New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert, left, and captain Ryan Nelsen reacts after their team's 1-0 win over Bahrain in the World Cup qualifying playoff second leg soccer match at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/NZPA, Ross Setford)
I’m still shaking my head in disbelief at the astonishing attack on Football Federation Australia made in New Zealand’s Sunday Times yesterday. In the article, writer Simon Plumb implores readers not to “hold your breath waiting for an annual Socceroos-All Whites clash – the arrogant Aussies don’t want to know about it.”
“Despite agreeing to a May 24 clash in Melbourne as a pre-World Cup friendly, Football Federation Australia officials are not interested in creating a Bledisloe Cup-styled regular encounter.
“The FFA are content to use New Zealand’s only A-League franchise, the Phoenix, as a convenient cash cow but when it comes to providing Kiwi soccer fans with an annual trans-Tasman clash, the prospect is falling on deaf ears.”
Now I realise Sunday News has a similar reputation to The Daily Telegraph, and I’d hate to come across as an arrogant or even irritating Aussie, but that doesn’t mean that hyperbole laden articles that are based on tenuous arguments should go unchallenged.
For their part, when asked whether its realistic for Australia and New Zealand to discuss a regular fixture between the two countries, an FFA spokesperson responded with a trite, “Not realistic at all. Football is an international game and a very different proposition to rugby and cricket.”
While FFA would do well to choose their words better when referring to competitive codes, it’s a reasonable point.
It goes without saying, or at least I thought it did, that football is a much more global game than any of the other codes played by Australia and New Zealand. That means the context in which football sides from both nations would meet is entirely different.
The Wallabies and All Blacks play against each other so often because it’s difficult to find top class opposition beyond a handful of nations. The same can be said, albeit to different degrees, for league and cricket.
This isn’t the case with football and it is in both nations interests for our national teams to be continuously exposed to high-class opposition of varying styles. Which isn’t something that would be achieved by an annual ANZAC fixture.
So FFA needs to work within that environment to protect and develop the game in Australia. Their job isn’t “providing Kiwi soccer fans with an annual trans-Tasman clash” as Plumb might have you believe.
Sunday News is also unhappy with FFA’s monopoly over their OWN finals series and that when it comes to gate receipts, “FFA pockets the lot”.
In truth there is a problem with a finals series in which clubs lose money by competing in it.
It’s not so much who pockets gate receipts (or makes up the difference as in Gold Coast last week) but the lack of any form of prize money that is the issue and Sunday News would do well not to get the problem mixed up in a farcical Australian agenda against Wellington Phoenix.
Still here’s another agenda for you: FFA stops supporting New Zealand football and lets the game rot away in Oceania without any local professional football.
The All Whites will enjoy their moment in the sun come South Africa this year but it’ll be a tough ask for them to make it to another World Cup in the near future.
I don’t for a second propose this, in fact just last Friday I wrote about how each nation can, and must, continue to support one another’s football development, but there are those who have.
While many are grateful for the Phoenix’s presence in the A-League and are enjoying New Zealand football’s mild renaissance, rash articles like Plumb’s work against all those interested in trans-Tasman development.
Plumb finishes his article by quoting Football NZ boss Michael Glading’s support for an annual fixture between our two nations but claiming that “it looks like (Glading’s) words will be falling on deaf ears.”
Well, good. Lets hope they do.
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David said | March 1st 2010 @ 5:51am | Report comment
PWFC are great for the A-league they have a growing and potentially large fan base providing our FFA with a good income and bettering NZ football ie they qualified for the World cup and have a fully professional league to develop players.
The friendly with the Kiwis in Melbourne is a massive let down to the fans, we were told we would get England, Croatia, Brazil or Argentina you can expect fans to be disappointed when they expected to see Lampard and instead they are going to see Smelts.
Also Australia is playing two European teams and one African the chances of Australia playing an Oceanic team (NZ) is remote. Most fans who know anything about football know adapting to opposition styles is difficult NZ have no pattern of similarity to our WC opponents
That being said an annual match with the Kiwis is a good idea. I think every pre-season should have A-league/Asia based boys playing against the Kiwi national team. Its important that our domestic-roos improves and get some international experience with teams at their level.
Davidde Corran said | March 1st 2010 @ 1:07pm | Report comment
David, I never heard anything about England, Brazil or Argentina or any such countries. I can tell you that I spoke to FFA as far back as September last year before they had approached any countries about the fixture and top of their list was Croatia (who looked like they wouldn’t qualify). They were only ever going to approach national teams who didn’t qualify for South Africa. Hence when Croatia fell through they approached Turkey (and apparently Russia but I don’t know if that is true).
