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Football (Soccer) - Sport: The Australian Disease

Phoenix falling?

November 18th 2008 07:16
Wellington Phoenix
In an interview screened on The World Game, SBS’s excellent football program, Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam made an extraordinary pronouncement: he wants the Wellington Phoenix to be expelled from the A-League.


“Australia is engaging a non-Australian team in its league,” he explained, despite the AFC’s wish for “the A-League to have only Australian clubs. The A-League has permission from FIFA to do so but only till 2011. Our Pro-League committee has approved this situation but after 2011 all clubs have to be Australian.”

Wellington reacted calmly to this dramatic news. “We believe we form an integral part of the A-League, FIFA have endorsed us and the FFA are happy with us,” chief executive Tony Pignata argued. For its part, the FFA, which was apparently taken by surprise, offered no real comment at all. “The FFA is aware,” CEO Ben Buckley declared, “that the AFC has raised concerns about teams participating in national domestic league competitions that are not from the country of the competition”.

While he was busy dropping bombshells about the A-League, Bin Hammam took the opportunity to voice an opinion that was already well-known: he expects the national competition to introduce a system of promotion and relegation.

The Qatari’s intervention into Australian affairs raises two important questions. Firstly, does he know what he’s talking about? And, secondly, will he be able to get his way?


On the balance of probabilities, Bin Hammam will- and probably expects to- get his way. One should not be fooled by his placid demeanour: FIFA plays its politics in the most ruthless fashion, which means that nobody rises to the level of confederation president unless they know a thing or two about doing deals and kicking heads in. As the godfather of Asian football, Bin Hammam wields considerable power, not only regionally, but globally.

That said, he does not possess dictatorial power. Like all of FIFA’s senior office bearers, Bin Hammam has been voted into his position, which means that he can be voted out of it. Confederation presidents may, by nature, be ruthless, but they are pragmatists as well, with a keen eye for counting the numbers and observing which way the wind is blowing.

No better example of this could there be than the decision, in 2002, to award Oceania direct entry into the World Cup. This was done at the behest of none other than Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, who thought it wrong that the OFC should be the only confederation denied a guaranteed place at the sport’s gala event. However, following a revolt by the influential South Americans, Blatter allowed the reform to be reversed the year after. It was thanks to such clever politicking that despite his many enemies, the controversial Swiss was re-elected unopposed in 2007. So, while Bin Hammam may be used to getting his way, the possibility of him backing down in the face of concerted opposition exists.

This, then, leads to the other question: should Bin Hammam’s plans be opposed? There are many Australians who would be pleased at the thought of Wellington being kicked out of their national league. From the moment the Auckland Football Kingz joined the former NSL, to the admission of the New Zealand Knights as a founding member of the A-League, and more recently to their replacement by the Phoenix, a large number of parochial voices have decried the supposed charity shown to our neighbours across the Tasman. Not only are we assisting a country that might prevent us from qualifying for the World Cup, they argue, we are awarding these foreigners representation at the expense of cities such as Canberra and Wollongong. In any case, they conclude, the whole exercise is a waste of time, because neither the Kingz, nor the Knights, nor the Phoenix have ever made the finals.

There is some merit to all three arguments. Yes, the presence of the Phoenix helps to boost the standard and profile of football in New Zealand, at a time when the All Whites might soon be playing off against the Socceroos for a place at South Africa 2010 (as the winner of Oceania’s qualification series, which was New Zealand, will be pitted against the nation that finishes fifth in Asia, which might be Australia). Yes, it seems strange that the Australian league should include a representative from another country’s capital but not its own. And, yes, the Kiwi clubs have provided audiences with more lowlights than highlights over the years.

However, there is greater merit in the counter-arguments. Instead of focussing on keeping the New Zealand game down, we should be concentrating on lifting ours up. Sport is cyclical, so while the Phoenix have struggled to win matches during their brief existence, history suggests that if they can manage their affairs with competence, success will eventually come. And when that happens, Australia will be no less of a winner than New Zealand. Spirited trans-Tasman clashes will capture the attention of fans and media in both countries. Furthermore, they will help to consolidate a market that would otherwise be unavailable to the FFA. After all, if not for the Phoenix, how many of New Zealand’s four million people would be interested in attending an A-League game, buying an A-League shirt, or watching an A-League fixture on television? On balance, the participation of a New Zealand franchise in the Australian competition serves the interests of both parties.

