Crowds

7:1 win vs Adelaide last night. Oh yes oh yes oh yes. Ra ra ra. We actually are the best in the World and everyone else is, slowly but surely, learning to live with it.

The question being repeated everywhere is, how come only eleven and a half thousand people saw one of the greatest football spectacles we might expect to see in club football?

First a brief recap. Suncorp was always an ambitious stadium for the Roar, and even at the height in the first and second season crowds above 20,000 were rare. With the 'Suncorp curse' (remember that?) which seemed to mean that it was impossible for the Roar to score at home even when they were winning away, along with pretty average and/or inconsistent form, crowds trended downward over the first few seasons.

Then, a couple of years ago some accountant demonstrated to a highly astute Roar Board (now all replaced thankfully) that the budget would all add up if they would just radically increase ticket prices, so they did. A few months later they reversed this decision and made the prices cheaper than ever, but it was too late. The crowds had truly plummeted and they never recovered.

In my mind the problem wasn't merely ticket prices. Soccer is a world game and a local game and there is an enormous amount of it available for spectators to enjoy either on TV or live. Most of the live stuff is free or about $5, and these are the leagues that thousands in Brisbane actually play in every week. The very best stuff (European Champion's League) is on free to air TV. The A-League was, and still largely is, a mediocre product. Trying to charge top dollar for it was simply ignoring all of this market environment.

But the price is about right now at Suncorp, and it's especially cheap for under 16s which is also very smart. And the other thing that has changed is that there is now a top-shelf product on show. I'm not going to do any justice here to Roar's extraordinary football. Every football commentator in the country is writing about that anyway. The point is that even connoisseurs would pay good money to see this football, and indeed fans of other teams, if comments here and there are to be believed, are prepared to travel to see Brisbane play.

So now we have an extremely good product at a very reasonable price. The product can speak for itself if the marketers can get people's bottoms there in the first place.

Now I have been a vicious critic of this club in the past and no doubt will be again in the future, so I think I'm obliged to also contribute a constructive thought from time to time, and here it is. It's simple, and I think it would work over time. The Roar have not been idle in promotion and their efforts should be congratulated so far in my view. The issue might be focus.

Target local clubs, as you have been in a way, but one at a time. Start with clubs based close to Suncorp Stadium and work outwards. When you target the Club - say, Annerley Football Club where Jacob used to play - do the afternoon with the club thing, with a bit of a clinic for the kids (members and players of the club only! Must make them feel special), signings and giving away some merchandise - the usual stuff. But maybe even do two events with the one club between home games.

Give the club 100 tickets, half of which are 15 and unders only. Give them an option for more tickets if they have enough demand for them. The seats are in a block, and the more you give away the better. If the Club gets into an opportunistic frenzy and invites friends, relatives, neighbours, milkmen and wandering vagrants and hence want 1000 tickets, where they would all sit in a block, good. If you've got the budget for it, provide them with busses as well. You want to make sure they come.

It sounds generous, but it's just one football club at a time, with home games (approximately 2 weeks) as the framework period. The objective is to introduce the game not to an individual but to a community. Communities of support sustain themselves.

All of this might only work if the premise is true that the football speaks for itself. At this juncture of the Roar's history, I am supremely confident that it does.

Brisbane finally gets the Final

The last time I wrote about the A-League or the Brisbane Roar was April last year. The short of what I had to say then was, "the Brisbane Roar cannot repeat its original seduction of this consumer. This time they're going to have to realise a product that is worth it for me to seek out."

They have done it. Not only has the A-League improved in that short space of time, but the improvement has been led by my own home team, Brisbane Roar. I'm not exagerating and it's far from my observation alone. This season the Roar are playing a quality of soccer that is worth paying concert prices for, and that is not easy to do. In response several other teams started getting serious about high quality play, namely Central Coast, Gold Coast and Adelaide.

It takes time and patience to build to this level. You actually have to be prepared to lose a bit as you learn a system, and Ange did that last season (stating his intent clearly, but we had to wait and see to believe he was serious). And now we can say not only that The Roar are 27 games undefeated, but that they have an opposition in the Central Coast for the Grand Final who have shown that they can match it.

The Grand Final is anyone's game.

I've been to five or six games this season, including the last two, and I can say that the atmosphere has improved markedly too. The fans' singing is getting brilliant, and Suncorp even with 21,000 (v Gold Coast) or 25,000 (Central Coast semi-final) produces full elation when the home side scores. I've paid $28 to go to these games and it has easily been worth it.

Times are tough though and with the exciting prospect of a really full house for the Grand Final, I was frankly pissed off with the FFA for doubling the price. They didn't in a way, because it's only $3 more than the Grand Final in Melbourne last year, and as others point out it is cheaper than the finals of other codes.

But for the Brisbane fan the price had doubled. To me that was a big mistake because it would dampen demand just when we had a shot of filling the 53,000 seat house. "Why not go for the full house?" I screamed on Facebook. It's tough times in Brisbane. A number of friends backed the impression up saying they would not go or were considering not going due to the price.

I may have been right or wrong about my take on the commercial judgement, and nobody can be blamed for not having a spare recreational $56 in these times. But now I ask a seperate question. Is it worth it? Is the football being offered for the A-League Grand Final, in itself, worth $56 a ticket (that's the cheap seats)?

Yes it is. No worries. I truly hope that the price does not keep the people away because anyone who goes will witness a true contest of really good teams. The two best teams to have ever graced the League, I would say, and I know many 'experts' agree with me.

In my anger at the price, and feeling the pain in my pocketbook, I considered not going. I really did. But how absurd.

I've followed this team for five seasons. I've sometimes despise the Board and the FFA but I love the team, know their names and they've been through near misses and tough times. They deserve this. Ange deserves this for taking the time and effort (and study) to be a proper coach. Matty McKay, Brisbane boy and Captain, deserves this after sticking with the team for six years, from the very beginning. Brisbane deserves this because it is the finest city in the world and keeps producing good soccer players (Fozzie asks if there is something in the water).

Last I heard 30,000 tickets have been pre-sold. It looks like I may have been wrong. If Suncorp comes close to selling out, I was totally wrong and the FFA made a wise business decision.

Sunday 13th March, 4pm. Brisbane Roar v Central Coast Mariners. My advice is be there.

Go the Roar. Go Brisbane. Go Soccer.

Loyalty

It was about three and a half years ago that I began this blog, on a high of enthusiasm for the new sport I have quickly grown to love. September 2006 was my first post. No mysteries about the timing.

The World Cup itself was over though so I launched automatically into following the A-League. Soccer has absorbed me since, and I count it as an important part of spiritual life, but I can no longer think of any compelling reason to follow the A-League.

Some may think I'm being mean or spiteful. "Why dis Australia's League?" they might ask. After all, it can only get better with support. If I love soccer then I should support the A-League anyway, right?

It's a reasonable argument, but really I just think I'm being honest about my response as a consumer. Regardless of how you do it, it costs money to follow the A-League. Not just $5 or something either, but hundreds of dollars a season - as much as a hard-core music enthusiast would spend on concerts, say. It has to be worth it. It's not. Increasingly it just looks like a circus, but without the quality entertainment.

The short of it is that the Brisbane Roar cannot repeat its original seduction of this consumer. This time they're going to have to realise a product that is worth it for me to seek out.

The next clamour of voices I hear are going on about "Loyalty." How you can't abandon support for your team when its down. There is allusion to the great English club traditions where fan-loyalty is tatooed onto a person's soul if not their body. I'm interested in this phenomena.

Now I have trod a twisted path so far in this life, having been involved in religious groups and political groups. I've heard the call for "Loyalty" before. In my mind it comes from a time of Protestant vs Catholic, English vs Irish, worker vs boss, a time of sharply deliniated and highly destructive divisions in an industrialised anglo-celtic world. "Solidarity brother!" "Discipline comrade!" "The workers, united, will never be defeated." "Manchester, United, will never be defeated." It's an old world, and not one that can avoid critique, especially as it gave rise not just to colourful fan cultures but to tribalism, hooliganism and violence. So sorry there, the Loyalty thing just doesn't rub. I'll make independent decisions about what I'll spend my money on, thanks.

Meanwhile of course The Brisbane Roar and the A-League are about as far away from the sorts of communities that evolved these fan-cultures as David Beckham is from Garrincha. Quite clearly they are businesses, as cynically run as any, who have no regard for the loyalty of these old fashioned fans whatsoever, especially as these loyal fans are not where they expect any growth to come from.

