Melbourne City failed to cement their perceived favouritism for the 2021-22 A-League championship on Wednesday night, as Adelaide United stood firm and held them to a scoreless draw in the first leg of their semi-final at Coopers Stadium.
Similarly to the derby clash between Western United and Melbourne Victory a day earlier, the match had everything that neutral fans could ever hope for; chances at both ends, sparkling attack and defensive deeds of which to admire. Yet, sadly on this occasion, no goals.
The second legs will now be the pivotal games in deciding our grand finalists, with Victory looking to secure their spot off the back of 16 games unbeaten and City desperate to stifle the dangerous Reds in the return fixture at AAMI Park.
As a league, the two-leg semi-final concept is an experiment. Thus far, it certainly appears to have captured interest and for fans in Melbourne been something of a boon, with three of the four matches to be played at AAMI Park.
From the outside, it looks like a format the A-League owners may wish to pursue in coming years, despite an apparent reluctance to move away from a single game to decide the overall champion once the two legs have been completed.
With 12 teams now involved in the competition and the most recent expansion clubs proving more than competitive, the A-League certainly looks a lot different from the one that first graced our cable television screens way back in 2005.
The competition was officially born in April of 2004, just as the NSL folded as a financial and structural disaster.
A few months later, Australia’s most passionate football advocate, Johnny Warren, passed away from respiratory complications related to the lung cancer inside him, a disease brought about by a lifetime of cigarette smoking.
Tuesday the 17th of May would have been Warren’s 79th birthday, had we been fortunate enough to still have him among us. Instead, the man who played 42 times for the Socceroos and represented our nation at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, where Australia made its first-ever appearance, has since watched the goings on in Australian football from afar.
From his lofty perch in the heavens, Johnny has seen the birth of the A-League, its multiple successes and failures, the Socceroos take all Australian football fans on the most rewarding yet frustrating of rides since becoming World Cup regulars, and he would no doubt be impressed with the growth in women’s football and the role the Matildas have played in inspiring thousands of young girls to kick a sphere.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Johnny Warren would have loved seeing that in person.
During his time on planet Earth, Warren warned everyone within earshot that despite the institutionalised dislike of and disrespect for football in Australia, it would one day flourish. The anniversary of his death on Tuesday had me thinking about just how the former broadcaster, author, coach and player might assess the current A-League competition; the decisions that have led it to this point and how successful he felt it had been across its first decade and a half.
Despite constant criticism from certain sections of Australian media, methinks Warren may well have been blown away by the sight of a near-full AAMI Park for a Big Blue or Melbourne Derby, just as the idea of a competitive New Zealand based team mixing it with the locals each and every week would have impressed him greatly.
Johnny would have undoubtedly loved seeing our best young talent given opportunities abroad, something that was extremely rare for those of his ilk and – knowing full well that the long-term future of the game depended on a serious commitment from a commercial broadcast partner – be pleased with the current arrangement between the A-Leagues and Network 10/Paramount+.
There are plenty of modern elements which Warren would undoubtedly claim back up his famous “I told you so” line, one that warned of the patient and long-term plan and vision required to put Australian football on the map once and for all.
I feel he would be happy with the progress, yet also disappointed with much decision-making at the administrative level that appears to have disenfranchised many football fans. Some have been alienated completely, Eurosnobbery is rife and attendances continue to be problematic.
The constant and challenging battles for corporate dollars, media space and general attention would no doubt be issues high on his agenda should Johnny be here to hold court amidst an open football discussion.
He would be well pleased with an elite-level competition far more professional and successful than anything he was ever fortunate enough to participate in, yet ‘Captain Socceroo’ might also be just as frustrated as the rest of us when it comes to the snail-paced progress of the game in Australia.
Something tells me Warren might say, “See, I told you so, but gee we still have a long way to go.”
