Time to move on from football’s World Cup post-mortem
Roar Guru By ItsCalledFootball, 19 Sep 2011 ItsCalledFootball is a Roar Guru
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Given the very tame reaction and almost lack of interest to the Four Corners program on Monday about the Australia’s failed 2022 FIFA World Cup bid, it seems most sports fans have moved on.
It could be said that Australian domestic football and the Football Federation of Australian once again find themselves at the crossroads. The 2011-2012 A-League season will prove to be a watershed in the development of the local game.
The real question is whether football fans themselves can move on and once again embrace the game and its flagship competition.
As freely admitted by Four Corners, football is the most played sport in the country and beats all the other major codes combined.
The highest rating sports programs on Pay TV and Free-To-Air TV are also football games. So there are literally millions of Australians who either play the sport or watch it.
Herein lays the major conundrum. Despite its enormous appeal and large number of football players, the biggest critics of Australian football and the A-League seem to be Australian football fans and Australian football journalists themselves.
As Ben Buckley rightly pointed out, when those issues were first raised about the FFA and its involvement in the failed World Cup bid, they were examined and investigated and our bid was ultimately given the all clear.
More importantly the FFA was this month finally exonerated by the federal government and its independent auditors.
Federal Minister for Sport Senator Mark Arbib concurred that “They [FFA] really didn’t put a foot wrong,” he said. “The bid book was rated, and the inspection was rated as one of the best of all the bidding nations.”
“Everyone knows here and overseas we would have put on an outstanding World Cup. But it’s not just the technical requirements which decide a World Cup – a lot of politics goes into it.”
“It was tough for us, it’s still rough for us. Something a lot of us were upset about at the time, and when you hear some of the allegations that have been going on in the [FIFA] ethics committee, it does leave a sour taste in the mouth.”
Sure the FFA has come under some criticism, but in concentrating on the result on the World Cup bid and football’s other woes, Four Corners and many others have chosen to overlook the many major achievements the game has made in recent years.
Buckley also pointed out that since its inception in 2004, the FFA has overseen a number of success stories.
· Established the FFA as a national and independent football management organisation
· Increased revenues and investment in all tiers of the game, from national teams to grassroots participation
· Joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the largest FIFA football confederation
· Been awarded the hosting rights for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup
· Greatly increased football sponsorship revenues and partnered with some of Australia’s most respected and iconic brands and corporations including Ferrero, Fox Sports, Hyundai, NAB, Nike, Optus, Qantas, Sanitarium, Schweppes, Sony, Tabsportsbet and Westfield
· Achieved Socceroos qualification for two consecutive FIFA World Cups
· Raised the Socceroos ranking from 86 to as high as 14 (currently 22) with notable victories against some of the world’s top-ten countries
· Socceroos finalists and runners-up in the 2011 Asian Cup
· Established and expanded the Hyundai A-League to over 300 careers for players, coaches and administrators
· Attracted more registered players to the game, particularly among women
· Football is the fastest growing team sport in the country
· Instituted the first ever national football development plan in 2007
· Developed a world-class football curriculum for juniors and developing players
· Qualified for two consecutive women’s World Cups, two consecutive men’s U/20 World Cups and U/17 World Cups
· Established a national youth league in 2008 which forms a critical part of the Elite Player Pathway program
· Launched MyFootballClub, a digital hub for engagement with the football community
· Established a televised national women’s league in 2008
· Matildas’ victory in the 2010 Asian Cup, qualified for the 2011 Women’s World Cup, and reached the quarter-finals of the 2007 and 2011 Women’s World Cup
· Adelaide United reach the final of the Asian Champions League in 2009
· The Socceroos have grown to become Australia’s favourite and most-watched sporting team
· Introduced a national football indigenous development plan in 2009 and
· Taken the FFA’s business from an effectively insolvent position to annual revenues of over $80 million.
The FFA has also made some welcome but largely un-noticed major changes in the A-League competition itself.
This season we will see the addition of exciting new players like Levchenko, Bosschaart, Adnan, Mehmet, Miller, Sanchez, Warner, Fabinho, Tiago, Andrezinho, Beekmans, Jungschlager, Nakajima-Faran, Usucar, Fred, Vidosic, Kewell, Emerton and many others.
