The ‘us against them’ mentality has been strong in Australian sport this week. Pity there’s no point to any of it.
As you all know by now, 170 seats were ripped up at the Melbourne Derby between Victory and Heart at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
When the media began to cover this incident, A-League fans were outraged at the attention a crowd-related incident was once again being given.
AFL fans, no doubt seeing images of damage to what they might consider ‘their stadium’, didn’t keep their outrage quiet either.
As a result, the two groups collided.
It was like a water bomb full of insults, double standards and ignorance had exploded all over the internet. The airwaves and newspapers weren’t spared, either.
The round ball camp alleged that their code was treated differently by the media.
The egg ball camp alleged, well, all sorts of things (including the outright ridiculous, such as the claim soccer crowds play up because it’s such a boring sport).
The concept of mutual respect had been thrown out the window.
And there was no point to any of it.
Let’s get one thing straight. If 170 Etihad Stadium seats are broken by fans – be they futbol fans, footy fans or AC/DC fans – it’s going to make the front page of the Herald Sun.
And it’ll have nothing to do with an agenda or so-called ‘vested interests’. Etihad is a venue that has multiple tenants who hold significant value to the community and is also considered a local landmark.
An incident involving not one or two, but hundreds, of seats is newsworthy.
Let’s get a second thing straight. The media do, in fact, tend to put more emphasis on crowd incidents at association football matches than those at other sports. There’s no need to deny it.
The typically alcohol-related behaviour of spectators at cricket, horse racing and Aussie Rules events make barely a ripple in the Melbourne media. On the other hand, barely a ripple at a derby match can lead to typically over-the-top behaviour in the Melbourne media.
Let’s get a third thing straight. The media scrutinise different areas more intently for different sports. The FFA might cop the worst of the crowd incident stories, but is it front page news when one of their players sleeps in and misses training?
When is their illicit drugs policy ever in the news? Do the nights out of mid-tier players get reported?
Has a player yet to play a senior game been front page news for having a relationship with a former teammate’s ex-girlfriend and owing less than $1000 to another teammate?
In the same way fans of the Sherrin must deal with stories of drugs because of a past that’s included Ben Cousins and stories of drunken antics because of a past that’s included Brendan Fevola, fans of the world game must deal with stories of crowd incidents because of a past that has included flares and clashes between fans.
Let’s get a fourth thing straight. Sweeping generalisations about fans of a particular code or group of people are not on.
“Melbourne’s soccer fans set a new standard in idiocy last weekend” was how Rita Panahi opened her Herald Sun opinion piece the other day.
There are a number of questions to ask about the piece in general, but let’s just stick to that opening line and do a little maths.
Even if we generously assume the 170 seats were each destroyed by separate individuals, and add ten more people for flare-lighting, 180 out of a crowd of 41,203 represents just 0.4 percent of the crowd in attendance. That means 99.6 percent of the crowd were well behaved.
In what world is the behaviour of 0.4% indicative of ‘Melbourne’s soccer fans’ but the 99.6% not?
Let’s get a fifth thing straight. Australian Rules football is not getting an easy run from the media over the Essendon drug story that came out this week. It might be fun to pick out a single article and say so, but there’s no way you can say the story has been buried.
Yesterday afternoon you could log on to the Herald Sun homepage and without even having to scroll down, you’d be confronted with links to three different stories on the issue.
Channel 9 have commissioned a special out-of-season Footy Classified episode tonight to delve into it.
It’s been the lead TV news story two nights in a row. Despite Tuesday’s press conference revealing little, the next morning the papers were filled with new information that had been dug from well below the surface.
The idea that ‘Australia’s game’ gets an easy run from the media is popular in some quarters, and you can understand the argument the code likes to ‘frame’ stories in a certain manner, but the scrutiny of the game is real and is immense.
Let’s get a sixth thing straight. The views and comments of 3AW’s Tom Elliott deserve nothing but condemnation. He was responsible for the “soccer is a boring game” accusation, which was about as helpful as providing a fork and a spoon for a plate of steak.
To then bring Hillsborough into the debate was truly disappointing.
He was taken out of context originally and was talking solely about the issue of segregation, so the initial Twitter uproar was somewhat misplaced, but the fact he brought up the tragedy at all in relation to last weekend should at the very least to lead to a meeting with 3AW management.
Now, let’s get a seventh thing straight … or, let’s not.
If you’ve got this far, you probably get what’s going on.
Both sets of fans are right and both sets of fans are wrong. Some of what they say is bang on, some is well off target.
Ultimately, they can keep throwing grenades at each other until the cows come home, but unless everyone on each side takes the time and effort to become truly informed on what’s happening either side of the fence, there really is no point.
