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The Crowd Says (28) | Page 1 of Comments

• whiskeymac said | March 12th 2010 @ 7:56am | Report comment

  good article. Though I appreciate that MV need all the practice they can get in Asia not sure this is the best way to get a spot (media stories and posturing). So even though i appreciate MV need to look after their interests, which they deem to be qualifying for Asia so they can continue their congestion complaints for another season, I am not impressed that they have gone about it this way. It reminds me of “Muscat” type gamesmanship. MV hardly much support or camaraderie being shown by MV to fellow ALeague teams, nor are they helping the FFA out much with their stance should the FFA be bona fide in their attempts to keep the Nix in the comp (which they should IMO).

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  • jimbo said | March 12th 2010 @ 11:40am | Report comment

    Thanks whiskeymac.

    Victory need to be good with the PR and posturing, being largely unheard in the AFL Capital of the World.

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• Country Victoria said | March 12th 2010 @ 9:42am | Report comment

  yes very interesting aticle.

  I am a MV fan, Phoenix playes in the Australian league has Australian players or an Australian player and at the moment in a good contender for the A-League premiership, WP should be accepted by the ACL committee as an Australian Football League team WP playes in the A-League.

  Would and if by changing the A-League tag (e.g.) to the Australian South Pacific Football League make it more acceptable for the ACL commitee to accept WP to play in the ACL if our tag was the Australian South Pacifice Football League or A-League SP (South Pacific).

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  • Rob said | March 12th 2010 @ 10:02am | Report comment

    Country Victoria,

    The whole issue with the Phoenix is that they are from another Confederation (Oceania), and your proposal of changing the name of the league would only lead to the AFC getting even more testy about what Australia is doing with its domestic competition.

    Now, I would support the Phoenix securing the Champions League spot, and there are precedents for nations from other confederations playing in the regional competition (see Mexican clubs in Conmebol’s Copa Libertadores), but the difference there is that they qualified by virtue of the position they finished in their own domestic competitions, not by competing in, say, Brazil’s league and finishing in the top four. This is where the Phoenix and the ACL spot becomes tricky, because they are a team from another confederation who might secure qualification under Australian rules for the ACL by playing in the Australian comp – a completely unprecedented situation in world football.

    It is, to quote Ned Flanders, a dilly of a pickle.

    I hope this situation gets sorted out sooner rather than later, and in the Phoenix’s favour. They are fantastic for the A-League, and great for NZ football as well.

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• 

  Australian Football said | March 12th 2010 @ 10:44am | Report comment

  If the Phoenix FC win in the HAL Grand Final providing they get past SFC would be an enormous achievement for Football in the South Pacific region. In fact it would be marvellous if it happened. This would make the inevitable materialize a lot soon i.e. the eventual demise of the Oceania Confederation, which has been a disaster since its inception––which has held back Football in the South Pacific for far too long. The time to rationalise Football in this part of the world has come––with the absorption of Oceania into the Asian Confederation. Then the renaming of the A-League to included Oceania (A.O. League). This may also open the door for the new fledging Caledonian’s Ocean 11 FC franchise to enter the fray in the future.

  ——-
  AF

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  • 

    AndyRoo said | March 12th 2010 @ 11:04am | Report comment

    Then the renaming of the A-League to included Oceania (A.O. League)

    So kids wont be allowed too watch football?

    That’s the worst idea ever

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    • 

      Australian Football said | March 12th 2010 @ 11:38am | Report comment

      Ooops

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  • jimbo said | March 12th 2010 @ 11:44am | Report comment

    Australian Football,
    being in Oceania means you are the FIFA exception, rather than the rule.

    Very unusual situation once again, which raises the initial question – is Wellington an Australian football team or not?
    If not – is the A-League really an Australian football competition and is any A-League team eligible to play in the ACL?

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    • 

      Australian Football said | March 12th 2010 @ 12:46pm | Report comment

      The Phoenix FC are not the problem it’s the confederation called Oceania and I hope it dies one day—for the good of football in the region—so we can rename the HAL to be the Hyundai Australasian league (HAL) perhaps. At the end of the day—Oceania have to qualify through Asia so why do we persist with a confederation called Oceania?

      Jimbo, it’s an interesting article and some very good questions put forward. btw I have just summited a comment on the AFL tab about AFL’s envy of the Phoenix FC.

      ——-
      AF

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• 

  Dogz R Barkn said | March 12th 2010 @ 11:10am | Report comment

  but are the Victory premature in their celebrations of another lucrative ACL campaign next season?

  Is the ACL lucrative?

