Media to blame for A-League struggles
Roar Pro By roarlover34, 30 Sep 2010 roarlover34 is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- A-League, A-League crowds, football, football media, Holger Osieck
137 Have your say
The A-League has really gone off the rails in the last two years. There are many causes for this, but the most central of all is the media.
The media’s perception that football is completely unimportant is a disgrace. You try telling that to the hundred’s of thousands of junior players and coaches in Australia. Football has always been the last highlights shown on the sport report on the news. It has always been on the innermost pages of the sport section. But why? Let’s look at The Australian, for example.
Every Saturday morning the previous evenings rugby league is the front page news. They even published the Roosters versus Titans game on the front page of the entire newspaper last Saturday.
Then you have to look forward four pages to find a postage stamp sized article about an A-League game the previous night. Pages two and three are comprised of AFL pre-game analysis and articles from the greatly disliked Patrick Smith, who was found to be hated by more than 80 per cent of AFL fans on a recent radio poll. How is pre-game analysis more important than an actual event?
A similar train of thought exists for the Socceroos.
The day that new coach Holger Osieck named his first ever squad there wasn’t even an article. The front page had Collingwood players at the beach and the next pages were AFL and NRL pre-game hype.
The odd golf tennis and motorsport article filled the rest of the space. I did find the squad eventually, under the ‘Soccer’ section of the results column. What a joke! Can you imagine if the same had have been done to Robbie Dean’s Wallabies squad?
The great problem for the A-League recently has been publicity. The FFA has very poorly chosen to scrap their A-League advertising campaign, resulting in virtually nobody knowing anything about the games, which has partly led to poor crowds. Well hasn’t that caused a fuss.
The only football writer in The Australian, Ray Gatt, has been nothing short of pathetic recently. Every single article he has written has been about the crowds and the financial issues with the A-League. If he wants to reduce the size of the problem he should write something positive about the league. The standard has increased greatly this year, so has the quality of goals, the quality of imports, and coaching. But has Gatt written about this at all? No.
This focus on the negatives is widespread across all media.
Do you remember how the media was all over the quote from Verbeek that the A-League is low standard? Where are the media now that Les Murray, Holger Osieck and Craig Foster have all praised the quality of the league? No where to be seen. They choose only to report the negatives about football.
The media has had a very large role in the recent struggles of the A-League.
Hopefully a successful Word Cup bid may silence them.
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- A-League, A-League crowds, football, football media, Holger Osieck
September 30th 2010 @ 9:58am
Cpaaa said | September 30th 2010 @ 9:58am | Report comment
I am going to agree with you that the usual suspects have their own agendas. They are the muscles that flex the sports of League and Aussie Rules.
I will add that because of no FTA network has the rights to an A-League match or Australia match, it does make it difficult for FTA channels to embrace Football.
Football simply doesn’t have the privilege of mainstream tv or backpage articles; we need to rely on our own communities, Australias biggest sporting community for support but sadly, that has been totally ignored by the FFA as well.
At the elite level all Football Players, coaches and admin staff have a sense of duty to be amongst grass roots football. Networking with people on a personal level much like Frank Lowy does with business.
FFA follows the corporate model of any franchise and that simply dosnt work in Australian Football. The latest “FanMade” is a slap in the face to genuine football fans. It’s the corporate trying to win votes amongst its “First Paying Supporters”, yet giving them a list of rules and regulations about seating, designated areas, over policing etc. Fans have been short changed and in return the stadiums remain empty.
FFA is to blame here and only FFA.
September 30th 2010 @ 10:02am
Australian Football said | September 30th 2010 @ 10:02am | Report comment
Roarlover34,
totally agree with your article and it’s an absolute disgrace. Last Monday night I was eager to watch the Channel 10HD football show only to see it was cancelled for the over hyped AFL continuation of the GF replay. Where is the commitment for Football. The HAL has gone to new levels on the park and the media have gone backwards ignoring it failing to promote it. Where is the news reporting, why was the new Football show suspended in favour for the entrenched AFL when they have covered it for an hour preceding the Football time slot.? RoarLover is right there is more to this then meets the eye.
September 30th 2010 @ 10:36am
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 30th 2010 @ 10:36am | Report comment
AF
In Melbourne the 1HD football show, WFN was screened at the earlier hour of 8:30 p.m. instead of 10:30 p.m. This had been advertised early last week – well before we knew about the drawn AFL GF.
