Moretti’s truculence jeopardises Australia’s standing in Asia
Roar Guru By Jesse Fink, 16 Oct 2009 Jesse Fink is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Claude Le Roy, football, Gary Moretti, Oman football, Socceroos
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Australian and Oman players clash after Josh Kennedy is knocked down during a FIFA Asian Cup qualifying match, played at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. Australia beat Oman 1-0. AAP Image/Joe Castro
I can’t decide whether Oman coach Claude Le Roy looks like Tom Petty or an aged Joni Mitchell, but there’s no doubting he’s one mightily pissed off dude. And for good reason. Not the fact his valiant Omanis fell victim to another one of Tim Cahill’s get-out-of-jail goals, but because Socceroos team manager Gary Moretti “insulted” him at half-time in Wednesday’s Asian Cup qualifier in Melbourne.
Le Roy wasn’t mincing his words in the post-match presser: “In 30 years I am a coach, I never receive an insult from anybody, but the behaviour of this man at half-time is not of the quality of this country, this team and this staff.
“I am not going to repeat [what Moretti said]. I just wanted to tell you that it’s not at the level of a country like Australia.
“We are not cheaters. I am not liking it when the players [ask for medical assistance] on the field – but it happens only two times in the first half. We were not going to cheat, not to lose time or waste time. I never ask that of my players.”
From the tenor of the comments it’s clear what Le Roy was suggesting Moretti had said – so what the hell was the Australian official doing?
More importantly, why on earth does he need to be on the sideline?
The bloke’s a glorified booker of hotel rooms, for god’s sake. Is he on the technical staff? Does his input affect the course of proceedings?
Or is he like Phil Wolanski, the team’s head of delegation or whatever they’re calling Frank Lowy’s eldest son’s best mate these days, and there presumably just because it makes him look important?
If Moretti can’t keep his mouth shut, he has no business being on the bench. He certainly does not have the remit to be mouthing off to the coach of the Oman national football team. What an embarrassment.
Especially at a time when this country critically needs the support of Arab nations in our quest to bring the Asian Cup and World Cup to our shores.
We have enough image problems overseas without his impertinent observations.
What’s more breathtaking about Le Roy’s allegation, however, is that the same charge of cheating could easily be made against the Socceroos, two members of which Le Roy amusingly (and correctly, in my view) disparaged as “assistant referees” for their habit of persistently whining and hectoring.
There was Tim Cahill complaining to the referee about shirt-pulling during a corner kick when replays showed him literally shoving an Omani to the turf.
Then there was Harry Kewell appealing for a corner when it was clear he had had the last touch.
And how the whole result could have been different had that penalty claim gone against Scott Chipperfield late in the second half when he brought down an Omani without touching the ball. Instead it didn’t and those supposedly cheating Omanis took it with good grace.
The Australians were very, very lucky to get the result. They might not be so lucky with voting for the Asian and World Cups, though, if they continue behaving with such classlessness and tactlessness.
Recommend this story.
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- Claude Le Roy, football, Gary Moretti, Oman football, Socceroos
October 16th 2009 @ 8:54am
Manfred the Milko said | October 16th 2009 @ 8:54am | Report comment
Das ist korrect Finkster !
Great article – what is this Moretti fool doing ?
Zis incident, ze corrupt 12th licence decision, and other “anti-Asian” FFA actions are dooming ze World Cup bid.
Rale foned me yesterday and he ist dumbfounded too.
Rale wants to know why Moretti wears pink shirt ? “He cannot be football man” said ze professor.
What does FFA media man Adam Mark has to say about zis ?
Will there be a “joint statement” … where ist Mersiades ? Where ist Lowy ?
Disgraceful ….
October 16th 2009 @ 8:59am
sledgeross said | October 16th 2009 @ 8:59am | Report comment
Did Le Roy disparage Australia, the Socceroos, or Pim? No, he pointedly made the comment that it was AGAINST the way he believes Australia to be. What right does anyone have to say anything to an opposition coach at half time. Let alone a Neville Nobody with little credibility. Sack him please FFA, we dont need this drama.
