Australia’s Scott McDonald and Iraq’s Haidar Hussain during the Australian Socceroos v Iraq World Cup qualifier. AAP Image/Dave Hunt
There were many talking points to come out of Wednesday night’s Australia Vs Bahrain WCQ, a major one being the continued and inexplicable international career of Brett Holman, which I have attended to in my Friday column for The World Game. It deserves a blog on its own.
Another is Scott McDonald, who couldn’t hit a barnyard door with a cowpat and whose time as a striker for the Socceroos must surely be up.
But what I found most interesting – and there wasn’t that much to find interesting at Homebush; it was probably the most tedious thing I’ve seen since one of those interminable Andy Warhol art movies from the 1960s – was the way Sydney’s Daily Telegraph launched a blistering character attack on Pim Verbeek in the lead-up to the game, blaming his media ban on players for the poor attendance.
It continued on Thursday.
Phil Rothfield, the executive editor of the sports pages, declared: “Soccer will never make it as a major sport in this country while Pim Verbeek is in charge of our national team. Forget about the boring style of soccer, it is Pim’s petulance and disdain for Australian culture which [sic] is holding the game back.”
Coming from a paper whose golden-boy reporter Nick Walshaw calls Scott McDonald “Scotty Mitchell” and which rated Holman’s performance as “6/10” you really have to question the wisdom of listening to anything the Telegraph says.
But it’s the biggest-selling paper in Australia’s biggest city, so we need to take notice.
Now I’ve made my own criticisms of Verbeek here and on TWG while also commending him, but the Telegraph has stepped over the line. We were all disappointed by the media ban, by the withdrawal of players including Tim Cahill, by the very late substitution of Nicky Carle for Holman, but they are the prerogatives of the national-team manager, whose job is to best prepare his team for South Africa 2010 as he sees fit.
He may not be right – in regards keeping Holman on the pitch I think he made a grievous error – but they are his decisions to make and we must respect his position, his experience and his reasons for making them.
So Pim himself is not holding the game back. Frankly how that can be said about someone who has just led Australia to the World Cup really is quite perplexing.
In my view what is holding the game back is the mediocrity of the media that reports on the sport we all love, chief among them the Daily Telegraph and its satellite papers in the News Limited family.
Four years on from our second World Cup qualification, they still have no idea what they’re writing about.
It is the stubborn persisting in calling it “soccer”, even on Fox Sports, the so-called “home of football”. It is the sequestering of live coverage of qualification games on to pay TV, where only those people who can afford it are able to watch our national football team while the vast majority of people are forced to go without.
Yes, I write for SBS, and it is thankfully how I earn a living, but even if I didn’t I’d still thank God for its very existence. SBS employs people with passion, fearlessness, knowledge and a real commitment to the sport – and has demonstrated that commitment through thick and thin, even back in the days when Socceroos was a dirty word.
That much cannot be said about many other media outlets when it comes to football.
There was a moment in Fox’s coverage before the Qatar match in Doha last weekend that summed up for me the fairweather nature of so much of the Australian media’s relationship with the biggest sport in the world.
Robbie Slater, the former Socceroo, was in the midst of praising Verbeek for getting Australia to the World Cup and then made an aside about criticism of the Dutchman as having come from “the usual quarters”.
The irony of this is that Slater, “soccer’s number one analyst” according to his column byline for News Limited, was the biggest critic of Verbeek’s appointment, even before he arrived in the country.
“Underwhelming” was his choice of word to describe how he felt about Verbeek being selected over the Frenchman Philippe Troussier.
Now Verbeek, if we are to judge by the tenor of the commentary on Fox, can do no wrong. Slater, particularly, is a Verbeek cheerboy.
Football cannot be held back in this country so long as there is a vibrant, knowledgeable, independent and committed media behind it that engages people with the sincerity of its passion and the sophistication of its debate.
The sport is just too big, too beautiful to be curtailed.
SBS is leading the way. Now it’s up to the rest of the side to pick up its game.
This is my 100th blog for The Roar and I’ve had a blast getting to know a lot of you. Special thanks to The Bear, Stifler’s Mom, Vicentin, Kazama, Midfielder, Ben of Phnom Penh, Millster, Sledgeross, Dasilva, Dickroo, Dazza Japan, Koala Bear, Mick of Newie, Pippinu and even the exasperating Slippery Jim (or Contrarian, as I’ve come to know him).
