Harry Kewell can’t believe it either (AAP Image/Joe Castro)
When it was anticipated that former Leeds, Liverpool and Galatasaray star Harry Kewell might be returning to Australia, the media went into mania.
Most of us didn’t believe it, couldn’t comprehend that a European star would step down to an inferior league.
Being objective, the A-League is incredibly sub-standard compared to the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. No A-League team could compete with a Ukrainian, Russian or Portuguese team either.
But Harry chose us?
That’s not disrespectful to the newly formed league; it’s just stating the facts.
It’s the reason Matt McKay bailed the second he got a chance, and why so many others are gunning for those same opportunities.
It’s the exact same reason we should be cheering on Central Coast’s Mustafa Amini, and every other Aussie who seems to be making inroads in Germany.
This is the future of Australian football, and this is where the stars of tomorrow’s Socceroos will be trained, bred and bled.
While conspiracies abound as to the true motives behind Harry’s move, the A-League-goers are still waiting for that domineering performance we all thought was coming. It hasn’t arrived, amid all the hype, but that is not Kewell’s fault – the Australian media perhaps overhyped exactly what one man could do in the A-League, even though the league is a fairly poor standard overall.
Firstly, Kewell has done some incredible stuff on the pitch, but his teammates just aren’t quite there yet – that is not their fault either.
Harry is simply better, much better, and unless he can occupy every position on the pitch, it will be difficult to see the same quality he has exhibited overseas.
Football is a team sport, that requires reciprocation, and the rest of Victory is barely up to scratch in that regard. They can’t complement his talents.
But more frustrating is the realisation that every team that isn’t Victory, will be forming their tactics to shut Kewell down, in effect causing negative football.
This is the most basic and obvious of requirements for the opposition, but when you take this zonal defence and compound it with the fact that his teammates aren’t half as talented, there is a fairly lob-sided and anti-climatic outcome.
Unless Kewell was cloned, or we eradicated the disheartening salary cap and imported some decent players to truly bolster the league, we won’t be seeing anything too grand.
Sure, we can sit here with our fingers crossed hoping that somehow, some way, the universe will align and all of a sudden, every new recruit will lift the standards of Australian football, but it’s delusional.
The clubs need investors, they need the fans to do everything they can to ingrain football into mainstream Australian culture.
We need money, we need that ludicrous and idiotic Foxtel deal to expire, so that the game can reach everyday people, and we need to dump cash into an extensive range of marketing strategies.
We need Kewell to be the standard, not the apex of Australian football. We need to become a league that players choose to come to, not settle for.
We need to be a top-10 league, not a ‘one last tango’ for the soon-to-be-retired. There is a long way to go, and with the Harry-hype cooling down, we need to be proactive, not reactive.
Right now, Kewell is in a league of his own with nobody to play with.
PeterK
Guest
Let's see how Roar go in Asia eh?
PeterK
Guest
I'd love to hear Harry's view on this article. Do we have anything like that anywhere?
PeterK
Guest
But it is OUR League!
Praxi
Guest
Great article again from an up and coming football writer couldn't have put it better a hopeless league with more bloopers in one game then a whole season in any league in Europe and for all the people that say it's good don't kid yourself (Hopeless) is one word to describe it.
Kasey
Guest
Lygon Street doesn't exactly qualify Australia as having a European side. I would argue we lean more towards North America then any other continent. Our transport options basically consist of car, car, daylight, very poor PT, walk. We pull pop culture references more from Yank TV and Hollywood than we do from Europe. On the sporting front, we are obsessed with sports nobody else really gives a rats rectum for and are only recently showing progress in ebngaging the world in its preferred sport.
Stevie G
Guest
SBS Tool
Kasey
Guest
I think the other players realise that HK in the opposition Victory team is a reason to lift their own game. Consequently, MV look worse than they probably are and the teams that have played them look better than they probably are.
DPL991
Guest
Absolutely. The broadcast of all live games is first class, and I can't see FTA providing the same level or standard of coverage.
Punter
Guest
No-one is comparing the A-League to La Liga or the EPL or even the Dutch league, the A-League is improving, the standard is improving but most on here fully understand that with a salary cap of Aus$2.7 mill excluding marquee players you are not getting the world'd best.
Derry
Guest
And so what . It's the Dutch league not la liga, and it's one persons opinion, no more valid than any other fan. And we will never know will we.
Derry
Guest
Kasey you need to chillax by inflating the quality of the a league, which nobody bar a few die hards here agree with, u risk making the Aussie fans look overly hopeful and ultimately, misguided . The league isn't very good, it'll get better like the writer pointed out, and while some of u want to put holes in his suggestions the res of us otta tip our ha to hima least he is writing about it and putting it out into the media, which is more than I can say about a lot of u. U sit here disrespectfully complaining behind a computer screen while someone else does something constructive about it. You are not a good representation of the real a league fans I've come across who may or may not agree with the suggestions on offer, but acknowledge that he has gone a step further than you.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Beautiful work, Kasey!
Adam
Guest
+1 again, exactly what he said
Adam
Guest
+ bloody 1
Emric
Guest
I don't follow much soccer but i do watch some phoenix games but i thought there is only 4 players from the NZ team playing for them>?
gawa
Guest
Maybe comparing the A League to the other national competitions in Australia gives a more favourable image to those who seem so disappointed by it. We aren't a million miles away from touching the NRL crowd figures, say 80% of their average attendance with 5% of their exposure. There is always another way to look at any situation and take a positive view.
Danny Bhoy
Guest
Also Wellington Phoenix, one of the A-leagues worst teams largely comrprises the New Zealand national team.. a team that did not lose a match at the world cup.. the pinnacle of football!
Nathan of Perth
Guest
He stopped reading because the article was clearly veering way off into the realms of Crap That Does Not Matter. I mean, really, look at you, suggesting we need to have a league of a similar quality level to the Eurozone nations that dedicate some 90% of their sports funding and athletic development to that stuff. Countries with two to four times our population and GDP. What kind of gross delusions do you have? But there is a long jump between "not as good as the EPL" and "is a poor league". Its a good league and its getting better.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Fussball, With fear of trashing my reputation as a one-eyed HAL supporter, II wouldnt call it a "good" league. I'd call it a "fair" league, in the same way I wouldnt call Xavier Doherty or Micheal Beer "good" spinners, or Shahadat a "good" fast bowler. That said, given that players from it appear to be able to step up a grade in International competition or when transferred, I think it's better quality than, say, the Dutch or Scottish second division, and if the crowds keep going through the gate then the quality of players will get better and better.
Danny Bhoy
Guest
"no A-League team could compete with Ukrainian team either" ?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA With the exception of Shaktar and Dynamo, Roar would absolutely dismantle most Ukranian teams!!