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Newcastle fans have been Conned

January 20th 2009 13:10

It’s difficult to say who has been providing the most entertainment in the A-League recently- the coaches, or the owners. For it certainly hasn’t been the players.

Instinctively, one would have to assume that it’s been the coaches. After all, Miron Bleiberg has been boasting about the qualities of a squad that has yet to play a game, Frank Farina has been baiting John Kosmina (admittedly, not a difficult thing to do), while Kossie has been behaving in defiantly Kosminaesque fashion.

Yet the antics of the owners cannot be ignored. Barely a day goes by without Clive Palmer, the billionaire behind Gold Coast United, making some grandiose statement about his new toy. So far, we’ve learned that his team will win the title in its first year, that it will go through the season undefeated, that it will win the Asian Champions League, that its Brazilian imports are “the cream of the cream”, that it will supplant the Titans as the city’s favourite entity, and that it is being courted by Everton and Fulham for a pre-season friendly. And, of course, no discussion of United would be complete without reference to Palmer’s fleet of aircraft.

As if Palmer wasn’t entertaining enough, Con Constantine has just taken it upon himself to further amuse us. Perhaps unwilling to surrender his role as the competition’s pre-eminent rich eccentric, he opted to behave in astonishing fashion during Sunday’s home match against Perth. The Newcastle owner may have less money than his Queensland counterpart- after all, he’s a mere multi-millionaire- but he seems to have an even greater capacity to shock.

When he discovered that the Squadron (the group of fanatical Jets fans) were protesting about Newcastle’s poor season and the manner in which the club was run, he summoned its commander, Tim Versheleden, and four wingmen to his corporate box. They were then abused, before Versheleden was threatened with being thrown off the balcony.

Given such a strong reaction, one might assume that the protests were in some way offensive or defamatory. In fact, the opposite is true. One fan was brandishing an enormous wooden spoon, others were waving white handkerchiefs, while a trio of banners was being hung upside down. There was also another sign declaring in big, bold writing: “WE’VE BEEN CONNED!”

The reaction to such harmless demonstrating was grossly excessive. Not only were the banners removed, but some supporters were warned that they risked being banned from future games. Then there was the vitriolic attack launched by Constantine on the five Squadron members- which, ironically, was far worse that their supposedly unacceptable behaviour.

“No one should ever have to put up with that sort of abuse, let alone the most loyal supporters of the club,” one of the men, Nigel Bosworth, declared. “It disgusts me to see a club that I support…be so low to people over an issue as trivial as a few banners turned upside down”. Gavin Austin, also of the Squadron, got to the heart of the matter when he revealed that “the thing that upset us the most was the way we chose to demonstrate [our unhappiness] was in a pleasant way”. Yet Constantine has been unrepentant, arguing that such public shows of disaffection “killed the credibility” of Newcastle, and that “when you’re upset with someone you say a lot of things. I swore at them because I knew they were wrong”.

It is breathtakingly hypocritical that Constantine should stake a claim to the moral high ground while acting in such a tyrannical way. Yes, he has put his heart and soul into the club; yes, he has thrown away millions of dollars just to keep it afloat; yes, he has delivered it a championship- but that does not mean that he is entitled to instruct its followers how to think. “I don’t like people telling me what to do with my club”, he once proclaimed. Well, people don’t like being told what opinions they are and aren’t allowed to hold. We live in a free country, so if spectators are allowed to display banners at EnergyAustralia Stadium- which they are- then all those that are not offensive must be respected. While the removal of anything distasteful is reasonable, what is unreasonable is the idea that messages that Constantine deems to be “wrong” or damaging to the “credibility” of the club should be censored.

Besides being ethically egregious, Constantine’s behaviour is also commercially stupid. As a self-made man of humble origins, the Cypriot immigrant owes his fortune to a sharp brain. Yet when it comes to professional sport- and he is far from the only eminent businessman to have fallen into this trap- reason seems long ago to have given way to emotion. “I don’t play golf, I don’t go fishing, I love football,” he has previously explained. “It overrides everything else.” Evidently, his passion for football and Newcastle seems also to override his ability to think clearly. Constantine could not have turned Parklea Markets into the booming business that it is unless he possessed the ability to understand his customers, and to know how to satisfy them. However, this latest episode is a clear indication that he does not understand his footballing customers.

