Sydney derby for FFA Cup round of 16

No idea about the stage of the process, but the only data I have 1. my Auto12 renewal was processed 2 months later than last season 2. Last season, on 19 August, we had 16,103 members signed up So, based purely on those bits of information, we are tracking better this season than last season. The final number I have from last season was 21,394.

What stage are you guys at? Is it open to the public now or still priority sales? WSW on 14,700. Just a few hundred from our cap. Work to add 3,500 seats to begin in a few weeks. Also, the state govt has announced $500M plan to improve Sydney stadiums. Most of it being thrown at the shame of the city, the Olympic Stadium. With that much money you could tear down the SFS and build a Juventus Stadium like venue.

MVFC membership now up to 16,259 .. with still 46 days before the A-league season commences. Can we hit 25k this season? I'm quietly confident.

*Franchise Football not club football

Most A-League fans have been football fans for a lot longer than just the 10 years the A-League has existed. I know I followed football from a young age and I even went to NSL games, but I felt as though I was on the outside looking in until the A-League introduced me (and obviously others) to the wonders of following club football. Like it or not, the culture of the NSL created a bit of a barrier to people not of a certain background from turning on to the game. As for media reports: The media does NOT differentiate between old soccer and new football. To them its all the same enemy:( They'll even highlight incidents overseas to allow them to put the words 'soccer' 'violence' and stadium' in the same sentence. That is what suits their agenda.

I think you'll find most A-League fans used to follow the NSL and aren't as anti-NSL as you imagine. They didn't just materialise from thin air, they've followed football since before the A-League was born. They want the same things from Australian football that you do and they want it to succeed. All football fans, and not just A-League fans don't like the way the Australian media sensationally reported on football in the past and to a lesser extent today and A-League fans feel it as much as anyone else. Irrespective of what people think or the media report, the FFA Cup is proving to be a success already. There will be a good crowd at Edensor Park for the game and they will be looking forward to a great game and their team progressing to the quarter finals of the FFA Cup. Its an amazing match up when you consider that Graham Arnold the SFC coach, used to play for Sydney United and Mark Rudan the SU coach, used to be the SFC captain. I'm really looking forward to the game and will be travelling out there with a few mates, some who follow WSW, to enjoy it for what it is - a Football Cup match.

leon IMO that's pure BS to assume all A-League fans think like that or even most....

Bingo. I freely concede that I am a recent convert to the A-League, largely by virtue of my state league side having collapsed. To the point, in HAL circles a large portion of people tend to dispute the media's portrayal of football, while openly parroting the line that the NSL was all about ethnic tensions. Too often this degenerates to xenophobic nonsense - see FFA and their apologists.

Midfielder, too bad that's not what Leon said. He stated quite clearly that A-League fans whinge about media sensationalism and misrepresentation, however when it comes to the NSL they are more than happy to lap up the very same media tactics and fairy tales. Nice job anyway midfielder, keep pushing that agenda pal.

AZ That's more people just generally responding to whatever affects them. Most people (if not all) tend to be hypocrites at one stage or another. WSW having success or a reporter rubbishing the a-league will affect a SFC supporter, so they will respond to both if it affects their club in anyway. The ex-NSL clubs are probably just an easy target as we know with having ethnic clubs in the league the sport will never prosper. Therefore we can always say 'at least it wasn't like the bad old days'. I have never been a fan of a lot of the banter because it is just stereotypical nonsense. A lot of it is also hypocritical as one minute it is funny, then the next minute when a journalist uses it to drag down the sport it is unfair and unjust. Take Midfielder's 'drive by' reference comparing WSW supporters to criminals. But if a journalist came out and said 'all football supporters are criminals' in the paper he would be the first one jumping up and down. The point is that is all fun and laughs until starts to affect you. It's just people looking out for themselves really.

You've completely missed the point. I'll break it down using a hypothetical Example 1 News reports "Soccer shame: Violence in A-League" All fans "Silly media bias and poor reporting" Example 2 News reports "Western Sydney hooligans create havoc" Reaction from WSW and many others fans "This is pathetic biased reporting" Reaction from rival fans, largely SFC fans "WSW ruining Aus football" Example 3 News report "Sydney FC fans with criminal connections" Reaction from SFC fans "They're not even real fans" Reaction from rival fans "SFC fans are all criminals" This might not be the way you see it, but it's my observations from the last few years.

My point is what many NSL folk see about the media and how they and the A-League is treated and reactions from A-League folk is well off the mark... The difference is two fold first and as I pointed out FFA and A-League fans have handled negative media light years ahead how the NSL did.... second and what I did not say but which is true is the management structure of the NSL was beyond poor and the management of the NSL was largely !!@@@@2 lets not start a fight but beyond poor...

You mean this blow up

Midfielder, what is your point?

leon Sorry mate that's totally wrong ... The difference is the A-League has been able to counter the argument . In fact the huge amount of articles, letters and everything else that has and is being done to change the perception... I can still remember Kevin Muscat in Hal 1 or 2, in a full on blow up with the media over reporting of fan behaviour at SFC V MV game .. If you want an example go on the MV forum and look for a thread titled Smell The Fear ... on almost every club forum have their are media thread . The net and A-League fans and A-League management have managed it light years beyond what the NSL management did.

The second Facebook page for the club, they're already talking about organising fights. The main page seems to be ok.

The media selectively chooses to focus on crowd trouble at "Soccer" games yet casts a blind eye at the same level of trouble at League, cricket or AFL games. I've seen more arrests at one cricket match, than I have seen at over a hundred A-League games. At least the FFA isn't sweeping it under the carpet and is actively trying to do something about it. But if people start fighting kilometers away from the ground, who's responsibility is it. I think there are a few trolls on here at the moment, or maybe the same troll with multiple logins that's trying to stir up trouble. I'm sure they will be prepared on match night and will have a close look at what's going on before any trouble is likely to start. But you can bet there will be more journalists than players there and they have already got the back page story ready to print. There were a few suspicious circumstances surrounding the last time they were at Edensor park and there was a very large police presence who used the spectators as punching and kicking bags. There was no evidence of any wrong doing from the fans but a wholehearted condemnation of the police actions.

The worst thing is that every set of fans does it.

This is exactly what Leon is referring to below. We pick and choose when we want to agree and disagree with the media. Yet we fail to realise that even when we're bagging out an opposing set of fans, we're doing damage to the game as a whole.

The trouble started at a pub a kilometer from the ground.and had nothing to do with the game. There were no Sydney FC fans involved. "He said he saw a number of scuffles break out between a group of Melbourne Victory fans and another group of young people who were not wearing soccer jerseys."