Apart from the occasional visit, I have to watch the A-League from afar. This means I haven’t a clue what I am talking about.
Try as I might, I can’t help but see many good – some great – games, played in fantastic stadiums in front of decent crowds and lively atmospheres.
The teams seem to be largely well-coached and well-organised, and there is a whole air of professionalism.
Get online to read about what you have just seen though, and these naive notions are quickly disabused – the game is either rattling forward to a precipice or being dragged back to the Dark Ages.
People surely need to get out a little more.
More football:
» The A-League is at a crossroads
» Some won’t like it, but FFA ban procedure looks fair
» FFA ratify new banning procedure
» Victory CEO says anti-social fans “are not welcome and we do not want them”
» Victory issued show-cause notice for flare up
» Flares are not a football problem, they’re a police problem
Asia would be a good start. Travelling around a few different countries in recent weeks, every one I visited would look at Australia and its league with some envy.
Flares in the stadium? At least there are fans. Last month I was in Abu Dhabi talking to Al Wahda coach Javier Aguirre – former boss of Mexico, Japan, Atletico Madrid and others – about the lack of fans in one of Asia’s leading football nations. His team won to move into third, but while the official attendance was 1200, barely half that were present.
Football is more popular in Thailand, but that brings different problems. The A-League attracts the occasional flare, Thai football attracts more undesirable elements, with some of it genuinely scary. Powerful people get involved.
In three days, I interviewed all the major players in the campaign to elect a new president for the Football Association of Thailand. It made Game of Thrones seem simple and gentle.
That was necessary because Worawi Makudi, president from 2007, had been suspended by FIFA for a breach of ethics. The list of accusations is longer than a Mark Milligan throw, but suffice to say he became loathed by fans and plenty of others. Bribery, intimidation and threats were hanging in the humid air. It was enough to make wannabe A-League hooligans turn faster than Johann Cryuff.
Worawi’s shadow still looms large though. His mate and former coach Charnwit Phalajivin ran for election and lost, but not before telling me from behind a big desk at the Thailand Sports Ministry that defeat just meant the start of many lawsuits. The message from inside the ageing offices of the FAT was the same.
The winner was Somyot Poompanmoung, a government-backed (not too openly, as all were nervous of a FIFA ban like Indonesia and Kuwait), former Thai police chief without much of a football background. Affable and confident, he promised a new start.
Given the craziness of Thai football, the man connected to the military junta was the candidate of reform when running against a well-respected and well-liked former national team coach.
Then to Malaysia, another football-loving country that attracts people that you wish could confine themselves to waving the odd flare.
Some even put money into the game rather than taking it out, but there are often conditions. On the first day of the new league season, there were a number of Aussies in action, but none at Kedah, as Kelantan managed a 0-0 draw on the road. The result was disappointing for the visitors, but that was nothing on what happened in the dugout.
The owner of a well-known cosmetics company had pumped about $6 million into the financially floundering Kelantan. In return, the sponsors – famous for skin-whitening products and other cosmetic items – get to paint the stadium pink, turn the shirts pink (these garments, so the claim goes, also whiten the skin) insert their motto into the team’s nickname and, incredibly, get a seat on the bench for the opening day of the season.
But then there was what could be the best goal of 2016 by way of compensation.
To Seoul, where all should be content as this is Asia’s most successful football country in all manner of fields. Eight successive World Cups is a continental record. Eight successive Olympic appearances is a world record. Ten Asian club titles is easily the best. World Cup semi-finals, players winning UEFA Champions League medals and Olympic podium finishes – it’s all there.
The standard of the K-League is good. Yet the competition has been in the doldrums for a while in terms of media profile and attendances. Decent teams and often small crowds rattling around huge stadiums with authorities almost having to beg to get free-to-air television interested in broadcasting the occasional game.
Most clubs are tightening their belts – Melbourne’s Asian CL opponents Suwon Bluewings recently apologised to their fans for a lack of transfer activity in the close season – at a time when Chinese clubs are really flexing their muscles.
Korea is struggling to deal with the rise of China, struggling to overcome long-held football notions to see the opportunity it presents. There are worries about the new season, the lack of spending and stars, as well as the Asian Champions League.
As I said, recent travels did not take me to Australia, but from the outside looking in, a few flares and mock-menacing stares just don’t seem that bad.
marron
Guest
Agree CG. just saying I don't think most of the football posters on here only read 442. Or flares.com. and imagine that is a reflection of what the wider population think. @matt, yes, but the existing mainstream opinion on these issues I guess is what I mean.
Punter
Guest
Not my family MF. Europe is old news!!!!
Mister Football
Roar Guru
For generations Australian parents have said to their kids: you don't know how good you've got it, could be worse, you might have been born in Asia!
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Punter one day I'd like to talk to you about your memories of the great depression
Punter
Guest
Clipper glad you are starting to come on board. Having been brought up on a diet of Cricket & Rugby League in my youth to 20-30s, I've attended many RL, Cricket & RU games, but nothing comes close to Derby day in Sydney.