The platform has been established to provide A-League fans this season with a level of domestic club competition and football enjoyment that may even surpass last season.
Sure, the FFA has made some bad choices in the past and can’t please everyone. But it also has not had the resources to be able to devote as much as it would like to growing the A-League and Australian football.
Imagine if the FFA had a $1.25 billion media rights deal and had $500 million at its disposal to spend on adding two new teams to the A-League. Or an advertising and marketing budget of $100 million.
This A-League season for me, promises to be an exciting one and with Holger Osieck at the helm, the Socceroos look like adding to their growing list of victories.
Its time to move on, learn from our mistakes and do better next time. Lets play a part in Australian football’s next chapter in history – whatever that may turn out to be.
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The Crowd Says (41) | Page 1 of Comments
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September 19th 2011 @ 8:20am
Lucan said | September 19th 2011 @ 8:20am | Report comment
The Four Corners expose didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.
Buckley lists all these achievements, but as long as he and the FFA keep rorting grassroots football and gauging kids/parents to act as their cashcow to prop up the top level failings they should probably stop spruiking.
September 19th 2011 @ 10:38am
paul smith said | September 19th 2011 @ 10:38am | Report comment
You should get your facts right rather than just follow theold standard whinge line…it is the STATE Federations that charge the fees that you refer to as the “gouging”! The FFA has NO control over this and simply gets a amall (approx $50) levy!!!!…compare tha with waht goes back in with the varioos projects at grass roots level.
Four corners was an obvious set up by disgruntled former ex employees and EX ASA associated people whose backgrounds are to say the least are questionable.
If you are a fan…ollow the lead of some of the other comments,….get on the “WE” page and support the game
September 19th 2011 @ 12:17pm
nordozzz said | September 19th 2011 @ 12:17pm | Report comment
well put … do we even need state feds really? (Or state gov’ts but thats another issue.) Surely regional offices with shared back office support would be better. Players paying the costs of some managerial duplication no doubt.
and is it even $50 to ffa… i thought it was more like $10-20 p/player?
September 19th 2011 @ 12:49pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 19th 2011 @ 12:49pm | Report comment
Yes
4 corners trying to blame the FFA for the high cost of football registrations was a bit rich – in fact it was not true and they would have known that.
September 19th 2011 @ 1:05pm
Lucan said | September 19th 2011 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
Can we have a Four Corners investigation on where the State Federations are spending this money, in this case?
It is upsetting to see the other codes (namely AFL) subsidising the grass-roots where possible. In our game it always feels the other way around.
September 19th 2011 @ 12:32pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 19th 2011 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
State and clubs get the money not FFA – FFA only gets 10 bucks per player.
Majorityy of costs is insurance rip off about 50% of cost – football classsed as highest risk.
Other codes heavily subsidised and football gets no subsidies from anywhere.
AusKick they give you a $20 NAB bank account to join up plus over 200 bucks worth of free gear.
But football still the most popular and increased numbers again this year.
Stop winging – look at the positives.
WE ARE FOOTBALL – no one else!
September 19th 2011 @ 10:30pm
Barry said | September 19th 2011 @ 10:30pm | Report comment
Could someone explain why football is classed as the highest risk. My daughter plays u14′s football and it costs $250 plus she has to buy shorts and socks. Son plays rugby union and cost is $100 with socks, shorts and training gear included.I have played football( $350) and rugby($250). In my experiance soccer is not the sport that most insurance claims are made. I dont care who is getting the money, but somewhere there is a blatant money grab occuring. I enjoy all sports, however this is turning me right off football.
September 19th 2011 @ 11:18pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 19th 2011 @ 11:18pm | Report comment
There have been numerous investigations of Football NSW as well and they have found nothing wrong either.
The suggestion is because football registrations are higher than AFL, League or Union, the FFA and Football NSW are CORRUPT.
This is what Football NSW charges to register players:
http://www.footballnsw.com.au/fileadmin/user_upload/Policy/1018_-__Associations_Year_2011_Registration_Fees.pdf
The rest is charged by the football clubs themselves to cover the cost of running the competitions, the ground hire, paying staff and referees and linesmen, kit bags, trophies and shorts and socks and insurance – which is the biggest cost by far.
