Football is what I live for, when I’m on the field or at a game I can’t control my passion. There’s something deep inside me that emerges when I see a round ball.
The recent friendly between Greece and Australia just highlighted to me the complete and utter shameful reaction by the Australian public and the police. I am not having a go at the fans, in fact their passion makes me a proud football supporter.
Victoria Police are threatening five-year bans and criminal charges for simply lighting a flare and potentially being too passionate. Are they serious? The rest of the world is laughing at us.
Have they never seen a Greek derby between Olympiakos versus Panathinaikos, where Flares are as common as flags. The raw emotion and passion expressed by fans in Europe far exceeds anything that occurs in Australia.
Wanderland has an unbelievable atmosphere, it made me feel alive to yell “We sing for Wanderers,” when they versed FC Seoul in the AFC semi-final, even though I’m not a Wanderers fan it was exhilarating to be a part of the atmosphere. Yet, we demonise these people for showing passion and categorise them all as hooligans.
This criticism of football fans is like when there’s a Mexican wave at the MCG and the wave reaches the members stand and everyone boos as they spoil the fun and the atmosphere.
Well sorry to break it to all those who criticise football fans, you are the members stand, you have no idea on what you’re missing out on, you’ll never understand the passion of football until your team becomes your life. Until your weekend becomes your sacred time to support your team. Until everything in you screams for your team.
People kept saying to me all day after the game “why do they need to light flares, it’s just stupid,” “what’s wrong with those people?” “I don’t understand those idiots.”
Australians are asking the wrong questions from the outset, instead of asking how to find the same passion and how to be more like them, they criticise the people assuming they’re crazy, uneducated or just different. Newsflash, they’re not the weird ones.
The difference between the AFL and football is the fans, the reason why the AFL struggles expand and grow, is the fans. It’s the stigma behind those who show too much passion is limiting the game.
You don’t want less crazy people at game you want more, you want people to ditch their wedding rather than miss their team play in the grand final, you want people to religiously follow their team. Football is a religion in Europe and South America, and until AFL becomes the same, it’ll never explode as a sport.
Football is a way of life, to punish supporters for being passionate is beyond idiotic, it’s disgraceful. Who do you sing for? We sing for football!
Go the Socceroos!
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Not the public , just Murdoch and his henchmen/women
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
@marron, yes of course you are correct, it was indeed Pratten Park in Ashfield. Thanks!
marron
Guest
Think it was pratten park, in Ashfield, that one.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
C---with all due respect the best of all fan fights were at Lidcombe oval between Sydney Olympic Hellas FC and Hakoah Sydney City, the fan invasions of the field were something to behold. No flares, but plenty of biff.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
SS I'm talking pre-NSL days, early to mid 1970s - the old VSL as it was then.
c
Guest
hellas v juventus in adelaide circa 1970 were the best mf and the fan fights wow wee
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Me too; born in Sydney, and I can remember the days of the chicken coop in backyards with the compost heap. Pity, those days are gone now and forgotten for the good of Sydney.... and West Sydney. But there are still some southern folk trying to reinvent the Egg-Thing with the GWS-Egg-Thing, but with no success, as it seems.
Kaks
Roar Guru
So you're saying that we should not try and do what the best in the world do? They're the best in the world for a reason!
marron
Guest
Best thing about that scene - the flares. So many flares.
harry houdini
Roar Rookie
Sorry, but I am not from Melbourne, born in Sydney.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
@Sydneysider, I can only remember APIA-Leichardt vs Polonia at Lambert Park, in about that same time in history. Polonia tore APIA apart 0-6 on that occasion. Fantastic football.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Yes indeed, but it's not Football; it's an Egg-Thing confined to your Melburnian backyard compost heap... :)
Sydneysider
Guest
"Juventus vs Polonia" is that the old Brunswick Juventus from the NSL days?
Mister Football
Roar Guru
It's certainly true that my dad took me to Juventus games a few years before I ever saw my first VFL game. At that age - I viewed it all as one and the same thing - as children we don't discriminate - it's those horrible adults you have to watch out for. I can't recall the earliest Juventus games I went and watched, in terms of who we played against or what the score was, but I vividly recall the last game we ever went to watch. It was Juventus vs Polonia, and we went because Polonia's home ground was very close to where we lived in Maribyrnong, just down the hill from Highpoint West. Actually, now that I think of it, we probably saw a few games there over the years. This is all pre NSL, and both clubs had a good following, so the game was quite well attended, to my young eyes, it seemed like the ground was bursting at the seams. I can recall Juventus winning 4-0, and we were sitting with all the Italians, and everyone was happy. A year or so later, I was to see my first VFL game, Footscray vs Essendon. Footscray had the wind in the first quarter but wasted opportunities, and led 3.8 to 1.2. Essendon took control in the 2nd quarter, and at half time Footscray were trailing badly with a score of 3.12. They lost by 48 points, 8.19 (67) to 17.13 (115). The following season, Footscray made the finals for the first time in 13 years, and Footscray were able to turn the result around (with a surprisingly similar scoreline). It was very, very exciting to see Footscray make the finals, but Collingwood absolutely flogged them in the Elimination Final.
harry houdini
Roar Rookie
At work. aye aye Captain, must stay on topic. Egg ballers are bad, but is tiddlywinks OK ?. World cup coming up soon, England may do well, we know plenty of English people post on the soccer board here, it must be of considerable interest to them, they are actually the favourites. get ready to rip your sparklers, to quote Apocolypse Now, i love the smell of sparklers in the morning
At work
Roar Rookie
Okay MF, you get that one. Just stay on topic and chill with the tiddlywinks
Mister Football
Roar Guru
At Work A poor man's AR?? Gee whiz, that hurts - you say that even after my brilliant Lonsdale st plate smashing post?!
harry houdini
Roar Rookie
Home grown free range eggs are the best, everyone knows that!.
harry houdini
Roar Rookie
Do you mean Blinkers or winkers ?, there is a significant difference, ask Bart Cummings about the difference!, in fact dear old bart is gone, you can't ask him now. I would say he has side winkers with a nose roll on, it makes him more oblivious to outside influences.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Have you found your Egg-Thing in that chicken compost heap yet...?