The modern Australian clubs are selling a product to consumers. That's absolutely fine - I'm not some sort of anti-capitalist - but let them sell it! There's a lot of good, inexpensive competition for entertainment. There's much better soccer on free pay-TV if you love the game itself, and if you just love supporting a team, it costs practically nothing to support the Brisbane Strikers, who, like the Brisbane Roar, are great for amateurs.

Anyway, the World Cup is the gig right now. 65 Days. Soccer is life. Life is soccer. But the A-League is an overpriced product.

A Family Outing at Skilled Park

Gold Coast vs Brisbane at Skilled Park. Well it sounded good, and I pretended it was a Christmas present to myself, Dawn and Jacob.

How could one resist it? Boxing Day afternoon and it's the first highly accessible 'away game' for the Brisbane Roar, hence the first away game I have attended. Brisbane were clearly the underdogs, and fighting the perfect evil Goliath - Clive Palmer's Bling Toy FC. Adding to the spice is Charlie Miller's recent defection from Brisbane to the Gold Coast - yes the very man who punched the last significant defector's head in an equivalently soon matchup (referring to Robbie Kruse and the incident leading to a match suspension for Miller).

It got much more complicated than that on Christmas Day. My family (Mum, sisters and sundry) came to my place for lunch, and they're all staying on the Coast, at Mum's place. So when asked if I have any plans for Boxing Day and mentioning that we're thinking of going to the game it quickly turns in to a 'great idea' for a mass family event. I resisted at first. "What? We're just going to the soccer ok? If you think going to the soccer would be good, then go. Why do we have to organise anything?" I mean I'm talking about my family here - they're not actually people or anything. Besides, we were planning on sitting at the away end and Mum and sister Margo at least should really go for the Gold Coast, geographically speaking. The others are Melbournites, sister Gay, her hubby David and their daughter Beth.

Two events turned the situation into a more organised family event. One, my mother stole my best knife, and two, they left the ham behind. The robbery was fascinating in that it was done in broad daylight. I watched as Mum opened the drawer, took my best knife out and packed it with her stuff. I asked rhetorically, "Are you sure that's your knife Mum? We didn't actually use your knife or carving fork and I never saw them." "Yes that's it," she insisted, lying. "I just washed up the knife and the fork," she lied. So in a sort of zen bemusement I left it alone. She's a bit dottery ok?

Mum (pictured) called the next morning, on Boxing day. She'd found her knife and fork, so was naturally repentant. She had herself decided not to attend the soccer but had devised a plan whereby she'd meet me at Nerang train station or the stadium, get the ham off me and return my knife. The flaw of course is that I might not be allowed to carry a 14 inch chef's knife into the stadium with me, not to mention the bore of carrying a large ham on the train. So I succumbed to a family event, we drove to Mum's place, exchanged belongings and caught the Nerang train to the game.

The train was strictly standing room. Even on the platform (in Nerang) there were more Roar shirts than we see at Fairfield Station on the way to Suncorp, and a lot of the travellers on board were in orange.When we got there the crowd looked like the picture on the left. Estimates I've read here and there vary enormously, but I think I'm being completely reasonable when I guess that half of the 10,000 crowd were Roar supporters.

I bought the tickets. The lady selling them helped me when she asked, "Are you Brisbane or Gold Coast supporters?" Rather than enquiring as to why the fuck I would be wearing a Roar jersey if I supported the Gold Coast, I politely replied, "Brisbane," being as truthful as possible within the small number of multiple choice answers available. She said, "Well I'll put you in the away supporters area then," to which I innocently replied, "Oh yeah, I guess so," before distributing the tickets to my family.

I'm glad we were there. The Den was out in force and the atmosphere they created was terrific. Like really, hats off to them. They rocked. It certainly occurs to me, in the context of the Roar's apparent crowd problems, much discussed including by myself, that the fans the Roar has kept - say 8,000 odd hard core - are extremely loyal, despite all sorts of difficult circumstances and bodgy management. You simply can't say the Roar hasn't got a decent fan base, it's just that the stadium (Suncorp, 54,000 capacity) is too big. Most A-League clubs would love our fan base.

And no I'm not going to tell the sorry narrative of the game as it's been written about elsewhere extensively. Catastrophic obviously. My sister Margo, a rugby follower but with an extraordinary capacity for astute observation, noted with no previous knowledge of the team that Tiatto when he came on was the only decent looking player on the Roar. I agree, and it has been said elsewhere as well, but it was interesting hearing it come from a pure, ignorant but intelligent, perspective.

This team just isn't there. Moore should be worried about his World Cup spot. Reinaldo looked ok when he came on. Oar looked good too, but Zullo was clearly challenged in his new role at left back. Overall the team doesn't have the spirit to win and, in my view, that reflects on the Coach and the Club.

Ange? Should he be sacked? Is he a terrible coach? Honestly I don't feel qualified to answer this question. The only thing I knew about him is that he completely failed to coach Australia's youth team to the Youth World Cup, and I remember Fozzie hammering him on the World Game for this. From some of the snippets and circumstances that I've gleaned, one could interpret Ange's style as one suiting youth. The older players seem to be going for example, and Miller's comment was that Ange, "doesn't want players to have a life." So do we have a (failed) youth coach trying to coach a team of youth, maybe not up to mentoring the older lads? I don't know to assert, but I do raise the question.

I no longer get depressed when the Roar lose. Since I've become progressively pissed off with the management, for reasons I won't go through again here, I guess my emotional attachment to the Roar has waned, but the fact is I still love the team and want them to win.

It's about my city. I love Brisbane and have been defending it from stuck-up southerners (and culturally cringing locals) for 25 years. Soccer is the ultimate game, global, tribal and spectacular. Brisbane fields a team. The Roar board would pretty much have to start sacrificing children before each game for me to actually not support the team. But I do despair generally. And I will continue to attack the morons in charge with prejudice, because I have discovered that love of a team does not mean loving its management any more than loving my country means loving the government.

So what can I say? What does my spirit have to say to these young men representing my glorious sub-tropical city in the iconic sport of our time? Not much. Just this: For fuck's sake, come on guys!!!

Rolling Rambling Rave (and a Recovering Roar)

Now after several very critical blogs about the Brisbane Roar my dear son Jacob is insisting that I write a positive one, and there was some real positives from last night so I shall concentrate on them. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), John over at A Seat At the A-league did a pretty good job of the negatives, so I get to play good cop.

But first an aside about my lad Jacob. His indoor soccer team, 'The West End [censored]', is undefeated after 8 rounds and top of their table. Yesterday they won 21:5 (3 to Jacob). The problem when they're thrashing a team is their game falls apart as each one of them starts taking turns to run at the goal and shoot by themselves, rather than using it as a training game for their real nemesis (The Razor Blades) who they haven't played yet. Their defense fell to bits and they conceded 3 goals in as many minutes (to a team who has only scored 10 in 7 games). I've discovered the strategy of cheering loudly for their opposition to stir them up. Yesterday it seemed to work, and they started slotting their own again, except with decent crossing and maintaining their shape.

I'm also still playing futsal on a Tuesday night, though no longer with the Red Eye Pirates, who are disbanded unfortunately, but with the Ligers. All fun. I might write about this crew some more some time, but yesterday I heard a cool rumour about the futsal centre (at West End Primary School) which I intend to check out tomorrow night. No other than Roar striker Sergio van Dijk plays in goals for a futsal team in that same centre on Monday nights. I'm told his keeping is pretty crap, and I guess it's just a fun way for a bit of extra fitness and sociality for him, but I am very keen to see for myself.

Ok, back to the Brisbane Roar, and the game last night. 0:1 loss to Melbourne, as we know I'm sure. But here are the positives as I see it:

1. It cost Jacob and I $25 to get in. That makes it affordable. It makes it more of a, "Hey, let's go to the football," than a ($65), "Ah, I'll just check my finances to see if we can afford to go to the football." This issue is exacerbated for me as I'm saving my biscuits for the big trip to South Africa in June next year. Much more expensive I know (about $20,000 for Jacob and I for three games), but let's just say I reckon it's worth every penny.

