Inside the mind of a 10 year old.
SBS’s Phil Micallef put together this transcript of an interview with the News Ltd Editor responsible for the Tim Cahill beat-up.
It’s an interesting insight into the way the Tele journo’s think. In the middle of this passage, the News Ltd Editor comes across as quite frustrated:
Football people get a very good coverage from Fox Sports, SBS and Fairfax. Why would any football fan buy the Telegraph, whose coverage of the game is at best unsatisfactory? "I genuinely believe that we have the best soccer coverage of the main newspapers in Australia. Just because we don't publish what the FFA wants us to print all the time doesn't mean our coverage is unsatisfactory . The most passionate of fans might agree with what you're saying but I can assure you that the general public - and I'm not here just to put out a paper for soccer fans - gets a fair coverage of the game. Last year we had three soccer writers and you've done a bit of work for us too."
Yes, but for all the space you give football, one cadet journalist would have been enough, wouldn't it? "No, I disagree with that. By the way you keep referring to the game as 'football'. Why are the Socceroos not called 'Footballroos' then!"
Very simple, mate. The Socceroos are a brand and you don't change the names of brands. "But don't you think that for most people in Sydney going to the football means going to the rugby league!"
This guy truly comes across as a 10-year-old kid who can see his toys being taken away from him and cannot help but throw a tantrum...
The truth comes out a little later:
So can we expect a decent coverage of the World Cup next year?"Our coverage will be bigger and better than last time. Obviously the space we will throw at it will be determined by advertising support. Nobody supported the A-League when it started as we did. We had an eight-page liftout and had the full backing of the FFA. The Sydney Morning Herald throws a lot of space at rugby union because they get a lot of money from rugby advertising, we give rugby league plenty of space because we get a lot of money from rugby league advertising. If we get the same level of support during the World Cup we'll do the same with soccer...
And if you don’t, Mr News Ltd? I guess you’ll have to pay off a few more witnesses aye? Or how about a few faked emails?
Some Perspective..
In brief: "Tim's welcome anytime," claimed a guy called Mim Salvato, the owner of the bar where Cahill's shenanigans took place (or not).
And puts it all in perspective:
It's a jungle out there - as Cahill has discovered over the past few days. The saga is further complicated by News Ltd's financial interest in rugby league, a sport riddled at the professional level with so much controversy it should hold its own World Cup just for poor behaviour. Australia would be clear favourites but, on his worst night out, Cahill would struggle to qualify for that tournament.
It's clear the knives are still sharpened, even after all these years, ready to slash at any opportunity and despite the claims of 'support' of the FFA World Cup bid by rival codes. Australia faces a tough road to securing the hosting rights in either 2018 or 2022. Unfortunately, some of it's biggest battles will be within it's own borders, where our bid will be subject to deliberate thwarting through the jealousy, envy and fear of rival codes.
Batten down the hatches for another stab on the back page from the Sunday Tele tomorrow morning...
Jones Jumps to Cahill's Defence
Now normally, I am no fan of the Jones’ bulldozer style of interviewing...but...um...somehow, I found no sympathy for the dinosaur on the other end of the line. I am sure many Football fans around Australia and back in Everton would feel the same way.
Click the link below for the audio:
Alan Jones gets stuck in
Australia's World Cup Bid 2018-2022 Launched
The Blatant vested media interest trying to blemish Cahill & the World Cup Bid being launched today was thinner on hairs than a Pim comb over. Just another Dinosaur trying to divert attention away from yet another NRL scandal. The fact that the telegraph editors RANG Buckley to DEMAND an enquiry is absurd! "We demand you make this a story!". Let’s see the CCTV footage. Let us see the Police Investigation. At LEAST get Chk Chk Boom Girl to fake an eye-witness account!
If the dinosaurs at Murdoch Press don't understand the sport and cannot cover it, their job is threatened and they become irrelevant, so the next best thing they can do is to bring it down. Same old story. Meanwhile, a successful World Cup bid would bring in multiples more revenue to the country than most major sporting events combined.
Click below to watch the official film. Its a cracker.
That'll do Pim. That'll Do.
On the one hand, we breath a collective sigh of relief as we gain a point in Doha and qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
On the other hand we have that familiar empty feeling that comes with winning ugly. Maybe we were spoilt by Guus Hiddink.
The analysers will tell us all that we need to change our system drastically to play and be successful against the European powers. The knockers will say they were bored to tears. The bandwagoners will puff up their chests and parrot the morning papers. Those of us old enough to own scarves and jerseys that carry words like ‘Australian Soccer Association’ and ‘Soccer Australia’ will remember the ghosts of qualifications past - cue the drama of the 1994, 1998, and 2002 campaigns.
For me, for the first time in a long time - actually, the first time ever - I found myself agreeing with ABC pundit Gerard Whateley’s comments on Offsiders this morning:
I do think that's why it's so important that we don't take this morning for granted. Because in all likelihood we won't make the next World Cup is the risk. I know it's not the celebration of kicking the penalty goal and having the signature moment, but I agree with you, I turned the radio news on this morning and it was the third item in sport and I think it should be the lead item in the news full stop.
We need World Cup qualification to get into the Nation’s sporting psyche. Let’s not take a World Cup qualification lightly. We ARE there, one year early, undefeated and with zero against on the group table. We may not be there next time around because next time we simply might not be good enough, lucky enough, smart enough.
As for South Africa 2010, yes, we have plenty of work to do. Verbeek has already given hints in his post match interview that the defensive and conservative approach is an important platform from which he can build. But, to build a team is one thing. To build a footballing nation though, we need World Cups under our belt, and that is the point.
We may be a Football Nation torn, but every time we qualify for a World Cup, we get closer to becoming a Football Nation.