Incensed Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold was so furious with refereeing decisions in his side’s goalless draw with Wellington he did not show up to his post-match press conference for fear of being fined.
Assistant Steve Corica was left to explain Arnold’s absence at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night, following a match highlighted by a total eight yellow cards and 43 fouls that left the Sky Blues winless from four matches.
While the yellow cards were evenly spread, Sydney conceded 29 fouls to the Phoenix’s 14 with striker Shane Smeltz responsible for seven.
Referee Chris Beath copped flack from viewers both online and in the 9253-strong crowd for perceived injustices against the home side they believed cut into the rhythm of a stop-start game in which Sydney squandered numerous chances.
“He’s a little bit frustrated with the way things went tonight and a few of the decisions that were made, so he thought it would be best after he’s been fined a few times that I come down,” Corica said.
Corica agreed with Arnold’s stance that many of the fouls “were a bit harsh”, believing Sydney were the better side but could not convert on the final pass.
“We’re not normally a fouling team,” he said.
“A lot of them weren’t fouls, that’s my honest opinion.
“And when the game is like that, it’s very difficult then to get momentum to keep the ball rolling, to get any kind of possession going.”
It was indeed that type of match.
Skipper Alex Brosque became another frustrated head as he duelled with Beath over decisions and faced off with Phoenix defender Manny Muscat.
It was Brosque who had the better of Sydney’s 15 shots, and came close to scoring the winner seven minutes from time when he hit the post and the ball bounced painfully across the face of goal.
He also sent two hurtling wide on the back of some beautiful build-up play from Filip Holosko, a standout performer on a night when Wellington pulled the strings in the midfield.
Midway through the cramped proceedings, a smaller-than-usual gathering of Sydney’s The Cove supporters made clear their feelings about Sunday’s News Corp Australia article which named almost 200 people banned from matches.
“You can name us, try and shame us, but you’ll never break us,” read the first of the group’s banners, while another read “FFA standing silent as our rights are trampled” in a reference to Football Federation Australia’s belated response this week.
Wellington coach Ernie Merrick was far merrier, happy to head back to New Zealand with point and praising a solid midfield performance while admitting his side were “light on up front”.
He did not take any issue with Beath’s refereeing.
“They should read the stats … they fouled twice as often as we did, and yet both sides got four yellow cards. But they were the ones that fouled a lot,” Merrick said.
“But I’m not going to get into all that though, it’s just all part of the game.”
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
I know when the games are on. I'm a member lol. I'm talking about average Joe walking down the street.
Roarfan
Guest
There is plenty of info about the Roar to tell you when the games are on. Firstly, if you can access this website, perhaps you should try the Roar's website and you'll get all the information about games etc. The Roar is also active in the social media (twitter, Facebook & Instagram) and the Courier Mail gives fairly reasonable coverage. Members get regular newsletters and we also get quite a bit of coverage on one of the radio stations (can't remember which one, because it is not my age group). Ignorance is absolutely no excuse. If you want to know there are plenty of options open to you. I also suspect that Brisbane Roar will quite happily put you on their mailing list, if you ask. Go Roar
magila cutty
Guest
Arnie reverts to type. I have always found his teams a chore to watch and this lot are no different.
Peter Cotton
Guest
Steve Corica has interchanged between NYL coach, and assistant A League coach since 2010. Are you suggesting he is at fault for the wheels falling off? Perhaps Arnie is simply not paying attention to Corica's observations and suggestions.
TK
Guest
Yep that's fine as long as ppl recognize it in comparisons of crowd numbers between years. Doesn't take a genius to predict that crowds will be down if there's an increase in stoopid mid week scheduling. So how were the ratings compared to reruns of law and order?
TheVolley
Guest
Also ppl need stop blaming the referees. Players keep bahving badly because they know the can get away with it.
Waz
Guest
Which is pretty much why I said of the issues they are "resolvable by smart enough people!"
Waz
Guest
Roar are never going to do FTA advertising because it's too expensive - social media had a lot of activity (Facebook, Twitter) then they're advertising on Radio on TripleM, plus they've fixed their broken relationship with the Courier Mail so they are at least getting normal coverage there. More needs to be done but things have improved.
TheVolley
Guest
You both either need meds, or go off whatever you're taking to ignore the issues in the game. Time wasting, deliberate fouling, play acting happens regularly in the game.
Post_hoc
Guest
I think I need some meds just to read that.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
Newspapers haven't been too bad in recent years but the players don't seem to do any promotions, you don't see any advertisements for memberships or games, heck far as I know the fan store at Suncorp is the only thing that proves they play there alongside the Broncos and reds. They really messed up bad not seizing the opportunity to surpass the afls basket case lions (who more or less did the same thing). Maybe it's a case of she'll be right coming back to bite them.
JonJax
Guest
Off the meds , are we?
Lionheart
Guest
But you are right Wilton Dalton Davis. If you're not a fan you wouldn't know there was a game on in Brisbane. I'm seeing ads on free to air TV for cricket, the big bash, soon to start. Never seen an ad by FFA or Roar outside Fox. But I do notice that the Courier Mail has more football this year than previous, albeit still hidden many pages from the back
mattq
Roar Rookie
while less pessimistic I tend to agree with some of his points. I don't like any other sports other than football and am an ardent a-league promoter but even I am bored and have rarely been excited by the upcoming weekend clashes (and it's not just because my Adelaide team are a nightmare right now).
TheVolley
Guest
Football will continue to be plagued by bad behaviours and deliberate anti-football tactics. The blame is squarely on IFAB and FIFA. As long as both these bodies are run by dinosaurs, these things will continue. Other sports have over the years moved forward, some making well thought out changes to rules, infringement punishment, technology etc. to better their sport. Football has been stuck with endless corruption and inaction. No wonder the behaviours of players and coaches have become more and more 'immoral'. Take for instance field hockey - a sport that used to experience similar issues that plagues football , has cleaned up its sport effectively - a player is sin-binned for 'x' amount of time for significant/serious infringements. Players cannot crowd around an umpire/referee to argue a decision or risk being sin-binned. Only the captain of the team can approach the umpire. Etc. etc etc. Football is plagued by various anti-football tactics and behaviours, and the administrator of this game do nothing to purge these issues from the sport.
Fadida
Guest
I just knocked my front teeth out an got a neck tattoo so I can blend in at other codes. I expect the A-League to fold by next week. The standard's terrible, even Roly Bonevacia said so. Hang on, he said it was stronger than the Eredevisie :) The sky isn't falling. Just the opposite. People are trying to push a negative angle. This is a dip but hardly the end of the world.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
Problem with the roar is they do anything to promote themselves outside of playing football. Maybe their financial situation is so bad that they really can't but I've been a fan and member since 08 and I swear that if you didn't already support them you wouldn't know Brisbane had a team in the A League. It's like they just thought they'd keep winning and it'd all be fine.
JonJax
Guest
The sight of Ryall HOOFING the ball in hope, to the attacking third, summed up Arnold's limitations. The shame is FC doesn't have the talent on the park to overcome their coaches limitations.
Ian
Guest
ha ha......i thought they could have at least reversed last night and tonights game when i saw the draw this week.
Waz
Guest
The sky may be falling in but let's not panic; there are multiple factors in play that need resolving including several you mention above but they are by in large resolvable by smart enough people! Just a note on Roars attendances - we have been watching them up north - and they are not not spectacular this season a game v game comparison of the average attendance shows (for the same opponents) they are pretty much average or slightly above those of the last few seasons. So we haven't had any big draw cards in yet but the crisis in the close season did not hammer us at the gate (just on memberships!) and we are af least holding our own