FFA disrespects football’s past
Roar Rookie By Alex Poulos, 8 Aug 2010 Alex Poulos is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- A-League, FFA, football, Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC
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This current FFA has from its inception til today continually disrespected Australian football people with insults and ignorance to ridiculous scales.
The current FFA has pretended and talks to the public as if football in Australia started in 2005 and no football existed prior to that. Is that fair to all the Socceroos previous to 2005? Is it fair to the players who won national league titles prior to 2005? Is it fair to the fans you made this game what it was prior to 2005?
Take a ride to the FFA head office and see if there is any pictures/symbols of football from Australia prior to 2005. No there is not.
But this current FFA is happy to get on the bandwagon of the 2006 World Cup squad but where did these players come from? Oh wait, can I mention clubs like Melbourne Knights, Marconi and South Melbourne or is there a ban from Fox Sports on mentioning the past?
“The Big Blue” was used to pump up this Melbourne versus Sydney rivalry, yet only 12,000 people attended the match.
It’s time for the FFA to accept that the footballing public of Australia will not be disrespected any longer, and for the good of the game this “pretend the past did not exist” must be stopped and the real clubs who carried the game over the last 50 years must be given the equal opportunities to be involved in growing the game in this country.
Enough is enough!
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- Explore:
- A-League, FFA, football, Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC
August 8th 2010 @ 2:30am
Rusty0256 said | August 8th 2010 @ 2:30am | Report comment
This is such an awkward subject. Alex and many others have roots deeply imbedded in clubs such as Sydney Olympic, Melbourne Knights, SM Hellas etc. and it must be endlessly frustrating for them to have little or no hope of again competing at the highest level of Football in Australia. These clubs were and are our founding fathers of National Football and they do need to be acknowledged as being so.
Unfortunately these clubs, their fans and the organisations that ran them were (and remain) largely mono-ethnic. Greeks ran and supported Greek clubs, Croats, Croatian clubs, Italians, Italian clubs. The NSL offered them, over many years, the opportunity to grow and diversify their base. By and large they stubbornly chose not to. The ethnic based teams operated under a slowly contracting glass ceiling. Terraces populated almost entirely by 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants of the one ethnic base will always be governed by the laws of diminishing returns as older fully committed supporters die off and younger generations diversify their interests. The failure of the NSL was at least in part brought about by this reality.
The creators of the A-League knew that when they chose the teams that failed to include a single one that was ethnically based. And whilst we do need to respect and recognise our games past, including those clubs that did the hard years, there can be no returning to it.
Sorry Alex, but the train has left the station.
August 8th 2010 @ 7:19am
MVDave said | August 8th 2010 @ 7:19am | Report comment
Alex…move on…time to let go.
BTW Didnt SFC issue memberships to all past NSW Socceroos for this season? Seems to be some form of recognition there.
August 8th 2010 @ 7:34am
MVDave said | August 8th 2010 @ 7:34am | Report comment
Joe Marston Medal…Johnny Warren Medal?
August 9th 2010 @ 5:08pm
General Ashnak said | August 9th 2010 @ 5:08pm | Report comment
Alex probably doesn’t know who they are, after all they are awards handed out by the FFA.
August 8th 2010 @ 8:06am
Fussball ist unser leben said | August 8th 2010 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Alex Poulos
I take your point and love your passion. It’s this passion that ensured our Game not only survived, but actually thrived and produced top quality footballers.
You ask that: “the game over the last 50 years must be given the equal opportunities to be involved in growing the game in this country”.
What exactly do you have in mind?
Whilst I do not have an affiliation with any of the old NSL clubs, I would love to see a 2nd Division football league – perhaps, 12 teams – within the next 5 years and we adopt a promotion/relegation system.
August 8th 2010 @ 8:06am
RickG said | August 8th 2010 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Alex, GET OVER IT AND STOP WHINING!!!!!
Rusty summarises the situation well. Things had to change otherwise the game here would have remained the preserve of ethnic enclaves for ever. You talk about these small clubs ‘carrying’ the game over 50 years – have you ever considered what might have happened if the FFA came baout earlier? Yes, that’s right, the game would have moved up and been more prominent and we may well have been present at a WC before 1974, and many times after.
Do you realise that soccer actually had a history here – alas, an ‘Anglo-centric’ one – prior to the post WW2 migrants? The etinic clubs came in and took over, probably much like the FFA have done. I don’t hear you crying about that.
August 8th 2010 @ 8:42am
Spezza said | August 8th 2010 @ 8:42am | Report comment
Alex, you say it as it is, you are a legend!
August 8th 2010 @ 9:14am
Alex Poulos said | August 8th 2010 @ 9:14am | Report comment
Imagine Sydney Olympic FC versus Sydney FC there would be over 25,000 at the match without a doubt!
