I’ll let you in on a little secret. Brisbane is the best city in Australia to live in, and its football club has the potential to be the biggest in the A-League.
Most Brisbane residents – particularly those who’ve moved to the river city from elsewhere – already know it’s a fantastic place to live.
While folks in Sydney and Melbourne bicker about which is the more liveable city, those in Brisbane simply get on with enjoying life.
And it’s a pretty good living, all things considered.
I moved to Brisbane midway through 2009, having back-packed around the World Cup before spending three years in the Japanese seaside town of Shimizu.
After deciding Sydney was too expensive, the choice of a new hometown came down to either Melbourne or Brisbane.
In the end it was easy. I often visit Melbourne, but since I can’t stomach the AFL, I figured the Sunshine State seemed like a sensible place to be.
I haven’t regretted the decision.
Brisbane has got everything you could want – affordable housing, great bars and restaurants, excellent sporting culture and a fantastic live music scene.
It used to be known as a big country town, yet an influx of creative types and the fact some of Australia’s largest companies have their headquarters here means Brisbane is actually one of the Asia-Pacific region’s more vibrant destinations.
Think I’m joking? Check out the sort of names you see associated with the wildly successful Brisbane International tennis tournament and get back to me.
About the only thing missing, as far as I’m concerned, has been a football club the city can truly connect with.
Even that comes with a caveat.
When Ange Postecoglou steered the Brisbane Roar to back-to-back A-League titles before Mike Mulvey added a third, it looked like the Roar might become the sort of juggernaut to rival the NRL’s Brisbane Broncos.
After all, more than 50,000 fans packed into Suncorp Stadium for all three grand finals and, from my vantage point, at least nine-tenths of them were wearing orange.
Having won three championships in such thrilling fashion, why haven’t the Roar kicked on to become one of the biggest sporting clubs in the land?
The answer, if you believe a vocal section of supporters, is the Bakrie Group.
Brisbane Roar’s Jakarta-based owners destroyed a mountain of good will with a series of administrative blunders, and the fans have never let them forget it.
Now, it’s not for me to tell anyone how to support a football club.
But I have to say – and maybe it’s because I’m a transplant to the city, or because I simply believe the action on a pitch largely outweighs the administration off it – I’ve struggled to understand the sheer depth of fan anger.
And it’s not because I’ve never stood on terraces myself.
When Shimizu S-Pulse travels to Tokushima Vortis on Sunday afternoon, I’ll be watching on a dodgy stream as my beloved team in orange tries to win promotion back to J1 at the first attempt.
But with the Roar’s new managing director Mark Kingsman making a deliberate effort to reconnect with fans – I spoke with him on the phone during the week and he’s realistic about how many bridges need mending – I feel like the club is at least trying to make amends.
Their decision to wear maroon against Sydney FC on Saturday has annoyed some, but at least it’s a concerted marketing attempt.
Meanwhile, the Roar may now need to contend with an expansion bid from the Brisbane Strikers.
Perhaps that’s just what the city needs.
In the meantime, I’m going to put the politics to one side and simply appreciate the fact that we have a game of Saturday night’s magnitude to enjoy at Suncorp Stadium.
It’s something I would urge fans at every A-League ground to do this weekend.
After all, football may be much more than a matter of life and death. But it’s also supposed to be fun as well.
Hammerhead
Guest
There is a place that is behind Brisbane... Perth.
rasty
Guest
As long as they are rich. Important for any team.
punter
Guest
Not even Int'l circles. I was at Spotless last night watching potential threats to the might SFC & only then found out the Swans were in this year's AFL GF.
The word
Guest
..this article is about Brisbane??
Mitcher
Guest
Melbourne is a fantastic city. Love going down there. In that context, I just don't understand why it's so important to the locals that everyone else has to recognise this openly. Seems awfully provincial. Genuinely can't wait for my next visit.
MarkfromCroydon
Guest
Having lived in Melbourne most of my life, I can confirm it is a shithole compared to other places in Aus. Poor weather, expensive house prices, expensive services, lots of obnoxious people, endless boring AFL news virtually every day. We also have to put up with the Australian Open every summer when every second person becomes a tennis expert, and I go out the back and watch the paint dry on my shed as it's less boring than watching tennis. Holidays to Gold Coast, Adelaide and Brisbane have shown me that there are better places in Aus, but due to family and work, I won't be living in those places. Ah well, at least we have the Victory to keep us happy down here.
asanchez
Roar Guru
Mike, a good read, but you must either be on the take from the QLD tourism commission here with those opening paragraphs, or you've been smoking some of Brisbane's finest! Give us a spell... I mean, sure Brisbane is a great place to live, been there many times and always enjoyed it, but it's far from being the best place to live in Australia, and nor are the Roar anywhere near becoming a juggernaught! Yes the potential is there, but the fans aren't stupid, we all hope this Kingsman bloke lives up to his words and brings back the Brisbane of old, but he and Brisbane have a long long way to go. First up, the bloke needs to last longer than 12-18 months in the chair to be taken seriously, the fans up there need to see some stability or at least perceived stability. The owners need to continue to pay their bills and their players on time, they also need to shut their mouth and not many ridiculous statements in the press, and the entire club just needs to keep its nose clean for a while. I'm also a big believer of concentrating on the on field performances, and on that side of things, the Roar are going very well under JA and Ross, but fans are people, and people believe the hype most of the time, both positive or negative, and all the Roar fans or any other A-league fan has read or heard about the Roar over the last 24 months at least, has been doom and gloom, going from one disaster to another. That's gonna take a long time to repair, and I genuinely hope it does. But even in the Ange era, sure Brisbane were outstanding onfield and smashed all sorts of records, but they were really uncapable of translating that success into huge regular crowds, which they truly deserved. Their best crowds came in the first 3 seasons of the A-league, when they were regularly attracting 25k-30k crowds. Grand Final sellouts are great, but they're part of the Australian psyche, they'll sellout around the country more often than not.
The Word
Guest
All right, I have to bite here..(..though .more of a code warrior than a city warrior usually)....but the Victorian mass emigration to Queensland thing is, ironically, also 20 years out of date
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Nope.. you are both wrong.. It Gingers... as in the Brisbane Roar FC!!!!!!
Hard Yards
Guest
I think lesterlike's stint living in Brisbane was akin to when Homer Simpson visited New York. Ah well, can't please everyone
Hard Yards
Guest
So you do live in Brisbane ;)
Hard Yards
Guest
Like when the AFL GF is brought up in international circles?
Cool and Cold
Guest
1) If you sell your house and move to Brisbane, you can have one or two millions to spare. 2) The weather is more suitable for snow haters. Plenty of sunshine. 3) If you do not like too many people, you can move to Brisbane.
Fadida
Guest
Agree :)
Cool and Cold
Guest
I think there may be 20,000 tomorrow.
AR
Guest
Melbourne wishes it had an international tennis tournament with all that fancy corporate backing.
AR
Guest
Logos. The Word speaks the word.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
I'm looking forward to the game tomorrow. It should be a cracker!
Ian
Guest
Correct on DS. as for Nemesis. Really again? Every person in QLD voted for Hanson did they? QLD is a state. Last time there was a vote on daylight savings, was a close win for votes from the South East corner however for the rest of QLD it was a massive no. Therefore counting all votes it did not get through. The not having DS if you think about it may well have something to do with half the state being in the tropics. The rest of the state is sub-tropical which you probably don't know. "we are against climate change" Quite a few statements with no facts to back them up. Much like Malcolm Roberts.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
It's a shame Gold Coast United was so intrinsically linked with Clive Palmer as South-East Queensland could certainly do with another club.