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Following two of the most historic football games to ever take place on Australian soil, the games in the last week featuring English Premier League heavyweights Manchester United and Liverpool, the sport is the topic on everyone’s lips.
For once, the sport’s coverage on the prime time news is not about how ‘soccer hooligans are at it again’, it is all positive and about how ‘95,000 fans sang You’ll Never Walk Alone together’ at the MCG.
Why is it, however, these news companies and television channels are happy to talk about the ’round ball code’ – as the football-clueless Jim Wilson called it during Channel Seven’s dismal coverage of the two games – yet in a couple of months when the A-League kicks off, we will be back to the unfair bashing at every possible opportunity of a sport that is starting to blossom?
Is it all in my head that the A-League is hard done by from mainstream media? Lets have a look…
In 2012, the AFL grand final between the Hawthorn and Sydney was attended by 99,683 fans. On this day, there were 43 people evicted by police and security from the MCG. That is an eviction per every 2,318 people. Police later commented the crowd was ‘generally well-behaved’.
The 2012/13 A-League elimination final between Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory was attended by 22,902 fans. From this there were six evictions from Etihad Stadium. One in every 3,817 people to be exact.
Naturally, as a Victory fan following such a memorable come-from-behind win, I thought nothing could wipe the smile off my face for at least as long as I knew we were still in contention to win the grand final.
Boy was I wrong.
In the next 24 hours I came across a post from the Channel Nine news Facebook page labelled ‘Here are the headlines that are making news this Saturday sixth April 2013’.
Had a person been brutally murdered in cold blood? Had there been a deadly flu epidemic around the country? Was there an axe murderer on the loose? No, much worse than that.
‘A-League fans caught behaving badly again’ six people had been evicted from a crowd of almost 23,000. No mention of the thrilling game that took place, just that six people – six measly people – had been removed from the stadium.
Is this double standards, or is this double standards?
Coming off the back of its best ever season both on and off-field, the A-League has now achieved an average attendance of around 12,500 people. A remarkable accomplishment for a competition in only it’s ninth year.
So why is the league blatantly discriminated against every time something promising threatens to occur (such as the rapid rise of the Western Sydney Wanderers)?
Is it just a complete misunderstanding of what the sport is about or is it plain and simple a hatred of the game as it actually begins to be a marketing opponent of both the NRL and AFL, competitions the news companies are more than happy to dress up in flowers at any opportunity?
It’s time to clear up a few myths about many of the ‘crimes’ A-League fans are weekly condemned for.
There is a difference between marching and rioting. Rioting is ‘to take part in a violent public disturbance’, yet was what Victory fans on the way to the elimination final mentioned earlier were accused of.
Walking to the stadium in large numbers is common to most sports but it seems only us A-League fans cop the brunt of this action. It is not a crime to walk in a large number.
‘Swearing in the crowd and not promoting a family-friendly environment’ is another normal condemnation of A-League fans. I have attended games of all football codes and there are people that yell horrible things at every single one of them. Again, it is only us that end up on the news.
‘All soccer fans are wogs’, Not only is this not true, but aren’t we a country that prides itself on its cultural diversity? I was born in Australia as were both my parents and we attend games with fellow Australians and also people who have different cultural backgrounds because we all share a passion for game.
‘Not a family friendly environment’. Hmm… I have attended every Melbourne Victory game for the last eight years with my family, while sitting alongside other families who love the sport just as much as we do, and we have not once felt in any way threatened in our time supporting the club.
Instead we enjoy the atmosphere of a crowd that chants for the full length of the game, leaving with no voice.
‘The only code in the country where fans have to be secluded’. In my time supporting the Victory, I have sat alongside families supporting both teams in the crowd and have had no second thought about talking to them about the game and enjoying a bit of friendly banter.
There are obviously active support groups at each end of our home games, just as there is at every AFL game with their cheer squads.
Why is it that our active support are labelled ‘secluded’ but AFL cheer squads are not. Double standards again.
Flares. They occur at on average only one game of A-League per week and even this one game there will likely only be one, not that I condone them at all, but they are not being ripped left right and centre.
There are small minorities of idiots who attend games of every code that true supporters are ashamed of, but it seems it is only ours that are regularly crucified.
All our sport wants is the fair go it deserves.
With or without the help of mainstream media in the next couple of months, the A-League will continue to grow and blossom into a globally recognised competition.
It would be nice if the media could lay off our sport for a minute and let people attend a game and make up their own mind on the matter. It would be nice if the positive feedback the sport is currently receiving could continue for years to come.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see. And pray.
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