Why I need to take a break from football

FIFA Law 4 Whilst 'religious' and 'personal' are relatively easily defined, 'political' is less clear but slogans, statements or images related to the following are not permitted: any person(s), living or dead (unless part of the official competition name) any local, regional, national or international political party/organisation/group, etc. any local, regional or national government or any of its departments, offices or functions any organisation which is discriminatory any organisation whose aims/actions are likely to offend a notable number of people any specific political act/event

Stu - If we try and "date" the ingress of "ethic" groups to Australia I think the period 1955 to 1975 would fill the bill when various governments were trying to build Australia's population quickly under various guises,need for tradesmen,need for workers, need for various areas of commerce.etc etc. The reasoning behind this "dating" is to point out that the average family patriach of those days ,aged around 26 would now be in his 70th,or 80th year,and so would surely have lost the drive to extend his "nationality",now having spent 50 years of his life in a "new" country. So what of the offspring from those migrant families,are we to believe that these younger Australians still regard themselves as foreigners living in that "new" country? If this is true then we in football have a real problem on our hands for not only have we to try and "sell" our product to these potential fans,but find ourselves in an area totally outside our control. I refuse point blank to believe this;Today we have people constantly travelling abroad,no doubt visiting the country of their parent's,or grandparent's origins and yet we do not witness a wholesale transfer of people back to those countries. Would it be correct to suggest that they are quite happy with their "new" homeland and if this is so why do we read these constant references as to "ethnicism" in our sport. Cheers jb.

And if David Gallop thinks anyone actually wants the NCIP in place, then the problem is Gallop, not football. You are absolutely right, the Problem is Gallop and the FFA. The Policy is RACIST and should be illegal under Australian Law! It has No place in Australian Society let alone an inclusive sport like football. It is to our National shame that this policy has continued as long as it has. Get rid of it NOW, and Gallop & Lowy with it!

Congratulations Mike. Take some rest (I think many of us need to after that breathtaking World Cup) and I look forward to hearing from you when you return.

I take on board all the points made here, MQ. I wasn't aware of the fact that FIFA had guidelines on this issue. I still believe, however, that this is a difficult area to adjudicate.

Mid - I am forever surprised at the seemingly lack of knowledge re. the history of our game,especially that period preceding the formation of the NSL in 1977. For instance the discussion (and blame) for certain "goings on" in this subject are erronius to say the least and yet are perpetrated among readers as "fact". Take the apparent FFA's bans on anything ethnic. These "bans" were initially instigated by a governing body,long before the formation of the FFA in 2004,in fact some 2 years before the 1977 birth of the NSL , name changes were made mandatory,for instance Brisbane City and Brisbane Lions ,who up to that time had played under the names Azzurri and Hollandia,had to have their new names registered in order to participate in the NSL.. So the name directive had come from the ASF, the then ruling body of football in Australia.and this can be borne out by viewing the 14 teams in the initial NSL season,not an "ethic" name to be seen,the closest ,a reference to an Italian inventor called Marconi,but "covered" by having the district name Fairfield added. In all there were 42 teams played in the NSL and not one of their "official" names can be described as remotely ethic in content other than small references like "Apia" and " Juventus" popping up. To get back to the main subject, the lack of historical recording of football history. It is not widely recognised but one of the first things the "new" FFA board set about doing was to stultify the recording of anything historical about the NSL and it's predecessors, the localised state and city leagues. This was a restrictive practice that was held in vogue for more than a few years and was only slackened much later on, ,so that today one can source information about the NSL but usually that perpetrated by "keyboard warriors" like Mike and yourself for It is in the 'slackening" of this ban that we once again see shocking errors being made in areas where readers could be fooled. The National Soccer League now has a WIKI site that is opened by saying the competition was run by "Soccer Australia". This is a horrendous error for the comp. was started and run by the Australian Soccer Federation, a long standing body formed around 1962 and which did not "morph" into 'Soccer Australia" ,until the very late 1990's.some 20 years after the comp had begun. Why are we scared of our football history.?. Beats me. The fact that clubs all around the country aided and abetted the governments of the day in settling migrants, new to the country, is a service that will never be costed and yet is immense in it's application. Luckily there are groups around now who,sick of what has happened in the past,are re-searching the true history of the game and let's add support to their efforts. Cheers jb.

