Congratulations to the Central Coast Mariners, and more importantly to everyone who supports them following a belated first win of the season.
You did it! What a relief.
The Mariners 2-1 win over Melbourne City on Wednesday night was the first under new coach Mike Mulvey, the first with Matt Simon back at the club and their first win in the A-League since February 23 last year.
In truth it had been a long time coming. The Mariners should have beaten Wellington Phoenix last weekend, and they’ve played well enough to genuinely trouble Perth Glory, Sydney FC – twice – and the Newcastle Jets this season.
Doesn’t it feel good, denizens of Gosford?
There’s been a bit of a fallacy floating around the A-League for a while now that fans of rival clubs don’t like the Mariners.
I’d say that’s never been especially true – except if you’re a Jets fan – but that plenty of A-League watchers have grown tired of the once-mighty Mariners putting out teams on the cheap that function as little more than cannon fodder.
If the Mariners win again at home on Sunday evening, they’ll move off the bottom of the table for the first time since Round 3.
Which probably tells you how their next opponents Brisbane Roar are going.
The Roar’s midweek mauling at the hands of Melbourne Victory made for grim viewing for local fans, which perhaps explains why only 7,131 of them turned up at Suncorp Stadium.
A small Brisbane Roar crowd. (AAP Image/Darren England)
In truth that was arguably more than anyone expected to be there.
And the atmosphere was subdued, even if what’s left of The Den actually did turn up to provide some vocal support.
Shortly before kick-off, Brisbane Roar released a statement saying they’d removed their support for the leadership of The Den.
One of the group’s leaders, whom I’d had a “free exchange of ideas” with on Twitter the day before, pulled me aside for a friendly chat about what he thought had gone wrong in the build-up to the match.
I appreciated the discussion and sympathised with his version of events, not least because I care more about what’s happening with the A-League’s supporter base than several other aspects of the game.
But as much as I sympathised, I couldn’t shy away from the fact that a few home truths still need to be delivered to a certain section of the A-League’s fan base.
Active support is football’s key point of difference and should be a major selling point of the A-League.
But it works best when it’s focused on actually supporting a club, instead of being reflected inwardly on the arcane machinations of the supporter group itself.
There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing or criticising – goodness knows I wouldn’t have a column without it.
But it’s hard for other fans to empathise when many active support groups end up providing more headaches than benefits for their club.
And when the whole thing stops being fun – as has been the case in Brisbane for a while now – then more casual supporters who aren’t as interested in who leads the chants and how long someone’s been a fan for start drifting away.
There are many ways to support a football club, but surely having their best interests at heart is an important element?
That doesn’t mean never speaking your mind if you think something is wrong, but perhaps it does mean simply taking your licks from time to time and coming back with a renewed perspective the following game.
Too many of us have invested far too much time and effort in the A-League to simply turn our backs on the struggling competition now.
I’d like to see Brisbane Roar’s active supporter base rebuild into the force it once was.
But it has to actually back the club. Otherwise they might as well be away fans.
AR
Guest
“Football dwarfs AFL here.” Oh definitely. The WSW rated 28k nationally for their last game. Nationally. What a behemoth of a club.
Crashy
Guest
Mike does have a point. The crowds this summer have been nose diving. 4k at gosford. 6k for melbourne city. Cmon peeps lets get to the games.
TK
Guest
I did like the 'last goal wins' chant when we were down 5 nil.
jbinnie
Guest
Evan - Referring back to 2004, no one was "put" into the A League , "nominations" were called for from interested parties along with a cost of $5,000,000 for a license to operate. As you are no doubt aware there were very few "carry-overs" from the financially devastated NSL that could fulfill those requirements so leaving us with a league made up of "identities" backed by consortiums of moneyed parties or by very wealthy individuals. Today I believe that entry figure may have "blown out" to $15,000,000 plus the initial costs of setting up a professional group of players and staff to participate in a coming season,say another $10,000 000. Having been part of the NSL "scene" I doubt if there was any NSL club equipped with that sort of financial backing, even the mighty South Melbourne Hellas. Frank Lowy has been nominated as a person who de-ethnicised football but this is wishful thinking by people with axes to grind. Money decided who was to play in the A-League. Cheers jb.
