“officially met only three other Aston Villa fans in the whole of Brisbane”

More than I’ve met in Adelaide. Surrounded by a sea of Arsenal and Man U “fans.” Although two of my friends are a Middlesborough and Plymouth fan.

I’m cautiously optimistic for this coming season. UTV!!

My personal take is that this is an attempt to standardise the “small field” variants that are employed in overseas amateur leagues. If successful everyone would essentially be using one of two official AFL devised rule sets to play the game.

The attempt to introduce the format here has two facets that I can see. The first is to lend it credibility with both supporters and future generations of players/recruiters. The second is to provide an option to the future generations of players. These kids aren’t predicted to participate in traditional sports as much as previous generations and so may be more inclined toward a format that (like T20 or Rugby 7s) is potentially more bombastic and exciting.

A smaller format with (theoretically) less chance for injuries and less players on the field would also be attractive for a more social club kind of atmosphere in the vein of the many indoor soccer leagues that are very popular around Aus metro areas.

It should also be stated as I added in response to another comment above, any plans for Hindmarsh Stadium have nothing to do with Adelaide City Council as the suburb of Hindmarsh is within the City of Charles Sturt council area.

Well the Adelaide City Council would be highly unlikely to approve a new stadium currently, however, the issue of upgrading Hindmarsh has nothing to do with the ACC thankfully as the suburb of Hindmarsh is a part of the City of Charles Sturt. A council which has been making considerable efforts in recent years to improve the area so would probably be more receptive to stadium expansion.

If it receives state money yes,this is what I was alluding to with my comment about the government. Although Adelaide City Council would be involved in the approval process, ACC are responsible for the slimming down of the Adelaide Oval bridge for example, which creates a bottleneck after games

You are right in that the stadium discussion is worth having, though an upgraded Hindmarsh, perhaps with buying some of the land nearby for parking, is far more reasonable than a new stadium complex. Also as far as events like WWE, they already come to Adelaide and are held at the Entertainment Centre, owned by the same group that owns Hindmarsh, they wouldn’t give that up for the cost of a new stadium as it wouldn’t gain them anything really.

Although I agree that Adelaide City Council can be infuriatingly behind the times, and others around the city (Holdfast immediately springs to mind) its not entirely their fault when the South Australian economy is in the state that it is currently. Any government would catch hell for announcing stadium plans when jobs are being lost so consistently in our state.

The Wookie is right about the Parklands too, there will never be any development there as the “belt of green” was an integral part of the planned city and its something no government will touch.

That would be why he wrote “Big 4 of the past” I imagine.

Certainly none of those teams could be considered powerhouses at the moment, and frankly I’m not sure that we’ll have 4 powerhouse teams again. Maybe two or three at a time but it seems to me that the space is narrowing at the top.

Yes I remember now, it was re-jigged to give the top teams a greater advantage (double chance) as reward for form over the whole season as opposed to the final few weeks, however, the new system also rewards 5th and 6th with at least one home game. Adelaide had to win three away games en route to the grand final (a feat the Bulldogs may have to accomplish, ignoring the one ‘away’ game that is still in Melbourne), which I would argue is more difficult than the current set up. As I said though this season has been far more even than most and conventional wisdom doesn’t really apply in non-conventional situations.

Short answer to your title question: yes.

I’ve said for a while now Monaco is actually my least favourite of the current Grands Prix on the calendar. I get the history and the glitz and glamour but the cars have long since outgrown the track and the races have become so dull there that I didn’t even watch this year. I’d still like to go one day for the event that is Monaco but its definitely at the bottom of the list of races I haven’t been to yet.

Singapore isn’t usually the most thrilling race, but it definitely rates better than Monaco for me. And really I guess not every race track can be as entertaining as Spa-Francorchamps or the old Hockenheim or Adelaide circuits (that’s right Adeladie still >>> Melbourne, even non-Croweaters I know that have been to both say the same thing).

“We’d see underdogs dispel the great AFL myth that you can’t win outside the top four.”

That myth was already disproved in 1998 when the Crows won from 5th. Still it is considered common wisdom because usually there is a rather obvious gulf in class between the top 4 (or less than that in some seasons) and the rest, with how even this season has been I’d say there is an excellent chance we could see history repeated though.

@marron I’ve heard that too since I posted that comment. Apparently she has been a problem all season, and hopefully will be banned from matches in the future (and for the Magpies too)

She is an exception obviously but I still think most of the time its best to adhere to the philosophy of “Never attribute to malice, that which can be attributed to stupidity.”

Very true Ben.

I would hope any reasonable person would say ‘no,’ but I’m not sure we should all jump on this woman as ‘racist’ straight away. From the footage it looked like a very spur of the moment action and perhaps she would have done the same if Walker or Jenkins had scored? But ignorance can only take you so far as a defence and it was unacceptable behaviour regardless of her motivations.

Ladder position is an indicator of form but the phrase “the ladder doesn’t lie” isn’t quite true for Australian sporting leagues. In European football leagues it is true as every team plays every other home and away, but in Australia with lopsided or favourable draws you can end up with teams higher/lower than they should be compared to the couple teams either side of them. I think Hawthorn are a top 4 side this year but the ladder has flattered them a little the past month or so.

Actually there has been a push for the GF to be held outside Vic for some time. Basically it comes down to “if an interstate team finishes top and makes the GF, and a Vic team finishes 5th and makes the GF; why should the lower ranked team be awarded with the home ground advantage?”

MCG being the biggest stadium (not the best imo) shouldn’t really be the deciding factor when the other cities all have stadiums that could hold a good GF if they were given the opportunity. I can’t speak for the northerners but this kind of thinking has long been seen in SA and WA (the other traditional footy states) as just another example of the Victorian, or more specifically Melbourne, bias of the AFL.