But what of Bin Hammam’s other proposal, that the A-League should consist of two divisions? This is an idea that is good in theory but unviable in reality. Although relegation battles can be dramatic affairs, which both excite neutrals and provide supporters with an incentive to keep backing struggling teams, the promotion-relegation system is a luxury that the FFA cannot afford. The Australian sporting marketplace is too competitive, and the A-League too immature, to sustain the minimum of 20 professional clubs that would presumably be needed to make such a scheme work. Given that the league’s eight current members are struggling to stay afloat, how could they be expected to turn a profit if they were dumped to the second division and forced to play against the likes of the Blacktown City Demons and Altona Magic? Even the most loyal supporter would struggle for motivation to attend such matches when football finals and international cricket would be happening at the same time.

For all Mohamed Bin Hammam's intelligence and experience, he is wrong about the Wellington Phoenix and he is wrong about promotion-relegation. Expelling one and introducing the other would be retrogressive steps, which would only weaken the A-League, and therefore Asian football. The Qatari needs to be enlightened about Australian conditions, and told in the nicest possible way to back down. At the same time, the FFA needs to lobby other AFC nations- some of which must be in similar predicaments- to support its cause. If Bin Hammam places a higher value on his job than his big ideas, then all hope is not lost.
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What’s in a name?

October 30th 2008 05:15
Football
“What’s in a name?” Juliet famously asked Romeo.

Although Ms Capulet would beg to differ, the answer, as far as embryonic sporting organisations are concerned, is plenty.

This is a nation obsessed with sport- indeed, some would call it the Australian disease- to the extent that the marketplace is overflowing with leagues and teams and players. Establishing a presence in such a competitive marketplace is thus extremely challenging, so it is a vital that any new club adopts an appealing name, one that differentiates itself from its competition and ties itself to its region. North Queensland FC would do well to take note.

For those who don’t know, NQFC has been granted permission to enter an expanded A-League next season, in conjunction with Gold Coast United FC. According to the chairman, Don Matheson, the club will soon announce its nickname, which has been taken from 300 suggestions provided by the public. Let us hope it is an inspired choice, because turning a profit will be no mean feat when one considers that the club is to be based in a small city (Townsville), part of a fledgling competition, and chasing money at a time when locals and businesses will be unwilling to part with it.

While a good name can’t make a business, it can go a long way to breaking one. With that in mind, it surely can’t be long before the South Dragons go bust. When the club took its place as Melbourne’s second NBL team in 2006, it decided, for reasons known only to the board, neither to differentiate itself from its competition nor to tie itself to its region. The first mistake was to create an unnecessary turf war with the St George Dragons, one of Australia’s most recognisable teams. The second- and even more foolish- mistake was not to let prospective fans know where it was from. Yes, the club is south- but south of what? Although the NBL is struggling for credibility, grassroots basketball is booming, which means that there are a great many casual followers who might, under certain circumstances, be persuaded to attend a game. However, if these very detached observers think that the Dragons are a rugby league team, or if they’re unsure where this South that they’ve heard a little bit about is from, what are the odds that they’ll make it to the Hisense Arena in time for tip-off?

Logically, the team ought to have called itself South Melbourne. It should also have picked a nickname that clearly identified it with its market- something along the lines of the South Melbourne Trams, only less absurd. That way, more people would know, and more people would care. In the three decades since the NBL was founded, 11 clubs have folded, including luminaries such as the Kings and Bullets, and respected Melbourne identities such as the Magic and Giants, indicating that there is a dangerous shortage of people who know and care about the league. History therefore suggests that for the South Dragons to establish a sustainable financial base, a very steep hill needs to be climbed. Adopting a sensible name would not have flattened the hill, but it would have made the slope gentler; by adopting a senseless name, it has only become more precipitous. North Queensland FC would do well to take note.

Yet NQFC should also note that if the NBL provides negative examples, it provides positive ones as well. As far as names are concerned, the Cairns Taipans and Townsville Crocodiles chose wisely. To begin with, everybody knows where they’re from. Moreover, they are represented by animals that are meaningful to the people of Queensland’s north, and which are not shared by other Australian clubs. In that basic way, when Cairns and Townsville joined the NBL, an instinctive bond would have been created between the two teams and their public. Much work would have remained (and still remains) to be done- but at least a step, however small, was taken in the right direction.

