After the farce surrounding the Adelaide Oval, I hope the AFL do get inconvenienced, Demetriou needs a reminder that he’s not god and that AFL as a nothing sport at a global level.

Maybe the FIFA fatcats will put him back in his box.

Regarding Benitez in the transfer market. I’ve been told that the Keane acquisition wasn’t anything to do with Rafa, he never wanted him there in the first place but the powers that be decided once he was available they wanted him and got him, Rafa barely gave him a chance as he didn’t see him fitting into his system.

That being said, he would have to be the worst manager at a big club in the world when it comes to spending. That he got Torres, well Torres was already brilliant, he hasn’t really uncovered any diamonds except for maybe Benayoun has come on at Anfield but all of his other successful purchases were already established and he still managed to fork out a fortune for them (ie the ridiculous fee for Johnson in the summer).

Then of course there is Voronin…

http://www.cricinfo.com/ausvwi09/content/story/438322.html – first casualty already.

Scrap the system, it’s unfair in its current form. I have nothing against the use of technology in sports but calling the decisions of the umpires into question only for some “overlord” sitting in a box to overturn them is wrong. With the third umpire on run outs it was only ever when the field umpires weren’t certain, it was never there to correct the decisions being made.

Benson’s not happy and I can certainly understand why.

SACA should have such a huge say because everyone is identifying their asset, the Adelaide Oval, as the best solution for this “problem”.

The Politicians want a drawcard stadium and one of the criteria for this is location, obviously the Adelaide Oval is more centrally located than Footy Park but this could only possibly begin to matter in 25+ years when the city has expanded and public transport becomes a genuine reality, currently Footy Park is better to reach but they want to have a stadium in the heart of the city (like Melbourne) that acts as a Sports Mecca (like Melbourne) for the state.

My suggestion is give half the funding to the SANFL, you’ll have a 65,000 seat stadium in no time and that would put it second (in terms of capacity) behind the MCG (ANZ Stadium excluded). 65,000 seats in Adelaide and money to spend on the surrounding infrastructure would be a drawcard stadium.

Give the SACA their $100 Million and let them keep the historic ground, that’s what most cricket supporters want and funds are left over for an expansion of Hindmarsh…All for just $450 Million, you can improve three stadiums, make three sports happy, genuinely improve the appeal of all three and encourage further investment in South Australian sports (teams with larger capactiy grounds are always more attractive) or they can go and destroy the best of them all…

I see you’ve not read a lot KB. There are sections in libraries dedicated to the corruption in FIFA and the game of football.

KB, It’s quite obvious. You’ve got zero idea.

And for longer in the AFL. Why would they want to ball-track? Well apparently the readouts are a little more complex than just where the ball is, look it up yourself.

No, it suggests that FIFA was controlled by a Brazilian and South Africa have a certain Nelson Mandela who provided plenty of nice photo opportunities for FIFA bigwigs in the runup to the announcement.

That was in response to your earlier post.

You didn’t read the article did you Pip?

Yes I am and that pesky Port simply don’t fit into the South Australian landscape. Crows supporters love that they have a team to have a rivalry with but Port are economically not a viable club.

Well Mattay, Footy Park is about 15500 km away – that’s the main reason I haven’t been for two years.

Your comment about the SACA is quite disrespectful. They get such a big say because cricket, in the state of SA is run by them. The Adelaide Oval is theirs, it’s the home of a sport for an entire state, it’s the beacon for cricket in SA, it’s a beautiful ground etc etc etc. – that’s why they get such a big say.

You are correct in saying this is as much about the city as it is any stadium.

Adelaide has been left behind for decades, the jokes by the other states do have some basis. It must grow and by growth I mean grow like a city, not expand and sprawl further. I mean economically, culturally. It is stuck in a bit of a time-warp if I’m honest.

Re The Footy Express. I’ve never taken public transport to the ground so I can’t make any judgements on the service itself but it is simply impossible that buses service the city, it’s too big, too wide and the population too spread.

Adelaide’s lack of real public transport shows just how far behind it is.

Well for starters, we can’t assume that the list is real but if the points were true…

“CRICKET pitches must be removed during football season. ” – That will be a huge issue. The SACA will never want this and I fail to see what bargaining chip could be used to make them give in. They’ll know what they have with their centre square and I can’t see any reason why they’d want to compromise it.

“THE SANFL has total control of Adelaide Oval from March 1 to October 14 each year. ” – Again, hard to see that one. Cricketers won’t want to be coming back in mid-October to find their stadium a shambles.

One must also consider the requirements for the outfield are completely different, whether that is something that Burdett could overcome? Probably pretty difficult if he has to give up the ground (assuming the SANFL will want to bring Butterfield over from Footy Park) for more than half the year.

This shouldn’t be an issue that changes one’s vote. This should be done with the SA public in mind and neither party have got it right.