Happy birthday Johnny.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Joyed that no ONE found the back of the net resulting in a winner, hence the tension, [which was the whole point of the statement] Sure City had their chances, and either 'fluffed' them or didn't get them on target. While Adelaide got them on target but with no fire in any of their shots bar the odd 1 or 2. Trust me the tension in the crowd was very very evident if you were there.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Thank you JB. We are in agreeance, with each other. One of the many reasons the NSL fell on hard times is, as you have quite rightly pointed out, the lack of a strong revenue-raising formula. {The NSL were chasing their tails and had run out of ideas} and at the base of it, all was the lack of money. This brings us to today, and why the ALM & W need a broadcast deal and why those broadcasters have to have a say in how the league [not the game] is run. So when the likes of myself whine about fixtures that are biased towards a certain market, I have to suck it up and be grateful for what we have. I know there will be a mountain of people who will disagree with this last statement, and I am sure they will tell me that it is the fans who should be put before any commercial deal, and if they have a strong argument, then all I can add to their argument is why can't the fans fund it all then?
chris
Guest
Sam....less than 1%!!!. Thats what the ratings for your AFL are like in Sydney and Brisbane! Where they can barely muster 10k if Swans aren't playing. That's on a main channel where the old men leave it planted on 7 regardless of what's on. Even they can't stand a game of AFL.
chris
Guest
Brains 100% spot on. We have a dumb, lazy media (witness the hyenas at Albos press conferences) that isn't about to change too quickly.
chris
Guest
I agree with you Aiden. People bemoan the cost of academies etc. But they don't bemoan a tennis coach or a piano teacher etc. If you want your kid to be trained by someone skilled then you have to pay for it. No one does it for love. And if you don't think the academy or the coaching is worth the money, well you have the choice of not going.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Sam Kerr is the clear no 1 in the world for the past 5 years. The Australian media amongst the dumbest in the world couldnt even work it out for the NWSL years. Only when she went to England to a lower standard league and scored at an even more rapid rate for a so called recognised club, If she had played in England in 2017 where it was a backwater league she would have had 30 goals a season not 20. Still all time leader in NWSL goals, top goals scorer three consecutive years and has the top three totals per season. The difference between Euro leagues and the NWSL every team is a tough team. Then with the growing money in Europe she moves to England. England is still not the equivalent to the NWSL but it does have more top level teams than any other European league , and certainly all the rival teams for the title are full of top level internationals. Kerr is better in the air than the top male strikers and she doesn't take penalties for her club as well.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The dismantling of the ethnic clubs by your criteria started at the start of the NSL. So the policing of ethnic symbols by the FFA happened once they entered the FFA cup which started what 10 years after the A-league. What has this got to do with dismantling clubs or youth development. In the NSL it happened in the first year with clubs forced to change their name and logos. Then it happened with David Hill again during the NSL when Melbourne and Sydney Croatia dropped the Croatia, and South Melbourne Hellas. How does changing names and logos affect anything. The first to do it was Pondgrass before the NSL St George got rid of the Budapest , Lowy did it to Hakoah. What you have written is ridiculous. 2006 Socceroos Viduka, Popovic and Kalac came through the youth Sydney United and Melbourne Knights. Aloisi Adelaide CIty he went to Europe 16. Popovic got injured, Kalac helped the opposition. and Viduka did nothing . So 3/4 should have been left out of the squad.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Quite, JB. I am familiar with his story, as you know. But your broader point is a good one. The likes of No Mates are pretty good at projecting their opinions on to others. I certainly wasn't trying to do the same.
jbinnie
Guest
AMD -There is a lot of nonsense spoken about JW and as time passes the story gains momentum. Take his trip to Germany with the '74 Socceroos, John was by then in the twilight of his playing career and in fact of the 270 minutes played in the 3 matches John was substituted after 20 minutes in one game, that being the only time he participated in German matches. Three years later with the formation of the NSL John took another step forward and decided to try coaching, mainly with Canberra based clubs and investigation would show no Canberra team was ever successful in that league. It was after this coaching episode that the JW we now idolise started to find his niche as a football pundit helped and abated by Les Murray, SBS TV, and a little mentioned true worker for the game, Andrew Dettre who owned and published the football weekly Soccer World. Tragically John was diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer and it was during this time that he won many friends with his never say die approach to selling football to the masses. For that alone he has to be remembered not revered to opinions of those who probably never knew the man in his early days. Let him RIP. Cheers jb.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I've been waiting for this announcement- the only signing I've read about is Brattan resigning for Sydney FC. I'm assuming this isn't it!