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  • 

    Australian Football said | March 13th 2010 @ 11:23am | Report comment

    “The new format of the AFC Champions League kicks off on 10 March with 32 teams from across Asia battling it out for total prize money of US$8 million.”

    Adelaide United FC took-out AU$1.5m in prize money with their participation in the ACL and to go on and qualify for the FIFA WCC tournament.

    All travel and accommodation expenses are covered by the Asian Confederation and their sponsors.

    ——-
    AF

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• Axel V said | March 12th 2010 @ 11:28am | Report comment

  As a Victory fan, there is no doubt that if Wellington Phoenix can get to and win the Grand Final, they defintely deserve an ACL place.

  However, it’s not up us to decide. I see the AFC’s point of view as, New Zealand is not in Asia, so what gives them the right to play in the Asian Champions League? If New Zealand want to play in Asia than they have to join the AFC which i think New Zealand Football and the rest of Oceania will get enormous benefits from like Australia is.

  And as for Wellington Phoenix being in the A-League? That is none of AFC’s concern and is done all throughout the world(multi nation in the a domestic league), the only problem i think the AFC can see in it is that it helps New Zealand Football beat the Western Asians , which again is not New Zealands fault for being the better team!

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  • apaway said | March 12th 2010 @ 2:47pm | Report comment

    Axel, it’s not done throughout the world in the same way it has happened here (read my article A- League’s Super Sunday – gratuitous plug!) The Phoenix are unique in that as far as I’ve been able to find, they are the only club team in the world competing in a club competition that is OUTSIDE their home country’s FIFA Confederation. Certainly clubs like Cardiff City (Wales, playing in England) and Berwick (England, playing in Scotland) cross national borders to play but they don’t cross Confederation borders.

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    • Axel V said | March 12th 2010 @ 5:07pm | Report comment

      I do not understand, in what way is the Phoenix unique?

      Wales and Scotland are indeed seperate nations to England. However both in UEFA (same Fifa confederation as their home nation)

      But what about the example of a French team “Etoile FC” playing in the S-League?

      France is in UEFA and Singapore is in AFC?

      It says “Only local clubs are able to qualify for Asian Club Competitions, hence the three foreign sides of Albirex Niigata (S), Beijing Guoan FC (Singapore) and Etoile FC, will not be able to qualify for Continental Competitions. ”

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_S._League

      As I said, while I think that Wellington Phoenix deserve to be in the ACL, it doesn’t make sense for them to be in there as they are not in the AFC, BUT I can’t see any problem with Phoenix being in the A-League (despite being from another Fifa confederation).

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    • Steve said | March 12th 2010 @ 5:27pm | Report comment

      Do a search on “Etoile FC”, a French team playing in the Singapore league. Makes the Phoenix situation look decidedly normal!

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      • Ricky J said | March 12th 2010 @ 10:00pm | Report comment

        Not really Steve. FC Etoliw is French-owned, but it plays all its games in Singapore (home and away). It does not fly between France and Singapore for its games.

        It is almost a foreign-ownership set-up ala the Arabs buying EPL clubs.

        Yes there are French players in this team, but to say its the same as the Phoenix is not correct.

        For it to be the same, Terry Sepersisos would have to buy an Australian-based club, ship NZ Players there and play ALL its games in Australia.

        That is the true comparison for you.

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      • Axel V said | March 12th 2010 @ 11:24pm | Report comment

        Not only are there French players in the team Ricky, but they’re all of French nationality except 3, and quite a few of them have dual nationality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etoile_FC

        What does travelling have to do with anything? It’s a French team with French nationality players, playing in a Singaporean League. How is this any different to Wellington Phoenix?

        It looks as if Mohamed Bin Hammam is discriminating against Wellington Phoenix. If Wellington Phoenix can’t qualify for the ACL because they’re an Oceanian club, that’s fine and understandable.

        BUT, whatever Wellington Phoenix achieve in the A-League has no effect in Asia, except that the majority of the Phoenix are the same players that denied Bahrain from qualifying for the World Cup. However that is not a basis on which you can ban a team from a national league.

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        • Ricky J said | March 13th 2010 @ 7:11am | Report comment

          Axel, does FC Etolie play any of its games in France? No it doesn’t ALL the players LIVE in Singapore and play ALL its home and away games in SINGAPORE.

          That’s different from Wellington’s set-up, where they play HOME games (the vast majority) in WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND.

          Politcally, New Zealand does not have a leg to stand on, and it will be purely up to Mr Bin Hamman’s mood on their future.

