Apparently Etihad Stadium is to miss out on the 2018 World Cup Bid?
Why? Because enlightened CEO Ian Collins and his AFL mates realised after five years of trying they could never get a pitch up to football standard....ain't that the truth!
Quiz is on page 8. Any junior club in Australia can use any of the content in this newsletter providing they acknowledge me, and also inform me that you are doing it. flanagan.eamonn@gmail.com, thank you.
Next one May 1st so set your clubs newsletter by it!
A-League, Socceroos, Robbi Fowler, Nearpost, Perth Glory, Matildas, Asian Champions League, FFA, Asia Cup, India, South Korea, World Cup Memories we've got it all.
Lucy Zelic, Paddy Bordier and Eamonn Flanagan take you through all the Australian football news and views, quiz and this weeks dedication to SBS lover of all things English football!
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South Korea will be tough, Bahrain are beatable but we open against India.
And to think Aussies thought the Indians only played cricket.
Over 100,000 regularly attend the Calcutta Derby and with Coerver making in roads among the 200 million middle class, and Chelsea FC's search for a football superstar in India we'd better grab the chance to beat the World's second biggest nation while we can.
A great draw for the future of Australia in Asia. And with India and China at the Asia Cup there will be an increased bit of interest you'd imagine.
Imagine if we win the World Cup bid, the AFL and of course Mr Ian Collins, CEO of Etihad Stadium will have the satisfaction of being the only CEO of a major stadium in Australia.....
Who doesn't get to host any World Cup games...nice one Ian, one for the CV, and the Grandchildren!
Anzac Day, then May.
First the Bid Book!
Then Matildas head to China for the Asia Cup. All Aussie games live on ABC TV and of course they must come in the top three to make the World Cup.
For football, for the Women's game this is a crucial development point. It will be tight and tense with China and Korea Rep in our group.
And then to the build-up to the World Cup. Squad announcement, let the speculation start in earnest come May 1, then the farewell friendly against New Zealand.
Then on South Africa.
The World Cup, all live on SBS. I'm starting to focus!
Bit of a yawn to see the papers full of "NRL" crises, again.
This time, shock oh horror, the Salary Cap has been breached, and not a News Ltd employee knew a dicky bird.
And what of every other code, AFL, A-League, Union etc I'm sure the only reason most clubs don't break the cap is because they don't have the money.
Really, reckon it's just a plot to keep Rugger's one big news story of the year off the back page. FTA TV, for Union, both Super 14 and the Wallabies and some more dosh and of course a heap of local Union games. Finally and doesn't it make sense.
Well done boys, but reckon the Socceroos are about twenty times bigger than the Wallabies,even if your daddy doesn't think so; so about time we saw the Green and Gold on FTA. If Union can do it and survive financially surely the FFA can sort a package out.
Meanwhile back in Storm land, the CEO of Storm has joined the Melbourne Rebels, the S15 Union side.......carry on everyone...
Sorry Mr Dimetriou it's a Melbourne Victory player, when it said Australian Football I thought of you!
Good luck with your recruitment in Co.Kerry and South Africa, mate!
From the Bangkok Post
Following his new deal with Melbourne Victory, he is believed to be the highest-paid Thai footballer.
Surat said he received A$85,000 (about two million baht) a year in his original contract.
He will get A$168,000 (about 4.5 million baht) per year or about 378,000 baht a month from his new contract.
The three Roar players, Tommy Oar, Adam Sarota and Michael Zullo left for Utrecht last week.
All players will receive the Dutch minimum wage for overseas players with Zullo and Oar, given their representative football, getting possibly getting more.
The minimum wage in Holland is Euro 200,000 which transfers to a cool $300,000 just now.
Adam Sarota, 21, hardly played for the Roar yet when he did he looked like he might improve, if he played a lot more. By 21 he hadn't had many games in Australia and yet Utrecht saw something, enough to offer him $300,000 rumoured to be just $100,000 less than Archie Thompson is on!
So are we undervaluing our players, in monetary terms, yes of course, but more importantly in playing terms.