If anyone actually bothered to watch the match, Oman did very little simulating compared to some of the other tripe we have seen against other teams. They played in a swashbuskling style that pleasing to the eye and deserved something more than a loss. From what I saw, their players were gracious in defeat as well.
Cahill does get marked hard in teh box, so its a buck each way if he complains I guess. Kewell has been a whinger for the last few years, and it is getting annoying. Harry, you havent had a good game at a decent level in ages, score some goals and stop complaining all the time please. Vidosics direct running caused more problems than Harrys turnovers.
October 16th 2009 @ 12:02pm
FIsher Price said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
Kewell’s always been a whinger.
October 16th 2009 @ 9:13am
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 9:13am | Report comment
Well done Jesse – good piece. Written by a football writer. I might disagree with you on a number of issues, but at least you know something about the game and our place in it.
As a counterpoint – This is the sanctimonious parochial drivel we have to put up with in Melbourne.
This was the lead piece in sports section of The Age this morning by their lead sportswriterwriter – Greg Baum.
In a moment of clarity he writes that ” Critics doubtlessly will say that I do not understand the game”, yet he keeps writng about it.
I present the article in full below.
“Time to vote with the feet – and keep them”
ONE DAY at the MCG, many years ago, the great West Indian Viv Richards hooked at a bouncer from Australia’s Rodney Hogg, missed and was struck a fearful-looking blow to the head. It was unprotected, except for a cloth cap. The crowd gasped. Richards did not flinch, did not reach for the traumatised spot, did not even shake his head, but took block again. The next ball, another bouncer, he clouted for six.
That was chalk. Cheese was Wednesday night’s soccer international at Etihad Stadium, in which – all too familiarly – a physically affronted player would spin, crumple and then lie prone, as if picked off from the grassy mound, bringing play to a screeching halt. Mostly, long before the ambulance and the police escort could be arranged, he would make a Lazarus-like recovery.
The Omanis were more prone, so to speak, provoking an apparently intemperate outburst from Australian team manager Garry Moretti to Oman coach Claude Le Roy at half-time. The trouble for Moretti was that Australia was standing not so much on high moral ground as thin ice. When necessary, Australians can roll, twist and writhe as well as any other. At one point, Josh Kennedy needed only a cross to turn Etihad Stadium into Calvary at sunset.
Australians admired Richards, and were inspired by him, too. In most sporting endeavours, it is something of a proud Australian tradition not to betray even acute pain. A batsman, when struck, will not rub the sore spot. A heavily tackled footballer will gasp for a moment, then stoically carry on. A tennis player will not call for the trainer until his leg begins to detach.
The thinking is not necessarily profound. It’s about machismo, about the mental battle, about projecting a sense of indestructibility, about not admitting to your opponent that he has had even a moral victory. It is probably more reckless than it is wise. But it is us.
And it is why many Australians who have warmed to soccer in this, its first golden age in this country, still are bemused by – even contemptuous of – the apparent frailty of so many soccer players, including Socceroos. They see it as antithetical to their idea of sport.
They cannot dispel the suspicion that some of these apparent axe murders are no more than elaborate but tired tactical ploys, meant either to slow down the game or draw a sanction for an opponent. And they cannot help but think that all these boys crying wolf cruel it for the player who is genuinely injured.
Here, the Socceroos have the chance to make a virtue of a vice. They could establish themselves as the team that plays the game, but not games. They could as a matter of policy make light of glancing slights and blows. They could, uniquely among soccer-playing nations, resolve to get on with the game.
It would not be easy. No one doubts that an ankle clipped at pace hurts as if stabbed. No one doubts that sliding studs can inflict eye-watering pain. No one doubts a rough body check can have the effect of a rugby tackle.