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          • Axel V said | March 14th 2010 @ 11:09am | Report comment

            No ,it is not “purely up to Mr Bin Hamman’s mood on their future.”

            And that’s a bit of a unfair comparison, as France to Singapore is more than double the distance than compared to Perth to Wellington.

            Wellington is closer to 75% of Australia population in comparison to Perth.

            Bin Hamman’s arguent is not about plane travel, it’s about New Zealand players in an Australian league not being counted as “foreigners” which is his issue, yet clearly he is discriminate in his opinion as Wellington Phoenix are not the only club in the world to do this…

          • dasilva said | March 14th 2010 @ 1:48pm | Report comment

            Axel V is right.

            Bin Hammen has continually said that he has no problem with Wellington Phoenix playing in the A-league as long as they consider New Zealand players as foreign players. He said that if Wellington Phoenix wanted to become an Australian club that plays its game in New Zealand then that’s ok as long as there is a foreign player restriction.

            Because Wellington Phoenix isn’t going to do that, AFC are now threatening to kick out all Australian Clubs from the ACL from 2012 onwards unless we play ball.

            However, bin Hammen doesn’t care that players from Etoile FC don’t consider French players to be foreign players

            People also forgot that Perth Kangaroos IFC and Darwin Cubs played in the Singapore league back in 1994 with Perth Kangaroo winning the league that year (they played all their home matches in Perth and Darwin respectively as well). Perth and Darwin only pulled out from that league due to poor crowd attendance and financial problems.

            So there is a history of Oceania clubs playing in Asian Leagues. It’s only now that Bin Hammen is pissed of about it because the New Zealand national side defeated Bahrain.

          • dasilva said | March 14th 2010 @ 1:55pm | Report comment

            More about the Perth Kangaroos if anyone’s interested

            http://members.iinet.net.au/~jacob/wasoccer/perthkan.html

• Country Victoria said | March 14th 2010 @ 11:21am | Report comment

  GET YOUR HISTORY BOOKS OUT BOYS

  If we look back into early Australian history (most Australians do not know or do not want to know about). I recall reading some-where in the history books that NZ was considered as part of Austalia offically.

  But NZ in the very early years developed its own government, as early Australia did not do another for NZ under its care, because to far at time and NZ being out of sight and mind, Australia had no needs and was to busy developing itself.

  And so NZ unoffically in stealth became a country of its own (unoffically) under it own power by its settlers, but technically NZ is still part of Australia…?

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  • AA said | March 14th 2010 @ 1:04pm | Report comment

    County Vic,

    New Zealand was asked to become part of the Australian Federation in 1901 but rejected the proposal.

    NSW temporarily administered New Zealand until about 1840 when it signed its treaty with the local population.

    Your comments are long winded and incorrect. Check here for more information:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_new_Australian_States

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• Bobby McGee said | March 14th 2010 @ 12:17pm | Report comment

  seems no one can agree but I find it difficult to be persuaded that WP is an Asian or Aust team. They’ve done a lot for football in NZ it appears (even their supporters drape themselves in NZ flags, a rather odd thing to do at a club game) but what are they doing for football in Australia, which is surely what the A-league is all about?
  They contract players that might otherwise be with teams like GCFC or Fury. Until the A league raises its standards, crowds and popularity of football in Aust will not improve. WP are appealing to national emotions, nothing more, and that has no place in an Aust domestic competition.

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• AA said | March 14th 2010 @ 1:08pm | Report comment

  That’s just a diplomatic way of saying Bobby that you believe that Wellington is a New Zealand team and a defacto “New Zealand National Representative Interest Team” in the A-League.

  That’s what you’re trying to say.

  Also find it odd that fans would drape themselves in the New Zealand national flag, almost a NSL style comparison there.

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• jimbo said | March 15th 2010 @ 8:45am | Report comment

  After Saturday night’s result, the Phoenix ACL issue will have to wait for another year as MV and SFC will represent Australia in the ACL next year.

  Well done to Phoenix finishing in third position in the A-League – I’m sure they’ll be in the finals again next year.

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  • 

    Australian Football said | March 15th 2010 @ 12:24pm | Report comment

    Jimbo,
    yes indeed and I have read that the chairman of the Nix are looking to average 10K next season—good luck to them I say.
    btw Jimbo time to start up a profile on the ROAR.. Pimbo has one; so why not you?

    ——-
    AF

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    • jimbo said | March 16th 2010 @ 11:07am | Report comment

      I tried but I can’t AF,
      they already have a Jimbo (capital J) and I can’t create one with the same name (small or big J)

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