Last night a tumultuous day in the life of Australian football ended with a showdown on the pitch and off the pitch in Brisbane. On the pitch nearly 11,000 people at Suncorp stadium witnessed a gripping arm wrestle between Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Heart.
The home team went into the break leading 1–0 but with the early exit of game’s most influential midfielder, goalscorer Mitch Nichols, Melbourne Heart wrested control of the game in the second half.
Heart, playing with a 4-3-1-2 formation, pressed deep lying midfielder Erik Paartalu and broke up the Roar’s passing game. They were rewarded after young defender Curtis Good levelled the scores with his first A-League goal, and then looked the most likely to grab all three points.
However the Roar, as is their custom, turned it around late in the game. They made a retreating Heart defence suffer and were rewarded with an injury time penalty.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
Clint Bolton the Heart custodian stared down the penalty taker, Bahraini international Mohammed Adnan. It was a text book study of how to coolly control a situation and get into the head of your opponent.
Bolton guessed correctly as an out-psyched Adnan hit the penalty at a comfortable height and close to the keeper.
The penalty was saved and Heart fans rejoiced at a precious point earned in their quest for a finals spot.
Central Coast Mariners fans rejoiced as their team remained top of the table and one step closer to winning this season’s A-League premiership.
And all around Australia football fans rejoiced at yet another act of heroics from one of football’s genuine good guys.
Only last Wednesday night, he was yet again, donating his time at the Football Media Association’s trivia night to raise funds for Canteen, a charity for young people living with cancer. (He also gives $100 to Canteen every time he has a clean sheet.)
Earlier in the evening football fans celebrated when the Supreme Court in Brisbane dismissed Clive Palmer’s injunction to maintain control of Gold Coast United after the FFA had terminated his license last Wednesday.
Justice Jean Dalton said the comments made by Palmer particularly on February 19 and 20 were so serious she considered them to be a material breach of the FFA’s A-League participation agreement.
The utter gracelessness of the billionaire’s actions and behaviour over the last two weeks has turned off almost the entire football community.
This was epitomised on last Thursday with Clive Palmer going off half-cocked as self-appointed saviour of the game with the establishment of Football Australia.
The reaction from the chairmen of A-League clubs was damning.
“What a stupid and mindless entity and not even the dumbest of dumb would take this entity seriously,” said Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin.
Melbourne Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro, himself no stranger to the critical spotlight this season, also took a strong stance in opposition to Palmer’s comments.
“The establishment of a separate football body and the airing of club matters, that should be managed privately, are divisive and counter-productive to the growth, development and future of football in Australia.”
“We, along with all clubs, have made an investment in the code and we have to protect our members, shareholders, sponsors and fans. We will keep challenging the FFA to grow the game, create best-practice governance and really compete with the other football codes, but the only way forward is together,”said Di Pietro.
And finally, the measured critique from the chairman of the Central Coast Mariners, Peter Turnbull.
“There are many points raised by Clive Palmer that have merit, and indeed they have been raised and discussed between the owners, and with the FFA on several occasions. But other issues raised by Clive do not – the manner of their raising is also most unfortunate and simply not helpful.”
“There is no doubt that after seven years of ever-increasing losses, the owners’ stamina and willingness to donate to the cause of football is wearing thin.”
“While these losses mount, there is a need for the owners to be in more control of how their investment is managed, as they are the ones in reality that are fronting the bills on a daily basis for all football followers.
“Two government reports and the original PFA (Professional Footballers Australia) model have demanded it, and the FFA have now promised it. We can only achieve change in a unified manner with the FFA.” said Turnbull.
Welcome examples of sagacity from the A-League chairmen. This was not the case when individuals with axes to grind, justifiable or otherwise, displayed seriously poor judgement by jumping on Palmer’s bandwagon of balderdash.
How else can you explain former A-League Chairman Archie Fraser’s decision to become Palmer’s right hand man at Football Australia.
On February 18 he was asked on Twitter, “Would you take a position with GCU if Clive made commitment to not interfere with actual operation of the club?”
“I would not work for him regardless of how much he paid or offered – if he was out different story!” Archie Fraser replied.
Or unfortunate opinion pieces from the fourth estate like this by Jesse Fink, “On behalf of the Australian football family, Clive, break a leg.”