What they do doubt is that minutes later, the pain is still so unrelievedly excruciating that the victim is lying inert on the turf, hair arranged just so, or else clutching for several body parts at once, as if unable to remember which was supposed nearly to have been severed, meantime wincing dramatically, but with a half-open eye cocked towards the referee to make sure that he is watching.
What they do doubt is that some of these clashes hurt any more than, for instance, the ball does when a defender blocks a thumping shot at close range, or heads it out of the skies. On Wednesday night, Omani goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi made a save when the ball struck him in the head. Though he must have seen stars, he did not even wince, let alone collapse for the camera; there was still a goal to be saved.
Critics doubtlessly will say that I do not understand the game. They ought to consider this: much as the Socceroos are striving to impress the world, they are still tasked with trying to impress Australia. Much ground has been gained, but much has still to be made; the barely passable crowd on Wednesday night says as much. Australia is an earnest and honest team, but despite the yellow shirts, it is not like watching Brazil, not yet.
It is not enough to say Australia must accustom itself to the world game; the world game must also adapt to Australia. It must be a game with which all Australian can identify. It has shown a willingness already, for instance, in the format of the A-League, which meshes league and knock-out competitions in a way would be a curio elsewhere in the world, but makes sense here.
Mostly, Australians prefer their sporting representatives to be hard, robust, impervious to pain. The Socceroos have a chance to take a stance. Upright.
October 16th 2009 @ 9:32am
AndyRoo said | October 16th 2009 @ 9:32am | Report comment
Art
It hurts to read people who aren’t football people criticise our game but a lot of his points are valid and it read to me as constructive criticism. It doesn’t mean we have to change but I actually agree with his jist and that is a truth for a lot of Australians. And he actually shows some understanding (he gave credit to Ali Al Habsi and to the A league’s anti diving rule)
Once you watch a lot of football you get desensitised to it but I wouldn’t mind that much if our players picked themselves up after the initial fall.
October 16th 2009 @ 9:39am
Elbusto said | October 16th 2009 @ 9:39am | Report comment
Thearticle is inaacurate – it was Lenny Pascoe that bowled the ball to Viv Richards. He could not even get that right.
October 16th 2009 @ 9:46am
James said | October 16th 2009 @ 9:46am | Report comment
Art you are a dill. This is what the Age’s chief soccer writer Michael Lynch said just yesterday in defense of Baum from dimwits like you:
“Greg Baum is a Walkley Award winning sports writer and rated by his peers (including me) as one of the top sports columnists in this country.
Greg is a huge football fan. But he writes it as he sees it. We as journalists are not here to provide pump up positivity. We are not part of the marketing or promotional arm of the FFA or anyone else for that matter. If increased coverage of the game helps it grow, that’s fantastic. But our first responsibility is to our craft and professionalism, and if that means criticising an aspect of the game, so be it. Greg is one of the best in the business.”
Michael Lynch
http://blogs.theage.com.au/sport/archives/2009/10/live_blog_the_o.html?page=2#comments
October 16th 2009 @ 9:50am
AndyRoo said | October 16th 2009 @ 9:50am | Report comment
Art is not a Dill, it’s just a natural reaction for football fans who have so long seen their game attacked by hacks that they are defensive of outsiders.
Greg’s piece was a good one though
October 16th 2009 @ 10:03am
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 10:03am | Report comment
Did any of you watch the game.
1. The were only two times that the Omani players called for treatment. One was when Emerton crunched a player with a studs up challenge. The other was when the Omani player fell on a players heel as he fell down. The Omanis, unlike other sides that have come here, did not use any time wasting tactics during the game. Just get that straight.
2. Using other sports to denigrate another is lazy journalism. He makes out cricket and AFL to be above football.
So why doesn’t Baum highlight – the Australian cricket team unnecessary appealing for wickets that are not there or AFL players constantly staging for free kicks.
The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Baum is a sports columninst he is not a football writer – there is a difference, he should take his barrow and push it somewhere else.
