’t imagine being in down town Beijing and overhearing two locals greeting each other with “ni hao Gibbo”

That would be a head turner

i reckon its a horses for courses situation… i love the finals in afl footy – that games should be all about the strength to rise to the challenge, and the ability to will your way to victory against whatever odds, triumphing over the enemy on that given day. This lends itself to a one off match which determines the team to be covered in glory. Football, however, is about poise, touch and skill and the emphasis should be on sustained excellence throughout a campaign, rather than an opportunity for a team to come from 6th to take it out. The team celebrated should be the one who demonstrated the most excellence over the season.

Finals dont sit right with me in the a-league, and no matter how much i love the afl festivities on the last day in september it wont change that.

now i gotta go point percy at the porcelain. Hooroo.

I was never a fan and thought it hurts the regular season but the top 4 grew on me (top 6 is stretching it to far). At least with the ACL qualification the regular season means a lot more than in the other codes.