160 million TV deal announced this week
things have never been better for us Australian football fans
Including a free to air game on SBS on Friday nights from next season.
I donāt think its any coincidence that this upsurge in good news and interest in our game in Australia has happened a short time after your arrival on these shores TASE. Your influence is there for all to see.
TASE & The A League 
Going on highlights Iāve seen on Sky, there looks to be decent crowds at the matches.
Is it possible that soccer is bigger than rugby union now down under?
Would be getting close to it alright Phil. Soccer is by far the biggest participation sport (after fishing, like everywhere) among both adults and kids. A lot of parents have been turned off rugby league in recent years for their kids and see soccer as a more palatable alternative. The A League is standing on its own feet now. Some clubs are dodgy financially, but finally there does seem to be a credible national soccer league that is not riven by corruption or ethnic infighting. The FFA and the clubs have been careful to promote it as a family game, and we are sorrounded by other families when we go to Mariners home games. The Socceroos qualifying for World Cups has had a big impact as well.
There is huge interest in the international game here, with high viewing figures for EPL and Champions League games.
Still lots of issues with the game, and still some clubs look dodgy as I said. But the roaring succes of Western Sydney Wanderers this season points to a decent future. They were hastily put together and have domne remarkably well under their coach, former Socceroo Tony Popovic, who may be a shoe in for Coach of the season. Theyāve built an immediate fan base (sold out of replica shirts already) and talk of some high profile international stars coming to them.
With the continued shittiness of australian super 15ās teams and the wallabies, rugby union has lost a lot of people recently. When you have guys like Del Piero here now, with Beckham possibly to follow, soccer has a better story to market.
Oh and TASE, when you can show me your season ticket and club membership and have a member of your family playing in an A League Academy, you can call yourself an expert. Until then, I am the TFK expert on all things A League. :guns:
Surely the A-league would be best trying to attract those lads playing in minor European leagues and Championship etc to play their football at home?
The likes of Becks and Alessandro while good for the profile of the league are at the fag end of their careers. Surely be better to bring back Aussie players playing overseas rather than spend decent money on contracts for ābig nameā players like Emile Heskey.
In a perfect world it would be, but the A League is still in the process of building an audience and customer loyalty and the marquee players are a means to do that. In fairness, most A League teams have Academy set ups that bring young players through a development system, we have an excellent one at the Mariners which has seen a number of players come through the ranks to the senior side and even onwards to playing overseas.
As the league grows stronger and attracts more money, the next step will be success in the Asian Champions League, which will give it more credibility and hopefully lead to more young Australian players staying here instead of playing for shit clubs abroad, like Derby County, just so they can say they played abroad. I have no problems with players going overseas to earn a living and if it broadens the experience set of the socceroos and australian football then thats great. But there does seem to be an attitude among many involved in football in Australia that staying here gets you nowhere and going abroad, anywhere, for any team no matter how crap, is more attractive.
When I see you Sydney I just canāt get enough
1-0 down to Adelaide at the mo
Sydney bottom of the table, hard luck KIB Man.
Mariners beat Brisbane 2-1 last night, Bris now second from the bottom.
TASE, your team are a shower of nasty cunts, always looking to see where the ref is before fouling :guns: Berisha messed with the wrong guy last night. He should have been sent off for the kick on Nick Montgomery. The late one on Trent Sainsbury was disgusting. He didnāt get a kick for the rest of the game as Montgomery made shit of him.
Tommy Rogic The 19 year old boy wonder is streets ahead of anything in the A League.
But we wonāt have him or our keeper next week, as theyāre both away with the Socceroos.
And we take on Adelaide at home on Saturday in the top of the table clash. Still, Ollie Bozanic came on last night and was terrific, heāll slot nicely into Rogicās place.
Very happy with how things are going for us, nicely placed and some great depth in the squad now.
