About this time of year I become a sporting outsider in my beloved home town of Adelaide. The footy’s finished, Test cricket is yet to reach its peak domestically, and the national XI are off on foreign shores.
For years this was an awkward time of the year – no one knew quite what to do with themselves, especially the blokes. Take the kids to the beach, or help the missus by finally cleaning out the shed and backyard ready for BBQs and pool parties? Why not? Nothing on but triathlons and the NBL on prime time TV. Sigh…
Before NBL fans write angry comments, the 36ers have a great following in Adelaide, but its certainly not reflective of the majority. Nor are the undoubtedly diehard triathlon fans out there.
Then came the revamp of the national soccer competition and the announcement that the young Adelaide United will be among the first to sign up. And we all rejoiced – not only will this new ‘United’ team put to bed the old rivalries of the NSL, which were rather unfortunately (in part) based on ethnicity and race, but it will give us a new team to be proud of and follow, to throw our weight behind and adore. South Australia is a proud sporting state, and we revere our local teams and despise our rivals.
And we can be very unforgiving of failure and controversy.
The 6-0 final loss to Melbourne Victory in 2007 was bad enough – honestly, no South Australian likes losing to the Vics in any capacity. But what came after the game was, for me, appalling. The angry press conferences, where seemingly everyone but the club and players were blamed, Carl Veart’s now famous outburst concerning the refereeing, followed by the sacking of the captain and the coach shortly after the game, left a sour taste in my mouth.
Reds fans can throw stones, and frankly, I expect them too – but I was disgusted.
Regardless of how poor the refereeing was, and I will not personally comment on the quality, a professional sportsman and team should have done a better job of displaying humility and sportsmanship.
Since then we’ve had a variety of news ‘scandals,’ including Aurelio Vidmar’s comments about Adelaide being a ‘pissant’ town, to this weekend’s embarrassing Twitter outburst by young defender Antony Golec, which doesn’t need to be repeated in any capacity.
Doubtless, Golec meant no offense to Australia’s gay community, nor Australia’s gypsy community for that matter. But the fact remains, he wrote it, and now he’s in trouble. And more bad press is the result for the Reds.
Every sporting club will have its share of bad press in its history. It comes with the territory. And I would never infer that Adelaide United has had more or less than others, nor that this is more or less damaging in any way.
But for a team in a small town, where there really isn’t that much on for many this time of year – and for others there’s nothing else on other than the A-League season – this bad press may be a monkey that will not leave United’s back.
The Adelaide Crows suffered similar intensity in press exposure until the inception of Port Adelaide, who shared some of the media and public scrutiny.
Another A-League team in Adelaide is clearly not the answer – the town would never be able to support the second team. But perhaps it’s a long-term solution? Something to consider for the future as Adelaide’s population increases?
But in the short-term, the Adelaide media need to take a chill pill over United. Maybe we need something else to take the pressure off. Who’s keen to attend a triathlon?
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