“Apart from coaching I have a real drive to build a football club, which I don’t think really exists here in Australia,” said Ange Postecoglou when he was appointed coach of Brisbane Roar.
Who would have thought that when the Roar appointed Postecoglou as Frank Farina’s successor back in October 2009, the club he would go on to build would stand on the brink of breaking a 74-year-old Australian sports record?
If Brisbane beat Perth Glory at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night, they’ll surpass the Eastern Suburbs rugby league side that went 35 games undefeated in the NSW Rugby League competition during the 1930s.
But unlike the Roosters, the Roar will have done it in a salary-capped, transnational competition where every team has a reasonable chance of beating another.
That wasn’t quite the case for the all-conquering Roosters, who smashed the amateur students from Sydney University every time they played them during their 35-game unbeaten run.
Nor was it so for the Geelong VFL side that went 23 games unbeaten during the 1950s, when the furthest they had to travel was to the Melbourne suburbs of Richmond and Hawthorn, not Wellington and Perth.
And unlike the Roosters and Geelong – who had years of winning records behind them – Postecoglou inherited a team in disarray following Farina’s sacking, taking over a fractured playing squad rife with internal dissent.
When asked by the ABC’s 7.30 Report how Roar supporters might have reacted to his clear-out of senior personnel at the club during a difficult transitional phase, Postecoglou shrugged and said, “what’s this bloke doing?”
What he was doing was transforming an old boys club featuring the likes of veterans Charlie Miller and Danny Tiatto into one of the most entertaining football teams this country has ever seen.
Perhaps the most impressive facet of the Roar’s undefeated run isn’t so much that they remain unbeaten, but rather the fact they’ve dispatched so many of their opponents with such a rakishly attractive swagger.
I remember the Adelaide City side of the early 1990s with Zoran Matic at the helm, who was a masterful tactician and arguably Postecoglou’s direct forerunner.
But the players I mostly remember are the likes of Alex Tobin and Sergio Melta – strong, imposing figures who possessed as much mettle as they did tactical guile.
What Postecoglou has built his side around are genuinely exciting attacking talents like Mitch Nichols and Henrique and it will be years before we see another import of Thomas Broich’s calibre in the A-League.
No disrespect to Perth Glory but it will be a travesty if the Roar lose to them on Saturday night.
Not only will breaking the record raise football’s profile among media and the general public, it will also write the Roar into the history books for years to come.
Nevertheless, it’s still an uphill struggle for the Roar to command respect from the diehards on the NRL and AFL scenes and occasionally from within certain sections of the football community as well.
If Melbourne Victory had embarked on such a run we’d probably have read double the column inches about it, while one particular sports fan on an online forum dismissed the Roar’s efforts because – and I kid you not – it was nothing compared to the Harlem Globetrotters’ unbeaten streak!
Yet when he took over at the Roar, Postecoglou spelled out his intentions to not only make Brisbane a winning team but also to build a winning culture based on exciting, attacking football.
Most coaches would have left it at that but for Postecoglou, actions clearly speak louder than words.
The club he wanted to build are on the brink of something great and Brisbane will be desperate to hold their nerve against the Glory on Saturday night.
And as far as I’m concerned their unbeaten streak is one of the best stories we’ve seen in years – not just in the A-League, but all of Australian sport.
mahony
Guest
I rarely agree with Mike - but he is spot on with this one.
mahony
Guest
I fear not!
AL
Guest
Why do aussie rules supporters have an issue with this record. It is FACT.
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
How is that baiting? A football writer pointing out an achievement by an A-League team. Congratulations Brisbane! You are entitled to enterpert that record however you like, but it doesn't alter the facts about it. Roar’s unbeaten run of 36 games is the best of all the Aussie football codes - fact. You can read that however you like, but it doesn't change the facts. I think the AFL with their arrogance and anti everybody else stance is putting more people off. Interest in AFL if falling sharply outside of Melbourne, while attendances, TV ratings, memberships, profitability, football betting - all had increases of up to 72% so far this season.
Punter
Guest
Well Done Brisbane on achieving the record!!!!!!!
TomC
Guest
Crowd of almost 20,000 tonight. Whatever any of us think, seems like the people have spoken.
TomC
Guest
Now that would be an interesting football record- longest streak of games without failing to score. Anyone out there know any interesting stats on this one?
TomC
Guest
I think anyone who's noted my comments on this site over the years knows very well how passionate I am about the A-league and football in this country. And no, I honestly don't recall anyone ever comparing the Lions' achievement to any other sports. Certainly not to football. I would be very interested in being corrected on this matter. Although I do remember the President of the Essendon Football Club telling supporters he wanted his team to be 'the Manchester United of the AFL'. That was embarassing. If Collingwood or Essendon achieved this feat, you would absolutely be hearing a great deal in the press about this extraordinarily successful AFL team. If and when they passed the record of 35 games undefeated, it might be noted in passing that they'd set an all-code record, amidst all the praise of this all-conquering AFL team. It would certainly not get the same kind of obsessive attention that some sections of the football media have given to this particular record. I have no problem at all with people wanting to praise the Roar to the skies (although in all honesty I'd rather see my own club succeed and everyone else trailing in our wake), but the cross-code record for consecutive games unbeaten is a meaningless curiosity, and doesn't deserve the attention it's getting. I feel that part of this stems from the insecurity that a lot of A-league fans and journalists have about the other, stronger codes. I don't particularly care if the A-league never becomes as successful as the AFL or NRL. I think it's great as it is.
