It’s the three letters that have been said a lot of times in the first two weeks: VAR.
The Video Assistant Referee has cause controversy over the issues in the Sydney derby and the Melbourne derby. But you know what I want us all to do this weekend?
Sit down, don’t criticise, support your team and enjoy the football.
Now let’s just go back to what we have not talked about in the first two rounds. We had a thrilling Melbourne derby with a crowd of over 40,000 and Keisuke Honda said “hello” to Australia.
We had a historic Sydney derby at the SCG and the Sky Blues proved that Sydney is their city. On Sunday we had what could be the game of the season between the Victory and the Glory. But how much are we talking about these three games? Not very much because of VAR.
And you know what, I hate VAR as well. I believe it is ruining the game and is forcing the wrong decisions out of referees.
VAR worked perfectly at the World Cup – why not in the A-League? (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
However, because you are reading this article, you most likely love football and you want the game to be perfect, so let’s all stop the criticism! These people running the game give us a great thing.
Just to get us excited, here are five questions I have for the coming A-League Round 3.
Can we have a week without a VAR fail? It may be a commonly asked question and one that is rather irrelevant to this article, but hopefully we don’t have a blunder.
Which grand finalist will bounce back from a poor start? Both the Newcastle Jets and the Melbourne Victory have had a rather terrible start to the season.
The champions in the Victory, have started the season with a 2-1 loss to City and 3-2 loss to the Glory. The Jets have had a 2-1 loss to the ‘Nix’ and a 1-1 draw with Adelaide.
The Saturday night free-to-air broadcast game will provide a big reality check, no matter the result.
How will Adam Taggart go on his return to NIB Stadium? We should all know that Adam Taggart controversially left Perth to go to Brisbane without the Glory being told.
He has scored one goal so far against the Central Coast Mariners. He scored regularly last season at NIB and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does on Saturday Night.
As a Glory fan, hopefully Tony Popovic’s men can show Taggart what he should not have left.
How good are the Wellington Phoenix? The Phoenix have had a surprisingly good start to the season with a 2-1 win over Newcastle and a 1-1 draw with the Roar.
I have said before that I don’t think that Wellington will survive beyond this season. Although a win over the Wanderers on Saturday would have them with 7 points after three games and maybe good days coming for the people in the New Zealand capital.
Will better attendance continue? Another question that might be a bit irrelevant, but nothing to worry about.
So far, in the A-League’s first two weeks, we have had an average attendance of 16,281 – up from 15,155 last season. But the issue is, this week does not have that many big games.
City vs Sydney and the Grand Final rematch are exciting games but ones that won’t draw as large crowds as a derby, or maybe a big blue.
So I ask you again. Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you do. If you love football, just sit back, don’t criticise, support your team and enjoy A-League Round 3.
Post_hoc
Roar Rookie
If the comment is about Football, then I am all for robust debate, the issue is Mr AFL isn't interested in discussing football, his one sole job appears to be derail discussions on football and highlight crowd numbers or TV viewers. It is an attempt by him in some passive aggressive fashion to try and claim AFL superiority. Now happy for him to do that to his hearts content on the AFL tab, he can post Football figures to his fingers bleed, I couldn't care less. But when he comes to a football tab and all he is interested in is derailing posts with one agenda then I will say something. Have you ever seen him post comments on games? You know actual thoughtful comments, suggesting he has actually watched games and not just goal highlights on the news?
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Which is why some sports are so much better to watch live as when there are natural breaks in play there is other entertainment, presentations etc. on tv, all you get are adverts.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Trouble with censorship is that we don’t get the right to read or respond... but I understand the frustration. My complaint on here is that quite a few posters make very personal comments/criticisms rather than actually addressing the subject matter but it is 2018 so we get used to it.
Dart
Guest
Nemesis, I hope that you are right. That said, why not introduce pro/rel as soon as possible? It will add interest from the beginning, and the market will sort the teams out. What will happen if some of the second division teams are more successful than the teams in the top flight (attract bigger crowds, play better football etc), but they can’t be promoted? I think in order to be successful, the second division would need pro/rel.