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
About one third of that 2006 socceroos squad was of Croatian background, and without exception, they all came through local Croatian community clubs. That nursery was effectively dismantled with the deliberate demise of the NSL. You took "ethnic clubs" to just mean the NSL, but it's not just the NSL, all community clubs were forced to cut all visible ties with their originating communities. You know that right? Who can forget the sight of Avondale Heights having to tape over a tiny, tiny insignia which contained an Italian flag (having originally been built up by the local Italian community). "New Football" was built on the basis of an overtly racist policy that deliberately set out to diminish the roots of all these community clubs. Even Ange, in his acceptance speech, hailed the unique cultural roots of Celtic, while expressing his dismay at how such community clubs are treated in Australia. Famous clubs in Scotland, Italy, Brazil and Argentina are allowed to celebrate their multi-cultural roots, but here in Australia....
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Paramount+ has 30 million subscribers in the USA and growing. We dont know the Australian numbers they would be 1 million + I would imagine. There are major shows on this and its now a serious competitor in the streaming market the A-league is ony a sideline.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Both those games were normal prices and in the case of MV their docklands matches were dirt cheap. Once the derbies got recognised as being big events what did they do they jacked up the prices for derbies and ruined the crowd numbers. Then they brought in two extra teams to make more derbies diluted and that ruined it further. What the A-league needs is some marketing and cheap tickets. Under Lowy you had a proper A-league commercial on all channels. They dont even have that on Channel 10 these days. What they do is a 10-15 second quick promo maybe once an hour for the next match.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The academies definetly need to be there now because since since the whole NPL youth system is only about wealthy kids you want them at least trained up a bit.
jbinnie
Guest
RK - You hit a lot of sensitive areas in this offering but like many before you have ignored the big difference between the NSL start up and ALM start-up. What was thee biggest factor in both cases??? The answer in one word --MONEY. The NSL was a tentative step forward for football inasmuch it pulled the state federations together in one fell swoop. Was it a success? People who were involved will tell you yes but behind the scenes a situation was developing that in the long run was to prove fatal for the embryo idea. MONEY. At that time (1977) the so called ethnic clubs were in ascendency and as the rivalry grew so too did the need for more and more money and this was not always found in the normal sources so Social clubs, like Marconi, Hakoah, and Sydney United with assets built in income from poker machines began to "rule the roost" so to speak. The first crack to appear was in fact at Bondi where a newly elected management committee for the social club, an annual event, asked where the money on the football club budget had gone? Some weeks later the team was withdrawn from the NSL mid season with no reason made public.The debatable amount mentioned was $300,000.!!!!! This with a champion team that barely attracted 1000 to their games. That was the beginning of the end for the NSL. From that time on various things were tried to "up the ante", new clubs, expansion into 2 geographical competitions ,and finally a move to "summer soccer" a mis-nomer if there ever was one, as all it did was to bring Australia's top football comp. into line with the rest of the world game .Come 2004, after27 years of trial, but mainly error, the NSL collapsed. The reason?, MONEY. The clubs were being run on shoe-string budgets, hoping against hope that the social clubs would back them no matter come what may.. To ask a benefactor whose personnel change at every Annual General Meeting is an extremely dangerous business activity, I think you will agree. The ALM. is a different animal altogether. With costs and expenses way above what had been in vogue during the NSL life-span it was the jump from social ,voluntary ,cap -in-hand approach to fund raising, to a business plan more in line with a normal everyday corporation that has prved to be the "brake" on ALM progress, once again ,MONEY, or should we say LACK OF SAME. Cheers jb
Redcap
Roar Guru
"I cant recall Johnny Warren ever [sic] talk about a 2nd division, [sic] Promotion & Relegation that people think is the answer to everything." Of course he didn't - it was never a topical issue during his life. I've no idea what he'd think if he were around. I imagine he'd want the best junior pathways. The NSD might play a part in that, or might not. We still don't know what it'll be or evolve into.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Joyed that no one found the back of the net? The firepower? I was impressed with the shooting from City, absolutely blasted the ball Leckie and Nabbout. Adelaide what was behind the pea shooter kicks. Any sort of power at Glover and it gets interesting.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
I cant recall Johnny Warren ever talk about a 2nd division, Promotion & Relegation that people think is the answer to everything.
Sam
Guest
Josh …… 1%!!! That’s similar to the ratings channel 10 has had for the year showing ALM……. And probably less than paramount+ has got in subscription market share.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Stu - being at Hindmarsh the tension in the game was paramount (pardon the pun) with all the firepower both sides exhibited I was amazed and joyed that no one found the back of the net. There is nothing like being at a game live, and no matter how many make excuses not to go to a game, well 'more fool them'. The tension in the crowd around me was at such levels, you could just about taste it. Bring on Sunday.