In fact, you don’t need to jump the fence to realise there isn’t a point.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the reality is football and football aren’t all that dissimilar.
There are winners and there are losers. Tales of triumph and tales of failure.
In the space of a couple of hours, hopes and dreams can be crushed. Alternatively, they can be realised.
Each season provides a moment where this is truer than any of the games before it. In that moment, a champion is declared, and all who witness it are shown the rewards that come with hard work, sacrifice and dedication.
Kids are inspired to get outside the house and kick a ball. They are given heroes to look up to and try to emulate.
Supporters of all ages get to enjoy that special feeling of being part of a shared common desire that instils this weird yet highly comforting sense of belonging.
All of this is true of both codes. It shouldn’t matter that one code is more popular globally and the other more popular in Australia.
It shouldn’t matter one is low-scoring and the other high-scoring.
It shouldn’t matter one is played on a rectangle and the other an oval.
It shouldn’t matter one has a small section of fans who are idiots and the other has a small section of fans who are idiots but cause less damage to property in the process.
It just shouldn’t be so hard for supporters to adopt a stance of mutual respect. Because at their core, both codes offer the same thing.
I’d go as far as saying the marketers have it wrong.
We are both football and we both made Australia.
Jack
Guest
"It didn't matter to anyone". And cricket did? You not being able to explain a sport says more about you.... How did you miss the point of the article and perpetuate the issue? Siiiigh. And you had better things to do like eating, even though you wasted time explaining sports, in what seems an incredibly dull convo.
apaway
Roar Guru
Redb I wrote my first article for the Roar back in December 2009. It was a piece criticising Andrew Demetriou over his "We may have to cancel the season" comments when Australia was bidding for the World Cup. It wasn't a criticism of the sport of AFL but it got a pretty strong backlash from AFL fans. At the time, I had no idea about this so-called code wars business; even as a former professional footballer I'd never encountered animosity between the two codes. It bemuses me. Where did it all begin and why? Does it exist solely in cyberspace or is it fuelled by the sometimes idiotic ramblings of people like Tom Elliot and Craig Foster (I've never heard the former, just read his stupid comments on the chairs incident at Etihad, but am well familiar with Foz and believe me he spends as much time putting the boot into his "own" game as he does other codes)
bryan
Guest
Dear old Fuss just gives us some light entertainment! :) I don't think the "Code Wars" thing is all that big in Western Australia,though,as we're more into the "Hate Eastern States teams" vibe,so no matter what code the game is in,it's WA forever!! Bit of a problem with the Eagles -v-Dockers games,though!! :) The Glory has the "WA" thing all to itself,as do the Wildcats,so even though there may be arguments for 2 teams in WA in both the "A" league,& the NBL,I'd rather it happened later rather than sooner!
Dingo
Guest
bryan, it is only the soccer folk in Australia as far as I can determine, who are obsessed with their game being the only code that should be called "football". Everybody else seems to be more balanced in their views. It is a futile argument though and you will never get psychoposter, of all people, to see reason.
bryan
Guest
Fuss,I am glad to note that in your posting you have followed my suggestion & used "Football" for "SOCKAH",&; "football" for the other codes. On this forum,I have consistently found it to be as I described,with no sign of your contention in the "AFL:" section. Maybe in your local media,but we don't all live in Melbourne or Sydney! It seems Eastern States media have a much more disparaging tone towards Football,than here in WA. The seat breaking episode was not mentioned on CH7 in this state. Basil Zempilas has a regular chat with various players from the Glory,& did discuss the "European/Asian match fixing " stuff the other day,but non-accusingly,& more,assuming an "A" league player may have heard more about it,than someone altogether outside the game. I'm not sure why the dislike for the name "Soccer. It is nearly as old as the game itself,although it has a fairly frivolous origin. It doesn't somehow,sound as toffee nosed as "Rugger"! :) What is this "Southern Australia" crud? "Australian football" (note the small"f") is played in WA from Esperance in the South,to Wyndham in the North----which is way further North than Sydney,or even Brisbane. They play "Aussie Rules" in the Northern territory,too!