A three year deal in Holland should, providing they don't let it go to their heads, and lets face it after being on $50,000+ at the Roar who wouldn't let it go to their heads, provide for an increased payday next time. No wonder they don't care if they don't play..too much.
Nice work lads, but given the transfer fee, the three players involved, the A-League clubs should be playing the young lads even more. By 21, we could have many more Adam Sarota's running around and loads of dosh being transferred to the league.
Time to play the young guns, and more of them, more often!
Salary Cap approaches $5 million for cashed up clubs! (Can't find one under my bed)
More money for another Marquee announces the FFA. Fantastic but hasn't someone told them the Fury, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Phoenix, Adelaide, Sydney and more are all in some sort of financial woe.
Make that basket cases!
So our A-League clubs struggling for revenue has the opportunity to spend more money...on players. And what football club can resist that overspend. History shows, in Australia, and indeed in the EPL, not one!
So our resource stretched clubs can now spend:
$2.5mill (approx) on salaries etc.
$150,000 on an Under 23 Marquee
$1 million or more on Marquee, Fowler-esque.
$1 million on an Aussie Marquee. Kewell-esque...but wait will they spend it on Chippers or Carney or Sterjovski, oh they already did!
And of course the Youth budget, can't call $5,000 a salary can you?
It sounds great, almost a plan. But which club can take the plunge, actually use it and make it sustainable.
The FFA announced the W-League with a salary cap of $150,000 when it was launched; total bollocks of course, that is never used. Surely this will be the same in the A-League.
If Melbourne Victory can't put a team together worthy of Asia with their crowd base over the last five years, what chance any other club (bar one with a one-off spend big investor do we still have any of them?) utilising the full options of our salary machinations.
Aren't the FFA supposed to be trying to assist the clubs, ensuring they survive?
Any evidence of a football club keeping within it's revenue restrictions in the history of the game? Maybe but not in Australia.
Are the FFA finally embracing the games history!
A-League, Asian Champions League, Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United, Socceroos.
Lucy Zelic takes the chair, Paddy and Eamonn are up for the quiz question, and did Zeljko mean it...the goal not the comments!
Quiz, dedication to Lucas Neill and news; we've got the lost.
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A-League, Asian Champions League, Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United, Socceroos.
Paddy Bordier takes the chair, Lucy Zelic and Eamonn are technically and tactically knocked out.
Quiz, dedication and news; we've got the lost.
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A-League, Asian Champions League, Melbourne Victory, Brisbane Roar, Mitch Langerak, and why Mitch will be our last Socceroos keeper EVER!
Con Stamacostas joins Eamonn as technically and tactically Lucy Zelic and Paddy Bordier are knocked out, one two bang.
Quiz, dedication and news we've got the lost.
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Con Stamacostas talks about the Nearpost's worst nightmare. Big Bad overpaid Mr D. Heart, Fury, Sydney FC, ACL and a Victory rant..from a Sydney fan. Socceroos' news and which returning Socceroo will be the first to Coach Australia?
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Tonights Podcast is full of it.
More Socceroos Coaches than you could dream of and of course the joy of Muscat missing to everyone outside Melbourne, and why did theose Victory fans leave early...were they all heading to the airport to fly to Japan...dedicated best fans in the league bar none!
It's all here, name five Aussies who played for Hiroshima, name the previous five Aussie Coaches and Joe Gibbs....
where did Joe Gibb come from. The Aziz Behich of Sydney, although we'd seen Aziz on the bench and the field for Victory before the Melbourne game, but Joe Gibb...every Australian footballer still at school...on the field in the Grand Final, 44,000 people...oh and it's your debut..Wow. Just wished he'd taken a penalty!
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Choose from:
Best Aussie
Best candidate anywhere
Most realistic choice.
All tonight on the Nearpost radio and pod.
Plus the Grand Final wrap. Why the victory fans went home and of course Leckie is back in the ACL...tomorrow night.
AFL and NRL go to sleep after their Grand final, and rightly so, but football never stops I tell ya!
and in news just in Terry Henry says it's looking like:
Rafa..as he's soon to be out of work
Ricky Herbert..he could do the Australian team as well as we're in Asia, NZ have note!
Or Ross Aloisi as it would get him off Fox Sports.