Great to see where Brisbane and Sydney currently languish :lol:
a few observations from my a-league debut friday night:
[list]
[]standard - pretty poor to be honest but not as much hoofing as I expected
[]del piero watch - getting as round as he is high, some lovely touches but you need someone quick next to him
[]emerton - absolutely useless. better off playing him in the middle at this stage of his career. culina came on near the end. guess he was only coming back from injury as he hardly got a kick when he came on.
[]adelaide - best team in the league kind of says it all, started great, then sydney took over for most of the game, subs made a huge difference at the end
[]goals - sydney goal was a cracker, winger (no idea what his name was) looked like a sprinter with boots for the rest of the game but a great finish. adelaideās winner was a funny one, great shot hit the crossbar and came back out. adelaide forward sized himself up for the volley on the rebound but took a complete fresh air. there was another adelaide forward behind him that tapped it home. the goaltending for adelaideās first was abysmal
[]the ref showed a red card to some sydney defender james ryall (yes even more brainless and useless than the former KK hurler). but then he rescinded it for some reason.
[]crowd - 14k. poor for a game on a lovely friday evening against the league leaders I would have thought. the sydney āultrasā behind the goal made some good noise.
[]go again? hmmmm maybe. $35 was steep enough
[/list]
In fairness KIB Man, Sydney are a woeful team, no organisation, very average players and most of them are pretty lazy. Have a look at the Mariners some time, we are supremely organised and pass the ball very well. Our midfield is lighting quick and we have the best full backs in the league, not to mention the best player in the league. We play Sysney in Sydney the day after Stephens Day so you can catch them then.
will I fuck. Iāll be pissed out of my head with Mac in Lahinch that day
whats your benchmark to compare it to?
seeing as you have been to 3 or 4 games in your life I doubt you could judge decent standard
you fucks were lucky yesterday - your basically a counter attacking team that have been steeped in luck all season.your players are filth
from what Ive been reading on our forums your fans are fairly scummy too
Christ, for someone who lashes KIB Man for his lack of knowledge, you know very little yourself. Steeped in luck? Weāre second on the table mate, unbeaten in 5 games, some run of luck. Weāre the most organised team in the league and we pass the ball better than any other team. Your players are a bunch of fairies who were found out badly against us.
Wow, Brisbane Roar actually won a game! Sydney didnāt lose one! Magnificent weekend for your teams there boys. Some nastiness at the Brisbane game I believe TASE, Broich had his ridiculous red card overturned. Were you at it?
Meanwhile, at the business end, the Central Coast Mariners have gone top of the table with a hard won and entertaining 2-1 victory over Adelaide.
It is my understanding that Alessandro Del Piero has played his last game for Sydney FC.
wtf :o
Themās the rumours. There were a couple of oblique references to it from two separate respected journoās last on ABC radio. I have heard from another source, well placed within an A League club, that ADP is apparently upset about Ian Crook resigning and believes the entire club is dysfunctional. Will be interesting to see what happens. If he does leave, it will confirm the widely held view by other clubs and their supporters, that Sydney FC is a chain that drags on the entire league. Speaking to supporters from other clubs as I reguarly do at post match functions in Gosford, everyone hates Sydney with a particular venom.
Your boys actually got a win at the weekend. Brisbane back to their losing ways. Mariners still top.
Round 15 done and dusted yesterday, Mariners sit top of the league, ahead by 4 points, Adelaide second (wonāt last long, theyāve run out of puff) and the big threat to us is Melbourne Victory, who we play away this weekend. Its been a fantastic season so far for my beloved Mariners.
Iām not sure if Brisbane Roar are still involved in the A League. Sydney FC have given up playing football and have regressed to their founderās (Terry Butcher) school of being utterly contemptible nasty cunts.
http://www.footballaustralia.com.au//centralcoastmariners/ladder
hey fitzy- i see the goalkeeper you have been touting has been whoring himself to a scottish 3rd division team :lol: :lol: :lol:
thats pub league stuff