Are the media really to blame for poor marquee recruitment or the lack of atmosphere in the A-League? Is it the fault of journalists when teams fail to engage with their local communities?
Or are the media simply reporting what most reasonable fans can see for themselves?
No doubt I’ve got a vested interest, but to my mind blaming the media is a quick-fix solution which ignores the ugly truth that many of the A-League’s problems can’t be solved by a mere change of editorial policy.
Much as I’d prefer more coverage from mainstream media outlets, to demand it ignores the commercial reality that the media is a business just like any other.
It may hold itself to higher ethical standards, its image as ‘the Fourth Estate’ might be lionised and mythologised, but when push comes to shove, the media business is about selling more copies, gaining more viewers and getting more click-throughs.
And it’s a pretty hard sell to try and get more mainstream media outlets interested in coverage when the first thing an editor or producer sees at an A-League ground is row upon row of empty seats.
That someone like Ray Gatt might report on those empty seats – a veteran who with more than twenty years experience in the field, a journalist without whom we wouldn’t have read Rale Rasic’s biography – doesn’t make Ray the problem.
The problem is, at least in part, that despite a marketplace featuring four dedicated football magazines, two free-to-air networks regularly screening football, a Pay TV network which broadcasts every single A-League game live and innumerable websites, some fans still claim a lack of media interest in football.
“What has News Limited ever done for the A-League?,” a fan once asked me.
“They publish Australian Football Weekly,” I replied.
“They publish what?” came the response.
In my near-fifteen months as a weekly Asian columnist and occasional feature writer for AFW – a publication which doubles as the A-League matchday programme – I can’t remember anyone ever asking me about the contents of the magazine.
Sometimes as football fans we can’t see the forest for the trees – we’re so busy worrying about the contents of a national newspaper, we overlook the specialist football media right before our very eyes.
That’s to say nothing of the fact that guys like Mike Cockerill and Jesse Fink have done their utmost to raise the profile of football in this country through good, honest, thought-provoking reporting and analysis – not by turning a blind eye to the problems in the league and pretending everything is peachy keen.
The idea that all journalists are objective is simply not based on reality: it might be the ideal, but every journalist has an agenda, just like every media outlet has their reasons for embracing or ignoring their stories of choice.
And some of those media outlets clearly pay less attention to the A-League than they do other sports.
But it’s too simplistic, in my opinion, to blame the media as the sole cause of the A-League’s problems.
It’s a sentiment which reminds me of a line from those old punk stalwarts Bad Religion, about people who “point their finger ’cause they can’t accept the blame.”
Right now, what the A-League desperately needs is fans regularly going to games, bringing their mates and embracing the football media we already have.
Do that, and more mainstream recognition will invariably follow.
Pete
Guest
Well, what can one say, when he, or she is like me, having been away from Oz for seven years (TODAY!). More things change, the more they stay the same. This applies to all sides of the argument now apparently consuming Australian football i...n its latest reincarnation. You know something, guys? Aussie Rules is on TV here throughout the season (in Hungary, of all places!). I have yet to hear anyone rubbish it as a form of aerial pingpong, as a game of intense boredom whenever there is a big gap in talent and/or skills between two teams, resulting in a runaway win by many dozens of points. People don't seem to have the pathological need, the pathetically defensive attitude of the Sheahans of this world. I took the trouble just now to look up his article. Took me right back to the late fifties, when I first arrived in Oz. By the same token, those who allow themselves to be sicked on to the media as the cause of all evil in A League Land by the spin doctors of the FFA, well, I just think you ought to think hard, develop some healthy scepticism and an inquiring mind before allowing yourselves to be used as cannon fodder. It ain't the media guys who are staying away from the games - its the fans. It is unlikely they stay away because of what Fink, Gatt and others write - its more plausible that they do because of the quality of what is served up on weekends for their hard earned bucks, plus, perhaps, the lack of identification with hese artificially created franchises. But, that is another story.
Kurt
Roar Pro
You mean apart from all those anti-AFL comments you posted whilst the WC was on in South Africa. I guess they don't count.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Not surprised, yet again; my comment went over your head... :D
BigAl
Guest
AF . . . you frighten too easily !
JVGO
Guest
I for one hope that Americans never become like everywhere else and start waving scarves on the terraces. The world would be a much more boring place without MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL, just as Oz would be much the poorer without our unique comps like the AFL and NRL. There is more than enough soccer in the world for everyone already thanks.
Midfielder
Guest
Special One Thanks for that youtube... it was a great watch...
