Joe Gauci might have done enough to dislodge James Delianov from the Adelaide starting 11 for good, but football needs to think bigger if it’s to ever gain a foothold in Australia.
The Reds did just enough in their 1-0 win over a Sydney FC side that huffed and puffed and created a couple of chances without ever really looking like getting on the scoresheet.
Gauci’s stunning point-blank stop from Patrick Wood’s header was a contender for save of the season and it’ll be hard for Adelaide coach Carl Veart to drop the 20-year-old scholarship keeper from his starting side now.
There were questions from the Twitterati around referee Shaun Evans’ decision to award Adelaide a penalty for Luke Brattan’s challenge on Kusini Yengi – mainly from fans of a Sky Blue persuasion – but Craig Goodwin never looked like missing once he stepped up to the spot.
The all-action Yengi has proved a nightmare for opposing defenders with his towering presence, so much so that Alex Wilkinson and Joel King got themselves into an awful tangle in attempting to clear the cross that led to the fateful spot kick.
Kusini Yengi. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
All in all, it was a gritty performance from the Reds, who’ve now won their last six games in succession to move into second on the ladder.
And it came on the back of a week in which some interesting comments were made about the state of the game in Australia.
Some of them came from former Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, who in Optus Sport’s latest Football Belongs podcast pointed out that winning the Asian Cup in 2015 achieved little in terms of a lasting legacy for football.
“There was no dinner at Kirribilli House, no honours bestowed on anybody in the group, no understanding of the magnitude of the achievement,” Postecoglou told hosts David Davutovic and John Didulica.
He said much more on the hour-long podcast, but the idea of politicians failing to understand the significance of football is one worth exploring given the fact Australia will co-host the next FIFA Women’s World Cup.
And ‘co-host’ is the operative word, because already much of the narrative around the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has written our neighbours New Zealand out of the picture.
There’s no doubt plenty of pollies will try and hitch their wagons to the World Cup, not least because the Matildas are one of the most popular sporting sides in the country.
Some of these will be the same who fight tooth and nail in any other year to prevent football from being played, or facilities from being upgraded, in their own constituencies.
We saw examples of this sort of mindset during the week when football writer Matthew Galea’s tweet went viral about Moonee Valley City Council re-aligning Essendon Royals’ pitch without so much as bothering to inform a club that fields some 700 playing members.
Galea caused such a stir the Council later tweeted they’d be holding meetings “so we can find the best way forward,” yet this kind of dozy unconscious bias against football happens every day.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Central Coast Mariners coach Alen Stajcic then revealed his team had been unable to train last week, in part because a touch footy tournament was scheduled to take place on one of the training fields a week later!
The one shining light is the presence of Football Australia chief executive James Johnson, who’s been around the corridors of power long enough to know this kind of amateurism won’t cut it with FIFA.
But Postecoglou is right when he says football needs to find a way to create a tangible legacy.
Some unity within the game would be a start.
But more than anything else, football needs to find a way to stand up for itself and remind those who’d like to pretend it doesn’t exist that one of Australia’s most popular sports isn’t going anywhere.
AR
Guest
Is there any way the ALeague can ask their bigger brothers for a loan?
AR
Guest
Yep. Exactly right. AFL is the biggest sporting competition in Melbourne. And it draws the biggest crowds in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Hobart and Darwin too. And sometimes Brissie. And it has all the money. And all the infrastructure. And all the best stadium deals. And all the government support. And all the paid up members. For a quirky suburban sport from Melbourne, how on earth does it dominate so much? More to the point, how can the ALeague better itself? How can we draw a few more people to games? It certainly has the benefit of being the biggest sport on the planet. What is still going so wrong after all these years?
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
Most Matches at Suncorp are Artificially Capped at 30K to keep local residents happy
Skoose
Roar Rookie
Good points
Skoose
Roar Rookie
Brilliant points
Skoose
Roar Rookie
I’d say a far better role model than most Australian male sports stars. E.g. Steve Smith etc
Skoose
Roar Rookie
Choose to watch?? Or no alternative.....how much football is on free to air compared to afl? I’ve never seen a positive news segment regards Perth Glory yet i compare that to the hourl West Coast and Dockers training updates on free to air tv... I think you are pretty bias
Skoose
Roar Rookie
Absolutely right. Crowds at Perth Glory are well down (and no it hasn’t been too hot - before anyone complains about the weather - again). Castro is on fire and just amazing to watch. I compare paying 15 quid to stand on the Kop and having to watch Julian Dicks start for Liverpool and now paying a similar amount to watch Castro.....Castro is far better entertainment and value for money. So my point is the A league can and does match the EPL for excitement and entertainment. I don’t get fans not coming to watch the Glory, they’re good value for money.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Randy, I know all about how good they are, have been to Melbourne many times to watch Socceroos & when they find out I'm from Sydney, the locals like to tell me why Melbourne is superior to Sydney.
Beach
Roar Rookie
It’s a game for brain dead Neanderthals. Nothing changes that bottom line. Deeply, deeply primitive.
Randy
Roar Rookie
There was already an article a week ago about the lack of Victorians in the NRL Punter. After 300+ comments I think we came to the conclusion that all sports should give up and bow down to AFL cause its so big in Melbourne and Melbourne is superior or something...
