Melbourne’s A-League media battleground

 
Athas Zafiris Columnist

By , 25 Jan 2012

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Jim Magilton is confident he can get Melbourne Victory firing again AAP Image/Joe Castro

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Back in October last year, The Australian’s chief sportswriter, the curmudgeonly Patrick Smith, tackled his onset of post-AFL season blues by opining on the then hoopla surrounding the start of the A-League season, the Melbourne Spring racing carnival and even the NBL.

The headlines and column inches hijacked by Harry Kewell and Black Caviar must have been headache inducing and his column amounted to a lamentable piece of wishful thinking.

“This weekend these sports – soccer, basketball and racing – will get publicity they do not normally generate or deserve.”

“History says once the wave of interest has washed away, the sports will shrink back into their own mediocrity. And ponder what might have been.”

Three months later Mr. Smith’s prediction of football’s decline into mediocrity is predictably off the mark as the A-League keeps producing an increasing number of high quality matches and a growing appreciative audience.

I sincerely doubt Mr. Smith has noticed.

However, when it comes to “undeserved” publicity, I have good news for Mr. Smith.

In scenes not witnessed since the bad old days of the NSL, one of the most critical matches of the season for Melbourne Heart was criminally ignored in The Age last Saturday.

The substantial 20 page sports section managed to have less column inches on the A-League than what most Australian men pack away in their budgie smugglers sans d’eau froide.

Don’t believe me. Here’s the proof. The piece was only 139 words.

“Melbourne Heart will tonight look to solidify its place in the top three by rebounding from last week’s disappointing 2-1 loss to Perth.”

This was the sum total of what we learned about the home town team as they prepared their match against the formidable Brisbane Roar.

It was also inaccurate as this one solitary line failed to mention Heart’s more recent loss to the Mariners.

Last week I wrote that a “finals run is paramount for the Red and White as they battle to win the hearts and minds of the Melbourne sporting public”

An important part of this battle entails publicity to generate interest and increase attendances. The indifference coming from the “serious” newspaper in town doesn’t help Melbourne Heart’s cause.

Some would say that Heart’s sponsorship by “tabloid” rival the Herald Sun has contributed to this state of affairs.

If only it were that simple. Newspapers are no strangers to commercial imperatives that override sensible editorial policies and dictate budgets.

The Age shares the same building in Melbourne with the most vehemently anti-football radio station in Melbourne, the Faifax owned 3AW. With newspaper budgets being slashed as they slowly head the way of the dinosaur, focusing on making the most of where you investment lies becomes paramount.

It is called laying your eggs in the one basket.

On February 19 2007, The Age produced one of the most startling front pages in its long history. A massive headline, the size of which is normally reserved for the declaration of war, cheekily trumpeted the “JOY OF SIX” to celebrate Melbourne Victory’s deflowering of Adelaide United in the A-League Grand Final.

The Age’s editor back then was football mad Mancunian, Andrew Jaspan, and Faifax’s commercial arrangement, since lapsed, with Melbourne Victory saw the thoughts of Archie Thompson and Kevin Muscat grace the pages of the Sunday Age.

It would have been enough to send Mr. Smith around the bend.

And for some senior Age journalists it actually did.

In April 2008, Crikey reported that “they demanded a protocol governing the newspaper’s many “partnerships” and “sponsorships” to protect editorial independence.”

“The statement details six incidents that “can be documented” and together “create the impression that the paper is now willing to court favour with vested interests.”

One of the six incidents included:

“Sports coverage – ‘special relationships’ with organisations such as Telstra Dome and the Melbourne Victory Football Club “risk corrupting normal news judgement.”

Was this an example of football, as Patrick Smith put it, “getting the publicity they do not normally generate or deserve.”

Publicity reserved for other sporting codes.

Athas Zafiris is on Twitter @ArtSapphire

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