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On Saturday night, Phil Gould sent a fairly innocuous tweet into the Twittersphere. It came at a time when we were all coming to terms with what had just unfolded in the first half of the Sydney FC versus Melbourne Victory match at Allianz Stadium.
Granted, it was a daft tweet: “Would soccer be better without an offside rule? Discuss.”
Would soccer be better without an offside rule? Discuss.
— Phil Gould (@gusgould91) November 9, 2013
To the credit of the football community, Gus wasn’t hit with the standard reply: “It’s football, not sockah”.
But there was the kind of response I’ve come to expect. Satirical remarks, jibes if you will, aimed at those who aren’t explicitly ‘in the know’ (whatever that is), but have decided to comment on football.
A number of Tweeters brought Gus down to earth by insisting it would be the same as removing the forward pass rule from rugby league, but more volatile responses ensued.
Take this example as a very fine metaphor. It will be quickly passed by, as are most things on Twitter, but it’s symptomatic of a greater attitude that is somewhat curtailing the progress of Australian football.
The haters (yo) – protagonists may be more apt – are those at the fore of the great divide that still exists. They readily pounce on new or converted supporters for their lack of football knowledge and deploy something along the lines of ‘go back to where you came from’.
The antagonists are often referred to as bandwagoners. They could resist no longer and have recently tuned into the A-League.
Their reason? Who cares? All that matters is that they’re now a football fan.
They needn’t sit an exam to verify they are worthy of watching the A-League. The simple fact – Gus Gould was sitting at home on a Saturday night watching the A-League. Bravo, football has done something right.
A friend of mine said this week he wants to go to a Wanderers match. It’ll be his first A-League game and, admittedly, it’s the hype of the crowd a tad more than the football which has given him the urge.
That’s ok. The kind of snobbery that would force one to question why my mate has not been to Parra Stadium before now should be replaced by a warm embrace.
We’ve worked so hard to break out from the ‘sheilas, wogs and poofters’ image, it seems counterproductive to create a pigeon hole for football supporters.
We’ve all wanted to have a chug after reading a Rebecca Wilson article – that’s fine, too. Criticism without knowledge warrants opposition, but it’s not a crime for journalists or curious onlookers from outside the football realm to have a quick peek into what has all of us buzzing and hang around if they like what they see.
Like every other sport in Australia, nee the world, football is not immune to its fair share of problems. Again, this requires some acceptance.
Footballers and supporters make mistakes, but we’ve now reached a point where the ‘mainstream’ is no longer just reporting on the negative – they’re just as obsessed with the positive.
We all want to say we liked Chris Hemsworth when he played that dude in Home and Away, but I, for one, did not. Now he’s Thor. That’s cool and it’s just as cool to take notice of him today without having to prove you’ve seen the two star comedy he ‘starred’ in while trying to get his break.
My mindless rambling has a point. Australian football is heading somewhere and it will be an even more enjoyable trip if the army grows along the way.
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