Bunyip
Guest
Really Mike? Your just throwing fuel to the fire, articles like this make football fans look arrogant and that does not make us look good to the very people you say get bent out of shape; and after articles like this that are CLEARLY baiting them, they get even more bent out of shape and that is not good when we are trying to build the sport and attract more people! By all means praise football but do it in a less confontational manner.
PeterK
Guest
Just how widespread does a comp have to be in order to be called "national"? Even the A-League stretches the imagination just a little when it calls itself "national". There is not one single club north of Brisbane's latitude -- that's a very very large part of Australia unrepresented in the A-League. I strongly support what we have, but it's a bit hard to justify calling it truly "national" (yet). Mind you, I don't think there are any truly "national" comps in Oz, are there? And IMHO the Roar's streak should be compared solely within our own "code". Yes, it's meaningless to compare such records across codes or even any other sports.
Cpaaa
Guest
Today saturdays Courier mail back page- main photo of some guy i dont know, something to do with cricket. smaller pictures of golf, football and rugby. The caption for the roar is "Exclusive pictures of Roar Fight". History in the making or more importantly a team mate fight ? ...no punches thrown by the way. bit of a shame really.
Punter
Guest
People compare sporting achievements all the time,I'm sure that when the Lions did achieve this great feat '3 peat' that others were comparing other sports great achievements. I'm sure that the AFL supporters in Brisbane were gloating about it. But your beef seems to be more about football gloating about this great feat by Brisbane Roar, you keep saying they have not won all the the matches, that they haven't won the premiership 3 years running. It seems like you have more a gripe about football trying to claim some history. I have no idea how or what the 3 peat was taken at the time as I'm no AFL fan. But I can assure you this Brisbane Roar side is everything to gloat about, they have equalled a 75 years record in football codes in this country, they are playing a brand of football that is unseen in football in this country. If this was a Collingwood or an Essendon achieving such a great feat, you would hear alot more gloating & media attention. Good on Mike for writing 2 articles on this feat, I wish he had written 5 articles.
TomC
Guest
I'm going to go back to being facetious and point out that all of us make history, every day. It's a pretty meaningless comment. But your argument has been that they're setting a record that has stood for seventy-five years, and I think that only really holds if you mangle your version of sporting history so that certain things are included, but others aren't. So the VFL and NSWRL get included, even though they were amateur, non-national competitions, because they were top-flight in their day. But the VFA gets excluded, even though it was a top-flight competition when North Melbourne set a longer unbeaten record. And at the risk of repetition, AFL, NRL and soccer aren't even comparable sports for the sake of this exercise anyway. This is all just so trivial. Why can't we celebrate the Roar for the wonderful football team they are, instead of making half-baked comparisons to teams in other sports? When the Brisbane Lions won three straight AFL flags, I don't recall anyone comparing them to Sydney City 80-82. They were compared to other AFL teams.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
TomC - The two articles are reflective of the fact Brisbane Roar are about to make history. That doesn't happen every day - in fact it barely happens once every 75 years - so if it's not a topic worth writing about, I don't know what is.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
"Articles like this are exactly why football does not get the recognition it deserves." I disagree entirely. Articles like this are nothing more than consciousness raising about a sport that exists in conjunction with other codes. Yet the minute anyone praises football, fans of other codes get all bent out of shape because the dominant culture has never been to compare football with the NRL or AFL.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Who is trying to beat anything with a stick? As Titus stated above, it's "a simple statement of fact" that the record will pass from the Roosters to Brisbane Roar if the latter win tonight.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Not to deflate your enthusiasm BrisbaneBhoy but I was actually referring to a comment from a fan of a different sport entirely.
Punter
Guest
Ian, I tend to disagree with you, up to the 56th the game could have gone either way, both teams had good chances & Newcastle put theirs away & could have should had another. But Brisbane also had some 2 great chances & should have put both away. However,after the 60th minute only one team was still playing football. I thought Newcastle better than most played Brisbane, but still not good enough over 90 mins.
TomC
Guest
They were still struggling during the premiership years to keep those players. Des Headland returned to Perth straight after the Lions second flag.
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
We are more than entitled to celebrate Roar's achievements, no matter what code you follow. There is nothing in this article that isn't true - it's only the interpertations of history and the facts that differ and that happens in all forms of life. The media attention to football this year has been a big improvement, even from News Limited and as a football follower I have no complaints. FFA, A-League and A-League clubs should be congratulated for lifting their game and profile in the media and the fans too for being so well behaved, even in the face of provocation. I am sure there will be plenty of press and articles about the Roar's exploits, win lose or draw on Saturday night at Suncorp - even from the Brisbane Courier Rugby League Mail.