Wasn’t that an exciting 24 hours when we all thought Andrea Pirlo might turn out for Victorian state league side Avondale FC in the FFA Cup?
I happily watched one of those video highlights packages that showed Pirlo curling home a free-kick for Juventus and strolling around the Italy midfield like a bearded hipster in search of his next caffeine hit.
I even allowed myself, just for a second, to imagine what it would really be like to see one of the finest Italian players of his generation run very slow rings around defending FFA Cup champions Sydney FC at a packed ABD Stadium in Broadmeadows.
But that’s about as far as I got.
It’s not because I doubted Fox Sports – who first broke the story and who are generally on the money with this kind of thing – that I didn’t bother to get my hopes up.
It’s just because until the news was confirmed, I couldn’t see the point of getting too excited.
But I feel like I might be in the minority. And it left me wondering about the nature of these sort of stories and the impact they have on our game.
It’s been a topic this week because Josh Dugan – the Cronulla Sharks centre who was sacked by one NRL club, walked out on another, was accused of a boozy bender before a State of Origin decider and who was just involved in an expletive-laden podcast targeting a veteran rugby league journalist – blamed the media for the public’s negative perception of him.
And while it would be easy to laugh, anyone who saw the footage and heard his voice crack with emotion was left in no doubt that Dugan – if not anyone else – actually believes that.
(AAP Image/Daniel Munoz)
But here’s the problem – and this counts just as much for the A-League as any other sport.
The stuff I just mentioned isn’t made up. It happened. We know because it was investigated, confirmed and reported by the media.
It’s not my problem if Josh Dugan thinks he gets a raw deal from journos, it’s literally his.
Nor is it my concern when an organisation like Football Federation Australia cops a backlash for its National Club Identity Policy it says will be dealt with following a review to be completed “by early next year”.
I’m not sitting here making the rules, I’m simply writing about them.
Yet I often hear from readers of The Roar that if only the A-League received some positive news stories, it would skyrocket in popularity.
And a few of you have made it clear that you don’t always appreciate my critical tone.
But the idea that positive stories will gain more traction doesn’t necessarily ring true either.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a positive story about the quality of the A-League’s latest imports and it only generated 20 comments.
I’m not pointing this out to lecture anyone. As someone who simply calls things as I see them, for me good news stories and bad news stories are pretty much all the same.
But I think there are some misconceptions around A-League coverage that might be worth discussing.
One is the idea that it’s easy to write good news stories. It’s not, because many A-League clubs make it difficult to talk to them and their players.
Why wouldn’t they? If you’re a coach who only cares about what happens on the pitch, why worry about what happens off it?
Usain Bolt. Andrea Pirlo. We’re often left with these sorts of stories to generate clicks and sell a few more match day tickets.
And there’s an irony in the fact that Avondale were chasing a player who played 60 games for New York City FC.
No point wondering if Pirlo might have been tempted to switch to Melbourne City, however, since The World Game reports they’re likely to fill their final visa spot by signing Ritchie De Laet.
The last line speaks for itself.
“Melbourne City declined to comment when contacted by The World Game.”
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Most controversially, there will be music played with accompanying video during goal kicks, corners and substitutions. O'Rourke: "The plan is based on what fans felt was missing out of an end of season review," O'Rourke said. "Fans wanted more pre-game entertainment, more in-game entertainment and more at halftime. "Football globally has about 30 minutes when the ball is stopped or out of play. Some of those gaps can be filled. "
At work
Roar Rookie
Right on OldPsycho. I think Mike has in the past, especially the Monday morning posts focussed too much on the negative aspects from the weekend instead of providing a review of the matches (which is the sort of thing Evan excels at). Mike will often through in a barb about the AFL and next thing you know there 100+ comments, although only time will tell if we’ll see that many comments with this new website design. There’s no reason there can’t be more balanced articles of providing information and staying neutral instead of having an agenda. I think Mike has historically probably published 70% which are on the pessimistic side.
mentalasanything
Roar Rookie
“you’ve struggled to follow a nonlinear narrative.” Hahaha, you nearly had me spitting out my caffè corretto this morning! On those 20 comments, I’ve noticed a drop off in comments left on the football tab and it’s across all articles. The owners of the website went about trying to fix a non-existent problem (?) and they may well have FIU. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. On writing about good news stories. Just honest, factual reporting and opinions based on consideration of different points of view will do me just fine. Carry on sir.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I always thought introspection was about self examining - or examing your own mental or internal thoughts and processes. I don’t quite follow your drift here.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I feel we get a little hung up on the media here and the perceived lack of support and coverage of football here. Having spent my formative years in the uk where far too much is written about the game and most other sports could be forgiven if they complain about lack of exposure , I am quite thankful at times that we don’t see wall to wall coverage and players “under the microscope” with completely fabricated stories appearing far too regularly. It makes no difference if the story is positive or negative, real or imagined, it needs examining, appraising and evaluating and a determination as to whether it has relevance in our lives. As for this particular medium. It does seem to have gone quiet, almost as if nobody wants to discuss or speculate and yet there has been some tasty morsels thrown out bythe likes of Mike, Stuart and I particularly enjoyed EMG’s “5 bold predictions” great fun at this time of year before the reality sets in. However, it appears that fewer of us want to engage in any speculation or banter which is a pity as I have always found this a good way to start a day.
