It’s something hard to ignore, the masses of NSL fans constantly belittling the new generation of football fans coming out of the woodwork and settling in to our game.
Everyone hates a ‘plastic’.
Those contemptible little gremlins who, in recent years have multiplied at the veritable feast football has offered.
The ones who come along because we’re the ‘cool new thing’.
The ones who know nothing of the sport and yet come along with their Google-sponsored knowledge and try to fit in.
How dare these people come to our game without extensive knowledge of Australian football history and the privilege of a city location in which to gain such knowledge!
Is every fan who can’t recall the 1994 NSL runner up one of these gremlins?
Here is the journey of a passionate football fan, who came to love the game without attending a single NSL match in his life.
I grew up in and around Dubbo, New South Wales, a rural area whose claim to fame is several rugby league stars, an international abattoir and the originator of the word ‘bogan’.
My first exposure to football was in the tiny village I lived in between Dubbo and Orange.
Every year this dot on the map with a population of 300 would put on a World Cup-style ‘Soccer Carnival’ which drew massive amounts of people from, Dubbo, Wellington, Molong, Orange and even as far away as Blayney.
I always had a kick around with the team Cumnock Public School entered, even though I had no idea about the rules, how important the game was in Europe, or even which way to kick the ball.
All I knew is that I wanted to do my village colours of red, white and blue proud against the sea of more professionally organised teams proudly representing far-off places.
This tiny ‘World Cup’ environment would set in motion reasons as to why I chose football over other sports, most notably rugby union, which I played at the behest of my parents, the game they supported and would probably be much happier if I stuck with.
But football already had its hooks in me, even if I didn’t realise it yet.
The next stage in my football development came with my obsession for video games, most notably FIFA World Cup ’98.
When it came to the World Cup in real life I had no idea when the matches were on, no idea who was in what group or who they faced after the group stage, all I remember from the actual games was arguing with my equally clueless cousins about who would win the final (I backed France, in your face Travis!).
But in video game land, I was a World Cup master tactician several times over, having won more tournaments with my chosen team of Italy than I care to remember.
My team choice in this game would see another aspect of my footballing life decided.
My favourite player to carve teams up with was a tiny rocket of a man, with impeccable dribbling and amazing finishing skills, a proto-Messi, you might have seen him in my display picture, the clever little so-and-so himself: Gianfanco Zola.
My admiration for this player would cement a love affair for the club he played for: Chelsea Football Club.
Upon receiving FIFA ’98 (different from the World Cup edition) I found Zola and immediately set about conquering the world with my new favourite club.
Flash forward a few years and a few football titles for various consoles, I found myself as a teenager with more freedom and a more relaxed bedtime, one late night channel surfing expedition I stumbled across the EPL in TV broadcast format.
Here were all the players I’d come to know right there on my TV, I also stumbled across The World Game, here were people talking about the game and the matches I was seeing.
I didn’t catch The World Game as often as I’d like to but Foxtel’s coverage of the EPL had me tuning in every weekend and sometimes late night Mondays.
Due to zealous protectionism from other codes I had no way of knowing who and what the NSL was about, the times I caught The World Game, I didn’t pay much attention to the NSL parts, as far as I was concerned the EPL was much safer ground I felt at home with it.
I saw the matches, I saw the analysis, something in which I only had a brief taste of with the NSL coverage.
I strangely saw the NSL as something far off in the cities as opposed to the utterly magnificent EPL which I could see in my living room or in my bedroom as I played FIFA.
Around this time the NSL started to go into decline and the new A-League was conceived, this would be a new league of unprecedented professionalism, unheard of standards of play and the ability to recruit better players.
And when I heard that Foxtel had the broadcasting rights I immediately chose Sydney FC as my team and I’ve been heavily invested in the A-League ever since.
I even came around to supporting the national team, I attended my first A-League and Socceroos game in 2005 when I was 18.
Does this sound like the story of some ‘plastic’ that floated in on the last breeze?
Time and time again I’ve faced ire from my fellow football supporters all because I don’t know who scored a brace in Marconi’s 3-1 win over the Football Kingz in 1999.