For clarity. Clubs with names or logos that already existed when the NCIP was introduced are allowed to continue to use them (eg Gwellup Croatia). Any new club or club changing a name or logo would have to get it approved. Separately to the club name and logo, clubs are not allowed to display national symbols... "A Club must not use, advertise or promote (or permit any other person or entity to use, advertise or promote) any ethnic, national, racial, religious or political connotations, signifiers or associations in connection or association with the Club. " So Gwellup Croatia allowed to keep their name and logo because it predated the policy, but Avondale are not allowed to display a foreign flag on their shirts because it has 'national connotations'.

In any given city where a soccer team has a particular ethnic identity it is not unreasonable to suggest that a portion of the population who has a conflicting ethnic background will not attend games. It is not unreasonable to suggest that 'mainstream' Australian who culturally have a dislike for anything ethnic will not attend games. It is not unreasonable that the 'shock jocks' will have a field day when they easily make the ethnic connection with a particular team when trouble happens. Generally, our culture will accept ethnic diversity as long as it is not organised as a sporting identity. The game needs support of your 'avarage' Australian, will this happen if ethnic identity is allowed into the a-league? A major tenant in marketing is to present a product that is as close to universally acceptable to the market. Will the game build walls if ethnic identity is allowed to flourish?

Tristan Long time no see ... what you up to

Mike, best wishes and a long, happy life with your wife to be. A break is never a bad thing. May it seem like months, if it only last weeks.

@ Marcel: In the real world, very little is binary - there's an awful lot in between the two ends so maybe it's you who needs to take a break from the website, get yourself reaquainted with the 'real world' and then maybe you won't find so much of what Mike writes so bad after all... @ Mike: Congrats on the wedding & best of luck with your lives together. Well-deserved break! Cheers! :-)

Nice read Mike , Good luck for the wedding and honeymoon mate .... See you in a couple of weeks ? ..

Congrats Mike!

RF Mike still made the very good point that Avondale's opponent was another club with Italian origins, who play in colours which happen to be reminiscent of the Italian flag, and the name itself, clearly celebrates those same Italian origins. But it was the tiny little surburban club which had to put duct tape on a tiny little badge that would barely be visible to most watching the game.

Tomorrow, 31 July 2018, the FFA Congress Working Group will deliver its Congress reformation recommendations to FIFA. if the recommendations do not satisfy FIFA in terms of gender diversity & representation from all parts of the football community, FIFA will take over the FFA & force its solution upon AUS. Either way, Lowy & the FFA Board are going to be out the door, unless they change their agenda dramatically. Already, we are seeing major reversals in FFA policy. I'd expect NCIP to be binned, most likely, by the time the ALeague starts in October; definitely by the time NPL starts in 2019.

Waz As I said FFA totally lost the conversation when they failed to defend Football culture. What then happened was people seemed to side with everyone who was against FFA. As an example the PFA deal followed and FFA made an offer months passed and the final deal, was almost identical to the original deal offered and the players sacked their president over his handling of the deal, yet everyone was effectively on the side of the PFA. Yet the angst against FFA was huge when in fact both sides were back stabbing and media leaking, and as I said the players sacked their president over it. The danger as I often point out in this, is very often people with poor records and foolish ideas are supported simply because they oppose FFA. What posters like marcel are saying is sometimes consider the whys and where for's of why a decision is made, rather just come out and blast it .... and often simply because its FFA.

So Waz...just for argument's sake.. Lets imagine that you are of Romani heritage, that your Grandparents were executed by the Fascists in WW2..and in your culture the Tricolore is every bit as much a symbol of oppression as the swastika...Are you still comfortable with the FFA sanctioning its use?...are you happy for the FFA to make an official determination that your history does not deserve respect? See how quickly things become very complicated.

It’s a sad state of affairs Mid; despite my contempt for several people at the ffa I do believe they thought they were/are doing the best things for football but unfortunately they have never managed to connect with a signicant section of the football community and do their support has diminished; you can’t please all the people, all the time but for the last few years it’s hard to say who they’ve been pleasing? I agree with your earlier comment moment that they lost it completely around the time of the fan boycott - I think many football people figured out the ffa and they had little in common.

Congratulations Mike, to you and your partner. I didn't realise you had such wonderful tastes, a North Queenslander. You know, they just don't get any better than that mate.

Waz That FIFA guideline is an excellent recommendation mate, as too FFA being incapable of explaining Football culture IMO is the single thing that has brought them down, that is assuming change does come from meeting and hey the report is due tomorrow.