The Turkey decision is interesting as it shows up the “agreement” between FFA and Turkey as exactly what it is: a misdirected attempt which is only taken seriously by one of the parties and was thought up by a former AFL administrator with an AFL mentality. What is the point of having such an agreement if when an ideal opportunity like this arises Turkey aren’t interested.
These sorts of agreements aren’t generally signed in world football where you have over 200 nations to choose from. The only similar example I can think of is South Korea and Japan who have a history of playing these games together yet it is still a bad idea for them.
David said | March 1st 2010 @ 5:21pm | Report comment
Fair enough but I’m 110% that there was talking in the Melbourne Herald Sun and The Age that the FFA was going to try get a big name team to send off our socceroos at the MCG and the were all nations mentioned. I can understand if we were unable to come to an agreement with these national teams to play against us at home but you cant expect fans to not feel let down.
Sydney gets the Holland game when Melbourne gets NZ Melbourne fans are ‘p****d off’ to say the least don’t sugar coat it mate everyone I’ve talked to say this its a joke and they would rather go watch other codes over a poor quality international, no offence but i doubt the stadium will be half full matter of fact i assure youi wont.
You can’t expect the everyday socceroos fan to pay $50 on a work night to watch 79th team in the world play our socceroos.
Melbourne Supporters aren’t stupid, i know about 60 people that don’t support the A-league because the quality is poor and Melbourne Victory is the best team in the league (historically).
Aus V Oman game is another example 20k we don’t want poor quality opposition down here opposed to the Aus v Jap (dead rubber) which got well over 70K.
No offence to the Kiwis but the FFA has let down the socceroos supporters in Melbourne and anyone who knows anything about football knows that, as a fan I have to say I’m bitterly disappointed that this is our send off match. We should play New Zealand but not as a send off match and not with a full squad.
Ora said | March 1st 2010 @ 5:28pm | Report comment
What a spoilt little Brat you sound like, be thankful that the FFA are giving Melbourne a game at all.
Oh and do remember the last time Australia played New Zealand it was hardly a thrashing 1-0 I believe.
get off your high horse and be thankful you have a chance to see your stars play before they head to Africa.
The Kiwis are world cup bound who gives two hoots where they are ranked.
Realistically Australia like New Zealand have next to no chance of lifting the trophy and it seems the rest of the world knows this thats why noone wants to come play Australia at home. To them it’s a meaningless match that they get nothing from.
Australia simply are not as good as you think they are, the world does not hold them on the same pedestal as the average Australian fan. being in the Top 25 of the world doesn’t mean jack, Everyone knows that it is a very small handful of countries that have any chance of taking this trophy. Now take a deep breath suck back the angry tears and buy yourself a ticket.
Ricky J said | March 1st 2010 @ 8:46pm | Report comment
If ticket prices are over $30, then forget my attendance at this game. I’m not going to fork that out for Mulligan and Lochhead. And Australia has an outside chance to do well in South Africa, so we aren’t going to be put down by your comments Ora.
Ora said | March 2nd 2010 @ 7:17am | Report comment
Outside chance your iliving in a fantasy world, Australia has no chance of winning the world cup!
Australia only beat NZ 1-0 in their last encounter they are hardly super powers of world football
Davidde Corran said | March 1st 2010 @ 5:44pm | Report comment
David if the media did in fact misrepresent FFA’s aims then that’s a shame. They were never looking at a truly world name side. More a team which would fill the MCG i.e. tap into the local Greek or Croatian communities.
It’s interesting to hear your take on the game though. I wasn’t trying to sugarcoat it for you though and I will be intrigued to see how it turns out. The one thing I will say though is at least this time we can’t really blame FFA. As far as I know its not their fault and New Zealand was the best they could do.
Good example comparing the Oman and Japan games by the way.
con said | March 1st 2010 @ 6:44pm | Report comment
david you are spot on. you cite a fact i concur with: i also know about 60 football fans that cringe at the words a-league. i also dont think we will even get 30k for this game and if its above $20-$30 and midweek ill expect a terrible turnout. im a football die-hard lover and i dont even think ill be going. when you cite 20k against oman you are spot on, poor team on a poor night with a expensive price. however a low attendance isnt that bad just remember that rugby league world cup semi final drew 15k.