It can vary between clubs by as much as 100%. The clubs receive NO subsidies from the government, FFA or Football NSW – they have to fund raise to try and reduce their costs.
So if it costs $150 to register your 8 year old – FFA and Football NSW get $25.88 and your club gets $125.00 of which about $70.00 is for insurance.
I’m not trying to defend anyone, but that’s what it costs.
September 19th 2011 @ 8:23am
BigAl said | September 19th 2011 @ 8:23am | Report comment
Couldn’t agree more – so what is the point of this article ?
September 19th 2011 @ 12:11pm
mahony said | September 19th 2011 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
To seek agreement? Including from others……
September 19th 2011 @ 12:35pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 19th 2011 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
Didn’t you read the article.
There are 3 main points I raise.
Firstly the ABC expose on WC bid was a waste of time.
Second, there are a lot of positives from the FFA and no-one is noticing or giving them the credit they deserve.
Thirdly, stop whinging football fans and get behind the game.
WE ARE FOOTBALL
September 19th 2011 @ 8:34pm
j binnie said | September 19th 2011 @ 8:34pm | Report comment
It’s called football.- You should not be too quick to ridicule anyone caring to pass comment on your article as a whinger.For instance, take the main “back up” to your discussion point,Mr Buckley’s wide ranging statement of improvements made under the auspices of the FFA. While I would be the first to say many of his observations are a true & honest reflection I do question many of them & would challenge yout to prove I am a “whinger” based on my comments.(1) Investment in football at grass roots level. This is a hugely debatable issue & on my movement among schools, junior football & lower division leagues I find little or no “investment,” or even “aid”,at this level. (2) The FFA has got us to 2 WC Finals?. When one considers the qualifying matches for the 2006 WC started being played in 2003 how can this claim be justified?.Was a magic wand waved over the players as the FFA only started in 2002. (By the way IMO it is players that win matches not administrators while it is true to say they supply the means &wherewithal.) (3) Socceroo ranking? Mr Buckley should know by now that is a constantly fluctuating figure using “player/team” performances.One of the huge jumps was made after in Feb 2003 (that year again) when we beat England’s full team in a friendly played in England.(4) After recent occurrences I was even surprised he mentioned expansion as a success story??(5) The national development program (did you note the use of the word “elite”) is based on 50 year old knowledge & method & after recent results I am one of many who are questioning the promised success of the scheme considering the dollars spent, but I do admit time could prove me wrong.(6) Surely Adelaide Utd reached the final of the Asian Cup by virtue of their own efforts? (7) He mentions the moving from insolvency based on annual revenue of $8 mill. A student of business will tell you if you have revenue of $8 miIl. but spend $10mill. you still have a problem. A strange statement from a CEO !!. (7) Lastly. The naming of the huge influx of new &exciting players into the HAL. What has that got to do with the FFA,?. Surely it is clubs that are doing that & lets hope their efforts bear fruit on the field.
So you see I have simply questioned the authenticity of 7 parts of his statement and I for one feel this is what the pundits of the game should be doing when faced with what I consider mis-representation. My cure. He should not have passed comment on these items. What I would have liked was to have seen him defend the failed WC bid by simply pointing out to the thousands of fans & critics is that the $42million “taxpayers money” spent pales into comparison with the $1669 millions our government will “donate” in aid to just 8 countries this year with absolutely no chance of any return whatsoever.For the figures men “our” donation represents 2.5% of that foreign aid total???.jb
September 19th 2011 @ 11:32pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 19th 2011 @ 11:32pm | Report comment
Hold on there jb, I was asked “what was the point of the article”.
That was more of an insult than what I said and I am entitled to explain aren’t I?
Some of your comments only go to prove my argument that football fans have become so conditioned by the negatiove media to whinge and complain that some of them do not see any of the good things going on around them anymore.
I agree that the FFA should have responded to the comments, if not Buckley then at least Kyle Patterson as the media spokesman.
But in their wisdom they chose not to and the 4 Corners program was largely ignored anyway because it didn’t raise anything new. Maybe they thought they had nothing to answer.