The A-League in general, and Newcastle in particular, is not so overwhelmed with fans that it can afford to antagonise swathes of decent folk. We are not talking about the sort of idiots who recently attacked Robbie Middleby- the sooner they are banished from anything to do with the game, the better. We are talking about the sort of mainstream sport’s lovers who the AFL, NRL and ARU are fiercely battling the FFA for. These types will follow their team through its ups and downs- though they will also get cranky when things go wrong. But as long as they vent their anger in a peaceful and inoffensive way, what possible problem could there be? The Squadron’s ‘crime’, it seems, is that its members cared enough to come along to a dead rubber so that they could stage a protest- yet could there be anything more reassuring to Constantine? He should be worried when people can’t be bothered attending games, and when they are too apathetic to voice their concerns.

The FFA has launched an investigation into what happened last Sunday. If it finds that Constantine has breached some sort of regulation, he needs to be made an example of. While a millionaire will not be worried by any fine that he might receive, it is to be hoped that he would be humbled. More importantly, it is to be hoped that a clear message is sent to owners and fans throughout the competition, a message that states that decent, law-abiding fans are to be treated with respect at all times. When a Clive Palmer shoots his mouth off, it is harmless fun. When a John Kosmina shoots his mouth off, it is harmless- if infantile- fun. But when a Con Constantine acts like he did at the Perth game, entertaining though it may be, it is anything but harmless. Supporters are much too precious to be treated so dismissively. The A-League needs every one of them.

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When something for nothing isn’t worth anything

January 4th 2009 12:28

What do Travis Dodd, Kevin Muscat, Joel Griffiths, Danny Tiatto and Steve Corica have in common? All have represented Australia, all are valuable players, and all are popular with their supporters.

And what do Paul Agostino, Archie Thompson, Mark Milligan, Craig Moore and John Aloisi have in common? All have represented Australia, all are valuable players, and all (with the recent exception of Aloisi) are popular with their supporters. But there’s one other thing they have in common: they are considered to be the A-League’s five marquee players.

Objectively speaking, no meaningful difference can be found between the first group and the second. In other words, no meaningful difference apparently exists between being a prominent footballer and one that the dictionary defines as “an athlete of exceptional skill and popularity”. To resort to the dictionary again, the FFA would have us believe that however impressive Dodd and company may be, they are not the “superlative” and “headlining” acts that Agostino and friends are.

Although the eight A-League teams contain a reasonable number of players who are skilful, nobody but the glibbest promoter could describe any of them as being exceptionally so. Furthermore, while supporters might regularly derive pleasure from their exploits, it is highly unlikely that those supporters are watching games specifically to see them perform. For proof, ask yourself this question: of the 23,447 spectators who went to the Telstra Dome on Friday to watch Melbourne play Queensland, how many of them were inspired to attend for the express purpose of seeing Archie Thompson and Craig Moore do battle? And of all the people who caught Wellington v Newcastle on television on Sunday, how many of them decided to spend the afternoon in the company of Fox Sports just to see Mark Milligan run around?

None of this would be of any concern, were it not for the fact that clubs get to exclude their marquees from the competition’s stringent salary cap requirements. Thus, when Sydney FC tried to work out how to fit all its players into this season’s salary cap of $1.9 million, John Aloisi, who is reportedly on a $1.4 million contract, was not included in the calculations. Unlike the salary cap, which performs the admirable job of keeping the playing field level, the marquee dispensation was introduced to encourage clubs to recruit high-profile players, as well as to give them an opportunity to spend any surplus cash that they might be able to generate. The only caveat was that all signings had to be approved by the FFA. That was expected to close the potential loophole of clubs designating the likes of Manny Muscat and Naum Sekulovski as their marquees purely for accounting purposes.

What this means is that nobody can be excluded from salary cap calculations without the FFA’s permission. The governing body therefore has a responsibility to ensure that only footballers possessing considerable talent and marketability are granted exemptions. Because if clubs know that they can get away with omitting valuable- yet relatively average- players such as Agostino, Thompson, Milligan, Moore and Aloisi from their caps, there is little incentive for them to chase authentic superstars. An authentic superstar, such as Dwight Yorke or Juninho, will have the profile and panache to put bums on seats. The aforementioned quintet will help you win games, but they won’t put bums on seats. Given how competitive Australia’s sporting marketplace is, and given how reluctant people are to spend money in these uncertain economic times, there are few things that the A-League needs more than genuine marquee players.