Axel V said | March 1st 2010 @ 6:47pm | Report comment
Melbourne’s last meaningful World Cup game was against Qatar in Feb 2008 (first match of the 1st Group phase of WC Qualifying). This city has the biggest soccer supporter base in Australia and we are fed crumbs. Luckily though we still have the Melbourne Victory and they are worth seeing!
Which reminds me, why is it that Brisbane gets 3 WCQ’ers total meanwhile Perth and Adelaide get 0?
Axel V said | March 1st 2010 @ 6:56pm | Report comment
correction Brisbane had 2*
Melbourne had 2, and Sydney had 3
Adelaide and Perth had 0 and 0
David said | March 1st 2010 @ 8:04pm | Report comment
Well the decision is made and nothing can be done. If anything this match should be played in New Zealand they would at least sell out the stadium and help grow football down there.
We should have played someone else for our farewell match after a Kiwi farewell match. There are over 20 top 50 teams in the world not going to the World cup the excuse we tried and failed doesn’t cut it to me from the FFA.
The World cup is a biggest sporting competition in the world and we are playing three top 30 teams and I know the rankings are questionable but it’s worth mentioning.
That being said an annual match with the all whites is a good idea. If anything we should try and get some sort of a local tournament going on with Indonesia, New Zealand etc like the East Asian Cup South Korea and Japan plays there domestic players to see how they go.
I think we need something to build a domestic-roos squad they are clearly below par on the international scene. Because personally I think our domestic-roos poor performances are hurting the A-league image and hurting out Socceroos image internationally.
Ora said | March 2nd 2010 @ 7:21am | Report comment
David it really is this simple, the rest of the world did not want to play Australia there is no benefit in it for them whatsoever.
I’m not sure how a trans-tasman clash would work as a large chunk of the NZ team is also based overseas and it seems too many of you forget that. It could be interesting though to have a purely A-League or Asian Cup style international tournament to see how all our lads match up against each other
ML said | March 1st 2010 @ 6:49am | Report comment
Davide – the article you refer to is appalling, just a deliberate effort to provoke on the part of the tabloid. You are right to shoot it down, although pleased be advised very few NZ football fans with half a clue about the global nature of football, Fifa windows, the difficulty bringing players around the globe for friendlies (let alone qualifiers) would read this article as anything more than amateur hour provocateurism.
Admittedly, we are more fired about this year’s MCG game than Australian fans, but that is a unique situation – with full squads available and with the pending World Cup creating additional interest.
Davidde Corran said | March 1st 2010 @ 12:59pm | Report comment
Hi ML, I’m glad to hear most NZ football fans cane see that article for what it really is.
While its disappointing that there wont be a World Class team for Australia to play against in the send-off game, May 24th should still be a special celebration for both countries. With these special circumstances I am happy for the game to take place. An annual event not so much…
AA said | March 1st 2010 @ 2:54pm | Report comment
I think I know who this is.
rovingto2011 said | March 1st 2010 @ 7:08am | Report comment
i can’t see the point of committing to a senior NT game every year vs the Kiwis, but maybe something similar to the deal we have with Turkey (where one of our youth team plays).
silly to commit the senior side to play NZ every year, when there are so many other countries out there to play. It would constrict the coaches scheduling too much imo
Mister Football said | March 1st 2010 @ 7:13am | Report comment
“In truth there is a problem with a finals series in which clubs loose money by competing in it.”
That should read “lose”.
GCU fans probably wish that Palmer was a bit more loose with his money.
I think an an annual friendly with NZ, whereby we use our A-League team and/or our U23 team is worth considering.
AndyRoo said | March 1st 2010 @ 8:46am | Report comment
Yes, I think people get to uptight about our schedule. The reality is we have two national teams our Euro Roos and our Asia Roos.
Scheduling is a concern for our Euro Roos, but the Asia Roos could be playing a lot more and it doesn’t need to be an expensive exercise. Work out a cheaper deal with the players association for these games and hold them in places that are currently getting neglected for Socceroo matches.
Griffo said | March 1st 2010 @ 12:17pm | Report comment
It is not a bad suggestion, although the way I can see this working is similar to the agreement FFA has with Turkey where leading up to ANZAC day each year the two countries play friendlies with each other – mostly youth, but hopefully the full international teams every few years. Why could New Zealand football not also participate in this in a round robin series of matches between us and Turkey? Perfect time of the year, good for youth development for all of us.
Who knows, one day we might see the senior national teams compete either here, NZ or in Turkey.
Davidde Corran said | March 1st 2010 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
Thanks Mister Football. Has been changed.
vas said | March 1st 2010 @ 7:26am | Report comment
The idea of an annual clash is good, but only if both teams agree to field their strongest sides. Little interest would be generated by an all A-League clash.
