Being introverted and overly protective is not an American thing – some Australians have always been like that and most AFL supporters are like that and still see anyone who doesn’t follow or understand AFL as being foreign.

The AFL have a fantastic marketing team who have conditioned their followers from an early age into a cultish following.

Adrian, if you had any sort of courage, any sort of journalistic integrity, you would respond to the criticisms raised in point 2 (amongst other posts here); the hypocrisy and intolerance of your comments is rank.

1) An AFL season can still go ahead because of FIFA World cup, clear and calm heads would remind AFL supporters (I’m one of them) that the required grounds could easily be used for Premiership matches (Etihad stadium, scg, gabba, cairns, tio stadium, geelong, launceston, regional cities, possibly 2nd stadium from Adelaide/Perth). That seems like enough for 4-12 weeks

2) Adrian Musolino stated: “Sadly, we have become the new America: introverted and overly protective.” To label an entire country of 22 million as introverted and overly protective based on some 500 readers comments and the article from news limited newspapers is ridiculous. To then label the entire country of America as introverted and overly protective is prejudice beyond belief, which ties in closely to racial acceptance/tolerance. So our faboulous author has labelled the country as unable to accept an “unaustralian game” and its major sporting event to our country as well as stating our society is one sided, racially motivated and unaccepting of other cultures, despite himself using similar tactics upon labelling us as a new America; “introverted and overley protective.” America probably loves being referred to like that; you are in no position to blatantly label our country into one stereotypical category, take the moral high ground, and employ these stereotypical qualities on a fellow democratic country like that of America.

3) Ultimatley, if our World Cup bid fails, it will be the fault of the most influential. If we fail to convince FIFA, it will be because our FFA officials could not complete the task they set out to do. The voices of the prejudice readers on the Herald Sun, News Limited and the Roar (read comment 698 for confirmation), remains the voices of the minority, who will have very little say as to weather Australia gains the world cup, how the AFL deals with a world cup during their season, or any other related topic. Ultimatley, their opinion will matter little, we should not get sidetracked by those people’s prejudice comments, as we strive to bring a spectacular sporting and cultural event to our nations shores!

the poll questions were stupid and biased from the very beginning.. shit stirring journalism at its best.. the cancellation of a whole season has NEVER EVER EVEEEER been an optiuon, maybe a 6-8 wekk break but in the scheme of things that is NOTHINNNNNG!!!!!!!!!!

Australians care – FIFA can look for another country conducive to cronyism and corruption – try Qatar

Fancy a foreign, corrupt and unelected body telling us that we can’t play a game on ANZAC day??!! What next – no ANZAC Day marches??!!

Talk about playing the race/patriot card for maximum value.

And as for the A-league stinking it up again well what did you honestly expect Soccer fans? Most of you have gone from blaming poor weather to the economic crisis for pathetic crowds that reflect a severe lack of interest in the round ball code. Even the Socceroos struggled to get 20k in to etihad.

Now your telling us that this slump and decline was expected because thats what happened in Japan or America, LOL. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard gloating and bold statements about 20k+ averages from Frank Lowy all the way down to the Soccer fans who roam around this site. I’ll tell you exactly why it is in decline, it is bad, and you all know it but you keep telling otherwise. If you attend a game or watch it on Fox I really can’t tell to much difference from the old NSL other then we don’t have racial crowd riots and players being struck by flares.

Otherwise, Same old stuff really…………………………….

I just reckon, it’s been bublling away for a little bit – - probably because Demetriou was on leave, – - because, seemingly, Gallop making similar comments doesn’t have the same media ‘carry’.

News Ltd knows how to play the 2 main city newspaper market quite well, wouldn’t you think?

hmmm, yum,…..just be enjoying last nights left over pizza for lunch!!

re the benefits “FFA points to upgrades that occurred at the Gabba, Canberra Stadium, the MCG and Hindmarsh in Adelaide, because football was a key sport in the Sydney Olympics, as illustrative of the long-term gains from massive stadium investment.”

MCG – there were none. Major upgrades were 1991-92, and 2002-2005,…..not sure where the FFA suggest the soccer related upgrades happened???

Gabba – one of the 4 stages of the 15 year plan covering 1993-2008 was accelerated to allow a state of readiness in time for the Olympic soccer tourney.

so – it’s a prety feeble case – - – far greater is the benefits that soccer gains from AFL related infrastructures (and NRL of course).

Len Deighton should write a novel about it and then it can be made into a film ala the Bourne Films

Matt Damon can play Ben Buckey.
Anthony Lapaglia can play Demetriou.

Considering Anthony’s a big football man, he will make Demetriou look like the devil incarnate

Can’t wait to see the film.

Mike Sheehan came 6 weeks later, and even came after the radio interviews on Monday and the WAToday article on Satruday of this week.