For more positive and negative examples, Matheson and company need only look at the competition they will soon be joining. The poorest judges of a name seem to reside across the Tasman. The defunct New Zealand Knights imprudently selected a nickname that had nothing to do with being a Kiwi, and which created an unnecessary turf war with the well-known Newcastle rugby league team. Another error was to ambitiously adopt the entire country as its heartland; instead, the club should have called itself Auckland, as the only way to ensure its survival was to seduce the locals. The Knights’ successor, the Wellington Phoenix, at least had the wisdom to tie itself to its home city, but it again fell into the trap of adopting a nickname that does nothing to appeal to the emotions of the target market. Something such as the Wellington Sheep would have been infinitely more logical.

If the poorest judges of a name are New Zealanders, the best appear to hail from New South Wales. The founders of the Central Coast realised that for their club to survive, Gosford would be too small an area to be limited to, and thus they prudently opted to align themselves with the region. Another moment of inspiration came when they decided to adopt the Mariners moniker; given that the history and culture of the Central Coast is bound up in the sea, ‘Mariners’ establishes an instinctive connection with the region, in the same way that ‘Phoenix’ fails to do with Wellington. Credit must also go to the brains behind Sydney FC. The nation’s biggest city is full of clubs, many of which have drawn inspiration from the wild (Tigers, Sharks, Bulldogs, Swans, Marlins, etc). Consequently, it would have been confusing to position the new outfit as yet another member of the sporting jungle. Rather, a distinctive and revealing name was adopted, one that immediately let locals know where the club was from, and which code is was playing.

When NQFC enters the A-League next year, the intensely competitive sporting marketplace and the depressed economic climate will make the already demanding task of starting a new business even more demanding. Success will be dependant on many things, but none will be more important than winning the hearts and minds of the people of North Queensland. Commonsense dictates that a Townsville Tigers or Northern Knights is going to inspire none but the most impressionable. Pick a clever name, though, and a lot more people will be receptive to the message that NQFC will be desperately trying to sell.
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Is this a face that only a mother could love?

October 3rd 2008 09:07
Nicky Carle
Let us declare it official: Nicky Carle is the Peter Hewat of Australian football.

In May 2007, Hewat was famously omitted from a 59 man training squad that then-Wallabies coach John Connolly assembled prior to the World Cup. Now, Carle has been omitted from a 35 man squad that Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek has assembled prior to the qualifier against Qatar.

Every now and then, a player will arrive on the scene to polarise opinion. Some will proclaim him or her an exceptional talent; others will consider the person in question to be overrated. Facts and figures will be bandied about in support of both sides of the argument; tempers will rise as supporters and detractors alike shake their heads at the apparent absurdity of the other’s position. Who knows why, but two people will look at the same picture and see something completely different. Although the endless debate can be maddening, it is ultimately to be celebrated; after all, it is the subjective beauty of sport, allied with its capacity to arouse passions and stir debate, that makes it so grand. Sport is capable of stimulating every possible emotion- be it rapture, wonder, astonishment or despair- to the extent that so many of us feel compelled to follow and discuss it. Even as it draws people apart it brings them together.

Peter Hewat was only on the rugby union scene from 2005-7, yet in that short time he was responsible for a good many arguments. Supporters of the NSW fullback seemed to like him for objective reasons; anybody who scores so many tries and kicks so many penalties, they insisted, must be good. Opponents, however, took a subjective line; his defence is shaky and he goes missing in big games.

As Hewat was arriving on the Super 14 scene, Wendell Sailor was preparing to leave it. He, too, polarised opinion- and, perhaps not coincidentally, in much the same way. Supporters hailed his try-scoring record and pointed to the number of metres he would gain per match. Opponents countered that his erratic defence and lack of rugby nous made him a liability. The key difference is that Sailor found favour with the national selectors. What they had in common is that both were highly unconventional.

Beauty, we all know, is in the eye of the beholder. But there are some things that are manifestly beautiful, or appealing. Audrey Hepburn was manifestly beautiful in a way that Sarah Jessica Parker is not; staying in a five star hotel is manifestly appealing in a way that camping in the bush is not. Some things the human brain will readily accept as pleasing; others demand a great deal of effort. To appreciate an unconventional athlete like a Hewat or a Sailor demands effort. Of course, whether such effort is deserved is another matter.

As far as John Connolly was concerned, Peter Hewat was not so much oddly beautiful as ugly, to the extent that he was not even considered amongst the 59 fairest players in the land. Having looked for beauty and found none, Knuckles did not care how many people may have swooned at the sight of Hewat, nor how ardently those admirers might have pressed for him to see things from a different angle; the boy was ugly and that was that.

The sight of Nicky Carle with the ball at his feet makes many fans swoon, but it appears that Pim Verbeek is not one of them. Some will consider this unsurprising, for if ever there was a player guaranteed to polarise observers of Australian football, it was surely Carle. After all, Nicky doesn’t do conventional. He doesn’t throw himself around like a Matt Simon, he doesn’t run all day like a Brett Emerton, he doesn’t hound opponents like a Vinny Grella- in fact, he doesn’t do anything the way we are accustomed to see it done. For Australians to admire a footballer, he usually has to be beautiful in an obvious way- a Hepburn, or, more to the point, a Pamela Anderson. And God knows that Nicky Carle is no Pamela Anderson.

That Graham Arnold, when he was Socceroos boss, did not hold a high opinion of Carle was only to be expected. He wanted his team to produce a physical style of football, in which the opposition would be outmuscled rather than outthought. The subtle gifts of Carle were wasted on a coach who valued athleticism over the ability to caress the ball, or play the incisive pass.



What is unexpected, though, is that Verbeek should also look down on Carle. Aren’t the Dutch meant to value technique over physique? To be sure, Verbeek has shown himself to be a pragmatist, but surely there is room for artists and artisans in the same team? It’s all very well including the likes of Grella and Carl Valeri to win the ball, but shouldn’t it then be given to somebody who knows how to use it?

Even Carle’s staunchest supporters acknowledge that there are several people ahead of him in the queue- Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill and Marco Bresciano, no less- while he also faces stiff competition from Jason Culina, Brett Holman, Mile Sterjovski and Scott McDonald. But how could Verbeek consider Shannon Cole, who was included in his squad, to be amongst the 35 best players in the country and not Carle? Cole has played a total of six top-flight games in his career, yet he is already adjudged a better prospect than the 2006-07 A-League player of the year. How is this possible?

The only explanation is the one that has already been given: beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. Different characteristics may catch different people’s eyes, but when somebody looks you over and decides that you’re ugly, no amount of preening is going to change their opinion. To adopt a metaphor that has lately been in vogue, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. Pim Verbeek has looked Nicky Carle over and decided that he doesn’t like what he sees. Peter Hewat would no doubt advise Carle not to expect him expect him to change his mind anytime soon.
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Once again, a win for Adelaide is a win for Australian football

September 26th 2008 06:32
Adelaide v Kashima
Thanks to a 1-0 victory at home to Kashima, Adelaide has advanced to the Asian Champions League semi finals

Whichever way you look at it, the mathematics doesn’t make pleasant reading for Adelaide United.

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Fair play is the best guarantee of fair play

September 16th 2008 07:24
Sydney FC coach John Kosmina
What, exactly, does Kossie have against the human body?

If Sydney FC coach John Kosmina isn’t choking players, he’s putting his foot in his mouth with alarming regularity


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Winning like Aussies, losing like Aussies

August 21st 2008 06:46
Boomers
And so, like the Olyroos before them, the Boomers have been bounced out of Beijing.

But how different the circumstances. The Olyroos played meekly and unimaginatively, so that not only did they get what they deserved, they deprived themselves of any meaningful opportunity to progress to the knockout rounds. The Boomers, by contrast, played with spirit and thought, understanding that not only was it better to go down fighting, but that in fighting they were less likely to go down


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Arnie’s Olyroos get what they deserved

August 14th 2008 07:49
Graham Arnold
And so, the Olyroos have fallen at the first hurdle.

Sometimes, the losing side can display so much skill that it does not deserve to be beaten- like Australia during its World Cup playoff defeat by Iran in 1997. Sometimes, the losing side can display so much gallantry that it does not deserve to be beaten- like Australia during its World Cup playoff defeat by Argentina in 1993. Sadly, though, this Australian side was neither skilful enough nor gallant enough to deserve anything other than its early elimination from the Olympics


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Arnie is every bit as confused as he looks

July 5th 2008 14:46
The more one sees of Graham Arnold, the less there is to like. To the unhappy list of misguided tactics, poor management and thoughtless statements can now be added breathtakingly illogical selections.

