Adelaide United’s decision to pay a transfer fee for Riley McGree is already paying off after the 20-year-old fired the Reds into another FFA Cup final.
How badly do you reckon Football Federation Australia wanted former Mariners defender Josh Rose to pull ball number one out of the barrel on Wednesday night and guarantee Adelaide a home final at Coopers Stadium?
It’ll be the third time the City of Churches hosts the FFA Cup final, but you know what? Their fans actually turn up for it.
And they saw Wednesday night’s thrilling 2-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners turn on a decision that didn’t draw anywhere near enough scrutiny, even if it summed up the tone of much of our football discourse nowadays.
Because Matt Simon never should have been awarded a second yellow card for his arms-up challenge on Jordan Elsey when the Mariners were leading 1-0.
Yes, the referee’s decision is final and I would very much like to respect Shaun Evans’s decision-making.
But Simon was dismissed on his reputation alone, and the fact that not even Mariners fans defended him suggests we’ve all got our minds on things other than football just a week before the new A-League season kicks off.
How about News Corp failing to even mention the A-League in that full-page newspaper ad they ran during the week? Bit rude!
But guess what? Virtually none of the people who complained about it on social media actually read News Corp media.
And you know what else? A good proportion of them never tune into the A-League on Fox Sports either.
How do we know? Because most of the sports listed in the ad have been smashing A-League ratings for the past couple of years.
So essentially a group of people who contribute nothing to a media group are complaining that said media group hasn’t advertised a product they don’t consume anyway.
And that’s pretty much where we’re at in football right now.
That doesn’t invalidate the criticism, and I say that as one of the staunchest critics of the way the game has been run these past couple of seasons.
But I do think it would behove some of us to maybe take a break from the outrage machine and perhaps channel our frustration into slightly more productive endeavours.
Because the reality is that this week’s FFA Cup action was hugely entertaining.
I was one of the 3700-odd fans in attendance at Perry Park on Tuesday night, and we could hardly have asked for a more entertaining tie.
Brisbane Strikers took the game to Melbourne City and forced the star-studded visitors to shift through the gears in their eventual 5-1 win.
Andy Pengelly’s early opener was the stuff dreams are made of – even if it did take a bit of a deflection – and how Pengelly and Strikers goalkeeper Bon Scott don’t already have A-League contracts is beyond me.
One of the things the game has got to get better at is building a genuine connection between the top tier and the rest of the football pyramid, and that can only happen when A-League clubs start taking a chance on players like Pengelly and Scott.
As for the rest of us, one thing we can all easily do is simply support the football in front of us.
Marketing campaigns are important, but they shouldn’t distract from the real business of actually watching some football.
So if your A-League team is playing at home in the first two rounds of the season – don’t talk to us here in Brisbane – make sure you grab a few friends and head out to a game.
Because that’s the only way the A-League is going to survive in the short term.
It’s fine to complain, but big crowds and decent ratings make a far more compelling argument.
oldpsyco
Guest
Strange Headline, but can't say that's unusual. But IF there is NO Marketing, there will be NO Attendance. People will not turn up if they don't know the game is on! Not enough people know when a game is on near them. Sure the rusted on followers do, but they aren't the problem, the game needs more followers, that means NEW People, that means Marketing!
apaway
Roar Guru
You might have missed the pun.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Understand buddy. I’ve almost always worked weekends and shift work but had good co workers and could swap around shifts for jets games Nowadays my employment and industry is so casual and unstable that I’ve got no leverage
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I remember my first job in the uk that demanded I worked Saturdays. It was never going to end well. The first time I was due to work, I rang in sick and went to football of course. Monday morning came and I fronted up, got poked and pushed around by the boss (they could do things like that in those days) well I did what I knew best as a somewhat wild teenager and laid the boss out cold and didn’t wait to be told I was “fired”. From that day forward, I have never had a job that has interfered with my love of football. (Not the proudest moment but clearly a line in the sand) and I have been very lucky in that respect.
AR
Guest
“More people engage with A-League in Sydney and Brisbane than engage with AFL.” Really? How so..? Crowds? Television audience? Radio? Website hits? Google searches? Your own vibe?
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Nemesis, I feel like you’re the North Star or this website. Even when things are clearly going south, you’ll always be here rattling away from here to infinity about how things are looking up.
Tara
Guest
I attend mariners games and say "why us "a thousand times.