September 20th 2011 @ 7:26am
j binnie said | September 20th 2011 @ 7:26am | Report comment
I C F – To quote- “Prove my argument that football fans have become so conditioned by negative media” unquote. I sincerely hope you were not including me in that generalism.Let’s look at the facts in my offering.I cited you 7 comments reported by that same media you refer to as having been said by the CEO of the FFA.I questioned the accuracy of these remarks & duly noted you did not dispute any of them in your reply. Mr Buckley made around 20 points (the bullet holed sentences). I questioned 7 of them,(nearly 35%) so,although you do mention an FFA “media spokesman”,it must now be obvious to you that that same personage could NOT have vetted Mr Buckley’s remarks before publication.Otherwise he would not have allowed Mr Buckley to pass on mis-information to an eager football public This observation is a complete antithesis to your remark that the FFA should have responded to the comments.Surely it was the FFA who were making the comments through their CEO.Now, contrary to your allegation, it does appear I may have agreed with 65% of Mr Buckley’s remarks so casting doubts on my “whinging” as an anti-FFA diatribe.You see I am a strict believer in our public being given ACCURATE information & anywhere I see the facts being distorted I reserve the right to question them.Whinging???,I think not,only in the jaundiced eyes of any “reader” who has been” taken in”. I do NOT think you are one of those. jb
September 20th 2011 @ 1:05pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 20th 2011 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
jb, where is your evidence to back up any of your claims?
You are the one who is distorting the facts and wrongly assessing the FFA to criticise them.
1. Investment in football has grown exponentially since FFA took over. Not just money but the appointment of technical directors and technical coaches and the establishment of small sided football and a national football development program.
2. The FFA have overseen the appointment of staff and coaches to get us to 2 WC finals in a row
3.Socceroos world FIFA ranking has gone up since FFA took over
4. When the FFA took over, we didn’t have a national domestic football competition. The FFA started the A-League with 8 teams and now we have 10 with 2 more trying to get in – Canberra and Wollongong.
5. The FFA started the all the national football development programs that we currently have
6. Adelaide were in the Asian Champion league because of the FFA moving to Asia and entering the competition. That wouldn’t have happened without the FFA.
7. The FFA started the A-League – we wouldn’t have so many exciting players to watch live in person, if it wasn’t for the FFA setting up the A-League.
Will you ever give the FFA credit for doing anything?
September 20th 2011 @ 3:39pm
j binnie said | September 20th 2011 @ 3:39pm | Report comment
ICF – Your comprehension of the written word is not very high if this reply is to be given any credibility.You ask for evidence on my claims,I didn’t claim anything only stated the obvious, but I will try. Your (1) The CEO claimed the FFA had spent ACROSS ALL TIERS of the game My findings at junior ,schools & lower leagues does suggest this is not so & having read many contributions from across the country that strengthens this opinion I simply pointed out the error in his statement .In 1974,36 years ago,a fulltime Director of Coaching was appointed with EVERY state having it’s own fully qualified D of C Iin place to coach,not kids ,but coaches who in turn would coach kids.Hardly what one would describe a “new”idea.-Your (2) We beg to differ in this,in my world players win games not coaches & once again the cost has to be considered for Rasic cost a fraction of what the others have or are costing.Your (3) You refuse to recognise “ranking” is a measure of results & Australia’s rise has been going on since 1974,fluctuating yes ,but an increase in mean average ,constant.Your (4) Appears to not recognise the existence of a national league from 1977 to 2002 which was wrecked not by players but by administrators as the famous report pointed out to any interested party. No denial the FFA started the HAL.Your (5).Already explained in (1) but again the FFA have reignited the flame. I simply stated that there is nothing new in the programme, the systems,dialogue & methods are not new,after all, how old is the Institute of Sport ? but once again a lot of “new”money has gone into the idea. Benefits? Yet to show. Your (6) I did say the FFA had supplied the means & where-with-all for Adelaide to get to the AC but the players did the job.Your(7) A ridiculous statement that gives away your age or lack of knowledge. Are you saying there never were any exciting players in the NSL?I won’t embarrass you by mentioning a few names out of that organisation’s 28 year history. Now that I have dealt with YOUR points I will repeat ,66% of Mr Buckley’s statement I agreed with wholeheartedly, the 7 I mentioned should not have been made for,if not entirely wrong they were ambiguous to say the least. but the remaining 13 or so I gave credit where it is due? So what IS your grouse.jb
September 21st 2011 @ 9:46am
ItsCalledFootball said | September 21st 2011 @ 9:46am | Report comment
j binnie,
my sincerest apologies for my poor comprehension.