I take this move to an earlier, prime-time, viewing hour to be a very positive move by 1HD and further evidence of their commitment to Football.
September 30th 2010 @ 11:10am
AndyRoo said | September 30th 2010 @ 11:10am | Report comment
So that’s where it went, I thought it had been cancelled!
That is good news.
September 30th 2010 @ 12:18pm
Australian Football said | September 30th 2010 @ 12:18pm | Report comment
Thanks Fussball,
). This is fantastic news; WFN at 8.30pm and TWG/SBS at 9.30pm. I now feel a lot better. I’m going to the game on Friday night at Skilled Park Robina.
I didn’t even consider it would be on 2hrs earlier. I had thought of staying up until 1am in the morning just in case they were going to show it but decided against it (thank God for that
September 30th 2010 @ 1:29pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 30th 2010 @ 1:29pm | Report comment
AF-
With so many new digital channels and so much Football on FTA tv these days, daily reference to an e-TV Guide is essential.
It seems that One HD is doing everything possible to win the Football hearts and minds – and they’re using Football minds for their expert analysis and not journalists or moronic non-football celebrities.
WFN is a fantastic show and even SBS has realised the threat posed by One HD and has moved its TWG show from Sunday evening to 930 p.m. on Monday night – an hour before WFN was broadcast.
Now that WFN is on at 830 p.m., lets see what SBS does next!
Of course the Comm Games will take over the majority of the One HD programming for the next 2 weeks (provided the Games aren’t cancelled!!) so there may be a hiatus during the Games, but with most domestic leagues around the world (including the HAL) taking a break to accommodate the international football fixtures we shouldn’t miss too much.
September 30th 2010 @ 2:14pm
AndyRoo said | September 30th 2010 @ 2:14pm | Report comment
It’s a really good change because 10:30pm was too late, especailly since they keep the A league stuff (which is what i’m mostly interested in) until later.
Good work 10
September 30th 2010 @ 5:40pm
beaver fever said | September 30th 2010 @ 5:40pm | Report comment
Overhyped !!, i doubt it, The Australian Football League GF replay has been quite low key this week.
September 30th 2010 @ 10:58am
Cpaaa said | September 30th 2010 @ 10:58am | Report comment
Roarlover34 i will also like to suggest that instead of pointing the blame totally on the media, and as a Bne Roar fan, i would say that the majority of the blame should be pointed at the Brisbane Roar for its falling fans.
The Roar went straight for the highly priced Palace, which is Suncorp Stadium and also pay fees to train at Rugby Ballymore. I would have prefered that it start at Ballymore have a few sell outs, less overheads, and then say its time we upgrade.
this is where FFA and the Clubs are getting it all wrong. The Roar have more than sufficient training facilities at their home of Richlands. A Football Precinct which has perfectly good training fields, great dressing rooms, gym and a large junior base.
What exactly has Rugbys Ballymore got to offer?
Richlands even have a fine club house, where new and existing fans can meet the players or simply watch the players train while having breakfast or a coffee. It is the A-Leagues finest Social House, the envy of other HAL Clubs yet it is unused in favour of another codes training facilities. Excuse my French, but WTF!
Richlands is where football grass roots are formed and engaged… not on a Rugby field.
i used to go watch the guys train at their home ground of Richlands. Ballymore, i wouldnt even know how to get there.
Brisbane Roar is the finest example of how to alienate a community, the media issues are minor compared to the bizzare decisions that go on at Bne Roar.
October 3rd 2010 @ 6:31pm
roarlover34 said | October 3rd 2010 @ 6:31pm | Report comment
agree with you there Cpaaa. The roar management last season was very poor. Bump up the during the GFC, smart move. As for A-League advertising, that is probably another article. This one was solely focused on the ‘media’. thanks for posting!
September 30th 2010 @ 1:57pm
apaway said | September 30th 2010 @ 1:57pm | Report comment
Oh, boy, the lines get drawn on this one pretty early on.
Coverage of the domestic game is a lot better than it was in the days of the NSL. I would contend that coverage of all sport has increased in the last 20 years due to the onset of player professionalism, Pay TV and code expansion. I remember in the 70s that the Saturday night Sydney ABC news at 7.00pm featured a sport report at 7.15pm which went for 10 minutes, and was devoted entirely to the rugby league match of the day. It was even hosted by former league great Reg Gasnier.
