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PRICHARD: The real A-League threat to lives

23rd November, 2015
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David Gallop (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)
Expert
23rd November, 2015
18
1247 Reads

I’m not sure if there are any documented cases of people actually dying of boredom, but we might get one this A-League season if we have to watch many more games like the one between Perth Glory and Sydney FC in the round just gone.

And that is the part of the argument surrounding the scheduling of games in fierce summer conditions that doesn’t get as much focus as the obvious one to do with the potential threat to the health of players.

It is a provocative line to say that someone could die from playing in extreme heat and the awful conditions for a 4.30pm game in Perth on Saturday represented as good a time as any to trot it out. Sydney coach Graham Arnold knows how to feed the chooks.

But the thing is that nobody ever does seem to die. Players can get distressed, they can lose several kilograms, but nobody seems to actually drop off the perch.

I’m not trying to be flippant by saying that. I think it’s ridiculous to be playing a game in such difficult conditions, no matter what a wet bulb globe temperature might tell officials and whether it should be used to justify such a decision to go ahead.

Sometimes, common sense should be all that is needed and there is an enormous amount to be gained from avoiding such confrontations with the weather.

Apart from not putting players under unfair duress it would also eliminate the damage to the game as a spectacle that comes from playing a match like the one between Perth and Sydney in such conditions.

I consider myself lucky. I went to the earlier game between Western Sydney Wanderers and Wellington Phoenix and only got home in time to watch the second half of the Perth-Sydney clash.

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That was bad enough, particularly after witnessing the much more entertaining Wanderers-Phoenix match. But at least I was able to avoid the first half of it.

It’s not the fault of the players. They are naturally going to play at a reduced pace and try to conserve energy when it is so hot. But it inevitably leads to uninspiring football and that is a turn-off.

The rusted-on fans will understand the situation, but even they won’t turn up at the ground in the same numbers under such conditions and the attendance at nib stadium was disappointing but understandable.

The regulars will probably be back, but what of the casual fan? If any of those went along then what they watched was hardly the sort of advertisement to get them to return. Same if they watched it on TV. In fact, the A-League would be better off if no casual fans had turned up or tuned in.

Matches like the Perth-Sydney one that are very unattractive hurt the A-League brand. The players struggle in front of a reduced crowd. There is no atmosphere at the ground and it is painfully obvious watching on TV.

One of the best things the A-League has got going for it is the tremendous atmosphere created by fervent fans. It has a great effect at the ground and it bursts through on TV. It can make a poor game seem average, an average game seem good and a good game seem great.

No atmosphere and the effect can go in the opposite direction.

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So the real question is why do games have to go ahead in such conditions in the first place? Why wasn’t the Wanderers home game scheduled for a 7.30pm kick-off, instead of 5.15, and the Perth home game scheduled for 6.30 there and 9.30 in the east? Wouldn’t that have made more sense?

That is the question the FFA, pay television and the clubs, the game’s stake-holders, need to answer.

You can get a bad game in the best possible conditions, but let’s not make it easy for a poor match to happen. The A-League can do without that.

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