And Paddy Bordier says:
Frank Farina, John Barnes, Gary Marocchi, Iain Dowie, Alan Shearer
… are all managers I don't want for Australia.
There can be only one. Bernd Stange to manage the Socceroos
Seems neither of my co-hosts know anything about anyone outside of the UK and Frank Farina.
Gordon Strachan just quietly......
Now not sure the AFL or NRL get re-shown in Korea or even on the Korea news but what about the A-League?
We could have had Joe Gibbs or Mark Bridge take the final penalty or maybe a hero from North Queensland, Mitch Langarek save it.
Would have been big in Cairns the next day.
But Sydney always with an eye to the market, the future, sent in Korean Byun Sung-Hwan, and he duly scored and won the Grand Final.
So I reckon the A-League Grand Final with it's huge crowd has played out on Korean TV Stations all over the country this morning.
or maybe Koreans woke to news on Ben Cousins injuries or North Queensland Cowboys over Penrith Panthers footage instead.
In a week where Andrew Demitriou has raised the hackles once more of Aussie sports fans good to see football can go where the AFL can't, in a week where a Aussie Newspaper Editor told a journo he must ask a question about crowd violence ahead of the A-League game to the Coaches, and where news coverage of the game has been registered to minor pages and the last story in the week leading up to the final on many news and radio bulletins, I say take that Mr AFL and all the pathetic Sports Editors in the country who continue to bring bias into their news coverage; and yes that includes the ABC!
Wow! Now I grew up on Celtic Rangers rivalry so my non-Celtic Rangers mates in England always hooted long and loud when at the annual Scottish Cup Final (they always play don't they or maybe it just seems that way,) when Celtic (or ahem...Rangers have won it) the Cup is presented to the Celtic captain.
As the camera pans the stadium there is never ANYONE and I mean anyone in the Rangers end watching our hooped hero lift the precious cup.
Now having travelled along way I always hung around no matter who won. I didn't have the hatred I guesss, never did.
So when Sydney FC were presented with the trophy last night it seemed to me that 40,000 Melbourne fans had walked, gone home.
Is this a sign of real hatred, Celtic Rangers style? Surely not.
Were the Vic's too tired after all that extra-time? Surely not AFL goes forever.
or is it a sign that fans aren't that fussed about the whole A-League thing still. A final sure but hanging around to watch the celebrations. Meh!
Does this happen in AFL, always the stadium seems full to the end of the tedious speeches and same same in NRL.
Aussie fans generally seem to stay, in my view. So I was stunned to see the Melbourne fans do the whole Celtic/Rangers thing.
Can anyone explain?
Oh my God, oh my God.
SBS have announced their World Cup Commentary and there is no place for Australia's best football commentator, Simon Hill.
He who, more than John Aloisi and Tim Cahill, took us through against Uruguay and the whole Kaisaslaturn thing.
David Basheer and Kevin Muscat re the dream team. Do they really have the articulation, humour and style to bring the game alive a la Simon Hill?
Aussie fan: This World Cup just won't be the same. I've got bad vibes already.
Aussie mums: We like Simon Hill.
SBS Commentator Scott McIntyre proposes that Asian Champions League is so important to Melbourne Victory in terms of prestige, and financial rewards that they should play a Youth team in the Grand Final in Melbourne on Saturday. Even I don't write such tripe, well okay sometimes but only once a week!
Scott, we're trying to promote the local game, and you and your mates at SBS could sometimes help a tad more.
I like your sentiment about Asia, I love the ACL, but this is the Grand Final, in Australia.
And I'd rather see a game with 50,000 screaming fans at an A-League match where local pride is on the line, than the Champions of Korea, Japan or China taking on Melbourne Victory with 7,000 passing by. No matter the quality of either game.
Not very SBS I guess, but football is more than just the quality of the game. How would I know? I've been watching Celtic thump Kilmarnock and occasionally Rangers in front of 60,000 for years. Quality, who cares!
Steve Corica retired, John Aloisi we want you...but maybe at $100,000...and Karol Kisel excellent finish to the season but at 33 you can go to. All the old men on the move and if Sydney can add pace to this years performance the Coach could see his team improve further.
Although with half a team on the way a faster team may not mean a better team. Depends clearly who comes in.
But I like it!
But of course who they get in, remains to be seen.
Nakamura has been rumoured and that would be a step up from Kisel wouldn't it, plus younger. But either way will be interesting to see how Vitaslav builds a new faster team.
Particularly given young guns like Chris Payne and Youth team leaders like Sam Munro don't seemed to be signed up in a rush.
Interesting times for re-building at Sydney FC. For the moment it's all about who's leaving, Colosimo, Clint Bolton, that makes half a team in my book.
Grand Final Fever and salute to Adelaide United. Quiz Questions, PaddyTime, and all the Aussie football talk including that rumour and the next Sydney FC marquee?
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The nation's capital is full of Governments determined to keep their kids fat, maybe make them fatter!
Kids want to play sport, seems thousands want to play football, but the local sports ground planners say, "football is a winter code," and therefore you can only get a ground broadly speaking from April/May to September and make that the first week in September.
Time they stopped spending money on health promotions and actually let the kids play the sports they want when they want.
How many more years do Canberra kids have to put up with this tripe?
Football goes from March 1 to December 1 for our kids, includes pre-season, the season and development/summer competitions and it's about time our officials got it.
For every hundred kids on an oval playing football, running and working off obesity Australia they can let 20/30 kids play cricket, a few less play baseball etc etc. Nothing against any other sports but isn't it time the kids of Australia got a chance to play sport.
The ones they want, when they want?
Newcastle Jets have a plan, and it's taken SIX years. Fantastic to have a plan, but errrr it's Season 6 coming up.
You mean you seriously never ever thought of this, linking the juniors to our game. I'll get my coat.
I'm available for any dozy A-League Club for just a thousand dollars you can have a five page plan on how to connect your male dominated professional club, with the community, your junior base and yes the females who love and play the game. But you know all that, or so you think.
Even the Brumbies after ten or so years of local passion and coverage STILL give free season ticket to ANY registered junior player. Admittedly that ain't many but geez louise if our strength is the junior base...not Free-to-air, why did it take so long. Do all clubs do this or am I an idiot!
In a brand new initiative, families with children (Under 12) currently registered with a Northern NSW junior football club will be able to take advantage of the ‘My Club’ program, aimed to support those dedicated fans within the local football community. ‘My Club’ family memberships will begin from under $27 per game for 2 adults and 2 children (1 of which must be registered with a NNSW junior football club).
Country memberships designed specifically for supporters based 150km’s or further from EnergyAustralia Stadium will again be available, and non-ticketed memberships for those supporters unable to attend all of the Jets’ home matches throughout the 2010/11 season will go on sale from $29 per adult.
Wellington lost 4-2 to Sydney in the A-League semi final in front of 13,000 fans at the SFS.
As many have suspected Wellington's finals were played at home the last two weeks, and despite their equalizer to make it 1-1 and a dubious hand of payne goal for Sydney to ease back into the lead, the Nix were never in this.
In truth they were porous against Perth and the Jets in the final series but through penalties and eventually last week through Paul Ifill they edged through.
All season they've been dodgy away from Wellington and last night they lacked much attacking inventiveness and almost no defensive nous. Four goals tells it's own tactical debacle.
Sydney, hardly the World's greatest team, show enough organisation to make the team way better than it's part. Thank the Coach, but they still lack real excitement and goal power upfront. Although last night with an inspired substitution, well injury forced John Aloisi off for two goal hero Chris Payne, and a Nix defence that went walk about all night really, Sydney cruised it.
Chris Payne was left unmarked early, then had enough strength to get his shot away. He clearly lacks real pace but his goal was a worthy one and encouraging for another young Aussie striker. Too slow? Another Sydney trademark?
The second was a real Payne of a goal, turning the match in Sydney's favour.
But in the second half, Andrew Durrante who has played well all season got skinned too easy for Sydney's match winner by Alex Brosque, and although Mark Bridge tried to miss an open goal it went in and the game was won 4-1. Dadi scored late on for Wellington.