Print media coverage of football is also far greater than it used to be. The Sydney Morning Herald had wrap-arounds for both A-League finals Sydney FC competed in. The only way the NSL cracked front or back pages was due to a riot.
And I was stunned by the coverage of the Socceroos at the World Cup. No sport or national team has enjoyed more media coverage than that.
September 30th 2010 @ 2:05pm
AndyRoo said | September 30th 2010 @ 2:05pm | Report comment
Maybe we can go halves with the NRL fan who was advocating they set up there own media network so that only fluff pieces got coverage. Would mean the A league could only play in the off season and that any Socceroos matches played in winter just would not exist…but on the plus side during the offseason if there was ever an NRL player involved in a murder or such A League team news would be the prime story
September 30th 2010 @ 2:17pm
Rusty0256 said | September 30th 2010 @ 2:17pm | Report comment
I agree with many that it is not enough to blame A-League’s problems on only the media. It is in effect a one-dimensional argument for a three dimensional problem.
In my view, re the media, we are at about the place we might expect to be. We are only 6 years into the A-league, the media is still full of long-standing Football-haters; it may take a generation for them to disappear, and only then if we get our long term house in order. The media still looks for the cheap-shot story (Craig Moore’s storm-in-a-teacup misadventures going straight to a lead story being a prime example) but they are far more inclined these days to report and even highlight up-beat events such as Socceroo wins or back-page leads for A-League Grand Finals. It’s a long way from being perfect but we are miles ahead of where we were 10 years ago.
Look the reality is that the media has and always will be an animal that runs with the foxes and chases with the hounds; ie when things are going well we MIGHT get a good story but when things are a bit sticky, like now for instance, they will slip back into what is familiar territory for them, and give Football a kicking.
If we want to, over time, win the media over, we need to get our house in order, from the FFA down. Most of the leagues problems are of the leagues own making. Oversized, expensive stadiums, Hatamoto, Pims (anti A-L) big mouth, teams selected in wrong locations, the list goes on. These are all our problems; nothing to do with the media.
The worst you can say about the media is they report the messes we’ve got ourselves into and tend to ignore any upside such as improved playing standards.
September 30th 2010 @ 3:34pm
Ray Gatt said | September 30th 2010 @ 3:34pm | Report comment
I don’t normally reply to blogs in which the writer does not have the courage to use their real name, but I will make an exception here because I believe I know the eprson who wrote the blog. I believe he is the same person who sent an e-mail this week to the Sports Editor of The Australian, the newspaper I work for as the subject matter in the blog is eerily similar to the e-mail, esepcailly the reference to Patrick Smith.
Aaron, you obviously don’t know how the media game works mate. Your criticism of the lack of coverage of the A-League on the front page of The Australia’s sporting section is juvenile and way off beam.
For a start, we are at the pointy end of the NRL and AFL seasons. Whether we like it or not, they ARE two biggest football codes in the country. They are winter sports. The NRL preliminary final between St George and the Tigers drew 72,000 fans – 70,000 more than what Gold Coast United draws and 64,000 more than what Sydney FC drew against Fury on Wednesday night. The AFL grand final drew 100k and will draw another 100k 0n Saturday.
You ask if Patrick Smith’s pre gama analysis is more important than an actual event. The answer is YES. ABSOULTELY. He is writing about a finals match for goodness sakes. He is writing about a game that will get 100k attendance.
The fact is, the NRL and AFL sells newspapers. The A-League doesn’t. There is no way my boss could justify putting an A-League match story on the front or back page of The Australian. It just wouldn’t make sense.
The problem is, the FFA chooses to start the A-League at a time when the AFL and NRL are heading in to the finals. We can’t expect to push those sports off the front or back pages.
You criticise me for being critical of the A-League. Well, Aaron, I am a journalist. I am not a cheerleader. I do my job.
If there was something positive to write, I would. But, the simple fact is, our game is in a mess and just about every soccer journalist in the country knows that and have written about it. The widely respected columnist and brilliant writer Jesse Fink has been stinging in his criticism of what is happening in our game and you can’t tell me there is no greater lover and supporter of our game than Jesse.
I have been involved in reporting on the game on and off for almost 40 years. I live and breathe the game. I hate seeing it dragged down. I hate seeing what is happening to the A-League. If I can make a difference by continuing to hammer the people who count, who mkae the decisions ,who have the ability to change things then I will. I make no apologies for that.