2. The advertising was good. The adds had a parochial (Brisbane) theme (which as I've written before is probably the best angle). I saw one during the final Rove program on Sunday night (the most overrated comedian in Australian television history, but popular all the same). Then I saw one during the shorts before 2012 at the cinema (this movie should be cut to 45 minutes, abolishing all the actors, renamed "The End of the World" and put to a rock n' roll soundtrack, after which it would be quite brilliant viewing). There was some print adds too I spotted, and generally I'd never felt so exposed to a game beforehand as this game. I suspected that this was a big reason for the increased crowd, and it was confirmed anecdotally by a friend I met at half-time who said he saw adds a few times before deciding to go with his girlfriend. He also noted the excellent timeslot, but I know that's more-or-less out of the Roar board's control, especially at this stage of the season.

3. Now, I try not to let my impressions be too educated. That is, I try to reflect what I actually felt at the time, on the assumption that this authentic viewpoint will be shared by many everyday (as contrary to hardcore) punters. So I already know that many people disagree with what I'm about to say, and that perhaps it reflects my hopeless ignorance about the game, but keep in mind that most people are at least as ignorant as me. I thought the lads played as well as I've seen them play. I can not name one player that played badly.

John's comment that we are too slow up front certainly rings true, but all that can be said for sure is that the Melbourne defense beat the Roar's attack. Without an elaborate analysis with high-tech equipment it's really impossible to say whether we were too slow or Melbourne were exceptionally quick to defend. We certainly seemed to dominate and make more convincing attacks, starting from about 90 seconds into the game.

For reasons to do with one of Jacob's mates I was watching Packer's game in particular. I love a wing back who attacks, and his combination with Tiatto attacking up the wing was great to watch. In general there was plenty of combination play. Henrique showed both his speed and inexperience, and missed one good chance in particular, but I still couldn't say he played badly.

But I can't with all integrity get through this without some criticism of the experience. As has been said over and over, the refereeing quality is shocking and inconsistent. Without a replay nobody in the home crowd knew why an apparently clinical goal was disallowed. I had to surf the media to find out. At another point we were sitting precisely behind the linesman, perpendicular to the sideline, when the linesman who was actually looking away incorrectly called Henrique offside. I completely participated in hurling abuse at the stupid bastard, and the crowd around me felt pre-riot. There were other incidents less blatant, and the totality of the experience was... I'm searching for the right words... deeply disturbing. Just left a lump of gunk where your fan's heart is supposed to be. It utterly ruined an otherwise positive experience.

This evening (Ballymore 6pm) I'm off to the last Roar women's homegame of the season, and the reffing issue made me consider one of the reasons I love it so much. Clearly it's not that the reffing's better - that would be a foolish claim I think. It's that the quality of refs and officials can keep up with the relatively slow pace and hence get most things right. Poor decisions on the part of officials, especially when you are denied a replay and have no way of knowing why a decision is made, I am increasingly convinced, is an enormous detraction from enjoying the game.

Anyway, I can't wait for tonight, when for $5 I know I'll have a really wonderful time, win or lose. The girls put the lads to shame when it comes to fair play (see Fiona Crawford's blog on this). When one stays down you know she is injured and you immediately feel for the player's pain because you know it's real. (All the best for a speedy recovery Brooke Spence).

Jacob is too much of a man to enjoy the women's game. He prefers boys. :) Truly, I've even explained to him how many chicks there are of his age there watching, and he's still not convinced. He prefers the pace - along with the diving, theatrics, poor reffing and long journeys on public transport. I can see his perspective of course, but it is my job to give him shit. He gives as good as he gets.

Well that was a ramble. To anyone who got this far, my apologies.

Go girls!!!

Why the Roar Need a New Board

The financial crisis has highlighted a dilemna in capitalist society, especially so in the United States. Simply put, some corporations and institutions have been deemed just too big to fail - the damage of letting their poor decisions break them would be so great for society that it is deemed in the public interest to bail them out. The dilemna is that if they can rely on being bailed out they are, given the normal forces of competing self-interest, likely to continue taking careless risks, knowing they'll be bailed out if their gambling fails. It's a very difficult area for governments, balancing public interest and the need to maintain the fear of failure as a basic incentive for institutions to make the best possible decisions.

It seems reasonable to me, and to many others, that if a company is just too big to fail, and hence has to be bailed out, that at the very least the entire board of said company should be replaced as a part of the bail-out package, and that the departing board members lose any extra entitlements. That seems to be the best compromise - it maintains that crucial fear of failure for the individuals on the boards at least, even if not for the institution as a whole. I know from innumerable informal discussions that many people share this basic view, and judge the decisions of governments and the actions of such companies on more-or-less this criteria.

Same goes for A-League clubs. The FFA clearly (and rightly I think) believe that it is better for soccer and for the A-League to help a club financially that to let it go bust. But doesn't that give the respective boards the message that even if they take ludicrous risks and make stupid decisions, it'll be ok because the FFA can't let them fail? Well, yes it does. Bailing them out is fine, if that's what's deemed in everyone's overall interests, but, well, you can see what I'm getting at. For the same people to continue to run the said club is absurd. The individuals involved must go if they have failed, as the only basic incentive for them to be very careful to make good decisions.

The board of the Brisbane Roar have made so many poor decisions, and have shown such incompetence in building the club in what should have been the most perfect market for an A-League club, that they really can't hold any respect whatsoever. Let's go through a bit of it.

They immediately set out to alienate soccer fans. I mean that. Oh they tried to develop 'community relations' all right, but not with Brisbane's enormous soccer playing and soccer watching community, but with some fictoid 'family' base, that doesn't drink, smoke, swear, dance, have sex, make rude gestures or actually have any passion for life. Since becoming a soccer fan a few years ago I've met hundreds of real soccer fans, mostly amateur players, people who kick about in the park on a Sunday afternoon (in Davies Park, West End, every Sunday at 4pm, incidentally), and people who have kids in teams. Guess what? Most of them are not Mormons, but Australians, of every colour, gender, religion and sexuality to be sure, but real live Australians nevertheless who live in a real world. They don't follow the A-League, almost without exception. It's not just that they haven't been reached out to, it's become increasingly clear that the Roar don't want most of these people because they don't fit into the fluffy pussy mold that the Roar (and the FFA, to be fair) is apparently aiming for.

I got a warning I'd be thrown out once for yelling the F word, and later heard stories of even the Orange Army being told that "shit" was out of bounds. Is this the real world they're trying to market to?

Now getting to the recent past, in that infamous away game against Melbourne where frankly I was disgusted by the violent bullying of Robbie Kruse by the Roar older boys. The Roar board cracked down of course... oh no, actually they didn't. They fined Tiatto an 'undisclosed sum' for giving the finger (ooh so rude!) and completely ignored Miller punching Robbie in the head. The thing about violence is it is not just a fluffy Christian issue, but an objectively ugly behaviour. False morality exposed. Later on they actually claimed that they held back on disciplining the players because Frank told them to. Um... So the Board doesn't take responsibility for its decisions? It's Frank's fault for 'telling them to'. I have to laugh but I want to cry. And meanwhile I can't help suspecting that their claim that Frank 'told them to' is utter bullshit, given their clear motives to scapegoat him.

Suncorp was ambitious in the first place, and I can't complain about that. Hindsight is not really fair, and I was among the many who thought it was fantastic - best stadium in the country, wonderful reputation as 'the cauldron' etc. But at a certain point there has to be a swallowing of ego and a recognition that it's not working. The small crowds actually made it an anti-fortress - great pitch and facilities with the intimidation factor of a possum. The away teams just loved it, even as the Roar lost money every week.

I have heard the Roar had the opportunity to buy Ballymore Stadium outright. If so, not doing so has to be counted as one of their follies. Ballymore is also a fantastic stadium, albeit with half the capacity (but still plenty for the crowds we were getting). It is also the recognised home of Brisbane soccer.

Central Coast model anyone? Wellington model? I like what the Fury is doing as well. Attempting to build a sustainable support according to reality, and engaging with an actual rather than an idealised, largely fictional community.

The FFA offered last year to buy a part of the Roar and help them out, but the offer was refused. We start to get the picture of a bunch of petulant egos that have no idea but who simply can't face it that they've fucked up.

The last stupid decision they made was sacking the coach who has had two moderately successful seasons and is himself a Brisbane soccer icon that every soccer player/supporter over 30 knows. He's probably Brisbane's number one soccer identity in fact.