But its time to move on from football’s World Cup post-mortem.
September 22nd 2011 @ 5:10am
j binnie said | September 22nd 2011 @ 5:10am | Report comment
ICF – No need to apologise (I didn’t really think you had poor comprehension) and as you say it is time to move on.However,on reflection,if only Mr Buckley had started his statement by saying “In 2002 the FFA inherited a code of football that was in total disarray,and since then we have attempted to resurrect it in a business like manner by updating and introducing additions necessary to achieve this”,I would have no argument with that. What I object to is innuendo that they have introduced all these “new”ideas.Cheers jb
September 20th 2011 @ 6:47am
MyLeftFoot said | September 20th 2011 @ 6:47am | Report comment
since when did any media focus on positives??
September 19th 2011 @ 8:58am
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 19th 2011 @ 8:58am | Report comment
Been saying it for over 12 months – the ONLY significant issue facing football in Australia is to entice the football community to embrace the professional club competition.
Once this final jigsaw piece falls into place, as far as I’m concerned, the picture is complete and the scene is purely “blue sky”.
We’ve come a long long way in 6 seasons – yes, we’ve made mistakes during the start-up phase, and I’m expecting us to make more mistakes as we enter the growth phase – that’s part of running a business – but, we must always keep the faith.
NOTE: I use the pronoun “we”, since every football fan has a role to play … WE ARE FOOTBALL!
September 19th 2011 @ 12:11pm
mahony said | September 19th 2011 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
Ecellent – I am a big fan of the “we” also…….
September 19th 2011 @ 12:39pm
BigAl said | September 19th 2011 @ 12:39pm | Report comment
Good idea for the NOTE: Fuss – some Roarers would easily assume that you were using the royal ‘we’.
September 19th 2011 @ 9:22am
Qantas supports Australian Football said | September 19th 2011 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Four Corners were obviously conned by the anti-football protagonists to do this piece now. The joke was on them–we have all known what had happened—how embarrassed they must be feeling right know, putting to air a story that is just about 6 months old with nothing new to add.
September 19th 2011 @ 12:21pm
Heart_ Away13 said | September 19th 2011 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
Like most of you I understand that the biggest thing holding Australian football back is the lack of unity within the football community, if the tribes would unite we gain immeasurably, more people supporting the A – League means more money for the clubs and a better spectacle for TV which in turn means more money for the game when media rights are negotiated which means improvements on and off the pitch etc and so the circle of life continues, but the one thing that has always bugged me (and this is not just about football but most sports in this country) is that there are too many layers of governance within the game.
Given that I am not intimately involved in football administration in this country I’m not sure how popular this statement will be but here goes, the next thing that I would like to see with regards to the restructuring of football in this country is a move away from state federations to a structure that runs like divisions of a business with a COO responsible for the implementation on the National Football direction across all of Australia.
The biggest issue that I have is that there are too many people that like to add their 2 cents worth along the way subtlety changing the message until it no longer represents anything like what it was meant to be, what we need is direction from the top with individual held responsible for the dissemination of that message and the running of all football activities in that state or area.
The structure I envision for Victoria would look something like e.g. FFA CEO > FFA COO Football Operations > COO Victoria > Director of Football:
• Melbourne – East
• Melbourne – West
• Victoria – East
• Victoria – Central
• Victoria – West
An even better idea is probably to break down the state alignment altogether and align geographical population centres this would remove the state v state rubbish that seems to occur. I dont want to bore you all so I will leave my thoughts there as maybe this is the ramblings of slightly crazy Monday mind but then again maybe not!
September 19th 2011 @ 12:44pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 19th 2011 @ 12:44pm | Report comment
I can see where you are coming from Heart_Away13.
But because football is the most diverse and the most popular participation sport, boys and girls, it would be very difficult to run from a central office with no state federations.