You just cannot ignore what is happening with the crowds. 2000 for matches is dire stuff. Even Sydney drew its lowest crowd ever against Fury the other night. We are down 80,000 so far this season compared to last season and we have played four more games this season!
We have Fury and Gold Coast in trouble and about to go under and we have the western sydney bid about to go out the back door.
Of course, it is always easy to blame the media for the ills of our game. We make the decisions about expansion. We hold back advertising and marketing. We are the ones who don’t pay the players. We are the ones who run the clubs. We make sure the fans don’t turn up to matches.
Mate, it is time our game stopped making excuses. It’s about tiem the FFA got off its backside and did something for the A-League. The FFA stands condemned for the problems of the A-League. No-one else. Not the media, not the fans, not the owners.
Aaron, get a grip mate. The sort of e-mails you sent the other day are doing our great game no good whatsoever. As it stands you are only serving to continue to give our fans a bad name.
Constructive criticism is always accepted, but when you go off making weird, nonsensical statements then you know where your e-mails end up…in the rubbish bin where they belong.
Yours
Ray Gatt
September 30th 2010 @ 3:47pm
Zac Zavos said | September 30th 2010 @ 3:47pm | Report comment
Thanks for your comment Ray; glad to have your response on this article.
Zac
The Roar
September 30th 2010 @ 4:27pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 30th 2010 @ 4:27pm | Report comment
Ray Gatt
I, too, write behind a pseudonym because – unlike you and your “journalist” friends – I will not be able to resort to legal (and, perhaps, physical) intimidation if someone gets upset with what I write.
Isn’t is interesting to observe how the author’s criticism of your – and, your colleagues – professional performance has caused you obvious anguish yet you – and, your colleagues – have created a career out of making similar criticism of other people’s professional performances.
You have made some scathing comments about the FFA. Now, you claim to be a journalist – not a cheerleader – so, have you actually spoken to key people at the FFA or is your critique of the FFA based on hearsay, the musings of an ex-employee (Archie Fraser) and innuendo?
You claim you have been involved in reporting on the game on and off for almost 40 years. This is also interesting, since I’ve also followed the Game – locally and abroad – for that period of time, yet when I think of Football writers in Australia your name doesn’t come to mind (but, perhaps, that’s a Melbourne/Sydney thing).
Given your view that our Game in Australia is currently in a state of disrepair, perhaps, you can tell us which parts of the Game – on the park, in the boardroom, in the stands, at head office – were better in “the good old days of the NSL”?
Finally, I’ll draw upon your closing statement and say: Constructive criticism of football is always accepted by fans but poorly researched and ill-informed analysis of football issues will be rejected. And, with factual information available to everyone with the click of a button, I guess it’s only a matter of time before the newspaper industry in Australia is faced with extinction.
September 30th 2010 @ 5:45pm
Australian Football said | September 30th 2010 @ 5:45pm | Report comment
Well said Fussball great stuff… I have read nothing positive from Ray Gatt either.
Ray—maybe you should also consider that there is a bit of responsibility for pro Football Journalists to now and then write a good news story. Forgive me but I have yet to read one from you. Maybe I was just unlucky not to notice when you did. Please publish a link of one of your best; to where I can read one.. I have indeed have read many of your depressing stories but not one that put a smile on my face..
September 30th 2010 @ 4:41pm
Mister Football said | September 30th 2010 @ 4:41pm | Report comment
Well said Ray. I’ve been reading your stuff for decades, and absolutely everything you have written in recent times rings true.
The scandal would have been if you were to ignore it.
September 30th 2010 @ 5:39pm
Don said | September 30th 2010 @ 5:39pm | Report comment
Ray, of course you need to defend your newspaper. I stopped reading it last season when there was no longer any A-league previews on a Friday whilst the NRL season was on. Zero, Zilch, Nada. You have vital role to play in actually ensuring people know a game is on. Difficult to get new attendees when it’s kept a secret.
All I’ve seen of the Australian since is some negative articles from you linked on the net. No problem with that, but there’s no balance. Based on your response you clearly have a negative view to the whole thing. Why bother continuing your career if you can’t do the basics of informing and educating, and with some positive spins occassionally? How about a write up on the number of A-league players in Osieck’s Paraguay squad, instead of it being buried in the sports scores as roarlover has identified?
