- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Now that I’ve got your attention, all I ask is for a few hundred words to make my point before you launch a barrage of rotten tomatoes (and probably a few other things as well) my way.
Commentators like Rebecca Wilson and Peter Fitzsimons are often on the receiving end of criticism and abuse from football fans in this country.
Whilst having figures to unite against can galvanise fans together and bring out a passionate defence of football in Australia, in the long term, it can be argued that this won’t be in the interests of the game because it is the sceptical element of the community that needs to be convinced to keep the game growing.
Or to put it another way, football won’t continue to grow if we are only preaching to the converted.
This isn’t a call to listen to every single word critics say because some of it will be total nonsense.
But because football is still growing in this country and the A-League is still young, we need to listen to what is being said about our code, both positive and negative.
Not even the staunchest of supporters would say the game in this country can’t be improved either in the way it is run or from a technical skill perspective. The football community should listen to the critics both from within as well as outside the footballing community.
Once you get over the vitriol and sensationalist comments designed to sell newspapers and acknowledge the vested interests some parties have in protecting their own patch, essentially what these critics are saying is what aspects of the game don’t appeal to them.
If their starting point is that football is crap and will never be as good as the other codes, then there is very little that can be done as people unwilling to change their minds when the circumstances change will never be convinced.
Most people would place commentators like Wilson and Fitzsimons in this basket.
However, until the game reaches a much stronger place in terms of financial stability and broader appeal in the wider community we can’t say for sure they won’t put up their hands and say ‘well done’ when that day comes.
As my ancient history teacher used to say “all will be revealed in the fullness of time.”
But getting back to the main point, it is often the harshest of critics that ask the most important questions. And it’s these questions that need to be answered the most.
For example, in the aftermath of the failed World Cup bid, Rebecca Wilson wrote that the World Cup bid was the greatest sporting scandal in the history of this country. That’s the bit designed to sell newspapers.
She went on to criticise the bid and how it was conducted before concluding that the money spent on the bid should have been spent on the game at a grassroots level rather than chasing the World Cup.
Then just to make sure the ‘us and them’ mentality between her and the football community is entrenched just a little more, she takes a shot at how the A-League is being run, citing poor ratings and the lack of a free-to-air TV deal.
Some of these points are superficially made without acknowledging the intricacies of the landscape of football in Australia, but there would not be many football fans who don’t want to see bigger crowds and greater exposure for the game.
Just because Rebecca Wilson makes these points doesn’t make them less valid.
Peter Fitzsimons also wrote a piece in the aftermath of the failed bid and stated how Australia is better off without the World Cup. His first point was: “It’s only soccer.”
Once again that is the bit to satisfy the people who look after the newspaper circulation numbers, but he goes on to raise a very valid question which many football fans seems to have glossed over after the failed bid. Would we have been totally comfortable winning a bidding process which we now quite openly say was mired in controversy with allegations of bribery and corruption?
Once again the question is a worthy one to consider even if it isn’t asked by someone who doesn’t work at SBS.
What football fans and administrators need to do is continue to build up the fundamentals of the game.
This season has seen some of the best football played since the A-League began which suggests that the clubs are doing something right in terms of their recruitment, training and technical approach to the game. That might not have been able to be said a couple of seasons ago.
The football community needs to continue to build the game so the critics can no longer talk about the size of the crowds but are reduced to turning their attention to the size of the players’ shorts.
Henry Wordsworth Longfellow once wrote “the strength of criticism lies in the weakness of the thing criticised.”
Just because we don’t like the messenger doesn’t mean we should ignore the message.
******
Whilst we are on the topic of Rebecca Wilson, this last week saw the resignation of Edwin Lugt from his role at Sydney FC. Oddly enough, these two combined to create one of my favourite football related moments on TV.
So for a trip down memory lane to see one of the best dressing downs delivered on Australian TV, but done in a really nice and friendly way, here is a link to the video of Edwin Lugt and Rebecca Wilson on ABC’s Insiders.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.