FFA wake up
August 8th 2010 @ 5:30pm
Football Nutter said | August 8th 2010 @ 5:30pm | Report comment
Alex,
give it up mate … sydney rovers v sydney fc will have a sold out sign out the front. You will find many supporters of Sydney Rovers will have dropped of Sydney FC waiting for the team to enter the comp. I am a Melbourne fan and love the fact that Victory will be playing Heart without any links to any ethnic clubs, this is no disrespect to the clubs of the past as I support South Melbourne Hellas when they were in the NSL but I am a FOOTBALL supporter therefore supporting Hellas because I am greek or Melbourne Knights because I am Croatian did not come into my equation. FOOTBALL wins with the A League
August 8th 2010 @ 6:28pm
Farqwar said | August 8th 2010 @ 6:28pm | Report comment
Well said Nutter, if Olympic, Marconi, United etc had any brains they would be investing in the Rovers so they could have a presence in the A-league as well as maintaining their position as developers of football talent. Unfortunately I think these guys are stuck so far in the past that they think holding football back is what is best for the game.
August 8th 2010 @ 7:23pm
JR said | August 8th 2010 @ 7:23pm | Report comment
South Melbourne v Preston was always good for some positive coverage in the media…not.
August 8th 2010 @ 9:22am
George said | August 8th 2010 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Sydney FC is an ethnic club!!!! it used to be calles sydney city hakoa check it out guys.
Now Rusty evertyhing you have said did not make sense my friend and its people like you who dont know football in this country that make others feel sick , you are typical “NEW DAWN” and you want to act smart.
These ex-NSL clubs cam from communities and from communities who were found of football as it was not big in this country, they made football clubs and followed them and all poured loads of money into it.
These clubs did nufin wrong to the game the administators could not take the game to another level, this current ffa has simple done things to control every aspect of the game , imagine a club like sydney olympic fc with all the a-league exposure easily 15,000++++ each week and they would produce real footballers to.
Look at the 2010 world cup squad thank you a-league for that, will we even qualify for the 2014 world cup?
Now you disrespect is exactly what alex is talking about, how many of this ex-NSL clubs have been put into recievership????? like you current mob, will see how long this lasts
August 9th 2010 @ 1:59pm
apaway said | August 9th 2010 @ 1:59pm | Report comment
I’ve said this before, George. HAKOAH still exist and play football in the NSW State League. There is NO affiliation with Sydney FC whatsoever. Just because a few administrators from the Sydney City days have popped up as SFC people doesn’t mean SFC and Hakoah are the same. And that’s a good thing, because Sydney City used to draw crowds of about 1500 to the ES Marks Field while Sydney FC are thankfully getting up to 10 times that to the Sydney Football Stadium
August 10th 2010 @ 9:38pm
dm said | August 10th 2010 @ 9:38pm | Report comment
Im with Alex on this….These current clubs like Melb Victory (scottish), Syd FC (Hakoahs), Qld Roar (dutch) have blanketed their ethnicity, yet these duds say there are no affiliation, well they are just blind as a bat and don’t know australian soccer history for peanuts..
August 8th 2010 @ 10:13am
jupiter53 said | August 8th 2010 @ 10:13am | Report comment
What Alex says about the contribution of “old soccer” is all fair enough. The great players who were developed by clubs like Melbourne Knights, South Melbourne, Sydney Croatia, Sydney Olympic, Marconi, Adelaide City, St George, Canterbury etc speak for themselves.
However I am old enough to have been to games at Apia, St George, Olympic, Sydney Croatia [and United], Melita and Marconi on various occasions since the 1970s. As a 4th generation Anglo Aussie who played soccer from the cradle I always felt an outsider.
I have been a Sydney FC season ticket holder since the start. I wish someone like Alex with his obvious passion for the game did not see it as either Olympic or FC [if I'm reading him right].
I am sure that the FFA got it right starting again with the A League. The NSL was inherently limited by the exclusive nature of the cultural base of the clubs.
I don’t know that there is any way to get past this problem; I wish there was. Perhaps the only hope is that time will mean that all those supporters like Alex can get past their hurt and embrace the A League.
August 8th 2010 @ 8:48pm
george said | August 8th 2010 @ 8:48pm | Report comment
jupiter53, old soccer will always welcome you!!
We live on and will work hard to return where we belong
August 8th 2010 @ 10:40am
Mick said | August 8th 2010 @ 10:40am | Report comment
It’s already been said here Alex, but intrinsic ethnic divisions are what caused the NSL to implode. Mate, I’m the son of a Croatian immigrant and he’s told me the horror stories of playing football in Melbourne during the 1970s. How is it that immigrants who come to this country, accept all of its benefits, don’t wish to embrace other Australians from different ethnic groups (Anglo, indigenous, Serb, Croat, Italian, etc) and learn to get along? That’s what the NSL was: an ethnic battlefield. Why have a team like Sydney Croatia or Sydney Olympic? Are bloody playing in Croatia or Greece? No! This is Australia. If you come and settle in this country, you’re Australian. I know this all comes across as a bit strong, but I really believe we should be giving ALL Australians a fair go at football. That’s why I support the NQ Fury-a team which has really taken the community on board. Like it or loathe it, the A-League was the best thing to happen to Australian football period. The FFA should be commended on this. It doesn’t matter who you are or you do, you can become a part of it all. The league can only get better as time goes on. Those old NSL/euro snobs at SBS may not agree with me, but it’s the hard reality of it all.