September 30th 2010 @ 5:49pm
Mister Football said | September 30th 2010 @ 5:49pm | Report comment
How about write about the number of A-League players in Osieck’s Paraguay squad?
You mean like this one:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/australia-coach-holger-osieck-has-picked-six-a-league-players-in-19-man-squad/story-e6frg7mf-1225931207752
(note it has Ray’s name at the top of the article, also note that over the past week or two he has written pre- and post- match A-League write ups)
September 30th 2010 @ 5:56pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 30th 2010 @ 5:56pm | Report comment
MF
Thanks for providing that link. That’s exactly the type of factual & newsworthy article that a football fan craves.
I may have to include The Australian website as part of my daily football briefing, unless their “cyber-minders” block by IP addresss overnight
October 1st 2010 @ 11:15am
BigAl said | October 1st 2010 @ 11:15am | Report comment
I’ve always thought you should get out more !
September 30th 2010 @ 9:02pm
jimbo said | September 30th 2010 @ 9:02pm | Report comment
Ray,
there is plenty wrong with the NRL and the AFL too, particularly the behaviour of the players and some fans.
Why doesn’t the Australian’s journalists write negative stories about those sports all the time?
Is it something to do with News Limited’s ownership of the competition?
So why is it OK to be a “cheerleader” for these other sports and not the A-League?
Your comments will never dissuade true football followers, but the continued harassment of football in this country may sell more newspapers but is turning away the thousands of potential fans who might like to give the A-League a chance, are turned away by so called “football journalists” like yourself.
All we are asking for is a fair go and balanced reporting, not continued negative blasts to make sure News limited’s investment in the NRL continues to grow.
October 1st 2010 @ 12:25pm
JamesP said | October 1st 2010 @ 12:25pm | Report comment
“Why doesn’t the Australian’s journalists write negative stories about those sports all the time?”
All the time? Why ALL the time? They certainly write some negative stories. Daily Telegraph writes about the NRL. Patrick Smith is always sticking the boot into AFL. Get some perspective
October 2nd 2010 @ 8:48pm
Ray Gatt said | October 2nd 2010 @ 8:48pm | Report comment
sorry, missed this one.
I have to answer JNimbo because you are wrong on this one. News Ltd media has been very very harsh re stories on rugby league players behaving badly. They have never ever held back. Greg Bird, Willie Mason, Brett Stewart, Paul Gallen, Todd Carney, Jake Friend, Bulldogs and Coffs Hearbour, Bulldog fans misbehaving etc etc have all been front and back page plus a myriad more.
There is a terrible misconception that News Ltd hides or does not repotrt on stories of players behaving badly. It leads the way..abnd I’m not saying that because I work for the place. This argument is always trotted out to try and show how biased News :Ltd is against soccer. Well it is plain wrong.
October 3rd 2010 @ 10:07am
Australian Football said | October 3rd 2010 @ 10:07am | Report comment
Sorry Ray you have lost me there, with respect that is wrong.. If we are referring to Cheerleaders.? Adelaide United made history; advancing to the ACL final against all the odds; against far superior funded Asian Football clubs and fell over at the final hurdle. So what happened next was Rebbecca Wilson jumps on board who has never written a word about football before—suddenly becomes an expert on the game—an encouraging word no. She proceeds to tear down what this Australian history making team had achieved in the name of Australian Football. Shame on her and the publishers she works for..
October 3rd 2010 @ 10:42am
Fussball ist unser leben said | October 3rd 2010 @ 10:42am | Report comment
AF
You are absolutely spot on with your assessment of Rebecca Wilson.
Amongst a diverse group of football illiterates, who are employed by News Limited, Rebecca stands out as the “chief illiterate” … and, she willingly admits she’s an illiterate on the subject.
Yet, News Limited allows Ms Wilson to continue to write about the subject of football.
When illiterates on a subject are allowed to be published in the daily newspapers you know that “the lunatics have taken over the asylum”!
Of course …. I’m sure it’s purely coincidental that Ms Wilson is given “editorial privileges” at News Ltd whilst she is in a relationship with Chairman & CEO of News Ltd, John Hartigan?
I know Eddie McGuire was alleged to have made comments about “boning” (sacking) former Channel 9 employee Jessica Rowe when he was CEO of Channel 9.
I guess, in the print media, “boning” has a different definition?