Johnny J-Dog
Guest
I am a Roar supporter and to qualify as one no-one has to mindlessly turn up at every home game to witness rubbish. If we all did that, then there'd be no pressure on the owners to change and improve. If we were all like you Lionheart, we'd still have John Aloisi as coach and relying on Henrique to score our goals. It's because of people like me that Bakries got off their butts and enticed Robbie Fowler and some new players and so far things are looking up. You're welcome. Apology accepted.
Maximus Insight
Guest
"More people engage with A-League in Sydney and Brisbane than engage with AFL." Serious? By google trends NSW 26 -6 , QLD 38-3 By attendance AFL in NSW and QLD averaged 20,450 this year A-League in 18/19 averaged 9469 In terms of TV ratings, even if the entirety of the A League ratings were attributable to Sydney and Brisbane it would be less than the AFL's Maybe you have an alternative measure of ....engagement?
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
I want WSW fans to make the place awesome. Then the Euro snobs have no excuse
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Mike good article. The first point I have to contest though is Matt Simon. The guy is an ego driven dirt tempered embarrassment to the game. He put temper before team the other night And before you try to did agree cast your memory back to Mariners v Hume City and the shoving match ruckus that resulted from a simple good tackle. I do agree about getting out to games. I am a Jets supporter have been since day one. The fact that the Newy football community gets behind the Jets and we are getting approximately 10000 members is awesome. What annoys me are the Euro snobs that say the football is rubbish. It doesn't take excessive amounts of cerebral horsepower to work out support equals money, atmosphere, better players etc etc. The only thing we can do is vote with our feet. Turn up at games, prove that the old mindset that says "soccer is a game for foreigners' is outdated. Eventually the generational change will kick in and all those elebenty billion kids out there who grew with the game will be supporters. They just said on the radio that the ACT had 40000 footballers, and for a territory that is supposed to be a rugby hotbed, the ACT government is coughing up 20 million for a football centre. We just have to turn up and be patient.
Maximus Insight
Guest
"More people engage with A-League in Sydney and Brisbane than engage with AFL." Lol.... Attendances in NSW and QLD AFL had 961,170 in 2019 at an average of 20,450 A League had 634,416 in 2018/19 at an average of 9,468 Google Trends 28 to 6 (4.33 fold) to the AFL over the last 12 months in NSW 38 to 3 (~13 fold) to the AFL over the last 12 months in QLD
Nemesis
Guest
Always negativity laced in with positive stories about A-League. "Because that’s the only way the A-League is going to survive in the short term" is an observation based on a false premise. More people engage with A-League in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide than engage with NRL in these cities. More people engage with A-League in Sydney and Brisbane than engage with AFL. The only difference between A-League and the other 2 major sporting competition in Australia is that AFL & NRL are hugely popular in their home bases. Melb, Adelaide & Perth for AFL. Brisb and Sydney for NRL. A-League can and must grow stronger. But, to suggest that it's on some sort of Last Rites has no factual basis. Only 12 months ago, 12 separate investor groups were willing to sink 10-15M to just get invited to the A-League. To understand the financial health of an org, find out who wants to put money into the venture. Only 3 months ago, Foxtel needed to refinance $300M of debt. They asked the banks. The banks said: No. They asked the financial markets. The financial markets said: No They asked their minority shareholder, Telstra. Telstra said: No. It was left to the majority shareholder, News Corp to give them the money. This is how you identify an organisation that's on Life Support.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"dirt cheap" - Tell that to Chelsea who paid £72 million for Kepa.
apaway
Roar Guru
Goalkeeping is a dirty deed, done dirt cheap.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Thing is you might be able to turn up every home game, but the majority can’t do that . No amount of negotiation with employers and family budgets dictate what people can afford Well done if you can attend .
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Forever trapped in his one competition Dr Disnick lashes out
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Perhaps this represents an excellent opportunity for some cross-code promotion. After all, the Tigers alone have 103,000 members to the A-Leagues 87,000. Richmond could spare a few fans. The A-League could provide invaluable CPD for the Tiger army by training them in the ways of lighting up a few thousand flares instead of but a few. I can just see the 'G alight with 50000 flares — the Pies fans will not know what hit them, literally. The Great Southern Stand is undoubtedly due for a renovation too. It's a win-win for the A-League, the Tigers, the AFL and the 'G.
Tony Hodges
Roar Rookie
Indeed, but those true fans have to earnt somehow in the first place, and that usually means winning or attractive football, and ideally both.
Punter
Roar Rookie
I attend most SFC games & say 'thank Christ Matt Simon has left' 100 times a game.