The best of Australia has been on shown over the past three days, with the Asian Cup showing off our country’s diversity through colour, voice and football.
The reach of the tournament was in full display as Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane all played host to vibrant supporters from neighbouring Asian nations, with visiting foreign supporters galvanising local communities into action.
Australia boasts nationals from more than 200 countries, with almost 400 languages spoken in the land Down Under. Our accepting qualities may not always be on display, often not helped by political rhetoric, and patriotism isn’t always the most attractive character trait, but the Asian Cup is highlighting Australians at their best in 2015.
Supporting two countries – a mixture of your place of birth, your adopted country or your ancestors’ homeland – is perfectly acceptable in this country, and we should be thankful for that. And no other sport in Australia possesses the same reach, the same unifying passion existent in worldwide populations, as football.
From students, migrants, refugees and business investors, Australia has become home for many people hailing from different cultures, particularly those from Asia, and they have all flocked to stadiums to support football and the strength of diversity.
While Friday saw 25,000 green and gold supporters proudly cheer on the Socceroos in a 4-1 rout of Kuwait at AAMI Park, Saturday was a day for the large South Korean and Chinese populations in Canberra and Brisbane, respectively, as well as Saudi Arabians and Uzbeks – of which there are reportedly 1000 travelling around to support the White Wolves.
Raucous roars went up around the country as teams emerged victorious in their opening matches. When Wang Dalei saved Naif Hazazi’s spot kick in China’s 1-0 upset over Saudi Arabia, he was mobbed by teammates as the red-clad supporters in the stands erupted in relief.
When Server Djeparov floated an inch-perfect ball in for Igor Sergeev to finally break through a resolute North Korea defence, the hundreds of Uzbek fans jumped around in joy. Similar to the Socceroos’ four goals against Kuwait, the scenes were joyous and indicative of the country’s multicultural nature.
But it was in Melbourne on Sunday where the highlight of the Asian Cup was on show, and it came from the almost 18,000 fans who were decked out in green, red and white to see Iran take on Bahrain. The loudest cheers were reserved for the goals, with Ehsan Hajsafi and Maroud Shojaei sending Iranian fans into raptures.
The Iranian community were as loud as they come, the vision on the television more than likely nothing compared to watching the support firsthand. The atmosphere was reportedly banging, and one of the team’s star names, Ashkan Dejagah, described the cauldron of noise as “just like Tehran”.
Next up on Monday night is Japan and Palestine in Newcastle and Jordan versus Iraq in Brisbane.
The success so far, and the relatively large crowds, is largely thanks to a huge effort from Asian Cup community ambassadors, who have been busy mobilising ethnic populations and organising events to build support. There are 150 ambassadors across the five host cities, and Melbourne in particular has done a stellar job (naturally) in bigging up games featuring Japan, South Korea, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
They’ve helped make this celebration a possibility, and deserve a large slice of the credit.
And on Australia Day 2015, we should see a true reflection of Australian society when unified through a common cause. Forget those ugly scenes from 2005, football is in town, and there will be two sets of fans dancing in the stands of Stadium Australia for the first semi final – which could pit Australia against Iran.
What a spectacle that would be, a football fan’s dream. The Asian Cup is a great platform to strengthen ties with adopted countrymen, and a perfect place to begin understanding their culture. Now it’s down to the FFA to utilise these vibrant communities, and get them more involved in the A-League.
langou
Roar Guru
Brilliant Leland Post of the day
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Okay Ian, now that you have actually proof-read what you wanted to say, I'll try to answer your question as best I can. Firstly, I'm going to clarify just exactly what I think you are trying to say here and thus prove. You are basically trying to prove to me (any possibly anyone else reading who is interested) that my opinion of the EPL being of greater standard than the ALeague is just bogus based on what you have said. All right, lets duke it out then and see what you are made of when it comes to constructing a well thought out and logical argument. "here you go Rick. you prefer fine dining while I prefer Dominos. got my cheap takeaways mixed up." Yes you did, but thank you for reinforcing this mistake once again to us all. Of course this has absolutely no relevance to anything we are trying to discuss. "figured out what a eurosnob is yet? it’s not someone from europe Rick…….." That's it, that's the best you have got? I'm guessing it is considering you have used it twice now. Again, it has absolutely nothing to do with anything we are trying to discuss here. "how is that caviar and fine dining champagne football with barely any shots on goal registered by the mighty EPL table leaders? its such a good point you have to pretend you don’t get it…….or worse you actually don’t understand it. these best of the best teams aren’t registering shots on goal. if that was an A-League team you’d say they are third rate and B-grade because they can’t shoot at the goal. but if it’s an EPL team its different." No I get it, I was just hoping you would put together a paragraph of at least year two quality. I'll deal with it though. So you are basically saying that due to the 'lack of shot's on goal', this somehow makes the EPL of lesser standard. Well I'm not going to argue such a miniscule stat with you, because it is far too subjective without appropriate data at hand. What I am going to do is argue a more objective stat - that being goals scored, since the two are very much related don't you think? Now before I press on, I don't agree that more shots on goal or goals scored necessarily means a league is better than another. Some people prefer low scoring tight contests and some of the best games I have watched have been nil all draws with very few scoring shots. The Italian League traditionally has always been a lower scoring competition. This may well still be the case, but I have not watched much of it for the past 10 years. It does not mean I consider this league to be of any lesser standard than the EPL, I just simply prefer the EPL due to the type of football played and myself living in the UK for nearly 10 years. Why wife being British and an Arsenal fan is what got me into football and I have loved it ever since. Now with that aside, lets now break your argument down, for you have made the same mistake Fuss continues to make on this forum and the next. You have taken limited data and tried to manipulate it in order to make your point. As I told Fuss, you can't do this and expect anyone to take you seriously. Lets look at both the current EPL and Aleague ladders for this season: http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/league-table.html http://www.a-league.com.au/ladder/a_league Now you have taken the EPL leaders as your reference point, so I will use them also to illustrate how ridiculous your comments are. After 21 games, Chelsea has scored at an average of 2.2 goals per game. After 14 games, Perth Glory has scored at an average of 1.79 goals per game. Based on those figures, I'm also willing to bet Chelsea have a far greater ratio of shots on goal than Perth Glory, but I'm not going to dig into the more detailed stats at this stage, because I think I have made my point to you nicely. Now I know what you are going to say. 14 games is not enough, it's not a fare sample size for the ALeague. Well considering you had a sample size of 'ONE' game, I think if you did say that then it would be a bit 'rich' now - don't you think? However, I'm going to give you a greater sample pool and use the 2013-14 seasons as comparisons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013%E2%80%9314_Premier_League http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013%E2%80%9314_A-League Now again, if we use your reference source being the top teams, we can then compare. MC scored at an average of 2.68 goals per game over 38 matches BR scored at an average of 1.59 goals per game over 27 matches Now if I did a T-test on that data, I'm betting it would be statistically significant depending upon what null-hypothesis I decided to make (that being a comparison of the offensive capabilities of EPL teams vs ALeague teams) . I'm also pretty certain that if a collated the RAW statistical data for 'shots on goal', then you would be a sitting duck right about now, but I'm going to spare you the embarrassment and my time in doing so. Your argument is weak and poorly constructed. I'm sorry, but I will give you the same advice I have given Fuss. If you have nothing intelligent to say about football then please do not bother replying to any of my comments. I am of course always happy to discuss things football, which I think is quite evident in the length of my response to you.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Leland That's actually pretty funny, I was in stitches reading that. I especially like the betting part considering Fuzzy's awesome TAB knowledge, which combined with horse racing is....well hilarious.
Leland Facepalmer
Guest
Fuss "networking" at the races; the mind boggles: Random Punter: So, who do you like in race 3? Fuss: I'm not really interested in horse racing, but what do you think of the AFR? I love it. It's hands down Australia's best business media mast head. RP: Yeah, I sometimes read newspapers as well. Are you sure you're not interested in race 3? It's a great field. Fuss: Nope. I mean, I know how to get great odds on sports gambling but it doesn't interest me. I might throw a thousand dollars or so around, but it's really not my thing. RP: Um, OK. Fuss: Look at those stupid horses. Four legs and not one of them can kick a football. Pathetic. RP: What's football got to do with anything? We are here to watch horses race. Fuss: BOOM! Looks like you're another member of the anti-SOKKAH brigade, I knew it! RP: What on earth are you talking about? Fuss: Smell the fear, buddy, smell the fear! RP: Good chat, I'll just be off now Fuss: SMELL THE FEAR!!!
langou
Roar Guru
"I used to enjoy ARules when I was a kid. Then I grew up." Did you not attend the 2008 Grand Final?
Ian
Guest
here you go Rick. you prefer fine dining while I prefer Dominos. got my cheap takeaways mixed up. http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/12/18/premier-league-best-league-world/ and you can't understand what i type but i'm stupid...........sharpen up those reading skills by reading a book or two. no software needed. a dictionary and thesarus are useful tools as well. figured out what a eurosnob is yet? it's not someone from europe Rick........ how is that caviar and fine dining champagne football with barely any shots on goal registered by the mighty EPL table leaders? its such a good point you have to pretend you don't get it.......or worse you actually don't understand it. these best of the best teams aren't registering shots on goal. if that was an A-League team you'd say they are third rate and B-grade because they can't shoot at the goal. but if it's an EPL team its different. so you're not from europe but write about aussie rules? let me guess.......australia has the best aussie rules comp so you only watch the best 'football' comp - EPL for you.......because collingwood and hawthorn are just like man united or liverpool..........hahahaha!!!!!!!!!!! how predictable.
AR
Guest
I noticed that too. Given they hold up "Quiet Please" signs for those sports, claiming the atmosphere was superior at the Asian Cup is a strangely hollow claim. Then again, it also assumes that atmosphere happens only via raucous noise. That can be true of course, but I've experienced unbelievable atmosphere when crowds of thousands are deathly silent. The point is, comparing one to the other, is well, pointless.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Ian I have no idea who you are and from what you just said, your another one of the reasons I really don't comment too much on this particular forum. For all I know you could just be another one of Fuzzy's alternate user names, which he has been caught out on numerous occasions doing by having his comments removed by the mods. You might want to check your facts also tough guy. A-League/McDonalds was a comment made by AR. Personally, I thought those comments were valid, but you guys as usual decided to turn it into some kind of code war thread. Now if we look at your comments just for a moment and you want to have a conversation about it - then here are my two cents on your thoughts: "Man United just lost at home to Stoke and Man U had no shots on goal. at home. as a friend of mine who supports Brisbane Roar and Man United told me. He isn’t a eurosnob though as he loves both teams. and the Asian Cup as well. chelsea and southhampton was it? chelsea was involved for sure. the table leaders. a couple of weeks each had 1 shot on goal during a whole game." After reading this, I actually feel stupider. Go read that again and tell me it actually makes any sense what so ever???? "is this the caviar you aspire to? Taste good?" I can't answer this without installing some sort of deciphering software for the intellectually challenged. Perhaps you can recommend a good program? "please tell us more about how all football is rubbish again apart from what you watch." Yes, the Asian Cup & ALeague is rubbish compared to the the UCL, EPL, WC and UEC, all of which I watch. If you want to watch third rate football and that floats your boat, then that's fine with me.
Dean
Guest
FFA reaping what it has sown? Who cares about the singing? Sure the atmosphere helps sell bad games, but it's what happens on the pitch that wins over fans permanently.
Dean
Guest
So the Asian Cup was more raucous than Golf, Tennis and athletics. You need to get out more.
Ian
Guest
are you the guy from a few weeks talking about the EPL being champagne and caviar and the A-League McDonalds and you had to defend the EPLs honour because a few people said they didn't worship the ground EPL is played on? and you didn't know what a eurosnob was either? you thought it was a person from europe. Man United just lost at home to Stoke and Man U had no shots on goal. at home. as a friend of mine who supports Brisbane Roar and Man United told me. He isn't a eurosnob though as he loves both teams. and the Asian Cup as well. chelsea and southhampton was it? chelsea was involved for sure. the table leaders. a couple of weeks each had 1 shot on goal during a whole game. is this the caviar you aspire to? Taste good? please tell us more about how all football is rubbish again apart from what you watch.
Ian
Guest
does that bother you that Bondy made a comment? Perhaps I'm their 3rd moniker as well.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@TomC I used to enjoy ARules when I was a kid. Then I grew up. Whilst my major sporting interest has always been Football, not ARules, I could not find an NSL team that I wanted to embrace. I used to also be a Member of the VRC and attended every major Race Meeting at Flemington from the mid90s to 2010 - not because I love horse-racing, but because it was a social event & often a business networking event. By contrast, I attend ALeague because I enjoy The Game & have found a team I can embrace.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
"I’ve attended over 300 AFL matches, more than a dozen AFL Grand Finals & can’t begin to count the number of AFL finals." You know I think I remember you saying that on the AFL forum when someone was challenging your credentials when it comes to knowledge on the AFL. You spouted off the worlds longest resume to everyone including the exact above 'practiced' line. You tend to like doing that on this forum also, giving everyone your resume, thinking that it makes you look more qualified or something. I tend to find the very people always giving out their resume are the ones that are quite thin on 'content'. As I have mentioned to you before, I really don't like chatting with you, because I find your comments quite immature and frankly...stupid. Your knowledge of football is limited to ALeague and is very thin when it comes to European Football, which is where my interests lie. As such we really have little in common and therefore will only result in more of these ridiculous conversations you continually want to engage with me in. As I promised, I will not comment on any of your opinions, regardless of how stupid I may find them. I suggest you do the same with me.
TomC
Roar Guru
Why do you go to AFL games if you don't care for the sport and don't like the atmosphere?
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I've attended over 300 AFL matches, more than a dozen AFL Grand Finals & can't begin to count the number of AFL finals. ALeague match atmosphere is far superior to any AFL match I've attended. And, last night IRNvBHR was better than any ALeague match. The only atmosphere that I've witnessed in AUS superior to last night, was another match involving IRN - at the MCG in Nov-1997. For football illiterates, that reference would mean nothing.
Realfootball
Guest
All men too - women not allowed to attend
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
It's just my opinion old guy, don't get too worked up over it. I'm guessing you have been to a lot of AFL games then, which is interesting for someone who only loves one sport. Interesting indeed. As for your ALeague comment, that really doesn't surprise me somehow.
britesparke
Roar Rookie
And if Australia meets Iran in the finals and it is being played in Sydney......this should have both the crowd of the tournament and be THE match to see!
britesparke
Roar Rookie
Great match between Iran and Bahrain! This tournament will be a real godsend to promote and lift the profile of football in Australia. The 17K + crowd in Melbourne and the passion displayed by the Iranian supporters was no surprise for me as I have Iranian (they prefer to be called Persian) friends in Melbourne who were very excited with the prospect of seeing their team play in Australia. After all, they are the number one ranked team in this tournament! Expect a larger and equally passionate sized crowd for when they hit Sydney!