My path is a genuine one, the NSL didn’t lend itself to newcomers or people in rural areas so I missed out, I think a few people need to think before they judge A-League fans harshly.
j binnie
Guest
Gezza - Just for your info. South Melbourne in the first year of NSL drew approx. 57,000 people to their 13 home games for a game average of 4,400 per match. Best gate was 15,000 (note all the zeroes in the count) and the worst gate 2000 (note again the zeroes in the number).How accurate were the counts.or were they guesses? Come the last season the counting had obviously improved and so had the crowds for in 11 home games they pulled approx 72,000 for a game average of approx.6,500 per game.That increase took 26 years to achieve.!!!!! Best gate was11,642 against Perth, the worst, 3750 early in the season. Hope this is of some interest to you. jb
Gezza
Guest
Don't mean to be pedantic, but the Crawford Report AFAIK didn't specify the one team/one city model. From what I recall, the FFA wanted to have more teams, but the prohibitive initial investment required meant that it was simply impossible to find sufficient investors/bids to have a 10-12 team league. It was then John O'Neill's idea to implement a similar philosophy to Super Rugby in having one team per city. FWIW, I think it's worked out for the best in some respects that such a clamouring for a West Sydney team has led to the WSW phenomenon. Then again, WSW may well have been equally successful in 2005, who knows. But Melbourne Heart OTOH... this is where South Melbourne could well have filled that second club for the city... I really believe SM is the only ex-NSL club that could seriously be considered for the A-League. Their crowds were always pretty good, and I see no reason why they wouldn't draw 10-15K in a well promoted league, unlike Heart...
KickassKoala
Guest
Well when they can get a varied decent crowd they may have a shot in the A-League, Perth Glory were the only NSL team that completed the FFA's checklist. I remember the NSL, i never went to games because i never felt any team really wanted someone like me there, im half American, it would be like creating an NSL team that wore stars and stripes and sold chilli dogs at grounds. I like A-League teams being part of a region, not a town or family origin country. I also played FIFA World Cup 1998, thats when i got into football, stayed up late to watch Netherlands play on fuzzy SBS. Ive bought every FIFA game since 1998.
Greg
Guest
Overall I agree with this sentiment, nobody should be ridiculed for not taking an interest until post nsl, however its a 2 way street as you have many who started following the game from 2005 onwards who talk about the "dark old days" and the nsl holding the game back etc who have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Simon Hill is a perfect eg of this, he had a go at the nsl a few weeks ago yet he only arrived in time to see the final years of it, yet he speaks like he followed it since the 70s, this behaviour is also unacceptable imo. Both sides of the coin are agenda driven, what we need is unification and an appreciation of new and old, and eventually down the track the merging of these 2 systems.
Kasey
Guest
I would go even further:) I think Perth should alter their logo to incorporate 2 stars for the National championships won in the NSL era. I would love to see the FFA publish a consolidated list of Australia's National Champions, they can notate which championships were won in the 'NSL era' and which in the 'HAL era' with an annex detailing exactly how this was determined...first past the post or which exact finals system was used. It would be a great olive branch and link to our games interesting past. I know Andrew Howe often provides such stats to the Fox commentary team in its broadcast of the Finals Series.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
I tend to agree with Franko here, as Adelaide United actually came into the NSL due to the inability of Adelaide City to continue. South Melbourne may be a different financial kettle of fish altogether.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
Er........... cue "face palm" actions from Newcastle & Adelaide fans
johno
Guest
If you're such a died in the wool NSL fan then go support the only NSL team left - Perth Glory
Kasey
Guest
you're blind Johnno. Adelaide City had years to get it right but were unable to penetrate the consciousness of the city in the way United have - despite winning games and championships on a regular basis. It wasn't until Adelaide United entered the NSL in 2003 that things 'clicked' for the vast majority of football fans in Adelaide. Your devotion to the old ways is oddly admirable but stupidly shortsighted/misguided. In no way could it be reasonably argued that AUFC and the HAL have not moved the game forward in SA from where Adelaide City and the NSL left it in 2003.
Aljay
Guest
Yeah I agree with you given that countries like Saudi Arabia qualified, but if I wanted to troll I'd point out that in 97 we did lose to an Asian team and the S.American team that beat us in 01 did nothing once they got to the Cup either. However we all know the MCG was an aberration and that team would have done much, much better than Iran had they made it to France. On the other hand the 01 team fell to pieces in Montevideo, I think they just weren't good enough to be there.
Ian
Guest
off topic, but Kane forgot to mention the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo. Now that's one of the best things there. Many moons ago i spent two nights in Dubbo and went to that zoo, where the animals roam free.........
