2010
Tinkler time
17/12/10 20:40 Filed in: A-League
Fantastic news for the Newcastle Jets this week...
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer town, and a nicer guy than Mr. Baartz.
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer town, and a nicer guy than Mr. Baartz.
Our destiny lies beyond this World Cup
World Cup done and dusted. The body clock is back to normal, and I am weening myself off the increased doses of caffeine and late night vegemite toast.
Like many others I have been reflecting on what this World Cup has meant for Australian Football. The conclusion? The journey is just as important as the end result.
32 Nations fought long and hard for qualification and a chance to grace the fields of South Africa in the hope of snatching an elusive win, the chance to dream of taking the scalp of a Germany, Spain, Italy or Brazil. Socceroos fans around the country and the world dreamed of a repeat performance, and maybe, a better performance than last time, or maybe just a bit of Karma.
But, if I could take the liberty of getting all Les Murray-esque for just a moment, Football is not always a game that rewards hope or delivers justice. It is often a cruel master that punishes weakness and inadequacy as relentlessly as it deals out inexplicable results, undeserved victories and little reward for massive effort. Like life itself, the best and most gracious do not ways come out on top. A mirror to society, and a reminder that yes - life is hard. A team game, that requires a melding of minds beyond the 11 players on the field, the subs on the bench or the manager steering the tactics. And so many variables to throw off the best laid plans...vuvuzuelas, Jabulani, Pim Verbeek etc.
Like many others I have been reflecting on what this World Cup has meant for Australian Football. The conclusion? The journey is just as important as the end result.
32 Nations fought long and hard for qualification and a chance to grace the fields of South Africa in the hope of snatching an elusive win, the chance to dream of taking the scalp of a Germany, Spain, Italy or Brazil. Socceroos fans around the country and the world dreamed of a repeat performance, and maybe, a better performance than last time, or maybe just a bit of Karma.
But, if I could take the liberty of getting all Les Murray-esque for just a moment, Football is not always a game that rewards hope or delivers justice. It is often a cruel master that punishes weakness and inadequacy as relentlessly as it deals out inexplicable results, undeserved victories and little reward for massive effort. Like life itself, the best and most gracious do not ways come out on top. A mirror to society, and a reminder that yes - life is hard. A team game, that requires a melding of minds beyond the 11 players on the field, the subs on the bench or the manager steering the tactics. And so many variables to throw off the best laid plans...vuvuzuelas, Jabulani, Pim Verbeek etc.
Cruel Master.....
So when there is imbalance, uncertainty, a chink in the armour, lack of resolve and just downright poor decision making, we get results like the one for the Australians against Germany at this World Cup. Football, however, like life, can also spring a surprise and turn of fortune like no other sport. As football fans we know this, and this tension is what addicts us to the game.
What the Australian general sporting public are also beginning to realise, though, is that as one tournament comes to a close, so many new opportunities arise for the game. The talking points are massive no matter what the results. New managers, Asian cup campaigns, a new set of qualifiers to play, new young stars emerging, a new A-League season - these just scratch the surface of what we have to look forward to seeing and reading about. The implications of Australia as a respected world football nation, as we now undoubtedly are, mean that our football destiny is not tied up with making the second round of a tournament, or playing friendlies against England to a sell-out SCG. The exposure the game gets from being part of a massive world movement should sustain it in perpetuity.
Our destiny lies beyond this World Cup, and in fact it lies beyond any World Cup. It is tied in to the swelling tide of momentum that simply comes with being part of World Football..
So was I disappointed we did not make the round of 16? Yes. But this World Cup lacked the overwhelming urgency for success that lingered over Germany '06. It was not do or die for the game in Australia, because with every year that passes, with every event, it is becoming clearer that we are mixing comfortably into the company of other nations who love the game.
So it eased the pain. We should enjoy the ride, and look forward to the next four year journey and all that it throws our way.
This article appears in Half Time Heroes World Cup Review Edition
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Awesome Germany
04/07/10 23:00 Filed in: World Cup
No diving. No whinging. No theatrics.
Just pure Football.
Just pure Football.
Cruel Kewell World
If it's not his groin, it’s his arm. Harry Kewell’s body parts are once more the talking point of Australian Football.