So the FFA get a big game in Melbourne, hope Ian Collins sorts his debacle of a pitch out, and of course the FFA and AFC don't have to worry about the Nix getting in to the ACL.
Will Sydney win in Melbourne?
I think not. No Corica and maybe no John Aloisi. That should be enough for Melbourne if Archie Thompson is back and he seems to be.
Let's hope no-one is sent-off to ruin this final, but if necessary the book comes out early and often.
Also Brosque will stir the old Muscat and that should be good to see.
These are the two best football teams in the League, it's just Sydney never excite this neutral in the final third. Lack of pace, lack of firepower and still they make the top two.
Still they have shown they can beat Melbourne home and away over the ninety, with or without Corica or Aloisi. And Melbourne aren't the tightest in the midfield and even the Central Coast thrashed them at home this year so anything is possible.
But can Sydney halt the balls from Carlos to Robbie Kruse and Archie Thompson? Not all night and the defensive pairing of Stephan Kellar and Simon Colosimo should be exposed for positional by-passing and pace as they have been recently in games against the Jets, Perth and Victory.
With the Melbourne crowd expected to sell-out the stadium it should be a hell of a party...for the winner.
For every Coach and Parent of any junior Australia team, including the futsal hoofers who smash the ball from end to end.
This is not football. It never was and watch the video to see FFA Technical Director Han Berger start to correct the "fault" in our junior players.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/217577/Han-Berger%27s-coaching-tips
One of Australia's best football podcasts is here once more and there is so much football to talk about.
Socceroos, Matildas, A-League, Asian Champions League, Quiz and dedications what more could you want.
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And yes we've got a new player...woo hoo!
No Free-To-Air football so little reason for news channels and newspapers to report football games and events.
Why else would the biggest sporting event on the weekend in one of our major cities, Sydney be ignored by the Daily Telegraph in the lead up to the game?
It still amazes me how many Rebecca Wilson's Peter FitzSimons and the like we have in the media, and why football still gets poor coverage.
Les Murray says.
In this respect the behaviour of the Sydney media, in particular the Murdoch press, was an utter disgrace.
On that Sunday the Sydney-Melbourne showdown was the biggest sporting event in Sydney by any measure. Yet on the day before the game the Daily Telegraph, Sydney’s biggest selling daily (I’m not sure why), gave less than a tenth of its sports space to the game, burying it, while it dedicated 60 per cent of its allotment to the NRL, which was not due to kick off for another week.
The sleazy, grubby and calculated media resistance to football, five years after Johnny Warren’s death, is alive and well.
Even tonights opponent Sas Ognenovski says what all football fans know. We love the Victory style but can they play a 1-0 win in Asia, against class opposition.
Even with Kevin Muscat they have been pretty lame, even immature in a football sense. Attack at pace, hit Archie on the break. But do they have something more. Fine for the A-League...but in Asia.
Tonight we'll see if Ernie has what Aurelio Vidmar clearly has, tactical nous!
"I think Melbourne’s attacking instincts and open style might actually work against them," he told The World Game.
“They like to take a few risks and commit players forward and make the play and while that’s good to watch it carries with it the chance of getting caught out.
“Adelaide are totally different tactically, even at home they play on the counter and that’s how they got the better of Pohang (in their Group H opener), who are very good side. If they get a goal up, they know how to protect that goal.
Melbourne play again tomorrow night, Tuesday, in the Asian Champions League and they must win. Simple as that.
On a high from the win against Sydney but few Aussie clubs, even clubs across the World have to play Sunday then Tuesday. Seongnam winners on matchday one are the visitors to Melbourne.
A loss for Melbourne and the Victory may see their campaign over, or almost, before it starts.
The AFC and FFA seem to have rocks in their heads as International dates, Finals dates and travel for the best in club football in Asia produce such a schedule for Melbourne.
Adelaide head to Shandong where anything but a defeat will cement the importance of that opening day win. And it will be interesting to see how the New United perform.
A win away and you'd have to think they'll sail through.
With Adelaide looking the goods, and Melbourne still to show in Asia another feast of football lights up the Australian midweek.
And Ross Aloisi doesn't live in Melbourne does he?