Your input has been enlightening, entertaining and always challenging. This small corner of the world game is better off for your presence.
Al
Guest
And you imply all this by the mere phrase the "world game"? What other subliminal messages are the naughty soccer people brainwashing the kids with? Have playing any Black Sabbath albums in reverse also revealed any anti-Aussie Rules/Aussie Culture messages? How about the Wizard of Oz?
Al
Guest
Sounds like "real men" like to grapple, touch and feel each other, poke their fingers up each others anuses (Hopoate), bite on each other's testicles (Peter Filandia) and stick each other's heads up each other's bums (rugby union scrums), albeit in the guise of "contact sports". AFL has even taken it a step further by getting its practioners to wear short shorts and tight singlets, as not only do they dry hump each other moreso than any other sport, they also look the part, specifically when wanting a "holding the ball" freekick, the tackler/mounter raises his arm to the umpires whilst the mountee with his legs parted endures the full brunt of the mounters anatomy, a scene that looks more in place in a village people's music video than at a professional sporting event. Sounds like Sharminator is questioning not only his sexuality but the sexuality of "real mean" everywhere. PS: I am a supporter of rugby union and association football, league is tolerable, am a huge boxing fan too (a really brutal and scientific sport) but AFL (aside from it's absolute lack of strategy or proper tackling for a supposed tough sport) is horrid and really does look like the closest thing to mass homo-erotica on grass (not that there is anything wrong with that, unless you're a "real man" of course).
MVDave
Guest
Sharminator Prefer contact with other men eh? Perhaps dropped the soap in the shower too often?
Sharminator
Guest
What´s really holding soccer back .... Ummmm ... there´s no contact ... and the other 3 most popular winter sports in Australia are full contact. Aussie men are real men .. we like tackling each other in the backyard after a few brewskies ... I cant stand watching soccer as there is no violence ... a guy gets a little clip on the heals and he falls over as if Jeff Fenech punched him in the head. Its exactly the same in the US, Canada, Georgia, and Mongolia ... countries with proud contact sport histories ... it dosnt matter what soccer does ... the majority of men will never revert to a girly non contact game whne they grow up belting each other. Dream on soccer pansies.
Lewie
Guest
The Auteur, and Robbos it is what it is. What relevance that they were dead rubbers does it have? That's your game, the nature of the beast. the title of this blog is "What's really holding "soccer" back?". well, what is it? What excuses do you have left? Why are those games not selling out? The grand final is League's pinnacle event each year, not test matches, not Origin. Last year's game was contested by Melbourne, a most under-supported team in NRL terms compared to all others, and Manly whose main claim in regards to support is everyone has two sides they follow.....their own and whoever is playing Manly. I know.....it all means nothing, because it is what it is.....it's the nature of Rugby League that only two of their 16 supported teams can make the grand final. Just as it is the nature of soccer, that their showcase event may be hindered by it being a "dead rubber". You should not be throwing it up as an excuse and saying "oh yeah, but if it was like Aus v Uruguay in 2005 it would have sold out". Yeah, and if two teams full of origin stars played League against each other 24 games a season at ANZ Stadium, perhaps League's average crowds would match the AFL's.
Dave
Guest
Robbos Some would say the grand final is the biggest match in the Rugby League calendar but again it was keeper11 who brought it up. last three Grand finals 80,388 81,392 79,609
Dave
Guest
you'd need to tell keeper11 ...........he's the one who brought these figures up
Robbos
Guest
Yes 300. 2 of those matches were dead rubbers for Football in a Rugby League city where football is a fair way behind For Rugby League, SOO is the biggest match in the Rugby League calender & in the heartland of Rugby league.
The Auteur
Guest
Dave, you realise two of those WCQ were dead rubbers.
Dave
Guest
Msdave Yes they can http://www.nswrl.com.au/news/article.php?id=690
MVDave
Guest
Dave They cant even fill the stadium for SOO.