This should tell you all just how powerful Demetriou is, more powerful than SACA and the SANFL combined.

And why do you think they are being so demanding? Because they do not want to move to Adelaide Oval, they do not want to cooperate with SACA.

The SANFL built a perfectly good stadium with potential for redevelopment, the Crows should fill it week-in, week-out and any other SA team than Port would do the same.

@The Editors: Can you please stop using this picture, Nelsen looks like he has mental issues. Surely you can find something better?

How many votes does Africa have at FIFA? That’s the reason why there is finally a WC in Africa.

You’re a bit blind to the truth KB. FIFA employe plenty of people to write drivel like that. You don’t even have to read up on them to find out how shambolic they are, just have a proper look at Blatter in the Henry-Handball incident, his treatment of the Irish and their request, of Henry etc etc etc.

FIFA isn’t about the game, it’s about Power and while it doesn’t say it in the slogan, it is completely true.

Redb posted something a few days back about ball tracking technology which is apparently a world first and surprise surprise, it will be the “thick Dunlop brown rubber bladder inside a decaying pig skin” that gets to use it, not football for all its squillions, no, AFL.

Tough draw for the Socceroos? We’ve got 3 nations nowhere near their best. Germany are good, no doubt about that but Aus couldn’t certainly cause an upset, Ghana, well who knows if they’ll bring their A-Game and Serbia, anything could happen.

I’d say 2006 was tougher.

I think most people that know a little about the game (as well as it’s important history) with the exception of SK Warne have already thrown this one in the bin.

The second tiered teams can’t afford that segregation and cricket can’t afford to be made up predominantly of 5 teams.

You’ll make the rich richer and the poor bankrupt.

I was skeptical with the title, then I read this;

“At Old Trafford a lethargic looking Spurs outfit outplayed United’s young stars but were bested by two well taken goals from 22 year-old Irish international Darron Gibson in what turned out to be the round’s most lacklustre fixture.” and sort of chuckled.

Is this meant to be a wind-up? United looked comfortable from start to finish, de Laet didn’t have a good game and two of the EPL’s supposed best wingers couldn’t even take advantage, Keane was useless and Defoe looked toothless and together they were village green quality. Spurs weren’t even in the game, Anderson was by far best afield and controlled the game and Gibson’s strikes were sublime. Where did they outplay them? In cribbage after the game?

Scrap the CC altogether or at least let the EPL teams not participate, they’ve got enough on their plates without this mickey mouse comp.

Yes, you are wrong.

Platini aligned himself with Blatter to get where he is. If he was ethical, he wouldn’t have done this to begin with, further, Blatter would have chopped him down to size by now as he can’t afford to have ethical people looking over his shoulder or be threatening to his position.

Davidde, a travesty that no-one is bothering with your article, apparently you’ve got to write something to rile one code or the other or about the Socceroos to get some interest around here.

On the face of it, a great idea, referees should be subjected to scrutiny of their performances, of that there is no doubt but a “league table” is a poor way of going about it. Imagine if your side is playing two crucial games and you’ve got the bottom of the table ref for both of them, if anything goes wrong the spotlight will be on him and rather than it being just a matter of opinion, with a table, you can back it up with facts.

FA’s across the world need to open refereeing up, allow genuine transparency. Currently you can’t say a word about them in the press without getting fined or banned, this needs to change, if players don’t perform there are consequences, Journo’s give it to them, fans give it to them, pundits give it to them, if referees don’t perform they should be man enough to hold their hand up and say “sorry guys, my mistake”.

If you want to take some of the anger towards the officials out of the game, that’s the best way to do it, not to continue to hide. I think most football fans appreciate what a tough job it is but because the referees are entirely protected it infuriates people when they aren’t held accountable for their actions.

It doesn’t help that they have to deal with some backwards rules though either and different interpretations depending on what competition they’re in. Consistency across the board and transparency, it may sound like wishful thinking but it just requires someone with some guts to take some action.

“And nowhere have I said that Tendulkar is the best (even though I think he is !” – classic.

“i know of a couple who recently divorced who still hang onto their respctive seats as both are keen fans and would find it to hard to get new memberships, and they are not on great terms.” – That’s commitment to the cause.

A third team in WA is certainly necessary, the market is there but don’t expect the AFL to get it right.

Melbourne teams will struggle financially for eternity, each and every one of them will have highs and lows. The city is footy mad but it’s supporting too many elite teams for any of them to prosper in the long run.

Expect the AFL to look at “relocation” like they did with North. This might work in America but it won’t in Australia. You can’t just tell North to head North or tell the Dogs that they belong in WA.

American teams are franchises and often have very little involvement in the local community whereas AFL teams are built on locations, they appeal to the locals and you can’t just uproot all of them and expect them to follow their club on the other side of the nation but no doubt the AFL will try this before they just found a new club in Perth.