Football, the good, the bad, and the ugly
Roar Rookie By Simon Overall, 3 Sep 2011 Simon Overall is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- A-League, Brett Emerton, football, Melbourne Victory, Socceroo, Sydney FC
Having spent the best part of 12 months on a footballing sabbatical in Europe, I was all but chuffed to see my hometown club Sydney FC, claim a historic double over arch-rival Melbourne Victory in the 2010 A-League Grand Final.
The sad irony for this writer was that sitting in a cold London apartment streaming the scenes of jubilation meant I could not be in Melbourne that day, and my sole celebration had come with Manchester United claiming the Carling Cup at Wembley, some weeks earlier.
Fast forward a year later and the championship-winning side I’d witnessed on a dodgy Iraq-goals stream had been replaced by a side who seemed a shadow of its former self.
And to rub it in, Manchester United had gone onto create its own piece of history, a 19th English league crown, while Sydney FC spluttered towards the season’s end with an undefeated, yet uninspiring run.
Arguably the highlight came from a trip to Korea for the ACL, where despite being somewhat humiliated by local team Suwon, the overall experience, of yet again watching football overseas, proved rewarding itself.
Some months later now and the doom and gloom that surrounded the twice A-League champion Sydney, has now been given just that little bit of sunshine by the signing of Socceroo, Brett Emerton.
Awaking to a 6.30 am message from a mate – blearly-eyed and tired from the previous night – I felt as excited as a kid on Christmas day when I saw the news, and with a hop, a skip and a jump, a few hours later I found myself at the Sydney Football Stadium for the official announcement.
So whether you’re a Kewell or an Emerton fan, whether you prefer sky-blue or purple, season seven of the A-League looks set to be the best ever. I cannot wait.
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The Crowd Says (8) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- A-League, Brett Emerton, football, Melbourne Victory, Socceroo, Sydney FC
September 3rd 2011 @ 9:14am
Qantas supports Australian Football said | September 3rd 2011 @ 9:14am | Report comment
Good read Simon—–I live on the Gold Coast an expat from Sydney. I support both teams GCU FC and also SFC because that is where I was born and learnt to play all of my football. I’m too are very excited about the coming season. I can’t wait to see Emerton and Kewell play in the HAL—this will be an enormous season; shaping up to be the best ever.
September 3rd 2011 @ 11:27am
Midfielder said | September 3rd 2011 @ 11:27am | Report comment
Q
Careful of those little man in their clean white suits… admitting you follow SFC & GC in public ….
BTW your SFC midfield is looking stronger than I have ever seen it….
September 4th 2011 @ 7:09pm
Qantas supports Australian Football said | September 4th 2011 @ 7:09pm | Report comment
Miron keeps doing it—-rebuilding good competitive teams from the ashes….
GOLD Coast United have won their pre-season friendly against Melbourne Victory at Owen Park 1-0.
James Brown was the goal scorer, the youngsters 17th minute strike standing him in good stead heading into the new Hyundai A-League season.
Head Coach Miron Bleiberg said he was happy with his troops.
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”I think we did quite well and we have showed today that we will be as competitive as any other team in the league this season,” he said.
”There were plenty of good signs even with quite a few senior players missing.
“Ante Rozic showed his quality as did the two Dutch midfielders, so we have recruited well and we can be confident that we will have plenty of say in what happens this season.”
September 3rd 2011 @ 1:32pm
AL said | September 3rd 2011 @ 1:32pm | Report comment
Must say I feel more for SFC than the overseas teams I follow. Never miss a game. That was not the case when I was growing up in Sydney. Even as a Sydney Olympic fan. Sydney FC is truley my team. And I just love beating MV.
September 3rd 2011 @ 2:17pm
Titus said | September 3rd 2011 @ 2:17pm | Report comment
The season that Sydney won the double, was fairly unconvincing and my feeling was, great now lets build a team that can take on Asia. Instead we let most of our top players go, recruited some fairly average squaddies and decided against taking advantage of the 2nd marquee spot. It was a disaster for us and extremely dissappointing for the fans to watch the team struggle and the fans not bother turning up.
This season looks like there has been some things learnt. The squad looks at least competitive and with a midfield including Carle, Emerton, Kisel, Antonis., there is no reason why we can’t play some very entertaining and competitive football.
It is a huge season for Vitja to prove that he can get this team playing a more enterprising and attractive brand of football. I have my season pass and my fingers crossed.
September 4th 2011 @ 2:10pm
derby county fc said | September 4th 2011 @ 2:10pm | Report comment
I love the victory but I love football more. I am just concerned about the success of the Hal. Fans need to be involved and constantly talk and promote the league.
September 4th 2011 @ 6:03pm
Simon Overall said | September 4th 2011 @ 6:03pm | Report comment
Football is such an amazing experience live, like nothing on earth really. Unfortunately and despite being a massive fan of the EPL, the accessibility of TV coverage for it has meant that the younger generation especially don’t or will not ever get to appreciate the live experience of coming to a A-League game.
Football is more than a game – it’s the whole matchday experience, something Fox or any TV provider can never provide.
September 4th 2011 @ 9:31pm
Davo said | September 4th 2011 @ 9:31pm | Report comment
as i Brisbane Roar fan i sincerely hope that Sydney do quite well this year. The whole league needs to home city of football to have an exciting, inspiring and successful team.