Dave
Guest
Last 3 league State of Origin attendances in Sydney; 76,924 67,620 78,751 last 3 socceroos attendances in sydney : v china 70,054 v Uzbekistan 57,292 v bahrain 39,540 WC
Dave
Guest
yeah Cpaa I dont know if Alan Jone spoke on behalf of everyone http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25661918-5003460,00.html http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/heres-a-serve--with-source/2009/06/19/1244918191683.html
Cpaaa
Guest
Congrats on the tonne fink. thanks for the link. I fink Alan Jones spoke on behalf of everyone in that interview. Really worth a listen to anyone that hasnt heard it yet. Congrats again and Thanks to Alan Jones....quality.
Derm
Roar Guru
Pippiniu To be honest - hurling is quite a specialist sport and is played best in the south and south-east parts of the country. Football is more widespread and is played throughout the island of Ireland - including Northern Ireland -the counties of Derry, Antrim and Fermanagh would have good successes in recent years. Croke Park is on loan to both rugby and soccer only until Lansdowne is complete - after that it reverts back to GAA use - that's what agreed by the GAA central council who jealously guard their game. Some people have argued that big internationals (rugby/soccer) or big provincials (Leinster v Munster) should be held there but that won't happen since the sponsors for the new Lansdowne Road are hardly going to pay out for naming rights (the Aviva Stadium - ugh) and then see the big games go elsewhere. Croke Park got largely built by its supporters on the ground - with a small amount of govt funding. The GAA is one of the most successful community-based organisations in the world - their capacity to infiltrate every aspect of every community, and to raise support and millions of funds for an amateur game amongst 4 million people is astonishing. It is one of the best stadia in Europe, and no doubt will host other kind of events in years to come. So hosting Heineken Cup finals will certainly be on the cards, as will Champions League, Europa Cup finals. It could be used as part of consortium for staging a RWC though I doubt it. Lazza - you asked why do thousands take the ferry every week to watch Manchester and Liverpool. Because there's a long tradition of Irish players and presence in both those teams over the last 4 or 5 decades. There is fervent support of local teams like Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers, etc, but the gate numbers are in 2-3,000 range. Irish domestic football doesn't have the money, the infrastructure, the talent (cos it goes overseas), nor the ability to develop itself further with such a big market sitting on its doorstep. There was a proposal at one stage to have Wimbledon relocate to Dublin and become the Dublin Dons - but that petered out. International games to get big crowds - particularly against some of the bigger names. But it is linked to how well the Irish team is doing. Trappatoni has worked wonders with a team of youngsters and some journeymen from the second and third divisions of English league along with some Premiership players like Robbie Keane of Spurs and Shay Given of Manchester City. They might even qualify for the next World Cup which will be astonishing given the dearth of talent he had available.
Midfielder
Guest
One thing no other code could do is get this headline and news report http://www.sakigake.jp/p/news/main.jsp?nid=2009061701000564
Captain Random
Guest
Dave - I would have thought the whinging of a section of the fans was way down the list of things people don't like about soccer, behind low-scoring, play-acting, lack of physical contact, etc.
Dave
Guest
I can’t believe people are complaining about the treatment to Tim Cahill. Andrew Symonds got criticized for raising his voice in a pub. In 2007 the daily telegraph had an issue with Cricket Australia tying to make them pay for photos. The daily telegraph said it was going to ignore cricket all summer. India came to Australia and cricket had its biggest summer ever and the telegraph couldn’t do anything about it. I didn’t see some SBS blogger complaining about any of that. Other sports get the same treatment but worse. Maybe you could tell a Cronulla supporter about your complaints. This sort of whinging is what turns people off soccer.
Jesse Fink
Guest
Oh, and a big cheers to Jimbo, too. Sorry for the omission, mate. There will be others. If I've forgotten you, post here and harangue me. Speaking of haranguing, I must say Slippery Jim's been quiet of late, other than popping up on my TWG blog under various "Limpet" guises. Anyway, thanks to you all for the comments on here.
Jesse Fink
Guest
Try again. For some reason the hyperlinking breaks. Anyway type in this address http://www.sbs.com.au/sport/blog/single/110086/News-Limited's-treatment-of-football-is-bottom-of-the-barrel-stuff and you'll find it. Cheers.