CG2430
Guest
I find The Roar to be a more representative sample of society than 442, the other website which I usually look at for fan opinion. Even the football fans on here are far less hard core than on 442 (whom I identify with far more).
Rob McLean
Guest
Great yarn, John. Thanks for looking at Asia. I've enjoyed the ACL as I get to embrace more football culture. When I was in Thailand recently, I even managed to buy a Muongthang United shirt, so I've been keeping an eye on them of late. On the local issues, it's interesting that the AUFC supporter group which has headed to Melbourne for tonight's game against the Victory have asked for extra security. I'm not sure what to make of that.
Jets Fan
Guest
John Duerden, Nice article, and quite informative. As to the situation online regarding the A-League, one must bear in mind that the forums to which you refer, do not represent the majority of football followers. That's not to say that there isn't still some value to be gained from these outlets. But a quick look at the authors names will demonstrate that the same few names keep reappearing. And whilst the forums provide a venue for some to let off steam, there are way too few contributors for their collective thoughts to be treated as representative of the Millions who follow football on some level from participation, through viewing on TV and on to the Ultras at major clubs. Not to dim ish the vale of these forums, but surely the fact that crowd numbers are healthy and in most cases growing speaks louder than the opinions of the vocal few. I include myself in those vocal few!
Ian
Guest
FlawedBrucie actually replies to someone. He is here to insult football - he just doesn't have the guts to say it. Now it's 'there is no Australian football competition.' LOL. I understand the game based on Gaelic football - aussie rules, doesn't have a team in Tasmania, ACT or Northern Territory. And they don't care about the teams in QLD or NSW either.
Ian
Guest
'self referential loop for regular visitors, where their personal reality becomes confused with objective reality.' Love it. Your phrasing of late has lifted a gear after your RBB rhymes of last week.
Ian
Guest
from a guy with multiple aliases who goes after football. Unless of course someone is pretending to be Uncle Junior pretending to be Fussball pretending to be Uncle Junior You get the drift.
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
I'm not terribly surprised to read about Abu Dhabi given the squeeze on those rather one dimensional economies, but South Korea's troubles are a bit surprising. The decline in attendances in a place like Australia where the competition for fans is intense and cuts across 5 full professional team sports, but Korea's dynamics aren't anywhere near that competitive, so I'd always thought the K-League would get a clean run with fans.
clipper
Guest
It's a case of two wrongs don't make a right. Hope a few idiots don't ruin the sold out derby - shows how popular Football now is in Sydney, it's market share is increasing each year. Great atmosphere on the night with fans making their way to the ground.
Punter
Guest
Let me help you AR. You come on here & provide ratings & attendances of other sports to show why football gets the media attention it does, the tv rights & the popularity of the A-league in comparison. This is no different. A-League is getting a lot of unnecessary attention on flares & anti-social behaivour at grounds. John & others on the Roar are comparing other sports in Australia or other football leagues around our neighbours & to say we really don't see this issue. Flares are banned at football stadium & people ripping flares should be banned, just like those who perform anti-social in other codes. We really don't understand the unwarranted attention this is getting. I hope this clear why John thinks this is relevant.
Punter
Guest
Are you on some sort of agenda. That first paragraph is just, well you!!!! Just because I don't see the doom & gloom of the flares like you do & that in ten years of watching the A-League, I have not seen such hooligan aspect of the game you & Bec Wilson see, you accuse my family & I of ripping flares & acting in anti-behaviour ways every weekend. As Clipper says, the A-league is no better or no worse then any other sport in this country!!!!
mattq
Roar Rookie
I disagree. I'd average a guess the majority of Australians wouldn't even know about this flare issue or the sanctions, and not just because people don't care about football (incase anyone wishes to have a crack).
Dean
Guest
'To run other aspects of football' How much do you think it takes to run the A-League and pay for the national team, development teams etc. That $20 mil has to pay Gallup's wage along with all the FFA staff, Ange P and his crew, the Joeys etc probably comes out of that as well.
Dean
Guest
You had to move because of a flare? Better not say that too loud on The Roar, half of the commenters believe nobody has ever seen or noticed a flare except those who think it benefits the game. Those two countries might love football, but in terms of governance they're about as corrupt as they come. The military leaders in Thailand and the corrupt leaders of Malaysia would sell their family for a swiss chateau, let alone their football associations. That's probably why the business leaders of those countries pour so much money into EPL instead of their own leagues, at least they know the money will be spent on advertising rather than lining the pockets of the government.
AR
Guest
Totally agree. Saying "pfft, things are way more hardcore in Asia" is just utterly irrelevant. In fact, it's arguably all the more reason to act now.
LordBrucie
Guest
bob brown- what do you mean by 'our very own national football competition'? The competition is not our very own as we share it with a neighbouring country and have a team from another sovereign country, New Zealand, in the competition. I have no problem with Wellington being in the comp but let's not pretend that the a league contains solely Australian teams. How long Phoenix remain in the a league is a different point entirely though. I suspect we shall find out more about that over the next 24 hours!