For proud Aussie fans watching World Cup 2010, it hurts, because the slow motion and stills give us the real answers. There is movement of the hand, but it seems to be associated with an attempt to chest the ball. Look at his head though - perfectly still - he has no idea, the ball is coming so quickly. Deliberate - no way! Unfortunately however, if the arm is extended from the body, it is deemed that way.
Harsh, harsh luck. Whatever the case, proud Socceroos, you can hold your head high.
images via Videos : Ghana v Australia : The World Game on SBS
For proud Aussie fans watching World Cup 2010, it hurts, because the slow motion and stills give us the real answers. There is movement of the hand, but it seems to be associated with an attempt to chest the ball. Look at his head though - perfectly still - he has no idea, the ball is coming so quickly. Deliberate - no way! Unfortunately however, if the arm is extended from the body, it is deemed that way.
Harsh, harsh luck. Whatever the case, proud Socceroos, you can hold your head high.
images via Videos : Ghana v Australia : The World Game on SBS
Footage Found: Aus v Chile WC 1974
Stuff of Legend, and our only points in the 1974 World Cup in Germany..
If you are trying to put faces to names, the line up looked like this:
Rale RASIC (AUS)
If you are trying to put faces to names, the line up looked like this:
- [1] Jack REILLY (GK)
- [2] Doug UTJESENOVIC
- [3] Peter WILSON
- [4] Manfred SCHAEFER
- [5] Colin CURRAN (-83')
- [6] Ray RICHARDS
- [7] Jimmy ROONEY
- [8] Jimmy MACKAY
- [11] Attila ABONYI
- [12] Adrian ALSTON (-65')
- [20] Branko BULJEVIC
- Substitute(s)
- [21] Jimmy MILISAVLJEVIC (GK)
- [22] Allan MAHER (GK)
- [9] John WARREN
- [10] Gary MANUEL
- [13] Peter OLLERTON (+65')
- [14] Max TOLSON
- [15] Harry WILLIAMS (+83')
- [16] Ivo RUDIC
- [17] Dave HARDING
- [18] John WATKISS
- [19] Ernie CAMPBELL
Rale RASIC (AUS)
Now and Then
26/03/10 20:56 Filed in: A-League
What would a pub conversation between a football fan of the past and a football fan of the present be like? In the week after the stunning close of A-League season 5, Zeroagainst draws a literary long bow to help you find out.
Present: The A-League Grand Final only drew a shade under 45,000 people this weekend. Disappointing really. I was expecting over 50,000.
Past: 45,000 people! What..the Glory vs Brisbane Strikers?
Present: No, no - Sydney vs Melbourne....exciting game - just a pity it wasn’t on free to air - so many more people would appreciate the game if it wasn’t only on Fox.
Past: Wait..you mean Michael J Fox has a soccer show on Channel 7? Does it air before midnight...my boss is losing patience with me at work because I keep sleeping in after watching NSL Match of the Day at 1am in the morning after Hour of Power and the re-runs of Skippy.
Present: No, not Michael J Fox...FoxSports - you know...PayTV? Looks like they will even get the World Cup broadcasting rights. At least we’ll get to see Australia at the World Cup on free to air this year, for the last time...
Past: What, the Rugby world cup?
Present: No, idiot, the World Cup. The FIFA World Cup...
Past: The Socceroos are in the World Cup? What? You mean we finally grabbed one of those half places FIFA throw our way every four years?
Present: No... that was part of the last World Cup..This time we qualified over 6 games via the AFC - the Asian Football Confederation.
Past: Wait..we are part of Asia? We have made another TWO WORLD CUPS?
Present: Yeah this is our third campaign. But we will struggle to make it to the round of 16 this time - they all know what to expect from us.
Past: Wait you mean we made it through to the SECOND round of the World Cup! What happened, did we naturalise half a dozen European footballers?
Present: Umm, no actually the first team Socceroos play in top leagues all over the world and A-leaguers get snapped up by clubs abroad every year.
Past: That would make Soccer Australia happy, I bet.
Present: Mate, soccer is regularly called Football now. We even have a Football Federation of Australia.
Past: That’s something! Same old personnel though I bet...
Present: No - you don’t understand - there was this thing called the Crawford report..Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I am just worried that the new A-League teams that came in this year aren’t doing too well There is a new team in Melbourne next year, and a second Sydney team coming - the game is growing too quickly and the clubs are losing money.
