Reading comprehension not your strong point?

Google those other religious holidays if you’ve never heard of them.

And perhaps Google the religions to discover that there are many mythical beings that people believe in other than your own.

Which is all well and good for you – but whose right is it to tell everyone else that they must spend 25 December with their families to the exclusion of all forms of entertainment and/or sport?

We can. But why must it be a Christian holiday? We are supposedly a secular country. We play on Yom Kippur. We play during Ramadan. We play during Diwali.

So if we are to endure one day without sport – which, in AFL states is actually two days a year without sport for the same religion – why not recognise Jews, Muslims or Hindus? (If I ruled Australia for a day, I’d move the date of Australia Day, and 26 January would become an annually recognised Day of Mourning for Indigenous Australians – which would be the one day of the year that we don’t play sport.)

The other point worth making is that not everyone has family to spend holidays with, and in a country as big as Australia there are plenty of people who are “displaced” from their families. As one such person, I would love the opportunity to go and watch a BBL game or an A-League game on Christmas Day in Melbourne before backing up with the Boxing Day test the next day.

And thanks to you for engaging in the conversation Andrew.

It’s interesting that you’ve drawn the NRL comparison. Given what a pay tv sport NRL has become, do you think there could be merit in the suggestion that many of these V8 Supercar fans would already have pay tv?

Peter, I know the “give up a packet of smokes” argument is a weak one – it was a poorly made reference to this general stereotype (not just Andrew’s article, but more broadly) as to who V8 fans are. I could’ve made that much clearer and your opposition to that point is fair.

You’re right – not everyone wants or needs Foxtel. But we live in a capitalist society, and sport is fast becoming something that will be dominated by pay-tv as much as anti-siphoning laws allow.

Think of it this way – you’re still getting a basic service ie. 6 events for free. I don’t think that, for the money V8 supercars got, it’s entirely unreasonable that you’re being asked to pay for a premium service for all races, HD, ad-free and streaming.

Really, it’s no different to the premium service for AFL or NRL that you have to pay for. You certainly don’t get to see all their matches for free.

Be grateful we’re not England where you need to pay for Murdoch TV just to watch the top tier of of their biggest national sport.

Can someone please explain to me how the Cox Plate is going to suffer? To me, the absolute opposite is true.

As Cameron indicated, if your 3yo wins the Caulfield Classic over 2000m, presumably still under the old handicap conditions – week long break be damned. Horses who don’t have Derby plans are still going to take the sub-50kgs and run the Cox Plate. In fact, I think/hope the increased in high quality races for 3yos will prevent situations like we had last year where maidens can find their way into Australia’s best race. So in that sense the Cox Plate benefits from the change in my eyes.

Where I disagree with most is that I’m not 100% convinced that the Vase will suffer – I’ll be curious to see how it plays out. Yes, the Classic is going to be a much richer race than the Vase. But if your horse runs a disappointing race in either of the Guineas races, I don’t think you’re going to risk backing your 3yo up a week later in a Group 1. Waiting a week for the Vase is still going to be a very attractive option for horses whose end-game is the Derby.

We know for a fact in racing that trainers don’t necessarily chase the cash – they generally chase the race that’s best for the horse. Having the Vase 2 weeks after the Guineas and 7 days before the Derby is still going to be a preferred lead up to the Derby for a hell of a lot of trainers.

I love that the Sydney vs Melbourne rivalry has spread to horse racing – we’re all the winners here. I really hope it results in Sydney being condensed. The Epsom, and in particular the Metrop have become pretty ordinary races over the last decade or so.

I gotta say though, if we’re awarding SO much prize money, and giving these 3 year olds such an outstanding quality of races… the predictable outcome is an even greater increase of 3yos winning the Cox Plate.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice seeing a Shamus Award or a So You Think using the weight advantage to run at the front and not be headed – but I don’t want to see that every year.

I can’t see a change for WFA scales in the near future… so if we’re going to give these 3yos such opportunity in the lead up to the plate, I kind of hope we never see a winless entrant like Shamus Award ever again. Cos really, it becomes a pretty good second chance after the Caulfield Guineas now.

It’s an interesting point – although not one that I really agree with. Racing is founded on tradition! Of course it’s great when there are attempts to boost the experience for the fan such as what’s happening in Sydney, and the MRC changes discussed here by Cameron – but fundamentally, it works how it is now.

Do we really want every horse running in the same lead up races? For example, do we really want to see a regimented approach to racing where the same horses run the Turnbull, then the Caulfield, then the Mackinnion, then the Melbourne? I certainly don’t – it would absolutely take the fun out of punting if we didn’t have some horses going through the Turnbull, the Underwood, even the Guineas races, leaving us to try and figure it out.

I’m not 100% sure that this is what you’re getting at, but it’s how I read it.

On Government contribution? The decreased involvement of Government and the increased number of privatised TABs is mainly a good thing I think. I takes a lot of burden away from the tax payer, whilst making money for the tax payer through sales and ongoing taxes on the TAB. (The same largely goes for the corporate bookmakers, despite them all being based overseas now)

That said, the completely predictable outcome of “the Edge” does demonstrate a need for greater regulation of some sections of the industry.

Agree with Justin on this… I normally stear clear of betting on 2 year olds because I don’t have the time to really study trials and monitor their track work – but I love how much you’ve shared here! Great info here.

Great write up mate, I really enjoyed reading it. With the newly established Sydney Racing Carnival, there’s never been a better time to be a racing fan based in NSW/ACT.

It’s great to be keeping an eye on these horses early on – my plans this Autumn are grand with Chipping Norton on the Saturday, Black Opal in Canberra on the Sunday (which has become a reasonable Golden Slipper lead up race), then the Golden Slipper and the first week of the Randwick Carnival.