Otherwise, this match should be treated as it is. FFA couldn’t get anyone better than NZ. It’s not disrespect to the Kiwis, but a strong European outfit would have been far better preparation…
stevo said | March 1st 2010 @ 10:47am | Report comment
i think if in a few years nz have a second team and the a-league has settled down on the expansion front an aus v nz clash just using a-leaguers could be a great thing. the kiwis would love the chance to prove themselves against an aussie select and it would give the a-leagueroos a chance to prove they can perform for the socceroos without having to wait for an asian cup qualifier that the euros cant make it back for
country of origin for the a-league maybe?
Hammer said | March 1st 2010 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Thankfully you pointed out the main point in this … that the Sunday News is a worthless rag – you probably however should have gone further and noted that Simon Plumb is a hack … there are far more knowledgable and credentialed football writers in NZ and I am sure they’d feel exactly the same way about this piece of dross as you do …
An annual game between the 2 is unworkable .. the kiwis have a majority of their side playing offshore as well …but like most on here say a game between the A league based players and / or youth games would be beneficial ..
md said | March 1st 2010 @ 9:19am | Report comment
FFA were right to politely decline this one, and the proposal is symptomatic of the fact that New Zealanders see everything through the prism of Rugby.
It wouldn’t work for football; there just isn’t any interest in it on this side of the dutch.
1. We are a top 20 nation (FIFA seasonal ranking variations notwithstanding) and hope to remain so for the rest of our footballing future. We need to play teams that are better than us and/or will sell out Homebush or the MCG, on the few FIFA friendly dates that exist. We need to do that for both financial, fan relations and footballing reasons. You can see from the backlash to the upcoming NZ match that it is a non-starter for Australians.
2. Playing NZ on the non-FIFA dates will mean A-league players only. That might be OK for a few exhibition matches in non footballing areas, but probably won’t cut it in the big cities of either country after about oh, the first time.
3. I cannot think of any top 20 nation that plays the same side every year. This isn’t the EPL, where Spurs play Stevenage every year in preseason. We are not in a position to be the NZFL’s patron. We have a hard enough time keeping our own house in order.
Ben said | March 1st 2010 @ 9:47am | Report comment
The article is hyperbolic nonsense, and nobody is taking it seriously anyway, so why bother responding? If you go to the YF forum you’ll see that every kiwi with any football sense understands the absurdity of its stated assumptions. Move along . . . nothing to see here!
DaMan3000 said | March 1st 2010 @ 12:33pm | Report comment
http://www.yellowfever.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12221
Griffo said | March 1st 2010 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
“Still here’s another agenda for you: FFA stops supporting New Zealand football and lets the game rot away in Oceania without any local professional football.”
Don’t know about rotting away, but I think in the near future the FFA will be asked to make a decision: Oceania or Asia, but not both.
While the AFC using the ‘Nix as a scapegoat is shaky, (it will be easy for the FFA to fit the AFC demands for the ‘Nix to be an ‘Australian’ club), I think it will be good for the FFA to let go of Oceania, and for NZF to stand on it’s own feet more in its own region.
But that article: pure rubbish.
Axel V said | March 1st 2010 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
I think what made this Kiwi writer say what he did is because so many Australians are completely ignorant of New Zealand football(including our writers) and they expect us to beat them 5-0 like we did in the pre-2006 days. The truth is however that New Zealand football has really improved since then and has been catching up to Australia, to say that New Zealand can’t make it to any World Cup’s without Australia is quite disrespectful.
After Australia’s place in the World Cup was secure, I was very interested in turning my attention to how other nations are going to keep myself occupied, when I looked at the Oceania region, I saw that New Zealand would NOT be playing 5th place South America, but instead 3rd place playoff from Asia, which was very doable. The New Zealand national team is a mixture of Wellington Phoenix players who play week in, week out together while the rest play in top flight European Football, I felt that this is an effecient team, with a mix of consistancy and class. It came to 0 surprise to me as I cheered the underdog Kiwi’s, a nation that has so many similiarities to us to reach the World Cup.
If the Kiwi’s put up a fight and even beat us at the MCG, our media and fans in general are going to call for Verbeek to be sacked(which I wouldn’t mind) rather than looking at the merrits of the All Whites football team. I think that we should be more aware and respectful of other nations, especially “little new zealand”. We should be happy that we finally have a very close neighbour to us in the Oceania region that can play football! We should be promoting it rather than dissing or ignoring it!