Surely this crowd control issue cannot be that difficult to fix. The English police have had to deal with real problems, far more difficult than anything in Australia, for a long time. How hard would it be to just get some higher ranking English crowd control officers over here to offer some training? The second thing is that the fan groups (not the clubs, but the fan groups) should get in touch with the police themselves and offer to help with this situation. If tou have some dialogue with the cops, it will probably be easier for everyone. If your club cannot sort it out properly, you talk to them yourselves. The police are here to serve everyone, not just the football clubs.

As far as Hatamoto goes…well that’s, a different problem on its own and it seems like they probably shouldn’t be there. This is hardly Millwall and QPR or Rangers and Celtic.

1. Schiavone responds to the unexpected news that Billy Bowden will be umpiring her match.

2. Novak slips a disc and instantly realises that this sort of crap is not covered by workcover

3. “I’m not coming down until you apologise”

4. Lasse Svan Hansen taps in to the “Schmeichel” gene, a recessive Danish strand that prompts extreme fury and phenomenal ball skills.

5. The Russian Synchronized swimming squad prepares for London. The men’s squad will begin training closer to the date.

6. “I said dive AFTER the tackle”

7. Everything’s bigger in Texas. Everything.

8. John Hopoate sees this photo and applies for the NBA draft.

9. “Slapshot 2 is just as good as Slapshot one, even without Paul Newman”

10. Kostelic’s career is cruelly cut short as he fails to notice the banana peel left in the finishing area.

The problem with the “they only care about the money-they don’t actually like playing cricket” is that it fundamentally does not stand up to the facts. England are also well paid.

The highest paid football teams are also the ones that succeed. Why? Because people will work hard for their money. And when the work hard, they win matches. This idea that if you pay people a lot of money they don’t give a rats arse doesn’t stand up to basic logic, or evidence, or economics.

“A disgrace is sitting on your fat arse, yelling abuse at people for perceived failings in a field where their abilities vastly outclass your own.”–That is one of the most fantastic things I have ever read in sports journalism. I am absolutely sick to death of people who can barely muster the coordination to get off the couch, slagging someone off for not being able to contend with 150km/hr world class swing bowling. Like going to the rugby and hearing people yell “smash him”…as though some flashbulb in the mind of the player will go off and they will think “by gum, they are right! If I just tackle/flick it off my pads for four/score a thirty yard screamer/nail a 20 foot put we/I can win this thing!”

Good article. Made my day sir.

Maybe Central Coast will sign him as part of their youth development policy.

I don’t comment very often but after reading this I could not help myself.

A few points.

1. Patrick Smith may be hated by a few people on a radio poll, which as we all know is the single most scientific way to decide something, but that doesn’t mean he has nothing to say, or that he isn’t right a lot of the time. When people are not liked for what they say, it often has to do with the fact that they say things that people don’t want to hear, which brings me to my next point.

2. If it was not for the fact that the media now found football in this country to be infinitely more attractive than it was 10 or 20 years ago, you would not have an a-league whose coverage you could complain about. Ray Gatt is not out to ‘get’ the a-league, he wants it to succeed, as, I would argue, a majority of people do. There are a stack of factors to be considered when trying to get a league ‘up’. You cannot expect the media, football pundits included, to sit around writing articles about how fully sick the a-league is for no reason other than “they just should”. The standard of coverage the sport gets now is far beyond what it used to get. These things are evolution, not revolution.

3. Don’t pin your hopes on a world cup bid. The sport has to surivive with or without it.

4. ” Where are the media know (sic) that Les Murray, Holger Osieck and Craig Foster have all praised the quality of the league?”

Les Murray and Craig Foster are the media, so I would argue that the media are right there praising the quality of the a-league. I think when you say “media” you actually just mean the media that you don’t like. Media is a fairly broad term.

It is possible to profile your likely opponents in the shootout and predict which way they are likely to shoot.

The biggest problem with shootouts is the coin toss. In world cup matches, the team that shoots first wins something like 60% of the time because the opposing team has to keep scoring (generally) simply to stay in the game.

The idea that penalties are random is not true. It can be planned for as can any other aspect of the game. The main problem comes down to the toss, and in that sense, there is little that can be done, except that if you win it, don’t send the other team in to score first.

Kimbo Slice was the most overrated figher ever, I think that is clear. Brock at least won the UFC belt.

Brock also has brilliant positioning and uses his body on the ground to excellent effect. He was a champion amateur wrestler for a reason.

I don’t think its fair to say that Lesnar is overrated, or over hyped, because he has delivered. He is a genetic freak, but he uses it well.

If you think the article is entirely about the technical qualities of the footballers then you are missing the point. No one debates that Rooney has great touch. But so does Maicon, and he is a fullback. The article is about the fact that the entire English attitude to football needs to be altered.