It wasn't just stupid because Frank is a good coach and a drink driving charge is simply not grounds to be sacked, but let's just make the point that noone on the Board would ever be sacked for the same thing, and that there are journalists, engineers, judges, politicians and doctors who continue in their employment despite losing their licenses for DD. It was also stupid because it's going to cost them $300,000. They can't afford it. Oh that's right - it's ok because the FFA won't let them fail.

I could go on. The response to two years of dwindling crowds was the classic accountant's folly of raising the prices. "Watch my calculator - see, if you put the price up we're in profit!" Then, when crowds inevitably bottom out even more, they drop prices - twice in three weeks - and congratulate themselves for "listening to the fans." Don't make me fucking choke. We're just back to last year's model, except with even greater financial losses.

The Roar is being run by a bunch of rank amateurs and I strongly suspect they're there for the trough rather than the sport. They have no idea and they deserve zero confidence from anyone. I have no doubt that the players despise them. The FFA must be embarassed by them. Most of Brisbane's soccer fans don't follow the Roar anyway, but the few who do have zero reason to have any faith in these people at all.

The Roar - or at least the flagship men's team - have completely lost this fan. I've gotten right into the women's game, which at least has the advantage of being attacking, uncynical football. The stories about the Homeless World Cup inspire and move me. Following Jacob's team is absolute joy. Playing myself is grueling but extremely rewarding. Watching a good game on SBS gives me the pleasure of witnessing virtuosity at the highest level. If the Brisbane Roar wants my support, it's going to need a new board, a new plan, a new vision for where it wants to go.

Of course the FFA must move in. The operation must be rationalised, moved to Ballymore and concentrate on developing the support of the real soccer-loving people of Brisbane, as we find them, rather than as we want them. Of course it must be moral - it must emphasise fair play, zero tolerance of diving, falsehood and violent behaviour. Swearing, gesturing and getting pissed have nothing at all to do with real morality - they are subjects of religion.

But first and foremost, we need a new Board. Let me know when that happens will you, and I'll get back to you. Meanwhile, I'll keep loving soccer, and there's plenty of it to enjoy without stretching patience and credulity with this bunch of tossers.

Operation Ballymore

The truth is I don't know how to say this, but I'm just going to go for it. Have been thinking about it since the Roar vs Sydney 'meh!' game yesterday afternoon where, quite aside from paying $40 for an adult ticket, it costs $4.10 for a cornetto and over $6 for a watery beer in a plastic cup.

The first very important reality check is that professional soccer has NOT 'taken off' in Australia in any profound way. If anyone thinks it has it's because they either have no friends or because all of their friends are soccer fans. Really, sometimes football fans sound like Trotskyites who still think the revolution is imminent.

So that's the first thing: soccer in Australia, compared to the egg-ball codes, still has the relatively small support it always has had. In terms of the last decade, with adjustments for the World Cup peak (and yep, we'll get another one of those, but by its nature that is fickle growth), I'm guessing 'growth' in support pretty much charts the growth in Australia's overseas born population, or even less. That's it. Argue with me otherwise but please give me evidence and not FFA (or SBS) PR bullshit.

Now a couple of caveats. Sure junior soccer is huge and probably still growing. My experience with junior teams in the last few years however is pretty similar to my two years playing with The Gap as a kid in the 70s, in that virtually none of the players, coaches, parents or administrators have a clue about the A-League or any other senior soccer. My favourite anecdote is that when I tried to encourage some kids to help their game by watching as much pro soccer as possible, I had parents get back to me complaining I was telling their kids they had to get FOX (which I didn't). That is, there was actual antagonism toward the idea. The mentality of junior participation in sport (for which soccer is widely considered perfect) and the tribal activity of following a local pro team are two completely different things.

Women's soccer is also growing in countries including Australia where women have been, in the past 50 years, freed to choose their own lifeways. This is fantastic for more than one reason, but frankly it's a growth in women's liberation, not soccer as such. Once again growth in this area does not necessarily translate to support for the elite men's game. There's been growth in women's truck drivers too, but that doesn't mean there's growth in truck driving. Once again, the chicks I know who play (a fair few, through playing in mixed futsal comps and vaguely following the West End women's team) simply do not know or care about the A-League, with rare exceptions.

Incidentally I can't wait for the W-League to kick off this weekend in Brisbane, at Ballymore Stadium, Saturday 3rd October 3pm (I can't remember what it costs but I think it's significantly less than twenty bucks). All of the games are curtain raisers for A-League games except for this Roar vs Canberra match. This I can see growing because, a) it's cheap to go to games, in a friendly stadium with a smoking area, and b) it's free to air on the ABC so people will encounter it accidentally as well as being able to watch it easily if they find themselves with a glancing interest. Glancing interest can grow of course, but not if it takes getting FOX or spending a month's entertainment budget on going to a game.

Third and last caveat. Of course now that the other codes have finished their seasons there will be a bit of growth in crowd numbers, with families etc looking for alternate entertainment. That will be a slight blip over the next few weeks, after which (just going by the past four seasons) it will steady off again, then blip again for the more successful teams toward season's end. If anyone wants to get excited about that, fine, but I'll be keeping the cork in my champagne.

I'm already getting confused between a discussion of the A-League and the issues with Brisbane Roar particularly, which have a lot to do with Suncorp Stadium. They're related of course, but I'm trying to manouvre this narrative from the former to the latter.

The FFA of course has been trying hard, navigating the tension between trying to sell a top quality football competition and simultaneously making strategic compromises of quality. The quality of teams is deliberately kept in check by the salary cap, as a strategic effort to keep the competition fairly equal while the game has a chance to grow. The quality of refereeing is a compromise, reflecting insufficient funds (stemming finally from insufficient support).

Crowd numbers are down generally. 442 has covered this, as has The Roar sports website. These are both good articles with lots to think about, especially if you include the hundreds of comments. If I could distil the lot into a single formula, it's that punters are waking up, partly due to pressures on discretionary spending generally, that they're being sold a mediocre product for an elite price.

Meanwhile the FFA is continuing as if things are going from strength to strength. Apparently there's going to be two new teams next year. Now the FFA demands prospective new clubs jump through some pretty tough hoops proving viability, but I tell ya if I was a prospective club I'd be demanding the FFA jump through some hoops proving viability before accepting any deal. Wellington for one, if as is speculated they get axed, will have a very good case to litigate, considering, a) they were made to jump through hoops to get there, and b) they would have proceeded with a five year economic plan at the least.

But from here I'll leave the question of the medium term viability of the League itself and get back to the team I love, Brisbane Roar. What can they do?

Firstly, let's get real and move to Ballymore. We'll call Suncorp a long term vision, and if we have a winning season and get into Asia maybe we'll look at it again, but meanwhile let's get a viable, healthy stadium atmosphere going in an iconic soccer stadium. The hard core, who are most of what is left at Suncorp anyway, will go, and most of the public transport issues can be covered by providing special buses, which happens anyway to Suncorp. The most important thing in terms of slowly finding growth is making the experience a hoot, and the intimacy of a smaller, fuller, cheaper stadium would do that. It would be much more of a 'cauldron' than 'The Cauldron' too which arguably might actually help The Roar play better for their fans and provide the intimidation an away crowd is supposed to provide for visiting teams.

All this would be doing is facing the reality of the situation. Noone's going to be fooled that this is not a step backward in terms of ambition, but pretending that the ambition is realistic is, in my opinion, even more embarassing. Meanwhile the Roar would be obliged to get its PR people to sell it as a positive step forward - a home ground that can better involve the community, provide a better and uniquely soccer atmosphere, increase accessibility through cheaper tickets if not public transport (it would still be cheaper for Jacob and I to go if we caught a cab), and colonise a place that the Roar can truly call home, including for training, youth games, women's games etcetera.

I'm guessing the reason the women's champions (The Roar) are not curtain-raising the Brisbane game is because staffing Suncorp for double the time when it's already breaking the bank keeps the Roar's accountants from being able to sleep at night.

So this, I reckon, is the project. There may be all sorts of other things in the way, but we (the 'royal we' of course as I shall merely continue to snipe like a blogger) should get busy. The project is not merely to move the games but to colonise a permanent spiritual home for our heros and all associated activity, and one that is appropriate to a realistic assessment of support, rather than a zealot's dream.