Arnold, who serves as both an assistant to Socceroos’ coach Pim Verbeek and Olympic team boss, has just announced his 18 man squad for Beijing. Oddly, although he managed to find room for Nikita Rukavytsya and Billy Celeski, he could not accommodate the talented young duo of Bruce Djite and Nathan Burns, both of whom are full internationals. Further surprises came with the omission of David Williams and James Holland, who recently received their first senior caps. One might be tempted to believe that Arnie had lost his marbles, if not for the fact that he probably never had them in the first place


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Is Asia’s leading team good enough to make the World Cup?

June 29th 2008 06:26
Having negotiated the first round of World Cup qualifying (which was actually the third), Australia is about to embark on the final stage (which, depending on results, might actually turn out to be the second or third last hurdle that needs to be surmounted in order to reach South Africa 2010).

If all that is difficult to comprehend, the task confronting the Socceroos appears even harder. Admittedly, they might have been handed more challenging opponents than Japan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain and Qatar, but they could also have received an easier draw. While Australia will expect to defeat Bahrain and Qatar at home, a poor record in the Middle East suggests that the away fixtures will be tricky. As for Japan and Uzbekistan, they possess no shortage of talent, making them a genuine threat in both legs. So finishing in the top two will not be easy


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Posted By: Nick Bendel - Category: Football (Soccer)
   


Putting your money where your mouth is

June 8th 2008 13:17
There was a time when Australian clubs- whether in league, union, Aussie Rules or basketball- operated in a conservative financial environment. Staff worked out of simple offices, players trained at suburban facilities, income was derived from poker machines and chook raffles. If a board managed to snare a government grant, or a player found himself starring in a Lowes commercial, envious glances would be received from the rest of the competition.

Football has always had to count its pennies more carefully than most, despite the creation of a glitzy showpiece, the A-League. Still, that hasn’t stopped Sydney FC from trying to establish itself as “the Manchester United of Australian football”. Backed by the millions of Frank Lowy, and governed (in part) by actor Anthony LaPaglia, the Sky Blues have attracted marquee names such as Dwight Yorke, Benito Carbone, John Aloisi, Pierre Littbarski, Juninho and Kazu, not to mention the geezer in the form-fitting tracksuit pants, Terry Butcher. Hence the moniker of ‘Bling FC’- even if the hype has been belied by inconsistent results, disappointing crowds and often lacklustre play


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A win for Adelaide is a win for Australian football

May 19th 2008 13:06
On Thursday, Adelaide United will take on Changchun Yatai, hoping to become the first Australian team to make it past the group stage of the Asian Champions League.

The Reds, who have 13 points, and the Chinese Super League champions, on 11, are the only teams from Group E still capable of claiming the solitary quarter final spot. With just one fixture remaining, Korea’s Pohang Steelers (4) and Vietnam’s Binh Duong (0) have already been eliminated


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Uncertain days ahead for Socceroos

May 15th 2008 06:00
Pim Verbeek has chosen an interesting squad for the upcoming international against Ghana.

Of the 24 players selected by the Socceroos’ boss for the match against the Black Stars in Sydney on May 23, many have some sort of uncertainty hanging over their future


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Nothing for something: The A-League is losing its brightest stars and getting nothing in return

April 29th 2008 11:07
If The World Game website is to be believed, Nathan Burns will soon be walking out of Adelaide United and signing for Norway’s SK Brann, despite having just agreed a contract extension.

How is it that the 19 year old, who is arguably Australian football’s most exciting prospect, could be lost to the A-League, without his club or the competition receiving any recompense? How is it that the local game can invest considerable time and money in a player, only for a foreign competition to reap the benefits? The reason is that Burns apparently has a get-out clause in his contract


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Confusing times in Australian football

April 27th 2008 07:23
Thanks to Central Coast Mariners’ goalkeeper Danny Vukovic, a fog of confusion has settled over the Australian football landscape.

It was a couple of months ago that this murky cloud began forming, as he initiated his confusingly long series of appeals. To begin with, his slap of referee Mark Shield during February’s A-League grand final was deemed worthy of a 15 month suspension (6 of those months being probationary). Distraught at the prospect of missing the Olympics, the custodian appealed, with the result that his punishment was downgraded to 12 months (3 of which were suspended). Because he would still have been prevented from going to Beijing in August, Vukovic appealed again, hinting at the possibility of launching yet another appeal, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, should this latest appeal produce an unsatisfactory outcome. Instead, he got what he wanted: not only was the ban reduced, but the Football Federation Australia helpfully split it in two, allowing Vukovic to play in the Olympics, while serving his suspension in the months before and after. (If that paragraph was confusing to read, it was even more confusing to type


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