In the aftermath of the failed injunction Jesse Fink tweeted, “Keep fighting the bastards, #ClivePalmer.”
According to the old proverb – The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The problem arises when the enemy you choose to further your goals turns out to have no credibility.
As a very wise mother once famously said, “He is not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy! Now go away!”
Clive Palmer should have taken a leaf out of the Clint Bolton playbook by playing it cool and with humility. He didn’t.
To football fans he is now a football zero.
Athas Zafiris is on Twitter @ArtSapphire
Kasey
Guest
Its not that I’m unsympathetic to the GCU fans, its just that I got tired of the consistent free kicks provided to knockers of the game by the pathetic crowds, the bigmouthed garbage from Clive etc. I’m imagining a future season without either of those distractions (Fuss might say that any publicity is ‘good’ attention, but I disagree, the consistent negativity has to have an impact on the public image of the game at some stage). Already this year we are well on track to record our largest ever aggregate attendance for the league, we just need a touch over 7k for each of the remaining games to get above the 1,384,902 set last season. Difference being: last year the average had dropped for the second year in a row, this year not only will the aggregate go up, but he average will too. I know the constant negativity that surrounds football fans can be hard to break through, but imagine how successful the game could be if just a handful of the mistakes made by FFA could be ironed out?
PeterK
Guest
Oh boy, am I going to HATE Western Sydney if it comes in over the dead body of GCU! I night even become a Sydney FC fan!!!
PeterK
Guest
JohnL, it's Kasey who is poo-pooing Clive's dough -- QsAF appreciates it. (I guess because he knows he needs it.) We in NQ would have appreciated it too! Actually we did have a bit of Clive's dough indirectly, through the sponsorship of our lot by Clive's local company, but I doubt the amount was anything like $18M.
PeterK
Guest
Kasey, "we that are left should be able to concentrate on the important things" sounds very much to me like "we that are left are OK -- pull the ladder up Jack". I'm an "outsider" with no A-League club within 1000 km, but I'm a football tragic, and I hate to see the dropping of a club. I do so hope that something good comes of all this (and I guess I'm not alone in that), but for me, I hope it involves the continuation somehow of GCU. Keep heart, QsAF!
PeterK
Guest
Well spotted, jbinnie. An extremely good point.
super G
Guest
QsAF...Team was building nicely.. Lowy jumped the gun?? Are we on the same planet? GCU was going absolutely nowhere on field or off-field. It was a necessary mercy kill which was made possible by Clive's shenanigans. But if this leads to a western sydney team for next season then all's well that ends well.
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
Super G---is that Super league you support? If so you would remember that League had 3 attempt so establish a League team on the Gold Coast and if you are an AFL supporter they also had three attempts to establish a team on the Gold Coast. Too many people are jumping on Clive who wants to remain the owner of GCU who has the money to keep going until the next TV deal comes to fore. But no; we attack him, and Lowy pulls the rug from beneath us, we have to date a 3,800 av and that was better than last year. We are now playing with local kids--- the team was building nicely until Lowy jumped the gun. The slogan issue was just an excuse to put in a West Sydney Rovers type team in to appease the critical mass of haters of Clive and GCU.
super G
Guest
Axelv....GCU crowds were never respectable. In their first season they didn't get close to a 7000/7500 average which would be a moderately respectable size for a new franchise entering the league. If you can't bring crowds of at least that size with you as a new club you don't deserve a place. It's the bare minimum requirement. Otherwise what is the point of expansion? And all you jilted and disgruntled GCU supporters can go on about Clive all day but the bottom line is that THE GOLD COAST WERE GIVEN AN A-LEAGUE TEAM AND DID NOT EMBRACE IT. Did you not realise that by boycotting Clive by not attending (justified or not) that your club would be closed down and you would NEVER again have a team from the Gold Coast in the A-league?
JohnL
Guest
How can you blame what has happened on another GC supporter? And someone that was also a season ticket holder.
JohnL
Guest
How about you take over the franchise QSAF instead of telling everyone else to?
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
RF.. you deserted the Roar for GCU because they were failing to make an impact in the HAL and then you deserted GCU for the Roar because they started to win again... I never followed the ROAR only went to Suncorp in year one to see SFC play the Roar because Sydney is where I hail from. At my age and condition prevents me to stand on the train on the return trip home which last time was close to two hours door to door---stick your Roar up where you know where. Your loyalty for one club to another is about as thick as a toilet sheet of paper. PS no one distorts what you write only remember what you write in previous posts---even up to a year ago. Have you made the Wikipedia amendment yet.?