One more thing, and I'm back to the League as a whole. I have argued several times that the biggest impediment to the growth of the A-League is FOX. The main retort is that the A-League could not exist without FOX. I guess we won't hear from the same if the A-League doesn't survive anyway. So here's the problematic: do we attempt to overcome the lower income we might recieve from free-to-air coverage, providing a much better gamble for growth, or do we attempt to overcome the non-existent growth that FOX coverage provides? Either path will take great imagination, business acumen and hard work, but I know which challenge I'd prefer.

To those who say we're locked into the FOX deal for x years so we have to deal with it I say bullshit. A contract is simply the terrain for negotiation. The FOX people, the FFA and free-to-air interests, if the will was there, could hammer out a deal that everyone would benefit from, especially if the game was to hence grow rather than continue to shrink.

Here's a starting point:

• FOX sells the rights to a 'game of the week' every week on FTA, which attempts to be the biggest game, including the finals at the end.
• FOX still has the game on its own network anyway, so all those FOX subscribers can still use the special features etc.
• FOX still runs the show, does the commentary etc.
• FOX gets to promote its subscriptions on FTA at the same time... "If you want special features...", "If you want to watch all the A-League action...", "If you want to make sure you see all of your teams games...", "If you want the world of elite soccer - EPL, whatever..." ... "then here's the latest special FOX deal!"

Anyway, as I foreshadowed from the beginning, this is a rave and it's not entirely coherent. In my defence I only plee my sincerity. I dearly love this game. It might have saved my life. I love the Brisbane Roar, whether they win or lose. If The Roar went broke, or if the A-League collapsed, I would be heartbroken. I honestly think both of these things are not only possible, but all things going as they are, it's on the cards. So if I sound cynical or negative at all, please believe that my only objective is trying to discuss these things openly for the long-term survival of the League and my beloved haz-chem orange clad lads. I'm over trying to talk it up or find the positive needle in the looming haystack of problems. I am SO over the fans and pundits who pretend it's all hunky, dory, growing and on the yellow brick road to soccer heaven. Let's get real, get just a bit humble, and rethink this thing with reality clearly in mind.

Frank Farina's fine...

... for speaking the bleeding obvious is the last straw for this new fan.

The A-League is a fucking ridiculous competition, and I'm over it. Hell, it might keep me if it was actually brilliant football, but it's not. If it's not completely corrupt it might as well be and inevitably will be with a bunch of billionares running around with very high stakes, no transparency and institutional protection from anyone - even the coaches - criticising decisions.

Sorry it's a fucking joke. If there's any transparency it is transparent that this league is a fucking joke.

Bye.

Minniecon's Critic

The praises of Tahj Minniecon may appear to be a unanimous chorus, but they're not. Jacob has hated him from the first, and he has a perspective that deserves airing.

"He's a hog. I hate hogs."

And further, upon argument, "Sure he can dribble past defenders but when he's drawn three of them he's done his job. He should pass it then."

That's the gist of it. He's got a point.

Intuiting Round Five

Well when I had a go at analysing our collective results a couple of weeks ago I surmised that we were collectively less accurate than a random generator might be. I think we've improved overall but I'm afraid my own predictions appear to virtually guarantee another result. Rue it when I tip your team to win!

Just to step out of house for a second, for anyone who happens upon this blog, here's a recap. The Blogger's Cup is a tipping competition open to anyone but comprised mostly of people who blog about the A-League, all of whom are linked from here. As far as I'm concerned anyone can still join at the lowest score (ie my score... 3).

The prize is a bottle of single malt Irish whiskey or an A-League ball.

Each week before kickoff of the first game of the round you email or comment your tips for each of the coming round's games. You tip the score as well as a result, as a correct result (draw or winner) is worth a point and a correct result and score is worth three. The scores are tabulated here (and bookmarked on the right near the top of this page).

This is the overall table:
Mike 15
Wes 14
Neil 11
Eamonn 9
Dane 9
Tony 8
Eric 8
John 7
Wayne 6
Jacob 5
Jeccy 5
Cecilia 4
Dave 4
Hamish 3

Special congratulations to Mike for getting a record nine points in Round Four. That record was held by Tony, with only six points, in Round 13 last season, and that six points was matched by Eamonn in Round 2 two weeks ago. You've set a much higher bar Mike.

Jeccy, when you joined this comp, you 'warned' us that you'd get 5 points all season. Congratulations for being the first of us to reach your personal target. It's all cop from here. ;)

Anyway, here's the business.

My tips for Round Five:
Newcastle vs Melbourne:
Draw 1:1

Wellington vs Adelaide:
Adelaide 1:2

Queensland vs Sydney:
The Bloody Roar 2:0

Central Coast vs Perth:
Central Coast 2:0

When I compose my brief prayer to the infinite, which of course has approximately zero impact on reality, it has me considering what we really want from our A-League weekends. Of course we want our teams to win, but as a pretty new (nearly a year - yes that new) fan I can report that one quickly gets the idea that every true football fan has to get used to losing a fair bit of the time and winning (on average) less than half the time, and different values emerge quite rapidly. So apart from our team winning, what do we want?

My own answer is a weekend where all of these boys really show us what they can do. They've all played soccer for years, in parks, schoolyards, at home and on fields. Every one of them was probably best in their class and school. Every one of them has shown enough brilliance to be noticed along the way. They've all had their days of pure class, otherwise they wouldn't be where they are. I want a weekend where all the players are on, get their drilled pieces right, play the coaches tactics without stifling their flair, stick to the rules (ie virtually no free kicks), and just show us what they can do, with no excuses available or required. And then, when all the players and all the teams are the variously oiled machines they're trying to be, I'd like to see the best team win.

This is the Platonic perfection which I think each game intrinsically aspires to, and it is the ideal to which some of us I think, subconsciously or not, compare and judge each game. That is, when we say, "That game was brilliant" or "That game was rubbish," we are making implicit reference to the way a game should be.

Clearly mine is not the only answer, and if anyone else wants to have a go at the question, "What, apart from my team winning, do I want from a soccer game?" do be my guest. I think it's an interesting question, but then again I'm a bit of a nut.

To the infinite, may the games be fair and entertaining this weekend, may there be good sportsmanship on and off the field and may there be no serious injuries.

Tipping Round Four Without Annotations

Tips may now be placed in comments for Round 4 of Version 3 of the A-League.

Ding Ding! Round 3

First the news that Jacob's season is over, as they lost their semi-finals on Saturday. They were one down, then equalised in the 2nd half, so it went to extra time. At that point Keiitchi and I (the coaches) put Max, one of our best players who we'd convinced to play the last few games in defence, up front. The defence collapsed, as we have seen before when we've done the same thing. As Jacob reprimanded, "It wasn't a risk Dad - it was just a mistake." I have to agree with him, and in the proper order of things, we coaches take full responsibility for the loss.

But the boys had a great season and have all grown as players and as young men. God knows I've learned a lot as well. And the Indoor season starts next month, so the round ball rolls on.

I'm enjoying this tipping competition. Clearly in the first round we were virtually guessing as we could have got more correct results by a random result generator (we got 11 of 44 results right between us). In the second round we did much better - 18 of 56 possible correct results (I'm not talking about scores) - but it's still interesting that a bunch of die-hard soccer fans couldn't quite get a third of the results correct, with essentially 3 choices for each call. The random generator would still have been odds on to beat us. Surely as the season goes on and we get familiar with the teams and their form, we can do much better.

An advantage of tabulating the scores is that you can see the patterns, and of course it's the games we completely fail to predict en masse which are the important ones to note. We collectively found Central Coast's win and the draw between Newcastle and Queensland very predictable, and although some of us called it each way, not one of us picked that Sydney and Adelaide would draw. Especially as this comp is between a bunch of folk who allegedly have some idea of what we're talking about, it's interesting data. Thankfully as well it's a much bigger sample than last year, but there were patterns last year as well, which were not easy to spot without a clear table, so for posterity I've tabulated last years comp as well. You can find it by clicking the 'Season 2' tab at the top of the Blogger's Cup Table. I've got a little bit more to do on it and I'll get to it soon.

Wes, Mike, Wayne and Dave have already tipped Round 3 in comments on the Round 2 post.

My tips:
Queensland vs Central Coast Mariners
Roar 3:2
Another bloody Thursday night game - at 8pm! Jacob has school in the morning. Don't worry our priorities are clear and we'll be there. I've instructed Jacob to get his weekly homework done tonight and Wednesday.