The state federations also run the local competitions like the NSW Premier League which the FFA would not be possible to take them all over.
The problem is lack of money and the abiliy to subsidise clubs.
Our club runs a lot of fund raising activities and group discounts so we can reduce the rego a little bit and the players and mums and dads appreciate that.
September 19th 2011 @ 6:44pm
apaway said | September 19th 2011 @ 6:44pm | Report comment
Personally, I don’t have a problem with a program like Four Corners investigating aspects of football, given the huge number of participants and stakeholders in the game. I agree that the program may have got some facts wrong in relation to FFA levies but I found it curious that Ben Buckley declined the opportunity to appear, as this is one of the points he could have refuted.
In essence, the program shed no startling new light on the World Cup bid, and as you have highlighted ICF, there are a long list of achievements in the development of the game that make me (us?) optimistic for the future. Roll on, A-League!
September 19th 2011 @ 11:50pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 19th 2011 @ 11:50pm | Report comment
apaway,
I don’t have a problem with investigations either and neither do the FFA or Football NSW.
There is yet another 6 month investigation of football going on as we speak and the FFA and Football NSW are cooperating fully with the government.
What other sport has had so many investigations and audits of its finances, as football in this country?????
I agree that Buckley or Kyle Patterson should have responded to the disgruntled Mercedes attack, but in the end it didn’t matter that much – no one cared really.
I’m not a big fan of Buckley anyway and I think we could find someone better if we wanted to, but Lowy seems to have more faith in him than the rest of us.
Yes looking forward to the A-League season, should be another good one – well I hope it lasts at least another season. You wouldn’t think so if you believed everything in the media.
September 20th 2011 @ 1:19am
PaddyBoy said | September 20th 2011 @ 1:19am | Report comment
When you were talking earlier about the price to play it’s really high. When I was a kid I never paid so I was unsure, but I started playing league when I was about 11. When I went to uni my knees were just about gone so I played for a local football side and the price was enormous (especially considering I was playing a pretty average division). Played league and it was pretty cheap (the Parra Eels might subsidise it though).
I think by and large there would be increased risk (though fewer injuries) compared to league. I got injured just about every week when I played league, but there was only one injury of note I saw in my season playing football (not counting u-6-10′s), broken leg, and pretty solid hit from the side too.
How do your boys knees hold up after a few years? My family has history of bad knees, and I was a fast bowler as well so that contributes, but I think once I hit my thirties it’ll be monthly physio time.
September 20th 2011 @ 12:40pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 20th 2011 @ 12:40pm | Report comment
Football is a little higher than other codes, but as I said above,
if you pay $150 to register your 8 year old for football,
FFA get $10
Football NSW get $15.88
Hardly a rip off by FFA – is it.
http://www.footballnsw.com.au/fileadmin/user_upload/Policy/1018_-__Associations_Year_2011_Registration_Fees.pdf
September 20th 2011 @ 1:01pm
Barry said | September 20th 2011 @ 1:01pm | Report comment
No its a lot more than ” a little higher”. Usually about 100- 200% higher. No body has ever been able to give me a reason for this. The ” its the insurance” line just does not wash. Where is the money being spent. If FFA and Football NSW are only taking $25.88 then most clubs are taking over $200 off mums and dads of 6 year olds. Its a parents who are coaching and managing, plus I have never seen anyone with actual coaching qualifications from the state or national bodies come and give the kids clinics at our club. I know union does and no doubt afl and league does to. As I said before someone is ripping us off. They have so many kids playing the sport that they are being taken for granted.
September 20th 2011 @ 6:48am
MyLeftFoot said | September 20th 2011 @ 6:48am | Report comment
re the article,
“The highest rating sports programs on Pay TV and Free-To-Air TV are also football games. ”
which are?
September 20th 2011 @ 12:28pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 20th 2011 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
In comparison to FTA TV the Socceroos also hold the record for the most watched FTA football programs according to Roy Morgan research.
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2006/4035/
“eight-and-a-half million Australians watched the primetime World Cup Qualifier against Uruguay.”
That’s more than double any NRL or AFL Grand Final.