October 3rd 2010 @ 2:41pm
Australian Football said | October 3rd 2010 @ 2:41pm | Report comment
Also Fussball, maybe Ray can give us an explanation why he was not given the opportunity to cover the Adelaide United’s story in the ACL as Rebecca was able to do with a 3-4 day promotion of her pending Football revelation of the Adelaide United’s final performance in the ACL.
I remember clearly of News promoting this Rebecca Wilson story soon to be published in the News media in Adelaide and Sydney and I was able to read her piece living on the Gold Coast.. Total rubbish it turned out to be, with ill-informed information. Not one word of that the AU FC were forced to cover the most klms of all the other competing ACL Asian Teams.
I’m not an AU FC supporter; however, they would know better than I, the distances that the AU FC lads had to face being enormous. Fraught with the quick turnaround of fixtures and the long distance flights compared to that, of the other J-League teams had to face. It turned out to be an amazing performance by AU FC, which she blatantly overlooked. Are News Limited print media out to destroy the HAL? Well if they aren’t they are certainly giving a very good impression they are…
October 3rd 2010 @ 7:09pm
Australian Football said | October 3rd 2010 @ 7:09pm | Report comment
Ray,
if you and Rebbecca are struggling to know how it is done. Please read this Craig Foster Fluff story on Australian Football… If only we had more like him in the main stream media to help grow the awareness of the potential of the world game for all Australians. The code would be in far better shape. Craig Foster stands up to be countered. Pity that there not more like him who makes a living out football in the main stream media that can’t do the same.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/colourblind-code-shades-the-others-for-diversity-20101002-161yp.html
Thankfully he is fairly young and will be joined by more of his ilk in the not too distant future. By those I mean who take on the negativity head on and don’t take a backward step.
October 3rd 2010 @ 7:35pm
beaver fever said | October 3rd 2010 @ 7:35pm | Report comment
He calls for diversity, but what he really advocates is the opposite, luckily in a sporting sence we have diversity here.
October 3rd 2010 @ 7:43pm
Australian Football said | October 3rd 2010 @ 7:43pm | Report comment
If you can’t comprehend what Fossie has written—-I can’t help you.
October 3rd 2010 @ 6:40pm
roarlover34 said | October 3rd 2010 @ 6:40pm | Report comment
Ray thankyou for commenting.
Just two points of mine which you missed.
1. I am talking about front page coverage when the NRL and AFL is over. Not now.
2. You make no reference to my comment about your none existant praise of the increase in the quality of the football in the A-League. Can you please explain this.
btw, i am not Aaron or whoever has been e-mailing you.
September 30th 2010 @ 4:37pm
Zac Zavos said | September 30th 2010 @ 4:37pm | Report comment
Fussball ist unser leben – instead of attacking the man, why not tackle the ball here and address the points Ray raised in a less emotive way?
He responded fairly and your response to him doesn’t show the respect it should. It is very easy to criticise journalists from the comfort of your computer and an anonymous username (despite your rationale for remaining anonymous).
We should be encouraging this kind of interaction; but what journalist would leave a comment if they get your response in reply?
September 30th 2010 @ 4:48pm
Mister Football said | September 30th 2010 @ 4:48pm | Report comment
Couldn’t agree more, we should be welcoming blokes like Ray on here, giving their time to add a bit more of a personal touch, providing a bit more background info, and a bit of an insiders’ knowledge of how things work – it’s crazy that anyone would choose to have a go at him – how could anyone have the temerity to question his bona fides?
Patrick Smith has been mentioned. He is predominantly an AFL writer – but do people appreciate that he scrutinises everything the AFL does with a fine tooth comb, and I can assure you, he gets stuck into them more often than not. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I disagree – but I’ll read absolutely everything he as to say because he’s his own man (as Jesse Fink is), he writes well and he provides a unique perspective.
September 30th 2010 @ 4:59pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 30th 2010 @ 4:59pm | Report comment
Zac, I don’t think I attacked Ray any more harshly than Ray attacked the original author of this article.
You are quite right to say that it is easy for me to criticise journalists from the comfort of my PC using an anonymous name.
But, isn’t that what “journalists” (sports analysts!!) do every day – albeit under their own name with a team of legal (and “physical”) minders to assist them?
My biggest problem with modern “journalism” has been the merging of the roles of “journalist” and “analyst”. I’m not sure who told journalists they were qualified to analyse an issue, rather than simply reporting on the FACTS surrounding the issue.