October 16th 2009 @ 10:07am
AndyRoo said | October 16th 2009 @ 10:07am | Report comment
Off the ball there were a fair few omani’s laying on the ground but it rarely worked for them. Australia didn’t do the normal thing of kicking the ball out and instead just played on and the ref didn’t blow the whistle to stop either.
That’s why it didn’t delay the game but they were trying.
October 16th 2009 @ 11:07am
md said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:07am | Report comment
I think the main point behind a of a lot of complainants is that both players were instantly ready to come on, the moment they reached the sidelines. Nobody is questioning the existence of the fouls. The ref generally called them pretty well I thought. Similarly, nobody has a problem with the game being stopped if you are injured and cannot play on or are in genuine need of treatment. None of the guys from Oman were close to that. A bit of a drink and a pat from the physio and they are suddenly ready to go. It’s unsportsmanlike. It’s unmanly.
Whether it’s un’Oman-ly is up for debate.
Cheers
md
October 16th 2009 @ 10:33am
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 10:33am | Report comment
James – Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature but I heard his articles about football weren’t much chop either
Are you suggesting that every article written be Greg Baum must be excellent because he won an Award.
Give me a break, that is such a weak argument. Who’s the dill?
October 16th 2009 @ 11:58am
James said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:58am | Report comment
“Are you suggesting that every article written be Greg Baum must be excellent because he won an Award.”
No, but he is far better then most.
“This is the sanctimonious parochial drivel we have to put up with in Melbourne.”
This was your line that peeved me off. If you are interested only in hearing biased opinions on your sport, then I suggest you wrap yourself up in cotton wool and permanantly point your website to The World Game where you will always be able to read opinions on why your sport is the greatest in the world. Baum writes on many articles and most of the time he is right on the money
October 16th 2009 @ 12:19pm
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:19pm | Report comment
James – you don’t understand do you. As I have noted later in the thread. I think that Baum is a capable Aussie Rules and Cricket writer. Its just that he does not quite understand how the world game works. Its all black and white to him. Thats the problem. The game will forever be grey.
Please read the contributions from myself and others on this subject on this thread.
It might shed some light for you.
October 16th 2009 @ 11:04am
Robbos said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:04am | Report comment
James,
Greg may be a Walkley award winner & a football fan, BTW, I have no idea who he is or what sport he follows.
But reading this article shows me he knows very little about int’l sport or cultures & from that I deduct he is an AFL sports writer.
Yes, diving is a blight on our great game & doesn’t hold well against our more macho popular football codes in Australia. But this article certainly lost me, yes he ‘doesn’t understand the game’. This is the WORLD game & it has many different cultures playing the game (see problems between Australia & India in cricket for example), what is acceptable in one country may not be acceptable in another.
The WORLD game has nothing to prove in Australia. While he comments that most Australians ‘prefer their sporting representatives to be hard, robust, impervious to pain’. Most countries regard Australia’s playing style as being Hard & robust & lacking in the technical beauty of the game.
As for his comment about Brazil, yes Australia is no Brazil, but this is the WORLD game. If Tennis was ONLY played in
countries where some of other football codes exist (ie Australia, New Zealand, England) Lleyton Hewitt would’ve been the best Tennis player in the world for the last 8 years.
As I said earlier he may be an acomplish writer, but he is talking rubbish here.
October 16th 2009 @ 11:16am
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:16am | Report comment
Robbos – thanks for your timely post.
FYI – Greg Baum is the lead sports columinst for the Melbourne Age.
He can also be heard on ABC Radio Melbourne during the Aussie Rules season giving his expert opinions on the game. I actually don’t mind reading and hearing his opinions on sports like cricket and Aussie Rules, but unfortunately he has a lack of understanding when it comes to the world game.
October 16th 2009 @ 12:11pm
James said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
I actually agree with some of your points (your Caps Lock seems to get stuck on the word “world” however).
However, just becuase falling over like a bunch of girls is the norm for the sport overseeas, it does not mean that it has to occur here. We all know that the soccer skills in this country are deploreable. If we did not have our hard edge to try and make up for this, we would be ranked alongside with the Pacific Islands.