Pablo
Guest
People need to remember that we are all replaceable, and particularly when you've haven't engaged with the wider active support (it's a tough gig i'll give it that) ... then you may find when you take a stance that you don't get the support. I thank the Den group for the hard work they put in but it's time to try something new. I only hope that what comes next gets the support from all Den members & we remember why we are actually there - to have fun and support the team.
Chopper
Guest
Ross needed to get his severance pay sorted before he left as he was contracted till 2020 like his brother. It appears that Darren Davies will hold the reigns for the rest of the season which is already lost. Hopefully a change away from the old boys club will prevail because the only old boy that I would like to see at the club is Thomas Broich. Perhaps a good cleanout at the end of the season of what I call the hangers on (players past their prime and usefulness to the club and those who will never make it)will regenerate the club and the faithful fans.
Nick Symonds
Guest
NEWS: Ross Aloisi follows brother out Roar door Brisbane Roar assistant Ross Aloisi is the latest to leave the struggling A-League club, following brother and former head coach John out the door. - They travel to Central Coast on Sunday, who sit below the Roar on the ladder but buoyed by a breakthrough defeat of Melbourne City on Wednesday. - https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/ross-aloisi-follows-brother-out-roar-door
Punter
Roar Rookie
I believe some people believes the world is flat.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Interesting seeing a quote from Greg O'Rourke the other day about the Summer of Heroes promotion, which runs most of the holiday period and features 48 A-League and W-League games in the space of four weeks. He says the promotion hasn't quite worked with fans voting with their feet. Wanderers have been hardest hit, and even $50 family tickets haven't enticed the fans to their games. TV ratings have been every bit as disappointing as the attendances.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Don't look now, but it was actually the Roar's expert soccer writer lamenting the lack of actual support from the so-called supporter groups. I, for one, concur. As always, you are free to express an alternative view point.
MarkfromCroydon
Roar Pro
I help out at a lot of junior matches across the season. There’s no active support there. There are parents and coaches clapping and cheering. I also go to a few State League 4 matches. There’s no active support there. There are local community members, reserve players and family and friends clapping and cheering. There’s also a bit of banter, but there are reasonable standards of behaviour, with any untoward swearing, or threatening language or actions stopped immediately by club officials. I enjoy going to both these types of games. I don’t NEED active support to enjoy the game. As a Victory member, I enjoy the games, and I enjoy SOME of the active support, but I don’t NEED the active support. I get frustrated at the low standards of behaviour shown by active support at A League matches. I would like the active support leaders to raise the standards of their support. You don’t need to swear your head off, or sing **** FFA. There’s no skill or wit or humour in those sorts of chants. It’dbe great if A League active support groups made a conscious effort to make their chants ‘clean’ and free of swearing and then you’d get the whole stadium singing along. Eg we’re east end over here.
Waz
Roar Rookie
No one actually “ran it” but some people just got on and sang stuff, some of it quite funny. There in lies a key point hey ...
Kris Swales
Expert
Watching the steady decline of the Roar/Den from afar has been pretty sad – almost a relief the A-League is no longer screening here in India. I’d never been to a soccer match until the A-League started. I loved the vibe at the northern end – always sat just on the fringes of the Den so I could join in when inspired without feeling obliged. Even when the Roar couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net (Reinaldo, Van Dijk era), they were at least fun to watch with Kruse/Zullo/Oar storming down the flanks and the Den riding every frustrating miss. Some of the chants/behaviour bordered on antisocial, but the positives far outweighed the few negatives. Hopefully all involved now can get over themselves and the team can turn in some performances to encourage the fairweathers back.
Fadida
Guest
I'm not saying it's every big city fan Chris, but it's more prevalent I'd argue.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
can I borrow that one sometimes Kangas?
Midfielder
Roar Guru
He is at every home game and such a nice bloke ...
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Saw that this morning, Middy. Fantastic stuff.
paul
Guest
pfft, whatever
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Mike & the Forum ... our greatest fan Banksy addressed the squad the day before our win... many are putting this incredible mans speech as to what fired up the players ... Mike as this is a fans article... Banksy would be no matter what team he followed be considered a great fan... If you listen to the entire speech and read the captions underneath you will understand. Enjoy ... https://twitter.com/CCMariners/status/1086008327165734913
Nick Symonds
Guest
MARINERS P/R Losing Graham Arnold to Sydney FC and Lawrie McKinna who was good with community engagement to the Jets has hurt them and they've also lost players to other clubs as well. Would the threat of relegation get them to pull up their socks?