Adelaide vs Melbourne
Adelaide 2:0
Melbourne will recover I reckon and start to kick some ass in round 5 or 6. Adelaide have hit the ground running and aren't going to stumble yet. I have no idea why I think that, and if history is a guide my predictions are approximately as accurate as a random generator would be.

Perth vs Sydney
1:0
Sydney are in danger of gaining this reflexive underdog-supporter's sympathy for the problems with their troops. I think they have some hubris issues though.

Wellington vs Newcastle
2:1
If anyone can help, I'm very, very keen to bookmark an amateur A-League blog from Wellington. If they're what they're promising, the fans should generate a blog or two before long if they haven't already.

Good luck everyone.

It says at the top of this page that I'm a philosopher so I better occasionally say something philosophical. It also says I'm probably mad - a crucial qualifier.

Why do I pray to the infinite? Well there are in the annals of humanity thousands of gods, all mentally graven images (thus, incidentally, false idols according to the second of the 10 commandments). There is only one infinite and it is quite clearly incomprehensible, undescribable and, to add to the anxiety of it all, all-powerful.

Often atheists, who are generally very spiritually thoughtful people, choose not to pray at all, but I think they lose something. It's my view - barely defensible in a scientific way I admit - that the evolution of our mental equipment went alongside the development of early religion, and that those creatures who could, as their consciousness radically expanded, make some peace with this unknown 'other', so enormous and frightening, by finding a connection with it, however false in the eyes of many moderns, tended to survive because they were less inclined to go mad. It may offend some, but I find it interesting that the first tenet of AA and other addiction management organisations (of which I've never been a member, but know some who are very gratefully so) is to embrace the idea of a superior being. Meanwhile however the 'infinite' is a completely rational, secular idea which we can clearly and succinctly fail to grasp. If no one else finds it a useful mechanism to get through life, that's fine because I do.

I pray to the infinite (ok, I call it God in my own space, because it's shorter and I know what I mean) every day. Usually the prayer is "Hello," but sometimes I also say, "Thanks." It certainly can't 'hear' me, but my active mental acknowledgment of the all-powerful unknowable everything, I sincerely believe, actually facilitates a successful dance with the universe - by which I just mean getting through with a smile, and even - this is ridiculous of course and I only have an intuitive accumulation of anecdotal evidence to go by - having serendipity and 'luck' work a little extra my way. I don't understand the universe at all, but I suspect there's a little more to its connectivity than we think. Being mentally alien to it is a bad risk I reckon.

Religion, in my humble view, is to madness what masturbation is to rape, and what soccer is to tribal warfare. It's an arbitrary civilised cultivation of the creative fulfillment of a need which goes back hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary psychology.

Please forgive my indulgence here, and I am not an evangelist. It's quite irrelevant to me whether anyone gives two shits about my philosophical viewpoint.

To the infinite, may all the A-League games this week be fair with flair, may there be good sportsmanship on and off the field and may there be no serious injuries.

Tipping Only Twenty Rounds 'Till the Finals

Well Jacob's soccer was washed out and postponed on Saturday - his team is up to knock-out finals rounds - so Saturday morning was uncharacteristically un-soccer, though the news that CCM had done over Sydney in front of the latter's fans gave me a wicked inner glow. Jacob and I went to see The Simpsons. Truly, I expected the satire to be a bit more... um... now, or something, and despite a few belly laughs it was pretty average.

But anyway Jacob is about to turn 12 and Saturday night was sort of a present from his Mum and I. She and I shouted Jacob and three of his mates to the Roar vs Adelaide game. For Brigita both a soccer game and Suncorp stadium were completely new and although she may never be back for more, she certainly enjoyed it. It was a great night.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game and, completely prepared as I was for Adelaide to thrash us, I was blissed when we equalised with 10 men on the pitch. From any point of view that is a decent result for the Roar at this stage of proceedings. Adelaide beat us last time, and then went on to win the pre-season cup - only weeks ago. The Roar matched them convincingly. Good show.

Ok, just one other thing. Why the hell all the controversy about yellow cards, hard tackles and Moore's expulsion from the game, when no one has adequately explained why the Roar's goal from a free kick was disallowed just before half time? A Roar player was shepherding the wall? I simply don't understand what rule was brought into play, so if anyone could enlighten me it would be an act of charity.

Moving on though, the games have as usual been well analysed elsewhere, indeed by participants in the Down Under Football Tipping Competition, which I might just start calling The Blogger's Cup, because it's shorter. Mike, who unfortunately has not chosen to join us in the tipping (you still can Mike), has written on the Mariner's vs Sydney game and the Roar vs Adelaide game, and no doubt there's more to come. John has done the same here and here, though I'm certain there was a more elaborate version of the latter post up for a short time. So far Tony has given us an excellent wrap of the first game, and then an also excellent general wrap of the round, including his team of the week. Cecilia gives a general wrap up of the round. Wayne focuses on his beloved Central Coast's game and Neil similarly gives a fan's own account of Melbourne's game, as does Jeccy of the Roar's game, and Dane for Sydney's game. Eamonn, as prolific and diverse as ever, managed a snappy wrap of three of the games (where's Newcastle vs Perth?). And it's only a day after the round.

This incidentally, is my first-base media diet - everything from very expert game analysis to the diverse insights and annotations of fans. The mainstream media comes later, but although it often breaks the stories, it's generally very repetitive and predictable in its responses. The amateur blogosphere has an enormous role to play in sports media in my view. Many a sports 'amateur' will be far more competent at football analysis than someone with a journalism degree or cadetship, after all. It's very early days for A-League blogging.

Tipping competition... that's where I was. Apologies for the scattergun narrative style.

Thanks everyone for entering. The Blogger's Cup, which began as a private (though admittedly public) competition between my son and I grew to six by the end of last season and is now starting at 11! If only game attendances were growing so dramatically. The player missing from last year though is the very player which began the competition's growth by entering his tips by comment. Drsimmo, where are you? People are still welcome to enter on zero points (three of us are still on zero anyway). There's glory to be won, and a prize.

Anyway, I'm tabulating the competition as it goes along and publishing it here. I'll link it from the sidebar before this post disappears too far down. The table after Round 1 looks like this:

Dane 4
Wes 3
Neil 2
Tony 2
Dave 1
Eamonn 1
Hamish 1
John 1
Cecilia 0
Jacob 0
Jeccy 0

If I make mistakes, which in the course of the season is very likely, please point them out politely.

The disadvantage for the host of course, is I have to pick first. My tips for this weekend are:

Central Coast vs Wellington
CCM 3:2

Sydney vs Adelaide
Adelaide 1:2

Melbourne vs Perth
Melbourne 1:0

Newcastle vs Queensland
Queensland 1:3

Jacob's Tips:
Central Coast vs Wellington
CCM 1:2

Sydney vs Adelaide
Adelaide 1:2

Melbourne vs Perth
Melbourne 2:1

Newcastle vs Queensland
Queensland 0:3

One final note. Several people had a go at getting me to make a fantasy-league team, and I finally succumbed and joined Tony's game. It was somewhat against my judgment that it would just take up even more time and that it wasn't about real football or something. But I did it and as well as being kind of fun, I've found it a good opportunity to get to know some of the non-media-star players outside the Queensland Roar. I know some of you people seem to just know them all, but I don't ok. It's also interesting to see who Tony and James picks. James in particular will be pleased he picked Matty McKay, the highest scoring player in Round 1.

To all that which we can't comprehend let alone understand, may the A-League games this weekend as well as the U12s semi-final clash between El Salvador and the Hawks be grand events, may all the players perform to their best, may there be good sportsmanship on and off the field, may the adjudication be fair and effective, and may there be no serious injuries.

Peace.

Version 3 Tipping Competition

Well as promised, even as I announced my retirement from the blog, I'm gonna run the second version of the Down Under Football Tipping Competition. And it starts now.

My son Jacob won last season, but it was a close comp. Most of the six competitors were bloggers and I'm hoping that once again it includes most of the community of A-League bloggers. So John, Tony, Dave and Drsimmo, I hope you're all in again, and whilst all are welcome, James (Confessions of an A-League Junkie), Cecilia (Girl's Guide to the A-League), Wayne (The Fisherman's Friend), Mike (The Football Tragic), Neil (Victory in Melbourne), Eamonn (Football in the Capital), Wes (Owatalk Football), Jesse (What in the Roar?) and Dane (Dane's Opinion), you should consider yourselves personally invited.