I still think the Baum piece was well written. Consider this phrase:
“It is not enough to say Australia must accustom itself to the world game; the world game must also adapt to Australia. It must be a game with which all Australians can identify”
Now you may think when he says that “the world game must also adapt to Australia.” he is off on another planet, but if you ever want your support to succeed and achieve credibility on par with the AFL and the NRL, well I can tell you that will NEVER happen unless soccer in THIS country becomes “a game with which all Australians can identify”
October 16th 2009 @ 4:22pm
Robbos said | October 16th 2009 @ 4:22pm | Report comment
James,
I fully understand the diving & play acting is hard to accept when you see some player knocked senseless & that same player tries to get back into play in other sports in this country. I quoted that myself that it’sa bligh on our game.
However, what you & Greg Baum fail to understand is the different cultures involved in football. Now I’m not sure what sport you follow, but if it’s RL/RU, the best example would be if a foreign referee was giving the opposition a very skinny 10 metres (more like 5 metres) in defence in RL or the opposition was continually offside in defence & was being picked up would you not follow suit to take the same advantage.
So if a referee was being bluffed into giving free kicks & penalties by the opposition by diving & play acting, would you not try to do the same?
See whatever your sport you follow, the cultures don’t differ too greatly due to the small amout of countries playing your sport. If you follow AFL you have totally no idea, because there is only 1 culture.
October 16th 2009 @ 4:33pm
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 4:33pm | Report comment
Robbos diving and staging has been a problem in AFL for years.
This was in todays Herald Sun –
THE AFL’s proposed crackdown on players who stage for free kicks has gained strong club support, with the league determined to stamp out “divers”.
Blatant examples involving Hawthorn’s Lance Franklin and Collingwood’s Alan Didak this year have been highlighted by rival clubs, who have told the AFL the issue is well worth addressing.
This is the link to full article
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-crackdown-on-players-staging-for-free-kicks/story-e6frf9jf-1225787339936
You can’t help but laugh. Oh the irony!!
October 16th 2009 @ 4:44pm
Pippinu said | October 16th 2009 @ 4:44pm | Report comment
Yes – staging for frees has always existed in aussie rules.
A common cry from the crowd over the years has been: Give him an academy!!
The most common example is accentuating contact to the back by thrusting oneself fowrad.
Another is to hold your head if it has been brushed by someone’s hand.
A personal favourite of mine when playing in non-Aussie rules states was to push the ball forward, not take possession, await the inevitable tug of the jumper, then throw my hands back, as if to say, whoah, ump, this bloke is holding onto me!!!
Set shot from 35 metres, pack up your lollies, easy goal.
But sports fans the world over understand the concept of getting the official’s attention if you have ben truly infringed.
The Australian fan can be accepting of that, but is less accepting of players going to ground with minimal contact, and staying there for an eternity.
Now – we understand how boot to foot/leg contact can be quite painful – the tricky part is untangling that from the going to ground to waste time efforts – we know it happens – and we should all rightly take a dim view of it.
For me, that’s pretty much in the same category of running to the corner flag late in the game – they are both scourges – especially if your team is losing!!!
October 16th 2009 @ 4:50pm
James said | October 16th 2009 @ 4:50pm | Report comment
I follow AFL and yes there are elements in the game now where diving occurs (Matthew Lloyd was the best at it). Hopefully they stamp it out. I am not criticising the world game, I am just defending the Baum article for the sole reason because he is not a soccer scribe, just a highly credible and respected journalist who calls it how HE sees it. And all he said what that for soccer to prosper in this country will require a cultural change.
October 16th 2009 @ 4:54pm
AndyRoo said | October 16th 2009 @ 4:54pm | Report comment
If one was cynical (obviously not me) one could argue that by being largely honest that when you cheat it’s much more effective.