September 20th 2011 @ 1:08pm
me, I like football said | September 20th 2011 @ 1:08pm | Report comment
You can’t compare a Roy Morgan survey to Oztam Surveys
September 20th 2011 @ 1:13pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 20th 2011 @ 1:13pm | Report comment
Most media experts rely on the Roy Morgan research figures as being more accurate.
OzTAM is owner by the commercial TV stations, is not a random or unbiased sample and is used by commercial stations to charge for advertising, so their figures are heavily biased to their own stations and TV shows.
Disregard the Roy Morgan stats at your own peril.
September 20th 2011 @ 1:17pm
me, I like football said | September 20th 2011 @ 1:17pm | Report comment
So where are the Roy Morgan AFL grand final figures?
September 20th 2011 @ 12:34pm
ItsCalledFootball said | September 20th 2011 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
And here’s the Pay TV top 15 of all time.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/other-sports/foxsports-15yr-anniversary/we-bring-you-a-list-of-the-15-most-watched-matched-ever-broadcast-on-fox-sports/story-fn8b1swq-1226033407437
Socceroos 1 and 2 in the list.
Uzbekistan?
September 20th 2011 @ 2:43pm
Barry said | September 20th 2011 @ 2:43pm | Report comment
I think a couple of super rugby games this season now rate higher. However good figures none the less.
September 21st 2011 @ 9:53am
ItsCalledFootball said | September 21st 2011 @ 9:53am | Report comment
Yeah Barry,
the point is football is very popular with millions of Australians and is the number one code in a few key areas.
That’s not translating into A-League ratings and attendances and that’s the big challenge for O’Gorman and the A-League management team.
One of the main reasons is the continuous negative press that football, FFA and Football NSW get – a lot of times unfairly – like the FFA ripping off people with high registration costs.
This has conditioned a lot of football fans to hate their own code and get in the habit of criticising everything that the FFA and Lowy does. We need to stop doing that and focus on the positives as well.
Hopefully the 4 Corners program is the turning point and we can all move on from that WC disappointment and look forward to what promises to be another great A-League season.
September 20th 2011 @ 1:22pm
clipper said | September 20th 2011 @ 1:22pm | Report comment
Soccer in Australia is a victim of its international success. If ever it gets to the point where it can afford to keep some of our big stars, or buy in some overseas stars at the height of their career, then the crowds and interest will escalate. But as it stands you can’t say you’re going to see the best players in the world in the A league, whereas in domestic sports like Aussie Rules and League, you can, as the best players don’t get snapped up to play overseas, although Kewell and Emerton should be a boost this season.
September 20th 2011 @ 9:04pm
asanchez said | September 20th 2011 @ 9:04pm | Report comment
Disagree clipper.
There are only 3-4 domestic leagues around the world that fans can say they are watching the best in the world at their sport. But now check out the crowds and interest in countries like Scotland, Portugal, Holland, France, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Russia, and even the 2nd Divisions in England and Germany. I could go on and on and on.
My point is, the A-league doesn’t need to have the best players on the planet to be a successful league. It’s the global game, therefore any player from any country, 9 times out of 10 will go abroad to make possibly 3/4/5 even 10 times their wage in some cases. That’s how it goes. Football fans are well aware of that, we accept it and we embrace it. If someone is good enough to go abroad, become a superstar, make millions, good luck to them! This will also help our national team.
People that don’t understand this theory never will, but 99% of these aren’t Football fans.
Ideally, the A-league wants to be able to sit in a space where if decent young Aussie prospects get offers from 2nd and 3rd tier leagues abroad, that our homegrown stars will choose to stay until they get an offer from a bigger club, maybe from the Premier League or a club from La Liga etc.
We are not yet at this point, as financially we just can’t compete even with 2nd and 3rd tier domestic leagues.
But this will happen and the gap will close in time. On the other hand the FFA doesn’t have money to throw around, or friends in the media. Those 2 go hand in hand. The WC bid is over, we lost, got 1 point, it was corrupt, we all know.
Our defeat has given the knockers more oxygen than ever, a free kick to have a pop at our game at every opportunity.
But all we can do is grow, and even though were coming off a low base, I think this will be just the season to do it.
September 20th 2011 @ 9:25pm
Barry said | September 20th 2011 @ 9:25pm | Report comment
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