Nick Symonds
Guest
DAILY FOOTBALL SHOW - FFA CEO David Gallop expects the A-League’s new operating model to have a view towards the implementation of a new national second division and promotion and relegation. - Gallop told Thursday’s Daily Football Show a new operating model for Australian national leagues must have an eye to the future, including relegation and promotion, as well as a potential national second tier. “When that group settles down to talk about what the operating model for the A-League should look like, how the huge agenda that the game has got and the huge funding requirements of that agenda, it will have to pick up the issues of a national second division and for the game to move towards promotion and relegation,” Gallop said. https://dailyfootballshow.com/the-future-of-the-game-in-the-eyes-of-the-boss/
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Well done post hoc I’ve asked the roar to stop this before and they have listened at last . Well done all round
Nemesis
Guest
If the FFA Board election goes the way we'd expect based on the new Congress, then it's hugely likely the New League Working Group will be emboldened to deliver a new structure for ALeague that involves - Four new expansion teams next season. Yes, next season. But "next season" would be a season starting at a different date to what everyone would expect - An ALeague Division 2, without Pro/Rel for the first few years, then Pro/Rel via a PlayOff rather than automatic for the next few years. Automatic Pro/Rel + Playoff Pro/Rel would probably be the aim for season 2030.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Perfectly correct. They could definetly get some rich person to take over before late 2020
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Dart It's a fair enough question. One possible answer is that the board was actually split as to whether to take this to its final conclusion, i.e. recommend the two teams for the new board to action, or to leave it where they have left it. Perhaps, in the end, reducing it to a shortlist of six was as much as they felt they could do at this point. The fact remains, we don't know who the Chair will be, we don't know what the make up of the new board will be, we really know nothing about how they will view things. They might decide to focus on the short list of six. They might decide to do something entirely different. No one can know the answer.
Dart
Guest
If they were going to delay expansion then why did they cut two bids? If, ostensibly, the Wolves didn’t have the funding, then it may be the case that by the time expansion eventually happens they do have the backing. All they’ve gone and done is get a city excited about expansion and then alienated them on the eve of a season.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Bottom of the table half way through the season
Mister Football
Roar Guru
I would be severely disappointed in any Roarer descending into racist posts, especially coming from a fellow soccer fan. To think that an innocuous post of mine which followed up on a statement in the actual article was deleted, but here I am having to fend of racist taunts??
Post_hoc
Roar Rookie
I was the one who asked for it, happy to put my hand up and say it was me who flagged it with the mod. I am tired of Mr AFL offering nothing football wise on this site. He is only interested in 1 thing and that is to put football down. If he wants to discuss actual football then it is all well and good. But I am tired of this passive aggressive talk looking to steer conversations away to try and tell football of it's place in Australia
Post_hoc
Roar Rookie
Don't like it? There's the door mate. You have been told enough times we are not interested in your passive aggressive attacks on Football. You are obsessed with crowds and TV, you hardly if ever talk about actual football games. So if you are not happy stay off this forum and stick to your AFL
pakistanstar
Guest
Yeah, nah.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Adelaide went well beyond that in 2015/16. They came from way back in the fieldlike a thoroughbred blitzing the field on the final bend and charging home in the Melbourne Cup.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Oh dear, what did you say to endure the wrath of the moderator?
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Well Melbourne Victory lost the first few last year and won the comp
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Redondo I can say that it was the most innocuous comment imaginable, nothing controversial, nothing offensive, and merely backed up a point made in the original article. Baffling.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Obviously. How many times have I had to repeat this? Yet certain posters cling to the hope that it will happen next season, and continue to peddle this wish despite all evidence to the contrary. https://www.theroar.com.au/2018/10/19/the-a-league-changes-the-new-ffa-board-must-make/?comment_id=6574494#comments-section