Start Rolling on the turf from the 1st minute and you lose credibility, but if your picking yourself up a little gingerly after some clashes in the middle of the park, when you do stay down because they clearly missed the ball and you know the ref saw it, it must have been a really bad challenge.
October 16th 2009 @ 5:16pm
Robbos said | October 16th 2009 @ 5:16pm | Report comment
Again you are not understanding the varying cultures involved nor is Mr Baum.
Maybe you understand cricket.
Against India;
What Australians call sledging & gamemanship is called insulting & racist to the Indians.
What Indians call gamesmanship is called Cheating by the Australians.
In football, Maradona is revered for the cunninginess of deceiving the Ref in the ‘hand of God’. In England he is hated for being a cheating so so.
Please try to understand.
As for Australia not being that good at football, we punch well above our weight for a nation that really is a 3rd world nation in the football world, though growing fast.
This is also an issue Mr Baum brings up but has no idea on because mainly the sports Australia do well in have little int’l flavour or none in your case. This gives us a very huge sense of self importance.
Just compare swimming to athletics in our performances in world events to understand the difference between a sport where only a few compete compared to the most of the world.
October 16th 2009 @ 9:19am
AndyRoo said | October 16th 2009 @ 9:19am | Report comment
Like Mick I think your doing Le Roy and Oman a disservice, that first 45 mins showed they were here to play. They were very positive for any away team and I found the comments from the Socceroos after the game about Oman being defensive a bit perplexing.
I will say there was a lot of “injured” Omanis laying on the turf but the fact the ref or the Socceroos didn’t stop the game meant it didn’t effect the game. Didn’t mean the Omanis weren’t trying.
I thought It was a good sign that the Socceroos no longer lose their nut at that little gamesmanship…and then we find out the team manager couldn’t control himself.
All said a bit of a storm in a tea cup and if something like this really does effect our world cup bid then we were stuffed anyway. Wouldn’t be hard to make a case against all the nations bidding for the world cup (Uk crowd behavior for e.g.) if we are this precious.
October 16th 2009 @ 10:40am
Pippinu said | October 16th 2009 @ 10:40am | Report comment
1. I agree with most of what Jesse has written.
2. The only problem I have with Greg Baum’s article is, as Art says, I don’t think the Omanis laid it on at all – I reckon they were fantastic in that first half – and made us look silly. But I also agree with Michael Lynch’s blog – it’s actually a very well written article, and raises legitimate questions about Australians, our association with sport, our culture – these are legitimate questions – people would be silly to dismiss these sorts of observations.
3. In terms of Greg Baum’s hope that the Socceroos will be different – that hope is well and truly lost – we won’t be, and can’t afford to be in all honesty – we have to compete with the rest of the world. But his right that large segments of the Australian population may ultimately not accept that.
October 16th 2009 @ 10:52am
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 10:52am | Report comment
Pip – what annoys me is that people like Greg get on their high horse and denigrate aspects of the game and state its “un-Australian”to partake in some of the more unseemly aspects in the pursuit to win a game of football.
Their have been plenty of Viv Richards moments in football by he does not want to even mention any.
However, its completely Australian to appeal for wickets that are not there, to put pressure on cricket umpires and to sledge opponents when trying to win a game of cricket. We are the masters of it.
As I said – the hypocrisy is breathtaking.
October 16th 2009 @ 12:40pm
dasilva said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:40pm | Report comment
“Their have been plenty of Viv Richards moments in football by he does not want to even mention any.”
Yeah, wasn’t there a situation where Beckanbaur played with a sling?
Also Terry Butcher in a world cup qualifier suffered a deep cut to his forehead early in the game. Butcher had some impromptu stitches inserted by the physiotherapist and, swathed in bandages, continued playing. His constant heading of the ball – unavoidable when playing in the centre of defence – disintegrated the bandages and reopened the cut to the extent that his white England shirt was entirely red by the end of the game.