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#AdelaideAndy As per 1974Matty below - Sam Kerr (and her former AFL brother Daniel) - - their father is Anglo-Indian heritage (Calcutta). Not indigenous at all. So when you ponder why she isn't at Cathy Freeman levels...........guess what? It's not a media conspiracy at all!!!! "What are the figures of girls across all age groups playing football or afl? its not even close, football wins by a lot." The FFA 2019 Census reported females as 22% of all players. Guess how many that is? That's 156,893 across MiniRoos (50K), Youth (40K), Senior (28.6K) and Social (33K) and Futsal (5K). But that's 22% (119K outdoor comp) of a grand total of 543K outdoor players. (Ironically FFA participation in this category has grown just 37K since the reported 506K in 2016......and yet overall participation has ballooned from 1.3million to 1.95 million (helped when they decided to count the 544K "community events and promotional experiences" along with coaches/refs and volunteers into the grand total!!!! Good grief!!! Anyway - - AFL by contrast. Pushing numbers such as 586K female for 2019. The break down in 2018 is easier to review. In 2018, 530,166. 66K in auskick (equates against the MiniRoos figure of 50K) and 58.5K in club comps. (equates to perhaps 69K Youth/Senior). So.......not so big a gap as you might imagine......116K vs 119K. Interestingly - the FFA figures show NSW (inc NrthNSW) has 56% of national (if include ACT then NSW/ACT is 61% of national female participation. Vic 15 and QLD 11. The heart of soccer is very much NSW.....perhaps that's still part of the problem about the national profile. The AFL female players distribution is interestingly NSW-ACT 1st at 32%, Vic 25%, WA 18, QLD 12, SA 7.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
Mate - the media........... Note when Soccer garnered increased female participation in the early/mid 2000s - - the FFA was more fussed about the A-League relaunch and missed their chance to play up the increased female participation (in part I suspect because they were pushing the overall number as proof of going above beyond the other codes even though their male participation was a far slower growth if not plateaued). They missed their chance. The AFL - re AFLW; caught everyone out. The plan to start an elite semi-pro competition was pencilled in and the year on year huge growth in female participation in response to that created a surge that the media and sponsors couldn't ignore. The AFLW was brought forward and the rest thus far is very recent history. You can't blame the media - - and I can understand that the FFA was still working most their energies on promotion of and consolidation of the A-League. But it saw the W-League become an easily ignored after thought and the Matildas doing their best work off shore. And yep - if Sam Kerr played AFLW then she'd likely get more exposure.......that said - - even in AFL circles they need a few weeks of "clear air" when the AFLW runs without coming up against the AFL itself. When does the FFA give the W-League clear air? And the Matildas......how many people will watch them ahead of Man Utd or Barcelona? Soccer in Australia can complain about the other codes but - it's biggest opposition comes from the global game of soccer.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Matthew Ah.....not so. The AFL is arguably the biggest private investor in stadia in the country. Directly and indirectly. Directly - the AFL now owns outright Marvel stadium (which had no Govt money involved in the building of it by private entities). The MCG was 100% rebuilt from 1990 to 2006 and less than 10% was Govt funds (for the record, largely built on MCC debt and revenue - - based on revenues from the AFL and therefore the long term contracting of the AFL to play there, X number of games/patrons and finals and Grand Final........there's no "free lunch"). And the irony - the venue is managed by the Cricket club (MCC) on behalf of the MCG Trust as it's effectively gifted by the big sports to the Vic people. Not a bad deal for Govt at all!!! Even down at Geelong - the stadium there includes investment from all 3 tiers of Govt, the Geelong Football Club and the AFL.......for a venue run by the City of Greater Geelong. Even in Sydney and Gold Coast the AFL invested heavily into venues (Showgrounds in Sydney which is run by the RAS). The Perth stadium was interesting - the Govt's over there were going off on their own tangent - - and even very late in the piece the AFL hadn't committed to the venue. Adelaide - that was a tricky deal to get the SANFL to give up their 100% owned ground at West Lakes and for the SACA to join in a partnership at the rebuilt ground. Adelaide Oval does appear to be a win/win/win scenario but again there was not so much in the way of a "free lunch" there either. The irony back in Melbourne - - the 100% Govt funded stadium.........is AAMI Park.....for soccer and the rugby codes. More Govt money spent building that than went into the rebuilt MCG.
chris
Guest
Hey Chris Lewis- following on from Punters suggestions. How about... ** After 150 years, why has AFL tanked as a sport? How it can't even break out of a few southern states in one country on the entire planet? (And no, saying that there are vibrant leagues in Norway and Iceland does not count - we know that is just AFL propaganda) I'm sure on the AFL tab you will get some level headed discussion on this subject and yes, do report back your findings.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Actually...NSW beat Victoria in state of origin in the 90's!
Punter
Roar Rookie
Don't forget Melbourne winning the NRL flags. . Yet despite all this success, neither Queensland or NSW are what you could consider a major power in AFL nor would Victoria (no SOO team) would be considered a major power in League despite all the success with the Storm.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Well actually Brisbane and Sydney have won quite a few AFL flags, so not sure how I could argue that.
Punter
Roar Rookie
How about a follow up articles on the following; Despite all the money spent by the AFL in NSW, that NSW (and QLD) will never be a major AFL power. Despite all the money News Ltd has spent on Melbourne Storm, why Victoria will never be a major Rugby League power. Put those in the AFL & league tabs & come back here & let me know the feedback.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Thanks Chris. :football: