A-League in the Media Thread

X@V!3R · Feb 2, 2013

A quick shot from today's Melbourne Derby ...

... my first (and hopefully not last) live A-League match!

Capt. Socceroo · Feb 19, 2013

Do Americans have to put up with this sort of racist garbage because they are Soccer fans
Remember this was actually printed in the no.1 selling Newspaper(Melbourne's Herald Sun) in this country Melbourne is also home to the AM talk-back radio station 3AW- 2 weeks ago 3AW’s Tom Elliott’s made an on air mockery of the deaths of 96 fans at what is known as the Hillsborough disaster basically saying that the reason the Liverpool fans 'rioted' was because they were bored, because you know, Soccer is darned boring isn't it
You have to love this Bozos final summation:
The opening lines of our national anthem say we should rejoice because we are young and free.
No age-old hatreds, no bitter rivalries or blood feuds. This is Australia.
Young and free. Young and free.
If you don't believe those magical words, then rack off.
And take your round football with you.

I was born in Australia and I love football, where exactly should I rack off to?
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/top-stories/virtue-in-a-nations-footy-code/story-e6frfkp9-1226579464999#ixzz2LKorXdgF
Please for the love of all that is Holy, including the Football Gods, DO NOT click through to this idiots page, it will only give him what he wants and encourage more of this type of Trolluminst crap.

HOW about that huge banner the soccer fans unfurled at the Victory-Heart game? That must have taken a lot of work. But not many brain cells.
What is it with soccer crowds? How can a sport that would seem, on the surface, to be rather genteel, attract so many nasty, vicious drongos and simpletons?
Don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are soccer followers. And I don't mind the game myself.
Just get rid of the fans and I'd be there every match.
Actually I have attended only two soccer games in my life. One was a Crystal Palace match in London and it was a fairly civilised affair.
The other was a Melbourne Heart game. That too, was without violence or major incident.
No emergency services were called. No grandstands were burned. No one was trampled. Or glassed. Or stabbed. Or kicked to death.
But there was this guy. In the Heart cheer squad. With a megaphone. Shouting chants for other cheer squad members to follow.
He spent the entire match with his back to the game. Never saw a kick.
That's not a guy who loves sport. That's a guy who loves shouting.
I have attended many more Australian rules football games than I have soccer matches.
And, despite all the bluster and chest-puffing among Aussie rules fans, I have rarely seen serious violence or malice.
OK, I was once decked by a Collingwood fan at Victoria Park, but I probably asked for it. And an Adelaide Crows supporter once spat at me. But what do you expect from hillbillies?
Despite the occasional fisticuffs and push-and-shove, Australian football never seems to have that underlying menace that pervades the "world" game.
I can vaguely understand the old ethnic woes that are inherent in soccer. Serbs and Croats living out ancient hatreds on the football pitch.
And the argy-bargy between English and German fans is understandable given World War II. Bombing raids tend to stick in the memory.
But Victory versus Heart? One team is nine years old and the other is five.
Are they trying to fabricate some rivalry? Some hatred? Does hatred make the game more fun?
And what's with the flares?
I have a box of flares at home in the shed, because I have a boat and any boat owner is legally required to have flares.
But not to shoot off at a footy game.
Shooting a flare at a soccer match is as good as sticking a label on your head that says "I am an embarrassment to the human race".
Australians often talk about our "cultural cringe", how we defer to European superiority.
Quite often this is perfectly valid. Let's be honest, probably our most famous painter is Sidney Nolan and he could barely poke his way out of a wet paper bag with a sharp knife.
But let's be truly proud of one thing.
We invented a great football code.
Men leap over each other to snatch an inflated piece of leather from the sky. They hurl their bodies against each other in reckless abandon, they dodge and weave, never knowing if their pursuer is beside them or behind them or if someone is going to run straight into them from the front.
And it's a game where the fans generally don't kill each other. Where they don't need to be segregated. Where every man, woman or child can pay for a seat and not tremble in fear for their lives.
The opening lines of our national anthem say we should rejoice because we are young and free.
No age-old hatreds, no bitter rivalries or blood feuds. This is Australia.
Young and free. Young and free.
If you don't believe those magical words, then rack off.
And take your round football with you.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/top-stories/virtue-in-a-nations-footy-code/story-e6frfkp9-1226579464999#ixzz2LKpNHNVR

zhuangzi · Feb 19, 2013

It is a pretty silly banner.

"FYI"? Really? And way to screw up the metre with "repulsive" (itself a bit too Downton Abbey for a football taunt) and then tangle up the address by ending with the singular "shite" when there is more than one Melbourne Heart fan.

Unless it was directed at this one guy from Morwell. Bit harsh if so...

2/10, but what do you expect from subliterates?

Yoshou · Feb 21, 2013

At least A-League gets coverage in Australia. Here in the states most MLS teams barely even get mentioned in their local press. Even here in Seattle, which has MLS's largest fanbase, the Sounders don't get much coverage. The city's only daily has its cub reporter covering the team and one of the suburb dailies has their college basketball guy covering it so he has something to do during the summer. Sports radio is sall to wall coverage of American football with some baseball and basketball thrown in.

Just to give you an idea. I was listening to one of the three sports radio stations in this area and despite the Sounders having a preseason game tonight in Arizona and the radio station being in another city in Arizona to cover the baseball preseason there was absolutely no mention of the Sounders at all. They couldn't even be bothered to send a reporter the 120 miles to do game status bumps...

Capt. Socceroo · Feb 25, 2013

Yoshou said: ↑

At least A-League gets coverage in Australia. Here in the states most MLS teams barely even get mentioned in their local press. Even here in Seattle, which has MLS's largest fanbase, the Sounders don't get much coverage. The city's only daily has its cub reporter covering the team and one of the suburb dailies has their college basketball guy covering it so he has something to do during the summer. Sports radio is sall to wall coverage of American football with some baseball and basketball thrown in.

Just to give you an idea. I was listening to one of the three sports radio stations in this area and despite the Sounders having a preseason game tonight in Arizona and the radio station being in another city in Arizona to cover the baseball preseason there was absolutely no mention of the Sounders at all. They couldn't even be bothered to send a reporter the 120 miles to do game status bumps...

Is it worth getting covered when the 'coverage' consists of anti-soccer hate pieces written by so-called journalists(trollumnists writing opinion pieces?) who are fans of other codes of football? Seems like 80% of the çoverage is hell-bent on painting the impression that attending the Soccer in Australia is akin to holidaying in Downtown Kabul. Seems amazing that the A-League is averaging the crowds that it does when I'm sure your average joe sports fan playing word association would think of 'Hooligans' or 'violence' if prompted with 'Soccer'

Quicky · Feb 25, 2013

There are some shitful journalists out there but I think you are starting to paint the kind of polarised picture of coverage in Australia that you are complaining about. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

el-capitano · Feb 25, 2013

When you start reading stuff like this from NRL man Phil Rothfield, it starts to make you wonder if the tide is turning.

The fans are generally well behaved. Half a dozen were banned for loutish behaviour and letting off flares earlier in the season. There's some choice language and a few stray beers. But they're here for a good time.
There are a couple of bad eggs as you find in any sporting crowd.
Like the charming one who tweeted: "@BuzzRothfield journos don't belong in the rrb F ... off and don't come back and return your jersey while u at it #shirescum"
He's quickly put into place by other RBB members on Twitter.
I'm given a song sheet and a list of instructions before I arrive at the stadium.
No umbrella (it's a sign of being soft).
No notebook (they don't like the media). Remain standing for the entire game.
Mix in and don't stop singing or you will be asked
to leave.
Turn your back on the game, put your arm around the person next to you in the 80th minute, and jump up and down.
It's called the Poznan and done to signify the first game of football in Sydney's west back in 1880.
It's full on, and by the end, you feel like you've done a session in the gym.
The rain arrives at half-time and I'm offered the comfort of a corporate suite for the second half.
No thanks. I'm loving the atmosphere. And as the song goes:
"We're from the streets of western Sydney - home of the mighty RBB"
The Wanderers score early in the second half, right in front of us. The entire terrace area just explodes. You've never heard noise or seen madness quite like it. Super Bowl, Shark Park, the old Lang Park - or anywhere.
This group are a wonderful backdrop to what has become Australia's most remarkable sporting story.
The Wanderers are gaining momentum all the time. They've now won seven straight. New members are still signing up and coming on board with only two home games to go.
On Saturday night the weather was awful. Watching at home on the couch in front of the plasma has never been more appealing.
Yet nearly 12,000 turned up. A fabulous crowd considering the torrential conditions and the fact Perth brought less than 50 fans with them.
Up the road at Penrith only 4000-odd turned up to watch the Eels play the Panthers in the NRL trial.
Who would have thought the round-ball game could attract three times the crowd of a rugby league match on the same night at the same time in Sydney's west?

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...in-at-wanderland/story-fnecsqy7-1226584647664

Capt. Socceroo · Feb 25, 2013

Was just coming to post the Buzz article, gee hasn't the Daily Telegraph changed its tune? In Oz it used to be SBS that lead the way with Soccer puff pieces.

As WSW were getting started I remember SBS The World Game (TWG) trolling the hell out of potential WSW fans desperate for any news on the name of their team. TWG tried to pass off "they will be called the Western Pride" as legit insider info. IIRC It was Tom Smithies at the Terrorgraph that bothered to ring the FFA and ask if it was true. Of course the FFA said the team name will be decided by the fans in the fan forums and as we know it was. With Sydney being the source of so much of our county's media it is great to have the success story of WSW and the boom of ADP at SFC to drive a lot the positive stories that have appeared in the various Newspapers, even the NewsLtd papers have for the most part jumped on the bandwagon.. just the odd blip of Sockah-knocking these days not the constant barrage of old. Forza Football!! and lets hope the new TV deal starting next year with Free To Air on SBS can help those who don't have Foxtel get 'in' to the A-League.

Yoshou · Feb 25, 2013

Capt. Socceroo said: ↑

Is it worth getting covered when the 'coverage' consists of anti-soccer hate pieces written by so-called journalists(trollumnists writing opinion pieces?) who are fans of other codes of football? Seems like 80% of the çoverage is hell-bent on painting the impression that attending the Soccer in Australia is akin to holidaying in Downtown Kabul. Seems amazing that the A-League is averaging the crowds that it does when I'm sure your average joe sports fan playing word association would think of 'Hooligans' or 'violence' if prompted with 'Soccer'

You know what they say, there is no such thing as bad press. Even if the press is bad, they at least have to acknowledge that it exists. In most MLS cities even getting the sportswriters to acknowledge the sport is difficult and when it is covered it is more often than not covered in the trolling manner you're complaining about.

Another example from MLS's largest market, Seattle. We are a week out from the start of the season and if it weren't for the paid bumps by the Sounders, they would 't be getting any mention on sports radio. Heck, even on the paid bumps the guy reading it often sounds like he is annoyed to have to read it and can't set it aside fast enough. That is in one of the only MLS markets where the MLS team is an actual competitor with the other sports in the city for sports dollars. In other cities, teams don't even get that. Go to the LA Times website and despite having two MLS teams in the market, soccer doesn't even have a section on the "front page" of The Sports section. You have to select a dropdown to view other sports before you see soccer.

Quicky · Feb 25, 2013

Did Beckham make a difference to that when he was there?

Yoshou · Feb 25, 2013

In that the Galaxy were mentioned in the Entertainment section, but only in relation to Beckham? Yes. There was a short bump, but the disappearance of a soccer section on the LA Times sports website is not a recent thing.

Quicky · Feb 25, 2013

How is that addressed? Obviously the big three are well entrenched in U.S culture. Football not so? Is there the support in the public for it? The interest? What sort of crowds do you get in the MLS?

Yoshou · Feb 25, 2013

Quicky said: ↑

How is that addressed? Obviously the big three are well entrenched in U.S culture. Football not so? Is there the support in the public for it? The interest? What sort of crowds do you get in the MLS?

I think it is better to say that MLS is not entrenched and not very well followed. Hispanics in the US, currently about 17% of the population and growing, are very interested in soccer, but they generally aren't interested in MLS. Most tend to follow the league from their home country, so a Mexican-American will follow Liga MX, a Costa Rican-American will follow the Costa Rican Primera Division, etc.

Among most sports fans, I think how soccer is treated in Australia is how it is treated in the US. For a large portion of sports fans soccer is ignored, but then you have a segment that are much more biased against the sport with many thinking any soccer fan is a homosexual, hooligan, not American, and/or a freak.

As far as attendance goes, MLS is undergoing quite a bit of growth in the last few years. It has added 7 teams since 2007 and has had two new stadiums built in existing cities that have bumped the attendance in those cities. Last season's average was 18,807, but there is a large range. The best average was the Seattle Sounders with 43,144 and the worst average was Chivas USA with 13,056. The Sounders are definitely an anomaly on the order of the Victory when compared to the rest of the A-League with the MLS team with the second best average being the LA Galaxy with 23,136.

el-capitano · Feb 26, 2013

Even Hinds is talking positive!

It is, for these stargazers, a chance to measure the man against the legend. Most make the customary observation that Del Piero seems even smaller and less physically imposing than on the pitch. Sight unseen, you would figure he was a movie star rather than a footballer. Which, in turn, makes the deeds he performs on the field seem more impressive.

Del Piero is well paid for his graciousness. A $2 million per-season contract with Sydney FC for what, by the hectic standards of European football, is a working holiday. Yet, at a time when some Australian sportsmen are asking for more money in return for less real engagement with the media and the public, the Italian is providing a compelling example.

It is Del Piero's reputation, and his performance, that has helped promote his club and the A-League. But the manner in which he performs his obligations – in a way that does not make them seem like they are – enhances his impact. With his boots and with his smile, Del Piero is growing the pie. Something others should remember when they take their slice.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/evasive-on-the-pitch-del-piero-refreshingly-expansive-off-it-20130226-2f3q0.html#ixzz2M06CUMCn

el-capitano · Apr 3, 2013

After all the hype that greeted the arrival of three elite marquee players, the most successful debut season of any expansion club and a nationwide buzz that enveloped the game, it was no surprise that Football Federation Australia trumpeted its best-ever crowd figures on Wednesday.

The metrics were impressive. By virtually every measure, crowds are better than they were last year, except for teams that experienced a drop in results. The total gate clocked in at 1,666,942, the highest in the history of the A-League. No wonder chief executive David Gallop was impressed.

Whitlam Square is not only proud of its rising television presence - up by 18 per cent - but of its bouncing online footprint, which has seen a 40 per cent rise on its digital platforms and a 105 per cent rise on social media.

''The A-League is not just on the move, it's expanding massively in the mainstream of Australian society and capturing thousands of new fans live, on TV and in the digital space,'' Gallop said, adding the game's big strength comes from those who engage with it: under 35, eager and enthusiastic.

''Importantly, we are riding a demographic wave. We are a young, exciting and international sport. We represent the diversity of Australian society like no other,'' Gallop said. ''Now we enter the new-look A-League finals series that will showcase all that's great about the competition.''

It all sounds very good, which it is. But it's not as though the A-League hasn't seen a boom before. Despite the euphemisms, this year has not eclipsed the most desirable benchmark of average crowds. Not even close, in fact.

Even though Alessandro Del Piero's Sydney and Emile Heskey's Newcastle missed the finals, they both posted strong average crowds. Sydney had a club-record 18,637 and Newcastle had 13,388, second only to when they won the league.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/goals-aplenty-but-ffa-cant-afford-to-get-too-excited-20130403-2h78d.html#ixzz2PSWihz1L

el-capitano · May 9, 2013

A-League in the world's top 20

You can take it as read: the A-League is the 20th best domestic league in the world.

Read, as in the results of a broad and comprehensive survey by the authoritative World Soccer Magazine to rate the world’s best domestic club competitions.
The eight categories were: attendances; finances; goal averages; the number of domestic title winners over the past 10 years; the most number of successful coaches (or managers); stadiums; star players; and the league’s success rate in international tournaments.
Points were awarded for each league in the top ten in each category and then totalled up to arrive at the ultimate, overall winner. The results are published in the current (May 2013) edition of World Soccer.
The survey was based on the 2011-12 season in most cases (including in Australia), so it’s likely the A-League will be ranked even higher in the next survey. Still, 20th place among over 200 countries with domestic competitions (not all of them professional, of course) is very impressive. It will not escape anyone that eight years ago the A-League didn’t even exist. Neither will it that the A-League strives to grow in a country more preoccupied by at least four other sports.
Australia scored points in two of the eight categories: goal averages, where with 2.7 per game it was in seventh place, and in the number of ‘star players’. The latter category was based on the number of players that were squad members in the 2010 World Cup finals. Thus, with 18 such players honing their trade in the A-League, our home competition finished in 10th place, above the likes of Greece, Russia, Brazil and the Netherlands.
In the category of the highest attendances, though the A-League didn’t make the top ten, it came an elegant 20th in the world with an average of 10,819, just below Portugal. With an average of 12,351 fans in the recently completed 2012-13 season, it is likely that in the next survey the A-League will rank around 16th, above Switzerland, Belgium and Ukraine.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/les-murray/blog/1150840/A-League-in-the-world's-top-20

el-capitano · May 18, 2013 at 8:17 AM

Here's a turn up!

Football Federation Australia will push the climax of the A-League season to its latest ever finish, with a May grand final next year bringing the competition end into line with the European season - but potentially causing significant scheduling headaches with the competing local winter codes.

Having held its grand final in February as recently as 2009, the league has gradually been pushing back the season finale ever since, jumping a full month, from March 13 in 2011 to April 22 this year. Now the FFA is hoping to schedule its next grand final as close as possible to the May 15 cut-off date for domestic competitions mandated by FIFA.

The motivation for the late finish is so the growing number of Socceroos' who play in the A-League will not be match fit leading up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which kicks off on June 12 - even if qualification for the game's showpiece remains a tenuous proposition.

Despite finishing several weeks later than last season, the 2013-14 season will begin just a week later, on October 11. While there will be no international breaks, an occasional week off will be rotated among the clubs. It is also the first draw that factors in the needs of a free-to-air broadcaster, but A-League boss Damien de Bohun believes the league has been able to juggle the needs of both SBS and Fox Sports.

The Western Sydney Wanderers have been identified as a potential prime-time goldmine for SBS, with speculation the Wanderers could be given as many as five Friday night matches. De Bohun confirmed that the much-anticipated derbies of Sydney and Melbourne would be early in the season, but not in round one. Sydney FC would host two derbies this season to reflect the ''need to evenly share such matches'', he said.

The Central Coast Mariners finally get to chase their vision of capturing the northern Sydney market, with the club hosting, during the ''community round'' early in the season, the first domestic football league match at North Sydney Oval since the demise of Northern Spirit.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/aleague-will-leave-it-late-to-end-season-20130517-2jryv.html#ixzz2Te6jXUL9

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