The ramble: Boxing, and why hasn’t the A-League started yet?

One of the joys of walking around central Sydney at the moment are the posters displaying artworks from the 2017 Archibald Prize. Near Martin Place a poster shows a slender young woman with tattoos on her arm. I recognised the face but couldn’t quite place the name.

She is attractive. Her short peroxide hair is swept forward. There’s a slow-burning fire in her eyes.

Then it clicked. This is the Australian women’s footballer Michelle Heyman. With the Matildas in the news lately, the portrait by artist Kim Leutwyler is further recognition of the growing national profile of the Matildas.

Michelle Heyman was on the bench for Australia in their match against Brazil on Tuesday. Fans in Newcastle came out in force, the crowd of 16,829 eclipsing the record for a standalone women’s match set in Penrith a few days before.

The playing surface looked first class and I thought the match was a better spectacle than the first game.

Even though Australia went down early, a standout first-half effort by Hayley ‘Ribbon’ Raso helped turn the match around.

Of course the plaudits belonged to Sam Kerr whose brace was more evidence of her world-class talent. It’s a shame she didn’t make the five shortlisted candidates for FIFA women’s player of the year.

(Image: AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

Wednesday’s two FFA cup quarter-finals were contrasting affairs. In Queensland, South Melbourne thrashed Gold Coast City by six goals to nil. The ex-NSL club have ambitions to join the A-League, and this result can’t have done their chances any harm. Hopefully they will pull in a big crowd for their semi-final against Sydney FC.

Western Sydney Wanderers defeated Blacktown City on penalties after drawing 2-2 at the end of extra time. Wanderers controlled the game early and took a 1-0 lead into the break, but a clever substitution by Blacktown City coach Mark Crittenden changed the game.

James Andrew was brought on in the 60th minute and levelled the scores eight minutes later. In extra time Andrew put Blacktown ahead, and an improbable upset seemed likely until Oriel Riera scored in the 121st minute.

The commentators mentioned the million-dollar renovations at Lily Homes Stadium. I hope the club have a bit of cash left over to fix the fence behind the goal, which collapsed under the weight of excited Wanderers fans late in the game.

The Wanderers will play Adelaide United in the other semi-final.

(Image: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

I see that ex-Manchester United hard man, Rio Ferdinand, has taken up boxing. After watching the promo video I am convinced that Rio will become the next world champ. He has a ripped physique and those shadows he was boxing never stood a chance. I do wonder whether Rio realises his flesh-and-blood opponents might actually punch back.

Personally, I hope they put him up against ex-Test cricketer Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, who recently dabbled as a pug. A Ferdinand versus Flintoff bout would put bums on seats because, as we saw with Conor McGregor, people these days prefer watching boxing contests featuring people who aren’t boxers.

If Ferdinand wants to toughen up, he could do worse than play a season in the Turkish Super Lig. In the match between Fenerbache and Beskitas, the referee issued five red cards in an old-fashioned hack-fest. Even one of the managers was sent to the stands. Fenerbache won 2-1 in front of a roaring, revved-up crowd. I’ll keep an eye on the Turkish Super Lig. It might become my favourite ‘other’ league.

Elsewhere in Europe, Australians performed well. Early in the week Mathew Leckie was on target for Hertha Berlin. Taking the ball on the right and cutting back, his left foot shot sailed into the top corner, prompting comparisons with Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben.

Tom Rogic scored in Celtic’s 2-0 victory over Rangers and Tomi Juric bagged a double for Swiss outfit Luzern. Robbie Kruse scored for VFL Bochum. All this is heartening news for Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, but while our overseas-based Australians are gaining kudos, our A-League players are gaining kilos.

(Image: Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

Much has been made in the Sydney press of having no local teams in either the AFL or NRL grand finals. Even so, there has rarely been more than one finals match played in any one Australian city over the past few weekends.

Surely there are enough suitable venues for the A-League to be playing now. This Sunday was a case in point. With no AFL or NRL games on I was forced to mow the lawn.

It would have been an ideal opportunity to have a bunch of A-League games on. An earlier start to the season would not only keep our players in trim, it would allow us to take international breaks like most other leagues in the world.

As it stands, the opening week of the A-League season will have players missing for the World Cup qualifiers against Syria.

The turnouts for the Matildas shows that there are football fans out there at this time of year. Yes, it’s worth avoiding the grand final times, but we could still schedule Friday night or Saturday night games this weekend.

If you are in Queensland, there is one game that will be worth watching this weekend. Brisbane Strikers take on Heidelberg United in the NPL grand final at Perry Park at 6:00pm on Saturday.

Personality of the week: Sam Kerr
Team of the week: South Melbourne