Each week, at any time before kickoff of the first game, you can either email me if I haven't already blogged (contact Hamish), or leave a comment on the blog I put up. I'll include the tips of Jacob, myself and anyone who's emailed in the post each week.

You tip both the result and the score. You get a point for a correct result (a draw or naming the winner) or 3 points if you get the score right. So every normal round has 12 points up for grabs. Latecomers (not too late) will start on the lowest score thus far.

The PRIZE, at the end of the season, is a bottle of Irish Malt Whiskey or, if as in the case of Jacob you are under aged or otherwise not suited to such pleasures, an A-League Ball.

So to start, here's Jacob's and my tips:

Jacob:
Sydney vs Central Coast
Sydney 2:1

Queensland vs Adelaide
Queensland 2:1

Perth vs Newcastle
Newcastle 0:1

Wellington vs Melbourne
Wellington 5:0

My tips:
Sydney vs Central Coast
Draw 2:2

Queensland vs Adelaide
Draw 1:1

Perth vs Newcastle
Newcastle 1:2

Wellington vs Melbourne
Melbourne 0:2

STOP PRESS: John has just submitted his tips by email.

John:
Sydney vs Central Coast
Sydney 2:1

Queensland vs Adelaide
Queensland Roar 3:1

Perth vs Newcastle
Draw 1:1

Wellington vs Melbourne
Melbourne 0:2

---

Best of luck everyone.

To the Ineffable, may the A-League games this weekend be entertaining, well adjudicated, fair and free of serious injuries.

Oh... and go the bloody Roar!!!!!

Rump Steak and Footy with Jacob

I had everything set up to 'watch' this Newcastle vs Melbourne game in the best way possible. I had the A-League 'live' site up as well as the SBS live scoring site, and had Melbourne radio playing live meanwhile.

Jacob walked into my room. Neighbours had finished. He said, "Let's go."

"What?"

"Let's go to town. This game decides the fate of Queensland man."

"Ok, we'll be late, but let's go. Put your shoes on."

We caught the train, and when we arrived at the Pig & Whistle, we had missed half an hour but it was still nil all.

I'd expected maybe a lot of Roar fans as the Pig & Whistle always play A-League games and I think is one of the official Roar fan bars. We could mostly only spot obvious Sydney supporters.

After the first Newcastle goal, I asked one of them (we were about one foot away from a whole table of these black shirts), "Who do you hope will win?"

"Melbourne."

"I actually hope Newcastle will win. You see I'm a Roar supporter." I stopped myself, in courtesy, from saying, "I really want Queensland to be the ones to knock you guys out of the competition!" So I probably didn't quite make sense.

"But if Melbourne win, then Roar are safe as well as Sydney."

"Yeah," I said, "but it will make it a cracker of a game tomorrow."

The bloke went back to his iced chocolate.

What? A bunch of young male Sydney fans drinking coffees and iced milk drinks?

No...

They did look very uniform. I noticed their shirts weren't actually jerseys, but collared shirts, with all the sponsors upon them, and they all had matching track pants as well. They weren't drinking, and then one said, "I'm going to go for a massage. At 8.30 we can get a massage."

I turned to the bloke again. "You aren't the team are you?"

"No."

How silly of me. "Are you playing for the Cove in the curtain raiser?"

"No."

"Um, it's just that you all have matching track pants, and, um, none of you are drinking."

"Ok, we're the players."

"What's your name?"

"David."

"David who?"

"David Carney."

"Oh."

I'll only make one real note. These guys clearly wanted Melbourne to win. They were noticeably stunned as Newcastle walked over Melbourne. In their eyes - each and every one of the eight or nine of them there - was, "Oh fuck, we might not make the finals." They did not look confident to me. As Jacob pointed out, maybe there were a bunch of Roar players somewhere looking the same way. The only certainty is, this one tomorrow night is really going to be a cracker.

As they left (as soon as the fourth goal was scored), I said to David Zdrilic, "May the best team win." He said, "Thanks mate," and I reckon that was about as much as either of us could have expected from the other.

I meant it though. May the best team win. I reckon the Roar are the best team, but in under twenty-four hours, we'll all know.

Round 15 Predictions

The scores so far:
Drsimmo: 21
Jacob: 20
Tony: 19
Hamish: 17
John: 17

Special congratulations to Tony for predicting Newcastle's win over Melbourne.

John and I are suffering from our dogged loyalty to the Roar. But doggedly loyal I remain! What the Roar need is a special meeting at the base of the Wally Lewis statue outside Suncorp stadium, with Wally Lewis himself there to explain to them, in detail, how and why the statue came to be. It certainly doesn't represent just him, it represents what Queenslanders do when all is apparently lost. Frank Farina would know the story well. Frankly (pathetically enough the pun was intended) I am very comfortable now with the Roar at 7th place on the ladder and four games to go. It is quite clear that we are now ready to come back, and then win the Grand Final.

My predictions:
Adelaide United FC vs Melbourne Victory FC
Adelaide 2:1

Queensland Roar FC vs Perth Glory FC
Queensland 3:1

New Zealand Knights FC vs Newcastle Jets FC
Newcastle 0:2

Central Coast Mariners FC vs Sydney FC
Draw 2:2

Jacob's predictions:
Adelaide United FC vs Melbourne Victory FC
Melbourne 1:2

Queensland Roar FC vs Perth Glory FC
Perth 0:2

New Zealand Knights FC vs Newcastle Jets FC
Newcastle 0:3

Central Coast Mariners FC vs Sydney FC
Draw 1:1

Incidentally, Jacob's team The West End Terrorists won 2:1 last weekend, in a very hard-fought game against 2nd on the ladder The Eagles. The Terrorists were number 7 on the ladder (now 6, of about 10 I think), they were missing two players, and for anyone not familiar with Indoor Soccer it is normally a very high-scoring game. Last week they lost 15:0 to Queensland Roar (4th on the ladder), we really thought we'd lose and I had resorted to the 'just fight to the end and learn from the game' rave - let's call it constructive defeatism. But the boys were brilliant. Due to us missing our main goalie Jacob took the final 10 minutes in goal, and he made several saves to let none through. For posterity, the two Terrorist goals were scored by Jiaan and Stavros, our two best strikers, who also took turns at goal. Brilliant, hard-working defence from Deklan and Morgan kept the Eagle's strikes few and furtive. Jacob normally plays a sort of attacking mid-field role, though in this game everyone is everywhere.

This Saturday the Terrorists play the Newfarm Jets. I am not making a prediction and neither myself nor the coaching staff are speaking to the media before the game.

Finally, for both the A-League and Brisbane's Under 12 Indoor Soccer comp, a prayer to the ineffable infinite: may the best teams win, may sportsmanship overcome egos, and may there be no major injuries (minor scratches and bruises are fine).

Movie Review: Hooligans and Thugs

Movie Review: Hooligans and Thugs - Soccer's most Violent Fan Fights, Umbrella Entertainment

I watched this DVD on the weekend. It was hard to get to the end because it is actually nauseating. Far from being a documentary, it is 58 minutes of non-stop violence, some of it very graphic and horrible, and with no special effects whatsoever. How this manages to be graced with an MA15+ rating is beyond me, as there is no way I would allow a child to watch this in any circumstances, and I am a very liberal parent in that regard.

In the opening minutes of the movie there is a very unconvincing qualifier from narrator Steve Jones (never heard of this tosser but he is described as "the original punk rocker") that 'this is not meant to condone violence but just to document what really happens' or some such. Then it goes on to splice together the violence to hip music and comments like, 'that would have hurt' and 'some people's hooliganism is another's fun'. There is no reports of any game which does not have any violence, and a viewer new to the sport would be more than forgiven for believing that every soccer game ever is coupled with brutal violence.

Meanwhile there are criticisms of the police for being just as thug-like as the thugs. Some of the footage certainly makes this case, but there are no interviews with police or authorities charged with controlling the hooligans and no suggestion of what they are supposed to do about it. So the criticism just comes across as youthful anx.

The video is from an English point of view and is frankly racist, especially toward Turks and South Americans. No interviews with hooligans from these places, just caracatures.