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
You are basically asking “what defines a fan” The clubs will say anyone that supports them – especially the ones that fork out $ for membership, match tickets and jerseys etc For some reason there are fans that define fans as those that were there ‘in the old days’. Just ignore these ones Kane as the reality is there were hardly any of them and they are now outnumbered by the newbies.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
vinnie
Guest
trust my words as a football and socceroos finatic we would have qualified every time in those NSL years had we been in asia all this time, the 98,2002,2006 socceroos would slam the current socceroos by 6 goals. viduka, okon, zelic, kewell, thats just the start
Jukes
Guest
My experience was very similar to yours. It was only until WSW came into the A-league that I felt an instant reconnection to football and came back into the fold. Some will have their own view of my experience on why I wasn't a fan from 2005-2011, I could care less to tell you the truth. When the A-league was formed in 2005 it felt like a gimmick, a plastic manufactured league. I am not talking as a "bitter NSL" fan either. I knew the right decision was made for the good of the game. But 40-50 years of history for some of these clubs was wiped out in one season and we started fresh. But you have to start from somewhere, and the longer the A-league is going it will be making its own history. I just couldn't bring myself to supporting any of the teams in the A-league at the time, least of all Sydney FC. If there was two mistakes the Crawford report made was that there should have been two Melbourne teams from the start of the A-league and there should have been a Western Sydney team right from the start. Eventually time will heal all wounds. I am expecting football to continue to grow, I am expecting to see clubs consolidating especially at the NPL level. I am expecting to see better junior players being produced. I am hopeful of seeing a viable second tier in my lifetime. I am hoping to see grassroots football becoming more affordable so that kids are able to play the sport of their choice and not something else because its cheaper. I hope we become an importer of talent rather than an exporter. I hope we eventually get rid of the salary cap and allow clubs to be trusted to run them in a sustainable and viable manner. A lot of those things I mentioned above will lend themselves to improvements in the league. You provide people with a quality product and they will turn up.
j binnie
Guest
Towser- The original NSL concept was actually based with a geographic layout in place What actually happened was a meeting was called for all clubs playing in each state's highest competition & any club interested in competing was to confirm their interest in a set time.The one thing that put a block on most thinking was the amount of money that the successful clubs had to lodge with the parent body before entry would be granted. I attended the Brisbane meeting & like most of the other club delegates knew there was only one club in Queensland with the necessary financial assets & that was Brisbane Lions ( that was the name they had adopted), For some reason or other Brisbane City who had walked out of the meeting got the other place allocated to Queensland.????? So we ended up with a league made up of 5 NSW teams, 4 Victorian, 2 South Australian, 2 Queensland & one ACT team. I think the basis for that make up was that there would be games ,or a game, on in every major population centre every week. jb
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
Oh no, don't say that around my family, the Kangaroos are the traditional upper class Union club, my uncle played for and now coaches the Rhinos, known for taking in the types the Roos won't, I'm sure you're aware of the classic Derby style environment in games between the two.
MrCelery
Guest
The latter days of the NSL drove me away from football after previously being a lifelong huge fan of the game. This was mainly due to the terrible way the game was being run. The A-League brought me back. Sure, it's been a bumpy road since the formation of the A-League. But the game is in a vastly more healthy state now thanks to the Crawford Report and Frank Lowy & Co who set up a structure to encourage inclusiveness. Not just of the elite A-League, but all aspects of the code. PS The only area where there is still major work to be done is overcoming the dreadful enduring anti-football bias in the mainstream media. Thank goodness for the internet and sites like 'The Roar'!
j binnie
Guest
Kane - for one showing interest in such matters you deserve to be told about a website ,under the heading Australian National Soccer League containing a site that gives you all the scores,teams & crowds (as reported) for all games played between 1977 & 2004.The reason for the brackets is that you must remember crowd controls were not as accurate as today & you will find many "given" attendances as figures ending in lots of zeroes,eg 6000,4500,3000, etc which does leave a slight doubt as to their accuracy. One I noted in the opening round was a "given "crowd at Perry Park in Brisbane as 6500, & to the best of my knowledge of that ground in those days (my club used it as a home ground) the ground was not capable of handling 6500 people.!!!!! I did a rough sample for you using game 13 in 1977,89/90 & 2004 & the following figures emerged. Average crowd for 7 matches in 1977 was 4,500 (approx) Average crowd for 7 matches in 89/90 was 4,300 (approx) Average crowd for 6 matches in 2004 was 3800 (approx) The biggest crowd noted in those samples was the 10,556 attracted to the local derby between Adelaide. City & West Adelaide at Hindmarsh in season 89/90. Hope this is of some interest to you in your seeking of knowledge into NSL history, jb
Aljay
Guest
Like the FFA have said "broad-based", that rules out South Melbourne at present. They still have more work to do but agree that Heart are not the answer for a second Melbourne team in their current structure. I don't know much about Adelaide City but would be surprised if SA can handle two teams.