Sheehan wasn’t the driver of all this – - he actually got in very late……..and yes, his article was, as Phil E Buster states – pretty cringeworthy stuff.

So – back to my question, do you struggle with time lines??

From memmory the last WC was played after the local rugby competitions had finished both here & O/S & was held in Oct-Nov time.
If the ARU would bid for a Rugby World cup now, it would be right in the middle of the A-League season & would require assistance from the A-League for grounds.

It’s amazing to think there was no A-League when the Rugby WC was held in Australia & I never followed a local football team. The NSL was deemed a joke by the local media.

Surely, Demetriou is permitted to suggest a response to all the possibilities, what’s wrong with that??? Buckley now claims it’s not an option they plan to push ahead with……but, afterall, Buckley had let Demetriou believe that he might retain Etihad…..so, don’t believe anything that bunch say!!!

anyway – not much different to how the NRL has spoken of it being unworkable and a thread to clubs.

btw – sporting capital of Australia….who cares. AFL capital certainly. Sydney is thr Rugby capital (which they split in 2 and claimed that made the city more diverse!!!).

you struggle with time lines??

It was a simple reminder that this is where a ‘respected’ soccer journo was taking us back in October.

It’s just words – but, a throw away line like “Effectively, soccer’s rival codes would have to shut down for up to eight weeks”,

no – no emotion in there. Matter of fact. 100% naive.

People have even had a shot at AFL/NRL fear mongering over training venues – - well, guess where it might’ve been sourced from.

Now…..what do you suggest might be Mr.Lynch’s sources…..he certainly quotes Ben Buckley and the FFA an awful lot.

“As crazy as the streets of this city have become in recent years, imagine the mayhem without football to soothe tempers on a weekly basis.Many of us believe the outpouring of emotion at football grounds each week does wonders for the mental health of so many residents in this state.Bring the World Cup here, by all means, but not at any cost.Come on, Andrew, time to do what you do best: dig in, defend the cause, roll out that confident, some say belligerent, attitude that says to hell with the PR and the politics. We’re fighting for a cause, a way of life, here.”

Mike Sheahan – Chief AFL Writer – Herald Sun – December 2009

Melbourne is not the sporting capital of Australia.
It is the AFL Capital of Australia.

The AFL is asking for information about how the bid will effect their season, when it is provided it can hardly accuse the FFA of rattling anyone’s cage or fear mongering when they asked for this information in the first place.

It is pretty obvious that the ARU do not have the same issues with season interruption (super rugby or Int).

Whilst Super 15 season is proposed to spread into other parts of the year, tradtionally June/July is not important for super rugby.

Their test schedule is fluid, particularly the Bledisloe which can be moved around. They are one -off events, can be played in NZ, Japan,etc. Earlier or later in the year, in fact O’Neill is talking about Sept/Oct in coming years.

No big deal compared to the AFL and NRL.

Redb

Some people have picked on the AFL or AFL media for pushing a bit of fear mongering,

I just stumbled back across a Michael Lynch (Age soccer man) article in the Age from Oct 23..

Nice little cage rattling quotes:

THE AFL and National Rugby League will have to shift matches out of Australia’s capital cities for up to eight weeks during the winter of 2018 or 2022 if Australia wins the right to host the World Cup in either of these years.

Under FIFA regulations no major competitions can take place in any city hosting World Cup matches for the duration of the tournament, which lasts four weeks.

and re training venues:

It’s not just during the World Cup proper that soccer would take over the Australian sporting landscape. The NRL and Australian rules would also struggle to host matches in the four weeks leading up to the competition proper in some major cities as other non-matchday venues would be designated as FIFA training grounds, and could not be used for Australian football or league matches during that period.

and

Effectively, soccer’s rival codes would have to shut down for up to eight weeks, or move the bulk of their competitions to rural and regional areas such as Geelong’s Skilled Stadium or Wollongong’s WIN Stadium.

and the best Lynch coulld provide in ‘benefits’ was :
FFA points to upgrades that occurred at the Gabba, Canberra Stadium, the MCG and Hindmarsh in Adelaide, because football was a key sport in the Sydney Olympics, as illustrative of the long-term gains from massive stadium investment.

(wherein we know that the Gabba and MCG in that list are giant furpheys).

- – - – so, soccer journo seems responsible for kicking off the ‘fear and loathing’,

but, he was right on the mark re the FFA wanting Etihad.

and the frankly over optimistic (well, naive and stupid) comment that Effectively, soccer’s rival codes would have to shut down for up to eight weeks, or move the bulk of their competitions to rural and regional areas such as Geelong’s Skilled Stadium or Wollongong’s WIN Stadium.

Really we say?? anywhere from 16-18 teams in each league at…….where??….Skilled Stadium in Geelong…….yup!!!!