Past: Hang on. There are new clubs forming every season, but they are losing money? How does that work....? People are still running scared from investment in football, hey?
Present: Well, actually, they are lining up to invest. The FFA are pretty strict about business models and the like, though. Not every Tom Dick or Tony gets granted a franchise.
Past: Next thing you are going to tell me we are going to HOST a world cup!
Present: Well actually we are bidding for the 2018/2022 tournament hosting.
Past: Sheesh! That must be annoying the crap out of rugby league.
Present: Actually it's the AFL that's kicking up a stink.
Past: Don't tell me...they have a world cup now, too.
Present: aahh no mate....things haven't changed THAT much.
Past: Of course what was I thinking.... Now, if only we had our own Champions League...
This story also appears in the March 2010 edition of Half Time Heroes, Check it out!
Marquee means marquee.
11/02/10 00:21 Filed in: Hyundai A-League
Lessons for the A-League Season 6.
With some exceptions and a few surprises aside, crowds at the A-League this season have been disappointing to say the least. A couple of weeks ago, however, Robbie Fowler and the Fury pulled an extra 7000 fans on the Melbourne Victory average for the year. 27,000 fans came along to see Robbie Fowler, aka God, play against the Victory in the Melbourne Capital. In a season where a 12,000 gate is seen as a successful attendance, that crowd was a highlight for the year. It was clear that the fans came to see the Fury marquee, and it highlights an important lesson for clubs going into season 6 - we need strong marquee brands to keep building interest in the clubs and the competition.
What makes a marquee truly Marquee? I think clubs have lost their way on this a little. Marquee doesn't mean a player who was a star in the A-League last year, or a player with outstanding ability, or even a fringe Socceroo who has been playing 2nd division in Nepal and wants to come home to pasture. Marquee means Marquee with a capital M. Charisma, pulling power, a cult status with fans - and it’s not just about talent. A Marquee player needs to tick some pretty special boxes. Has he played for a huge team overseas? Did they sing songs about him at his old club? Has your son or daughter got a poster of him up on the bedroom wall right now? Has he got a personal line of Nike/Adidas/Puma clothing? Will Les Murray blush like a schoolgirl when interviewing him? You get the picture.
Of course he still needs to be able to play the game - I am not calling for Romario or Jardel re-runs here. But if many of these boxes can’t be ticked, then clubs are probably better off taking their money and paying for a guest player that can, even if it is for a handful of games.
No John Aloisi Marquee is going to get the average Premier League loving punter to the stadiums (despite this last fortnight’s spectacular resurgence). Not even a Serginho van Dijk or a Carlos Hernandez, no matter how electric they have been this year, is going to stir my Olympiakos loving uncle back to the game he once frequented weekly. David Beckham’s visit with the Galaxy in 2007 against Sydney uncovered a hidden glut of sport’s consumers looking for that Marquee factor. The Cove banner said it all on that day- “70000 people, we play EVERY week”. In a sport’s market saturated with competition, and lets face it, often ignored by the mainstream media, clubs need to keep thinking big.
If there is one thing that Season 5 crowd figures have shown us all, it is that the A-League needs to leverage the vast market of player talent that football offers from around the world, to snare the occasional superstar that adds an exotic flavour to the round ball game. Real marquee players provide the hook, and the atmosphere of a decent crowd this generates brings the buzz that will attract the curious and the old heads alike. Then its up to the football itself to keep them there. That’s a lesson for another day.
This story also appears in the February 2010 edition of Half Time Heroes, Check it out!
Rumour: Socceroo's World Cup strip revealed?
Football shirt mega-site football shirt culture reveal what they say is the Nike designed Socceroo’s Home and Away strip for this year’s football festival in South Africa, the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Pop on over to their site for a sneek peak.
Pop on over to their site for a sneek peak.
Found: England World Cup Bid - Secret Weapon
Great shot of Bob Marley on Tour in 1973, stopping in at the local sports store to admire the wares. A big football fan, Bob Marley named his first son Ziggy after a soccer term that meant to zig-zag and dribble the ball. Anyone got a credit for this photo? - it’s a cracker......Don’t let the Pommie bid team see this image, it might push their bid over the edge.