My car – and my petrol bill – is going to hate it. But I couldn’t be more excited!

Appearance and Eurozone could become genuine stars of the track over the next couple of months.

But Kane, what you’ve failed to realise is that you haven’t provided any facts either, and you’re the one who wrote the article!

You haven’t discussed what is actually important in developing a football team – you’ve spoken about the Wolves jersey at the milk bar, about a Lazio bumper sticker, and about Les Murray.

The actual question – is there a demand for it? We know that there is in Canberra, there was very strong support for the A League for Canberra bid with strong foundation membership. We don’t know if there’s demand in Wollongong, other than the most recent example of the Wolves disappearing whistlessly into the sunset.

30% of kids in the ACT play registered football according to the ABS and Capital Football. In terms of pure numbers, Wollongong couldn’t stack up with that.

In terms of corporate support, Wollongong can’t offer anything like Canberra.

In terms of stadia, the stadium that Canberra hopes to commence building by 2019 will be state of the art and will put WIN Stadium to shame.

These are facts Kane – something that your article is sadly lacking.

Top-level football clubs don’t pop up out of nowhere. They don’t pop up out of romantic natures of working class areas that will support the local football team, when the reality is that we already have football clubs in other codes in working class areas that struggle. The Wollongong Wolves already died, the Illawarra Steelers weren’t sustainable, the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide only survive because the AFL ensures it.

Football teams are established for a number of reasons – corporate demand, community demand, growth of the sport… but romanticism is not a reason.

I’ll reiterate that there should be no A league expansion for the life of the current tv deal. But if they are to look into it sometime in the future, Canberra should, and surely will be the next cab off the rank.

And I hope the FFA is ambitious enough and confident enough in its own finances that the “partner entrant” is Tasmania. They’ve been taken advantage of by the AFL for far too long – there’s a junior market there for the taking if football is prepared to back itself.

Even if your ill-informed, stereotype-based drivel was correct…

We’re not playing class warfare on a football pitch. Being supposedly lower class doesn’t entitle you to a football team. On the contrary, it makes you more likely to be a basketcase.

And OH NO, people in Sydney’s outer suburbs don’t like being told they’re from Sydney? Diddums.

Good effort OP, but damn this is based on rubbish assumptions, generalisations and stereotypes.

– There is an assumption that the A league should expand. One succesful expansion in a football heartland does not make up for GCU or NQ, nor for the terrible on-field performance of Melbourne Heart. It is not time for the A league to expand, it should retain it’s status quo through its current 5 year tv deal and then re-assess. It shouldn’t even have expansion on the radar at the moment. It needs to consolidate its place in the landscape against the increased threat of Big Bash and early-season NRL and AFL.

– It generalises what is an industrial, rugby league heartland as a football area based on a Wolves top in the milk bar, a bloke wearing a Red Star shirt, and an old couple with a Lazio bumper sticker. You realise people don this stuff across the country, don’t you? Just in my driveway there’s a car with a Celtic bumper sticker on it.

– The most offensive stereotype is that of Canberrans as privately school educated public servants. I’d love to know what this is based on if not pure generalisation. There are about 470k people in the broader Canberra/Queanbeyan area – less than 100,000 of them work in the public service. Also, there are over twice as many public schools in Canberra as there are private schools, servicing almost 3 times as many children – so that assertion is absolute rubbish.

Canberra is an affluent city with a transient citizenship that lends itself well to football. It has an enormous international community, particularly with students and young professionals from Asian countries where football is a growth sport. We have a stadium that is like an ice box in winter, but that I’m convinced people will attend in summer – particularly when the dearth of cricket, or any sport other than WNBL at all over summer means that the whole September-March period is there for which ever spot wants it to take.

As it is, our capital city must be represented in our national competition. It’s the largest city in Australia not currently represented other than Gold Coast. 40% of the A-League is already based in NSW, and there are already 2 Sydney based teams. Illawarra goes against the city-based modelling of the A-League, and it creates too much of a power base in NSW and around Sydney. We must surely accept Canberra as a given at some point, which makes Illawarra impossible because for all intents and purposes, Canberra is a NSW team. The difference is that Canberra isn’t a Sydney team.

The next team into the A-League has to be Canberra. It’s more difficult now than it was because the A-League for Canberra bid team disbanded when the Wanderers were granted entry – but I’m sure it could and would be re-established if there were a guaranteed slot.

The problem is that you’re relying on a team to fail, which looks unlikely – the A-League will continue to support the current 10 teams, so the only risk is if the AFC start digging their heels in on Wellington.

Or you’re relying on having a “partner” to enter the competition with you and the A-League taking a giant leap of faith – and likely not tipping much, if any of its own money in. NQ and GC have been burnt as markets, so the only feasible options are Tasmania, which has a lot of difficulties, and New Zealand, which has a completely different set of problems.

I don’t agree – I think this is more an experiment to see whether they can retain interest through the beginning of the winter codes, using the fact that next year is a world cup year as an excuse if it fails and they move it back again.

If it’s succesful, I’ll be hoping they add another round. They’re trying to trump up the number of games over the Christmas/New Year period, but on a quick glance it doesn’t look as jam-packed during that part of the season as it did last season. Playing each other 3 times isn’t ideal anyway.

Finally, I wonder how much, if any consideration was given to the Asian Champions League? It’s a brutal gig when you’re travelling to east Asia – the Mariners were playing Saturday or Sunday, leaving on Monday, arriving on Tuesday, playing Wednesday, arriving back on Friday, then playing again on Saturday.

So what’s with the big black marks on the PDF version of the draw preventing me from reading it?