One of the few things FFA got right this year was sticking to their word and letting the highest placed team host the grand final.
The buzz in Newcastle was huge, the support of the Jets was electric and everywhere. The morning of the match, the first 30 pages of the Newcastle Herald had Jets stories.
The grand final showed three critical aspects of football that most of Australia is lacking.
First is media support. Football in the Hunter has always had coverage equal to any other sports by traditional sources. In this aspect the area is unique, as no other part of the country sees football supported as an equal.
Second, the media support is mostly positive. Even in the dark times, the media tells positive stories about the local team, and while they attack other aspects – such as management of the code – the local team support doesn’t waiver.
Third, a regional city can create hype that’s equal to any capital team.
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Simon Hill said as the game started that there were 100,000 locals watching at both the stadium and live sites. That’s equal if not more than any other sporting code anywhere as a percentage of the population.
Australia’s seventh largest city clearly demonstrated the effect of positive media and media supporting football.
Further, the history of football has always been respected.
Newcastle sides like KB United held the record for crowd sizes for the NSL and – up until the first game the Northern Spirit played – had the biggest club crowd ever in Australian football.
While European migrants who arrived in the 1950s and ’60s added to and developed football, the structures and systems were already in place.
The Newcastle grand final forced many journalists to highlight the support for the code in regional Australia and most importantly that football has been around since 1880.
Those who say positive media has no effect, I give you Newcastle.
In closing, the Hunter has shown the way forward. Positive media, and respecting all of our past history and achievements will assist the overhaul of the governance systems.
Dart
Guest
Good article. I was there at the 2001 NSL grand final when the Wollongong Wolves were forced to play against South Melbourne at Parramatta Stadium. The crowd would have been bigger in Wollongong and we would have been spared the long commute. The bloke who made the decision to play at Parramatta received the biggest boo I can remember. Still, it was disappointing to see Newcastle lose. My team, the Wollongong Wolves, were knocked out of the FFA Cup just a few nights before as well. So not a good week for results.
Redondo
Guest
Or you could argue the FFA and A-League represented a pragmatic recognition that the game's history in Australia had led its top-level league into a dead-end. On that reading, the A-League was a circuit-breaker that successfully re-established a top level national league. At the same time it did not unduly disturb the rest of Football in Australia. The challenge now is to connect the A-League's franchise model back to the lower levels of Football in Australia. It's a tough one but not undoable.
Kangajets
Guest
The author has got it right
Kangajets
Guest
Good story mid So many Socceroos from these parts . Also early in the 1900s teams like Weston kurri and Adamstown were the best in the land .
Onside
Guest
Hi Mid, I reckon the VAR thing at Newcastle , along with a few dismal reports about losing the game, not scoring , all that , and its alledged negative effect on those who might now support League instead of football has been totally overblown. A dud result or seasonal high in a final has little long term impact on future support for either the code or the club.. Brisbane Roar won a couple nail biting extra time , penalty shootout grand finals ,Suncorp was packed, Berisha Besart spun his magic, and Ange Postecogolou walked on water. Those marvelous results had no longterm impact on attendances., this despite Suncorp Stadium being sold out, and a riveting finish The faithful rock up, good times and bad, and the Roar build slowly. My point is : good and bad, win or lose, like Yin and Yang is forever changing. and if a mind blowing penalty shootout Roar GF win cant increase membership, then likewise a soul destroying GF loss will have no long term detrimental impact. (maybe even the opposite) Hopefully Newcastle will be there next year , and guess what, if they are, tickets would again be at a premium and the town will rock. Newcastle will now be playing in Asia. The powers that be in Newcastle club council et al, should use the opportunity to welcome visiting clubs , especially China,and develop business links. (golden opportunity ) Good luck and well done.
I miss the force
Guest
They arent equal to the knights
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Here's a huge positive story: Iniesta looking at the A-League. He's only 33 years old. Would be a huge name, there aren't many that are bigger.
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Fadida A touch of realism and understranding never goes astray. I agree with the central point that Newcastle represents the cradle of the game within Australia (perhaps even within Australasia). But before we get too giddy about the FFA and the A-League paying respect to the history of the game, we have to appreciate that the establishment of both the FFA and the A-League, of itself, was an act of complete and utter disrespect for the history of the game in Australia, both in its imagining and the process of establishment.
punter
Guest
Yep stop on Mid, the standout positive of the year, the jets.
Fadida
Guest
Well said Mid
Fadida
Guest
And there is the negative
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Respecting your history is very important, and no other place in Australia epitomises the history of the game moreso than Newcastle, but if we are truthful, the FFA and A-League were both established upon the foundation stone of complete and utter disrespect for the history of the game. Also, it might give us a warm, fuzzy feeling to dominate regional cities such as Newcastle, Gosford, maybe Wollongong, Townsville, Queanbeyan and Morwell, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't get you diddlysquat.