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/02_01/ButcherBloodACTION_228x367.jpg
Now that’s bloody bravery there from Terry Butcher. He may not be the greatest coach in the world but you can’t say he lacked heart or fighting spirit.
October 16th 2009 @ 10:58am
Pippinu said | October 16th 2009 @ 10:58am | Report comment
Art
there’s no doubting a level of hypocrisy there.
But we all know that many Australians don’t like that aspect of the game – rightly or wrongly – and I can only assume it’s because of our more widespread exposure to more physical forms of football (I’m only guessing, I don’t know).
But at the sociological level, there is something in the general Australian psyche that makes us less predisposed to such elements (perhaps shared with the Americans).
Do all professioonal sports people occasionally try and get an advantage for themselves? Yes.
Do Australians appear less forgiving about wogs doing it on a football pitch? Yes!!!!
October 16th 2009 @ 11:21am
AndyRoo said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:21am | Report comment
Art
You have to toughen up now…. you know when the World Cup is on it brings out the Patrick Smiths, Peter Fitzsimons, Rebecca Wilsons on mass to feel qualified to write a piece.
Brace yourself, after they have finished sharing their opionions we will be pining for Greg Baum
October 16th 2009 @ 12:14pm
James said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:14pm | Report comment
Be thankful that there are people writing opinion pieces (with the exception of Rebecca Wilson) to give your game the exposure you so desperately crave
October 16th 2009 @ 1:09pm
Pippinu said | October 16th 2009 @ 1:09pm | Report comment
Speaking of Patrick Smith – here is his take on the Farina matter:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26215495-12270,00.html
October 16th 2009 @ 3:44pm
Eddie said | October 16th 2009 @ 3:44pm | Report comment
I won’t not after he wrote this at the last World Cup “One peculiarity of soccer grounds is that they have no scoreboard or clock, leaving fans to do their own calculations”.
October 16th 2009 @ 10:58am
AndyRoo said | October 16th 2009 @ 10:58am | Report comment
Art
There are heaps of negative articles written about what happens in a Cricket match, but they generally come out during cricket season.
Over appealing, claiming catches etc etc get plenty of attention
Flooding in AFL
Boring play and kickathons in Rugby
Rugby League (enough said)
Greg’s article was better than some on TWG and they are Football writers!
Diving, overplaying injuries, claiming the ball when you kicked it out all rub a fair amount of Australians the wrong way.
As critiques go it wasn’t that bad, it’s alot more mature than critiques of the past that came from such pure ignorance it was disgusting journalism.
October 16th 2009 @ 11:05am
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:05am | Report comment
Andy – as Pip quite succinctly put it -
” Do Australians appear less forgiving about wogs doing it on a football pitch? Yes!!!!”
Here endeth the lesson
October 16th 2009 @ 11:09am
AndyRoo said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:09am | Report comment
But at least it seems he watched the whole game. That’s a step up from the past
I don’t think people like Greg would ever be satisfied becasue I don’t mind players letting gravity take it’s course if they are impeded but I do like it when our guys get straight back up.
To me it’s a sign of weakness to be rolling arround like your dying. Football is a mans game would be the sledge in the local park.
October 16th 2009 @ 11:27am
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:27am | Report comment
Andy – we are 1-0 up against Brazil late in the game at the WC. We are on the verge of a historic victory.
They are all over us like the plague. The pressue on our goal is unrelenting.
An Australian player goes down under a challenge.
Do you expect him
1) Get up straight away and say to the Brazilian – “look at me I’m a man!” and then proceed to beat his chest and proceed to play on at the earliest possible moment.
2) Take his time getting up and wind down the clock as much as possibe.
We end up winning the game, the whole country is celebrating, but Greg Baum will lament in some holier than thou way that we did not deserve to win because we tried to waste time
October 16th 2009 @ 11:31am
AndyRoo said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:31am | Report comment
I wouldn’t care what Greg Baum thought becasue I wouldn’t be in a state to read anything for a couple of days if that Scenario plays out
October 16th 2009 @ 11:22am
bj said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:22am | Report comment
Kewell got himself in enough trouble with officialdom at the last wld cup
October 16th 2009 @ 11:40am
Pippinu said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:40am | Report comment
Yeh – but that German git deserved the tongue lashing!!