The reason I say not to blame Capello is simple. Capello is not to blame. No country wins the world cup with a manager from another country. It is not just about the XI that Capello put on the pitch, it is about the entire approach to football. England needs to take its notions of ‘spirit’ and ‘fair play’ and apply them to things like communication, structure, understanding of roles within a system, so that the coaching staff, the players, the fans, the media, the technical and youth directors are on the same page. Then you can start to build a side, and when you get a genius like Rooney, he is not stranded on his own up the front or screaming down the barrel of the camera, because everyone is clear on the plan. This comes, not from 3 years with one manager, but from a lifetime of development of players, coaches and directors etc.

The Germans did it, the French did it, the Italians did it, and look what happened, regular finals appearances, and trophies. When their golden generations came along, they won the world cup. Today two of those sides struggle, but they took their chances when they came.

Other countries have had empires, other countries have geographical/social divides in their team, other countries have foreigners in their leagues.

The problem is, in order for England to be better, they have to go on for a lot longer than just months deconstructing their problems. They have to pull the performances of the best sides in the world to pieces bit by bit, figure out what makes them tick, and then better it. I think the “fundamentally lack of technique” argument in a game that has been mastered by technical players probably gives it some merit.

That would be the style that has delivered them one trophy in their entire history. England need to decide whether they want to play their national style, the style that encompasses their beliefs, or whether they want to win. England have been behind the 8 ball since 1970, and the more they cannibalise their own, the further they slip behind.

England had to chase the game because they let in a soft goal and went behind. The second goal took them apart. At this level, you cannot afford to do that.

This would not surpirse me. The political element of it aside, if Qatar can deliver these facilities, and they probably can, then FIFA would look at the middle east as a region where football needs to be grown more than Australia. Once the political element comes in it becomes difficult to counter. Australia is banking a lot on Australia being safe (“a safe pair of hands”), but FIFA knows that any country is going to pull out all the stops to make the experience safe, so I don’t know how sensible this strategy is.

One would assume though that Qatar will be left with some very unused stadia at the end of it, unless it plans to turn itself in to some sort of football exhibition centre, a-la Abu-Dhabi and Dubai with other sports.

I suppose now we’ll find out how smart our bid is and whether these sort of pitfalls have been taken in to account.

As an aside, a very parochial one, the time difference between Qatar and Australia won’t be much fun for viewing…but I have 12 years to plan…

Let’s bear it in mind that that is close to a million people at 4:30 in the morning.

Just because you become something doesn’t mean it can’t fall over. Interests are not static. I haven’t said “Australians will all just play football from now until the end of time hooray”. I am sure the game, like all sports, will have dark days again in the future.

Where was Australian Rugby after we hosted the WC? It was flying. Now it is struggling. I am not having a go at Rugby, because I love it, I just think this is an example you would be fairly familiar with.

Thank you.

Ha ha Foz sees all! Now that IS scary!

To be fair, this discussion board was attached to my article, not Foster’s. This is my work, not his. I have nothing to say to disparage the other codes, there is nothing in the article about that. The term football nation is just designed to draw attention to the fact, that, as a nation, we are performing consistently in the international arena. Yes, the same as a cricket nation, swimming nation.

If the worst thing you can pick from it is the use of one term designed to draw attention, then I am glad you enjoyed the rest of the work.

Good for them.

Ha ha….yeah I let that one slip by for the sake of getting on with my point. I have always considered the Rugby codes collision rather than contact codes myself, because the collision is vital to the gaining of territory, whereas in football the contact is not 100% necessary but can legally occurr.

Yes I mean, I don’t think it is either here nor there whether we are obsessed with the game at a domestic level or not. The facts are that there are always going to be leagues in countries that are obsessed, where our talent can grow. You can’t call it the world game, and then be bitter when players move around the world, that is just the nature of the industry. I think its a great thing that Australia embraces a range of sports, but I am sure the comments here will all be something along the lines of “but when I watch the A-league there aren’t as many people in the stands as there are in the Premier League” or something. Well when I watch the VFL there aren’t as many at the ground as there are at the AFL, but the standard is still pretty good. We have to remember the code is global (btw I love my Aussie Rules, I’m just making a point), and that a lot of fans will always watch the overseas leagues, which actually isn’t really a problem.

Bang on punter.

I like the contact codes as well. I am a card carrying Brumbies member. There is nothing in this article about contact codes diminishing. Actually, there is nothing in this article about any other code at all. The article is about football. There is nothing in here about it becoming the number one sport on free to air television or anything like that. I am saying that the game is professional here now and that it has “runs on the board” or whatever cliche you want, the game is healthy, our performances are healthy.

Towser, I understand your point. No I don’t see ourselves as a football nation in the way England is. I mean that we are a football nation in our own way, with a consistent national team and a fairly cemented standing in our region. My article isn’t about football being the number one sport, as really Australia’s “National Game” is probably cricket, maybe even swimming, maybe Australian rules, maybe even netball.

If someone parks a bus across your driveway…smash in the windows and torch it…?

Yeah fair call. I think they just look so inept under Domenech that they’re stuffed. Plus, after France made the final and won it in 1998, they scored one point and I think failed to score a goal in Japan/Korea. France made the final at the last world cup and it appears history is going to repeat itself. Maybe even worse.