Well SA has been struggling lately and most of us can’t afford to go each week, much as we’d like too. Glad I could afford to go tonight though, what a game, what an atmosphere. Well done Adelaide…the shrike is piping a little louder right now I’d say.

Hmm one of my teams relegated and one champions, talk about an up and down season.

I thank you, it is indeed hard. Something that makes it even harder though is the attitude of some of the hierarchy that seem to think we’ll breeze back into the top flight if we don’t pull the greatest of great escapes this season. They don’t get how hard it is to get out of the Championship these days and that Villa could be stuck down there for a long time if they don’t get to work rectifying what has gone wrong with the club in the last few years.

From what I’ve seen he looks like he has more potential than Herd who was never more than just a workhorse player really (that isn’t a knock on him, you need those kind of players in your team too). I think he could really flourish under a manager like Remi Garde as he seems to have a really good attitude and is willing to work for the team, he probably won’t be a star (how many defenders are really?) but could form the linchpin of a pretty solid defence in a few years time.

“how would you feel if you were a life long Villa fan who was watching a bunch of money grabbing players with zero desire putting in zero effort on the pitch? And then to have to read tweets from their players after the match a la Joleon Lescott?”

(Or Jack Grealish going out and partying after the Everton loss earlier in the season)

A: Sick to the very pit of my stomach. As I said above, the least to ask is to go down fighting, show some pride in that shirt they are wearing.

You’re kinda both right. Villa have been in a downward spiral for a few years due to some terrible decisions and practices from the hierarchy, mainly down to Randy Lerner’s falling out of love with football and subsequent running of AVFC as just another of his businesses. Its a very sad state of affairs that we find ourselves in currently and after the Liverpool result I will be tuning in to the Stoke game with some trepidation.

At the end of the day the players that are selected need to perform. Being relegated is not a good situation of course but if we are going to go down the least we ask is that the players go down fighting, we saw none of that against Liverpool despite the decent run we were on prior supposedly giving them some confidence to take the game to the opposition.

The running back of the ball also serves a purpose that you may not have noticed. It allows the umpires to rotate through the three zones of the field during the game. They don’t do this every time a goal is scored which is why you may not have noticed but the relay method means that the ball ends up in the hands of the right umpire as they shift i.e. umpire 1 moves from the midfield to the end of the ground the goal was scored, picks up the ball and gives it to umpire 2 who moves to the other end of the field handing it off to umpire 3 in the process who moves from the other end into the mid. I umpired in the SANFL system for a time and can tell you its the best way of doing it to ensure all the umpires cover a roughly equal amount of the game (for fairness of interpretation) and to ensure the umpires get a breather during the game (umps aren’t usually athletes but rather enthusiastic volunteers).

I do realise that the FFA is not a powerhouse in Asia SportsFan, however, with the backing of FIFA ExCo they don’t need to be a powerhouse themselves as they would literally have the house of power behind them.

I do not know that having a team operate out of New Zealand was imperative for the league, however, the potential of harnessing a fan base in Auckland would have been far greater than the potential of say the Gold Coast franchise. Granted things didn’t turn out well for either club but that doesn’t mean the FFA should be pulling the plug on Wellington. We need to be keeping the few clubs we have alive now.

I know England and Wales are both UEFA countries, I am aware there is discussion about whether Swansea, Cardiff etc should take an English spot or Welsh spot in Europe, however, I believe that there is no conflict. They play in the English league structure and therefore are eligible for England’s European qualification spots. I believe the same for the Phoenix, they play in an Australian League and should therefore be eligible for Australia’s Asian qualification spots. As I said I am aware I am probably in the minority with these views, but that doesn’t change the fact that I believe them to be right.

To your second point, it would be perfectly fair as both teams would have qualified legitimately, no problems there.

As for NZ’s joining the AFC or not, another belief I have held for some time is that the OFC is obsolete and that it should be merged with the AFC which would then be split into two “conferences,” consisting of East Asia/Oceania and West Asia. Again I am probably in the minority here but I believe it would be a step forward for football in the region.

I think it has to be a concern. I don’t think most are naive enough to believe that “build it and they will come.” Its going to be a long slog to grow the game beyond the small numbers of established fans, and even if the entire of Sydney’s population suddenly threw down their Steedens and picked up a Sherrin there’s no guarantee that they walk through the gate. It is worth the effort in my opinion though and remember its even harder to get crowds to show up to a game if there is no team for them to watch…

I personally hope the FFA extend the ‘Nix licence but then again I have a soft spot for Kiwis. Personally I think most of the “problems” related to the having Wellington in the comp have pretty simple solutions i.e. they’re playing in a stadium that is too big for them, well the management has already talked about building their own boutique square sided stadium (how much better have ‘Nix games looked on TV at the Hutt Rec ground?). I should think the NZFA would be fully on board with keeping Wellington around considering the impact having a fully professional team has had on the NZ National team.

Also I hope at some point the FFA stands up to the AFC and takes the issue of Wellington’s eligibility for Asia to the ExCo, Regardless of being based in NZ (an OFC country) they participate in an Australian (AFC) league and should therefore be eligible for the Champions League. I’m probably in the minority on that front but I honestly don’t see too much difference between the ‘Nix’s situation and the Welsh clubs that compete in the English football pyramid.

Adelaide is a great place to live but its definitely not the city for hardcore league fans. Sadly its a continuous cycle, the TV people claim there is no interest in the sport here so they don’t show it which leads to a lack of interest…. Also doesn’t help that the few times a club has tried to establish Adelaide as a “second home” they’ve given up very quickly despite crowds that (though not setting the world on fire) were at least comparable with the average crowd we see in Sydney these days