October 16th 2009 @ 12:17pm
FIsher Price said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:17pm | Report comment
And Kewell should have been suspended. Petulant, overrated ‘git’.
October 16th 2009 @ 11:56am
Pippinu said | October 16th 2009 @ 11:56am | Report comment
I now have the hard copy of the Age in front of me, you can sometimes glean a bit more from the hard copy than what’s visible on the online version.
The front page of the sports lift out is basically advertising Baum’s opinion piece (on pages 2 and 3), but guess what the picture is?
It’s from the last WC, Aust vs Italy, with the Spanish ref pointing to the spot, Neill asking: “who, me?”; and Grosso crumpled up on the turf in the foetal position.
The headline is: Stand & Deliver: Greg Baum calls on the Socceroos to buck the worldwide trend of diving and feigning injury.
The tagline at the top of the opinion piece has a play on words: Time to vote with the feet – and keep them.
In terms of keeping our feet, it’s an expression we often use in aussie rules – but it can also have equal application in soccer.
Take the photo of Neill and Grosso – and this is where this whole debate becomes quite tricky – it was Neill who committed the mortal sin of not keeping his feet – Grosso merely accepted the invitation that was offered (as any smart professional would have done).
The other tricky bit, is that as Australians (for a variety of reasons), we are likely to look down on Grosso’s efforts in that final minute of play, even view it as unmanly.
But – replay that final play – who was the one showing some old fashioned G&D (when dead on his feet having played with 10 men for a fair whack of the game)? Who failed to show a bit of grit when the ball was there to be won in a 50/50 contest for the ball? Who let Grosso skip away with the ball a little bit too easily (and fell to the ground himself in his pathetic attempts to defend the wing).
These sorts of things are never so cut and dry.
October 16th 2009 @ 12:09pm
Art Sapphire said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
I knew you would pipe up Pip as soon as you saw the actual newspaper.
How ironic that they used the that photo.
This is why I shake my head at time in wonderment.
What if an Australian player had shown the same gut busting initiative as Grosso and won a penalty for Australia?
If Timmy or Harry where given that invitation by an Italian player they would have done the same.
Football is a moral and ethical battleground. That is the beauty of the game and what makes it so fascinating.
This is why simpletons have such a hard time grasping it and want to make it so black and white.
As Camus said – “All I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football”
October 16th 2009 @ 12:22pm
Pippinu said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:22pm | Report comment
That’s a great line from Camus.
As in life, we are less likely to argue if the cards are falling our way!!
With the Greg Baum piece – this is a slow burn issue that is going to arise in the Australian media – perhaps forever.
And to be honest, it’s understandable – that’s our sporting context.
But as for the timing of this particular piece – I reckon the game the other night was actually a very poor example of what Baum is arguing (as you’ve said), so my guess is that he had an article substantially written awaiting the shenanigans (as we saw in the Asian Cup) – but they didn’t actually arrive!! (well, not to the extent that he would have hoped)
October 16th 2009 @ 12:11pm
Greg said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
A good article Jesse, and an enjoyable discussion.
Oman were successful in disrupting our rythme by staying down, but thats life on a football pitch. Iran did the same in 1997 by each team member systematically fouling our players and each receiving a yellow card. Successful tactics. Uruguary tried to put us off in 2005 by repeatedly questioning the air pressure in the match balls at the start of the match. All such tactics worked and did put us off.
We need to be professional enough not to be put off our game by such tactics. At this stage we are not.
Mr Moretti got a severe rebuke from Le Roy, and lets all hope he got an even more severe tongue lashing from his bosses at FFA. What a tool.
October 16th 2009 @ 12:23pm
Pippinu said | October 16th 2009 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
Greg
are you Greg Baum?