Waz
Roar Rookie
yeah but nah, football does not get fair treatment from the sports media full stop.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Well Rugby isn’t, I’m not sure on the other tabs but if there’s a drop off in Rugby it’s marginal. No doubt the change is unpopular but worthy of a boycott? Nahhhh .....
Griffo
Roar Guru
Well in, Ben. It is a good reminder...
Mister Football
Roar Guru
There's a strong belief on this board amongst soccer fans that soccer gets treated roughly by the media. If anything, I find soccer journos to be far too compliant. If they weren't so compliant, they would have gone in hard on keeping the Chair of the FFA within the one family.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Mike Just found your article, the new format is not to my taste and my looking at this site is way less so I just found it in the early hours as I awoke to finish some clients work. Enough of me to your article. Bravo its a good question. Let me answer your question with another question. If the media only or mostly report negative things is that a fair reflection of a code. We have much to complain about and management issues have become the media talking points over the last two to three years. I've always believed its to quote Justin Haywood ..""" A Question of Balance""". BTW the next bit is not having a go at you, more as I see it the Football media. With the CRWG group having the 4 State Feds holding out, I have not seen massive effects to get hold of the people involved and apply the blow torch to their bellies. In the spirit of applying my question of balance I think this is an issue in that Football journalist struggle in Australia to be positive and to a reasonable degree as you have alluded to, we don't respond to positive articles in anywhere near the numbers of bad stories. Cheers, better start otherwise I won't finish on time. BTW Mike enjoyed the read and the topic.
Matt
Guest
Nice.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
I rarely visit the Rugby tab so I couldn't say if it is suffering the same drop-off in interest. But it would be remarkable if a user's reaction to the website redesign was determined by their preferred sport.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
I think I might print this out and frame this and chuck it up above my work desk.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Good news and bad news is just news. What is required is more investigative journalism to foment debate in relation to how organisations are run. The media has a role in promoting informed introspection, a role that organisations with flawed governance structures find uncomfortable. Often those vehemently defending these organisations attack the debate itself as opposed to the topic of discussion. The very idea of introspection is an anathema and they attempt to reduce the discussion to a series of ad hominem attacks. Mislabelling introspection as 'bad news' is one such method. In the end discussion and informed debate strengthens rather than weakens. A problem with society is the tendency of individuals to seek news from sources that reflect and confirm their own beliefs, an act that stifles introspection and encourages hyper-partisanship. The media needs to resist the urge to pursue this trend, for their sake as much as ours.
Waz
Roar Rookie
.... and yet the rugby tab chugs along as usual. Maybe football is “unique” in this country of ours, if things aren’t perfect people aren’t interested????
Redondo
Roar Rookie
Nice try Mike, but 6 comments by midday on a classic piece of provocation tells me the site is flatlining.
Lionheart
Guest
We're all accountable Mike, and the media's job is to hold us to account. By us, I mean those who run the game and participate in various ways. Doing that job properly will invariably appear negative if there are flaws in the game. To overlook them, to only write good stories, would be a blight on the game. Occasionally though, if you're reputed as a bad news journalist, throw us some pleasant stories, to help keep the peace man.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
I think it might actually be you who needs to work on your comprehension skills, mattq, since this is hardly the first time you've struggled to follow a nonlinear narrative. Just for the record I always start with a central theme, introduce some new ideas midway through the column, then try to tie it back to that first central theme. Hope this helps.
oldpsyco
Guest
NO it definitely not the medias job to report only good stories! But the media holds a privileged place in our current society, one that comes not only with privilege but a heap of responsibility. Responsibility that many journalists often ignore. Too often we see a cheap attempt at sensationalism with little regard to the consequences the object of that story might suffer. All with the throw away line of "the public's right to know" as some kind of justification. The public do not always have a right to know, just because there is a voyeuristic interest. But NO we don't want only the good stories, but here is a novel idea, how about some balance, you know some good, some bad, and some neither, just information. The medias job is to inform, NOT persuade!
mattq
Roar Rookie
another scatter gun article from Mike. Man where did you learn to write? You need to slow your brain down and think about what point you're trying to get across. And the 20 comments a few weeks back, i'd say is more on the new design of the Roar than the article itself. But don't worry you'll get tonnes (well as many as the new format allows) on this article cos you threw in a strange bit about an NRL player in a football article.