Kasey
Guest
IIRC Athas, Melbourne Victory didn't exactly take the ACL seriously last time they were in it. Was it Muscat who derided the comp once it was evident they weren't going to get out of their group? Adelaide United are crap this season an will likely bow out in straight sets, but you can bet the club and the fans will be taking it very seriously indeed and we will be right onto the players if we detect that they aren't taking it seriously themselves. They should be, the majority of them are playing for their futures. A shake up is coming at United. The ACL might will be their last opportunity to demonstrate they deserve a shot next season.
Kasey
Guest
The fact that you "ppfft" the central issue here shows how little you understand about football. FIFA regulations specifically ban political slogans on football kits. FFA got wind of Palmer's stunt and warned him off. He went through with it anyway. At that point he chose the course of action that would bring him into serious conflict with FFA. Given that he had the option of removing the slogan, one has to assume that he meant to push the FFA to the point where they would revoke his licence so he could drag the game into the court and get an injunction stopping the season and therefore destroying the integrity of the season and seriously harm our game. Fans of other clubs can see this which is why he is persona non grata in football circles from here on in. He seemed prepared to take down the whole league to satisfy his ego-trip. I'm100% glad he is gone, the amount of coverage devoted to him in the past weeks instead of the games leading up to the finals series and of course the Socceroos excellent win over the Saudis has been a missed opportunity for football. I blame Palmer for that which is why I'm so happy he is finally gone. His boondoggle FA can round up all the malcontents and join SBS in sniping from the sidelines. Except for the GC fans[who I genuinely feel sorry for], next season promises to be so much better. No inane "does that pathetic 1,000 crowd mean football is dying?" garbage on here and other message boards, we that are left should be able to concentrate on the important things of the games themselves rather than the politics behind them. Forza Fotballl!
Axelv
Guest
Don't go mate, your comments are appreciated by the whole community, variety of opinion is what makes The Roar an interesting site to discuss football. As for QSAF, let's just not go there. He's shattered that Gold Coast are going to lose their club, understandable, hopefully his rationality will return some day.
Realfootball
Guest
Couldn't resist one last visit. QASF: I genuinely feel for you, deluded, uniformed, grumpy and thoroughly offensive though you may be - and I should add, fond of grossly distorting what other posters write. There is a slim chance now that you will get a club deserving of your unswerving loyalty, if the community can bad together and show it actually wants an A-League club. And here's a thought: if you really do support Australian football, you could always get on a comfortable express train and travel less than an hour to Brisbane, free, then get a free bus 5 minutes to the stadium. But you won't do that, will you? So much for supporting Australian football.
The Man
Guest
AL, it was taken out of context. He said he was not a fan of the way Australian soccer was run, and NRL was run better, with their CEO on less than a million a year and the soccer CEO on close to 2. You know what journalists are like. Gold Coast has historically NEVER gotten behind their sporting teams. How many rugby teams, AFL, baseball, basketball, golf tournaments that were based there are now defunct? The region is a graveyard for pro sports. Not sure why, am sure there are more qualified people to answer this question. Palmer is obviously bitter and is taking it out on the FFA with some justification I personally believe. 1. no free to air tv coverage on the horizon 2. you can only get A-League coverage through illegal streaming videos or else the sport does not exist 3. promotion is negligible 4. Lowy does not use his own money, only his influence. Palmer is in strife now in his other businesses. Mark that one in your notes. Some fights are not worth fighting.
The Man
Guest
How ludicrous to put down Palmer. The man put in 20 million dollars to give soccer a leg up in Queensland. The real criminals here are the people of southern Queensland who DID NOT make the effort. Useless people.
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
Not you too BigA, really feel sorry for you.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexic
BigAl
Guest
you mean . . . dyslectic ??
GC Football Fan
Guest
I was there, The game against Fulham. In the Beach when it was open. Stuck in the corner when Clive shut it. This year in the Eastern stand, my eyeballs melting in the sun, until Clive closed it, back to the Beach end, then he closed that. I love football, I just watched Palm Beach youth beat Mudgeeraba 10 - nil. Clive just made it hard work, no wonder the casual football supporter didn't go.