"Banned in the UK" is proudly displayed on the front of the case. Well you could certainly get a hearty freedom of speech debate going over this one. My own view is that banning this movie just gives it credibility. And it's possible - I doubt it but it's possible - that the ugly, one-sided point of view is even intentional, as it punches the audience in the face with the stupidity of the point of view as well as the reality of violence. Put another way, the implicit question, "Do you really want to be this mindless and stupid?" is louder than the explicit glorification of violence.

But the violence is certainly real, and for me the movie did expose Les Murray's 'there's violence in every sport and soccer is just played a lot' argument as just a little naive. The 'conclusion' of the movie is that violence is not going away but is here to stay and will most likely get worse. Mind you this is a conclusion the movie seemed to celebrate rather than mourn, alongside a petulant, 'get used to it' message for the rest of us. But it should raise real questions about the nature of fandom and team-support and provoke us to watch for directions as well as realities.

The A-League is still pretty small, and the worst we get is some thug-like groups shouting abuse at each other. Harmless enough. At the same time Australia does not escape the attention of this movie as some pretty horrible rioting is shown from a youth world cup (Melbourne? Someone help me out here?) in the 80s. There's no meaningful analysis of course so there's no way to know whether this rioting was local chaps or English and European fans. But the point is crowd violence is so ugly, and so bad for our beautiful sport, that there's no harm in being aware of the possibilities as we form our own fan culture.

My own conclusion might sound a bit namby-pamby self-righteous grandma fluffy, but nevertheless here it is. I'm all for a bit of fun, I'm all for the grand larrikin traditions of irony and taking the piss. But at the same time we should be aware of the logical conclusions of abusing teams just because they are the other team, in a very similar vein as we as a society should be aware of the logical conclusion of abusing people just because they are from another country. I daresay the same tribal instincts, evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago (probably in that context for very good reasons of survival), are at work.

Good sportsmanship, on and off the field, is the sign of maturity and true moral strength. Like all good things it is not something we can just switch on, but something that is a journey for each one of us. But it is a journey with high rewards. The biggest reward is our beautiful game's ability to grow and thrive. If we take to the joys of the dark side of our humanity, we can destroy our game. This movie is compelling evidence of that.

Tips for Round Fourteen

There were some serious points won last round, but none of them by me. Drsimmo has taken the lead and I have gone from 1st to third place. I've had a couple of whiskey's but I think this is right so far:

Drsimmo: 19
Jacob: 18
Hamish: 17
John: 16
Tony: 16

My tips for Round 14:
Sydney FC vs Queensland Roar FC
QLD 0:2

Central Coast Mariners FC vs Adelaide United FC
Adelaide 1:2

Perth Glory FC vs New Zealand Knights
Draw 1:1

Melbourne Victory FC vs Newcastle Jets FC
Melbourne 2:1

Jacob's tips:
Sydney FC vs Queensland Roar FC
Sydney 2:1

Central Coast Mariners FC vs Adelaide United FC
Adelaide 0:2

Perth Glory FC vs New Zealand Knights
Perth 3:1

Melbourne Victory FC vs Newcastle Jets FC
Melbourne 3:1

Unfortunately Tony, the Terrorists were defeated last week, so you got that one wrong. If you really want irony, they played a team rather pretentiously named Queensland Roar.

A-League Predictions, Round 13

I'm not going to make a prediction for the game between Australia and Ghana in the morning. For that game, I will just look to the infinite and ask that every one of the players on the field play their best, that the best team win, and that there are no serious injuries. Go the Socceroos. This ain't gonna be easy.

Meanwhile, though I'm making these predictions earlier in the week than usual, to make it a bit fairer on the other players, I'm not going to add any comment, as I've got to get up at half past bloody five to watch.

Scores so far:
Hamish: 17
Jacob: 16
Drsimmo: 15
John: 11 (I gave you a point, in case you want to keep playing - didn't get much time last week)
Tony: 10

My call:
Queensland vs Melbourne
Queensland 3:2

Perth vs Newcastle
Newcastle 0:2

New Zealand vs Central Coast
Draw 1:1

Sydney vs Adelaide
Draw 2:2

Jacob's call:
Queensland vs Melbourne
Melbourne 1:3

Perth vs Newcastle
Newcastle 1:2

New Zealand vs Central Coast
Central Coast 0:1

Sydney vs Adelaide
Adelaide 1:2

When I watch the greats playing - especially the South Americans - I almost envy them their Catholicism as they make their little prayers and cross themselves before taking kicks and the like. The connection with the sacred, however it is concieved or expressed, most certainly does no harm, and I suspect it does good, though probably for relatively mundane reasons to do with the way our brains have evolved. We do, whether we like it or not, have to live every day alongside an incomprehensible and infinite reality after all. So it is that ineffable Everything to which I once again gaze and humbly ask for good sportsmanship, good entertainment and no serious injuries this weekend.

Cheers, and good night.

The Queensland Meow

The unique aspect to my experience at Suncorp Stadium last night was that I spent it in a corporate box. I don't think the people who invited me - parents of Stavros, one of Jacob's Terrorist mates - even know I blog, so I don't feel I should name the company, but needless to say I appreciated the opportunity to experience the game from the vantage point of the privileged. Even better when the boys, with Stavros' mother, were also able to be invited up as a few of the clients had failed to show up.

I had virtually premeditated this blog as a comparison of the experiences. I was ready to talk about how I so much prefer the course banter and smells in the main stands, screaming, swearing and drinking beer out of plastic cups. But I must be perfectly honest here. The corporate box was brilliant.

The food was brilliant, drinking proper beer out of glasses was brilliant, the bird's eye view from pretty-much the centre of the pitch - although distant - was brilliant. Even the company - even aside from my friends who invited me - was jovial and fun. A couple of the clients were knowledgable football buffs, but most weren't, but they were interested and there to enjoy.

I did feel privileged. Hell, I was privileged. No pretence otherwise. But I will not miss it when I'm back with the plebians. Because I still love the smells, the language, the course heckling humour, and the beer from plastic cups.

The night itself was beautiful. The West End Terrorists had beaten the Hogz that morning at Indoor Soccer 8 points to 4, which aided the high to begin with. Even the football was enjoyable to watch, especially in the first half.

What the hell is wrong with the Roar? Now I should prelude this with the fact that I pretty much expected Adelaide to win. But I expected them to win by outplaying the Roar. Once again, a deja vu from Round 5, the Roar dominated completely. Just by watching the play, watching the midfielders repeatedly stealing possession and beautifully passing it around and up the field, there was no question who should have won the game.

So I'm no longer blaming the midfield and the loss of Massimo. Frankly Matty, Seo and Packer are purring. Sassa didn't have his best game, and made a few silly mistakes, but overall the defence was also tight and fluid. The ineffectual meow is in the strikers, and especially Reinaldo.

I'm going back through my memorys of the Brazilian. The first I saw him was in Round 4 against the kiwis and he appeared to have a few good chances there, and I put it down to luck that he didn't score from play. He did score from a penalty though. It wasn't clear that it was his penalty to kick, but he had the ball in his hands and there was clearly to be no discussion or consultation about it, and here is where I'm beginning to piece together a problem of psychology. He took the kick, got the goal, and did the most ostentatious celebration of the evening.

Now I loved his cartwheel and double backflip, and said so at the time. Don't get me wrong there. But perhaps a little bell should have rung when a couple of weeks later he boasted about how he was going to surprise the Roar fans with more celebratory acrobatics next time he played here. This guy really likes himself. The name on the back of the jersey is more important to him than the one on the front, to paraphrase the coach in Goal!

Last night you could see it in his movement and almost feel his one-track desire to put the ball in the net, at the expense of any good play. There were several times he could have fed it to Lynch and just didn't. He called for the ball virtually every time anyone else had it, without apparently reading the game around him at all. Lynch on the other hand was more coherent, and several times did get it to Reinaldo, but the show pony, in nervous egoistic excitement, couldn't deliver. That's what I'm seeing; it's an interpretation, but it's been growing on me for a few weeks now.

It seems wrong to scapegoat one player, and there were other mistakes on the field, but overall the Roar looked like a very effective machine. Something is wrong. That something appears to be up front. I'm making my call now: that something is a Brazilian with an ego bigger than Miron Bleiberg's.

I'd like to see a start next week against Melbourne with Zhang and Lynch up front. For so many reasons the Roar can beat Melbourne. Whether we will or not depends entirely upon what happens up front.

Cheers.