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"Followers of the “World Game” want it to only refer to their game,whereas the other codes see themselves as having equal right to its use." Totally NOT true - it's the complete opposite. The AFL industry, in particular, try to lecture us that "in Strayia, the eggball game played in Southern Australia, is 'football'and the round ball game must always be 'SOCKAH'." By contrast, not a single Football fan that I know, would give a stuff what other sports call themselves.
bryan
Guest
One continuing bone of contention between followers of all the codes is the use of the word "football". Followers of the "World Game" want it to only refer to their game,whereas the other codes see themselves as having equal right to its use. I suggest a compromise similar to that used in political reporting,where "Liberal" (large "L") refers to The Liberal Party of Australia,& "liberal" refers to others with a very different political stance. Using this method,"Football" would mean "Soccer",& 'football" would mean any code of football. Obviously when referring to the full names of AFL,NRL,or Union clubs,Capitals would still be used,but it would normally be obvious from the context which game was referred to. Actually,I can't see anything wrong with "Soccer",but it seems to freak Fuss & Co.out! :)
bryan
Guest
A tennis ball!:)
bryan
Guest
No,they are all in postings on the Roar! :)
bryan
Guest
It's not always a Sherrin,the traditional ball in the WAFL is a Burley.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Without doubt, this is the BEST article I've ever read on the subject of: Football's relationship with the Australian media And, it's written by one of the best AUS footballers that I've had the pleasure of seeing. For football fans, read & save this article. For non-football fans .. well, I really don't care what you do. "Football deserves better than that" by Ned Zelic http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/ned-zelic/blog/1140110/Football-deserves-better-than-that
me, I like football
Guest
No, why would you make that up?
Kasey
Guest
"no greater friend to soccer or the A-League than SEN" and I laughed so hard it hurt my sides! Is this the same SEN that dropped 99% of its HAL coverage (or shunted it to the digital channels –almost nobody owns a digital compatible radio) like a hot rock when the AFL threatened to withhold AFL radio rights if it failed to do so? Some friend.
Kasey
Guest
GoGWS, you are a clown, Foz might write one or two snipe-like lines in an article about guess what? football! But where has he written an entire article about a sport that isn’t football? - which is the point you pointedly ignored. When an AFL writer childishly denigrates football for an entire article(not just a couple of throwaway lines), supposedly 'we' football fans are prescious and lack a sense of humour!
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Fantastic article, by Ange Postecoglou, where he expresses EXACTLY my sentiments: 1. Over the past few years I have sat through countless interviews with media who were either totally uninterested or too lazy to do any research before asking me about my profession. 2. I have listened to them get facts wrong, teams wrong, players' names wrong and even on occasions ask me to pronounce my own name. 3. I answered in a tolerant and respectful way, knowing that they probably did not want to be covering a game they didn't like. 4. There was a major difference in attitude, however, whenever an incident occurred. The same media became interested and well-informed and offered strong opinion on the same sport they cared little about beforehand. Full story: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/acts-of-a-few-blown-out-of-proportion-20130207-2e1cf.html#ixzz2KFYdtwkb BOOM!!! Ange, understands the media's agenda; as do most football fans, who have been around before Johnny scored the penalty in Nov-05
Peeeko
Guest
I think the AfL gets ,ore than its fair share of coverage in Sydney
GoGWS
Roar Guru
"But rarely I’ve seen Association Football journalists, hoeing into AFL and questioning it’s existence and value in Australian culture like SOME AFL journalists or at least AFL friendly media personalities such as Tom Elliot." So you've not read any articles by Craig Foster...every second article he writes childishly denigrates the non-soccer codes in Australia
cjones
Guest
Rusty0256, But which ball will they kick about in no man's land?
Rusty0256
Roar Rookie
I think at the very least we should try declaring a code-war truce on Christmas Day. Redb, Millane, Australian Rules from one side and Fussy, Midfielder and Punter from the other will climb exhausted out of their mud-filled trenches, carefully picking their way across no mans land doing their best to avoid twisted barbs and unexploded insults. And there they will suspiciously meet, exchanging cursory Christmas greetings and tins of spam. Just as everyone is starting to relax, Redb turns to Fuss and quietly says, "you know, if you really want the war to end you really need to stop feeling so jealous of the AFL". To which Fuss replies a little louder, "what are you even doing here, we didn't invite you here, you come and invade OUR FOOTBALL space and try to tell us what we should or shouldn't be saying" Millane, trying to stay civil to this point suddenly screams out, "YOU SOCCER LOT ARE SO ARROGANT, YOU THINK YOU OWN THIS PLACE... Within seconds, all hell breaks loose, the combatants shouting and wrestling (as always) in the mud until somehow managing to scramble back to their respective trenches. Fighting re-commences forthwith and any hope for even a Christmas truce in the future is forever lost. Code-war is indeed hell.
Ken
Guest
Why do you say this is Sydney centric? In Sydney Football generally refers to Rugby League in the same way that it generally refers to AFL in Melbourne. I wouldn't say I personally find it offensive (I suspect either you're trolling a bit or you're a very sensitive fellow to consider this offensive), but I do find it slightly absurd for the exact reason you have provided. It doesn't really mean much though does it? AFL fans will still say football, RL fans will still say football, and Soccer fans will still say football. Union fans will continue to sip their tea and say 'leave us out of it old chaps'.... sorry, there didn't seem to be anyone having a go at RU in here yet :-)