The Special One
Guest
The one thing i noticed about the videos are that its the younger generation thats driving it which is good news for the sport. Soccer in the USA will more than likely only ever be a once every four year event, but its a major step forward. Sports journalist Bill Simmons from ESPN probably summed it up best : Question No. 19: Thanks to last year's Confederations Cup and Donovan's extra-time goal last weekend, do you think soccer is finally taking off in America? Put it this way … When I was in the third grade (1978), people thought soccer was taking off in America. When I was a freshman in college (1988), people thought soccer was taking off in America. When I was a barely employed wannabe sportswriter in Boston whose life revolved around the O.J. Simpson trial and partying every night (1994), people thought soccer was taking off in America. When I was living in Boston with my fiancée and writing for ESPN.com (2002), people thought soccer was taking off in America. I am 40 years old. I live in Los Angeles. My hair is turning silvery white. I have a wife, two kids, a mortgage and that same ESPN column. Guess what? People think soccer is taking off in America. Only this time … I agree with them. ******* I also believe thats this is the reason the USA will get WC2022.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
1. Why would any of us really care how big the game is in America? Why is it important to an Australian sports fan? 2. As someone has already mentioned, these sorts of discussions always seem to ignore the fact that in their respective seasons the NFL and MLB are massive week on week, they dwarf everything in comparision. 3. Related to point one, not sure what all of this has with the content of this article.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
TSO, They won't stop there, This will be built on and who knows where it will end.. 300 million all behind the American National Men's Football Team.. Bloody frightening...
The Special One
Guest
I was in Las Vegas for the first week of the world cup and it was awesome to see Americans jump on the world cup bandwagon. Bars, sports stores casino's all had World Cup themes and the people were genuinely interested in the World Cup even though many of them didnt really have a clue about the sport!! I watched England v USA at Monte carlo Casino and it was a great experience. All this happened because of one thing, much better Media Coverage. ESPN's coverage of the world cup was truly first class and they promoted the World Cup like they would a World Series. ESPN told Americans that the World Cup was a big deal, so Americans responded in kind. Record TV ratings dont lie. Here is a great youtube video that shows how soccer in particular the Mens national team has reached into the american sporting pysche. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w&feature=player_embedded
JVGO
Guest
Seriously guys get a grip. I know you are religious zealots or something? But baseball in the US there are 30 MLB franchises playing 160 games each a year, 6 days a week. Every single game is live in their markets on TV. Even the worst drawing franchise draws spectators in a season comparable to the entire NRL or AFL. But even the world series is only a contest between two of these franchises. To compare one game of football (or 4 or 5) every 4 years from the US national team to a MLB season is just silly. The SF Giants are at the moment involved in a playoff race and sell out their 50,000 seat stadium 4 nights a week, they've been doing it for months. Keep dreaming, but please make some sense. Soccer is light years away from baseball in the US.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
More and more Americans are swaying towards their American National Football Team and were riveted to their TV sets following their National team in the FIFA Football World Cup; so much so their Baseball was out rated in some TV audience ratings. Perhaps Australian Football can one day emulate that feat here in Australia.. Live and let live in Australia you say, shouldn't that question be directed to Neil Mitchell...
Midfielder
Guest
Justin Bieber has mainly teenage fans viewing ... whereas Shakira has lots of middle aged guys ( I wonder why) .. Justin first, Lady GA Ga second, Community TV ( a Christian channel) third, Axel Shakira is she or is she not just drop dead honey drew beautiful...
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Correct weight.
David V.
Guest
Let people enjoy whatever they want. Live and let live. The Superbowl is the pinnacle of American Football or Gridiron, and more people worldwide know and care for it than the AFL, but no qualms about that.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
MF The WC Final is the biggest and most prestigious game of Football played anywhere in the world. I was under the impression the AFL GF is the biggest and most prestigious game of Aussie Rules played anywhere in the world? I tell you what, I wouldn't be giving 1 seconds thinking time to any sport - other than football - in the days leading up to the A-League Grand Final, FA Cup final, UCL final, African Cup of Nations Final, Copa America Final, ACL final, Asian cup final .. I think you get the picture.
NY
Guest
Problem is Mitchell comes across as a ignorant redneck who influences a lot of people in their hate for other things. I genuinely think he hates association football and the people who love the game. That is a strong emotion. Foster more just tries to get back at others. I don't think he has nowhere near the same level of hate in him.
NY
Guest
99% of people don't know who Micallef is. It's got nothing to do with anything.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
At the time that Craig Foster wrote a series of articles on a similar theme late last year, one bloke I can recall joining in the party was a regular from the TWG site (Micallef?), who conducted a rather vicious attack on League and its fans. And people wonder why the A-League attendances in the Northern markets have been completely decimated in the space of two years.
Joe La Delfa
Guest
Art, Neil Mitchel's article is very harsh, however it is an opinion piece after all and he is entitled to his opinion. Apart from Craig Foster (who is not helping the game with this comments about other codes), I can't really think of anyone who continually slags off the AFL and NRL? Please tell me if anyone can link me to such articles, I would like to know!