To me the primary role of a journalist is to simply report the facts: i.e. What happened? When and where did it happen? How did it happen and, if possible, who was involved?
For me a good journalist is distinguished by gaining access to accurate factual information before his/her colleagues.
Alas, nowadays, it seems journalists are more interested in creating a sensational headline and “to hell with the facts” … they’ll just let the lawyers sort it out if they get the facts wrong.
September 30th 2010 @ 5:07pm
Mister Football said | September 30th 2010 @ 5:07pm | Report comment
Here’s a short bio on Ray:
http://www.brucekennedymanagement.com.au/authors/133-authors-ray-gatt.html
October 1st 2010 @ 12:31pm
JamesP said | October 1st 2010 @ 12:31pm | Report comment
You most certainly did attack him.
Example 1: “so, have you actually spoken to key people at the FFA or is your critique of the FFA based on hearsay, the musings of an ex-employee (Archie Fraser) and innuendo?”
In the above example, you are questioning whether Ray has actually spoken to someone at the FFA, or whether he makes all this up in his head
Exampel 2: “You claim you have been involved in reporting on the game on and off for almost 40 years. This is also interesting, since I’ve also followed the Game – locally and abroad – for that period of time, yet when I think of Football writers in Australia your name doesn’t come to mind (but, perhaps, that’s a Melbourne/Sydney thing).”
Now, you are questioning whether Ray has in fact been a soccer journalist for almost 40 years, based on the fact that you have never heard of him.
Your tone in general, much like most of your posts, is very derogatory.
October 5th 2010 @ 5:28pm
DiCanio said | October 5th 2010 @ 5:28pm | Report comment
jamesP you are super sensitive. I’m sure Gattman can handle it. Or maybe not, seeing as his flirts with the Roar comments section seem to ignore the pressing questions.
September 30th 2010 @ 8:09pm
Cpaaa said | September 30th 2010 @ 8:09pm | Report comment
Roarlover34 has already had mixed response from the posters and seems to have tickled a nerve with one 40 year ol Journo.
We Roarers are fans, we do not get paid to write, we are not journos but we try our best. Some articles are more researched than others. some articles are simply an opinion piece, and some articles have been so poor that they have been removed quicker than u can say “mr football”
Ray has every right to defend himself if being called pathetic by the author.
But Ray please dont shoot Rookie fans for using Cyber names…it is the new age.
Also try to embrace new football, by calling it just that, embrace the new world.
lastly, wed love to hear your views amongst our rookie opinions more often.
September 30th 2010 @ 4:49pm
Eamonn Flanagan said | September 30th 2010 @ 4:49pm | Report comment
Zac fairpoint
But many of us get criticised on here. or attacked, and I don’t see you supporting them, so quickly, from their flame throwers. Should one journalist get more of a fair go than the rest of us, more proection, I think not.
I say let it run for a while and see where it leads. Football journalism is an interesting issue for many football fans, we often don’t feel we are getting served up much in the print media in general; probably a reason why your football section is so successful.
And of course we are always perplexed by the football journalists (it’s a small market in Oz) need to defend themselves to criticism so quickly when they often criticise all in sundry themselves or indeed fail in an ability to analyse the football in any real depth despite being around the game for many years.
Fozzie in his book asked for a football journalism summit for a reason.
September 30th 2010 @ 4:58pm
Zac Zavos said | September 30th 2010 @ 4:58pm | Report comment
Thanks for your note Eamonn.
Re: “many of us get criticised on here. or attacked, and I don’t see you supporting them, so quickly, from their flame throwers ” – this isn’t quite right, I am constantly working to stop personal attacks on The Roar. Given that there are 20,000+ comments monthly, I can only react on what’s reported.
I will add one thing more: I have a lot of respect for journalists and I appreciate it when they respond as the way Ray has. I also have a lot of respect for Roarers, so all I ask is that we avoid attacking people (but criticise their arguments by all means).
September 30th 2010 @ 4:50pm
The Special One said | September 30th 2010 @ 4:50pm | Report comment
I agree with Ray also.
To blame the media for the problems of the a-league is selfish. The FFA have failed in many ways with the A-league.
People like ray and jesse fink get criticized for what they say, but at least they come out and say it.
It seems some people think all the troubles should be swept under the rug