One man who has always seemed to understand money and marketing better than most is Clive Palmer, who is backing the competition’s newest franchise, Gold Coast United. Yet the billionaire has decided that the perfect candidate to headline his new act is none other than the Socceroos’ quiet achiever, Jason Culina. According to reports, the only thing that will stop Culina re-signing with PSV, or perhaps linking up with Dinamo Zagreb, is truckloads of Palmer cash.

If Palmer wants to sell United to the people of the Gold Coast, the best way would be to recruit a marquee player who oozes flair and charisma. Culina would certainly be a valuable addition to his team, but precious few of the locals would know who the hell he was, and in any case the yeoman’s work he performs in the heart of midfield is hardly going to be drawing them through the turnstiles. For all Sydney FC’s failings, the decision to recruit first Yorke and then Juninho was astute. Both were very talented, both could boast formidable records, and both were eminently marketable. Besides offering quality, the European Cup winner and the World Cup winner put bums on seats in a way that Culina could never hope to do.

Although it is always heart-warming to see Socceroos returning to Australia, the only current international who would ever be able to put bums on seats is Harry Kewell. Even if Kewell joins the A-League several years past his prime- and, realistically, that is the only time we could expect to see him here- the fame he enjoys, the skill he possesses and the manner in which he plays would be enough to garner attention. By contrast, while the likes of Mark Viduka, Vince Grella and Brett Emerton would be wonderful additions to the competition if and when they decided to join, they would be preaching to the converted. Their gifts would only be enjoyed by committed fans, because they do not have the profile to be able to stir the interest of casual observers in the way that Kewell would, or in the way that Yorke and Juninho did.

That is why the FFA needs to amend the rules on marquee players. Although the A-League can only benefit from the return of foreign Socceroos, some other way needs to be found to lure them to Australia. The governing body should not allow any footballer to be exempted from the salary cap, unless it is confident that he will be able to impress people who currently show no more than a scant interest in the game. To put it another way, an import who isn’t going to drag people away from the cricket or the beach or the AFL is unworthy of special treatment. It’s wonderful that World Cup stars like Craig Moore and John Aloisi have returned home, and it would be wonderful if Jason Culina did too, but none of them put bums on seats. That’s what a marquee player is paid to do.

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How I love to hate you

December 14th 2008 04:31

Just as Adelaide United’s recent transcontinental triumphs have been a win for Australian football, so it is in the A-League’s interest for the new regime of Sydney FC to succeed.

The current majority owner, Frank Lowy, will soon make way for a partnership of Australian Paul Ramsay and Russian David Traktovenko, the latter of whom once controlled Zenit St Petersburg, and who was said to have been influential in its dramatic rise. Everybody should be cheering them on.

Given that Sydney is generally disliked by other teams’ supporters (and, indeed, by some of its own), it might seem illogical and fanciful to suggest that rival clubs and their fans should get behind Ramsay and Traktovenko. But if statistics are anything to go by, something of the sort has already been occurring throughout the competition’s brief history. When the FC rolls into town, more bums appear on seats and more income flows into the home side’s coffers. That is because Sydney stirs people’s interest in a way that Wellington or the Central Coast could never hope to do.

From the A-League’s inception, the self-proclaimed “Manchester United of Australian football” has carried itself with a pronounced swagger. Thanks to the big names it’s had in the boardroom, the big names it’s had on the sidelines and the big names it’s had on the field, ‘Bling FC’ has let the other teams know that it considers itself their superior. This attitude has been a promoter’s dream, making it far easier to convince the public to attend a match involving the uppity Sky Blues than, for instance, the unprepossessing Phoenix or Mariners.

What would be wonderful for the A-League is if the FC became so reviled that opposing clubs and their supporters could not, in spite of themselves, stop talking about the hated Sydneysiders. A virtuous circle would thereby be established, in which the Sydney mystique would help to promote the competition, and more people would thus begin to despise- and talk about- the club. If Sydney really could become the local version of Manchester United- or, more relevantly, a footballing version of Collingwood or Manly- it would help the league and all its members to grow.

But there is one big problem in all of this: so far, the Sydney mystique has been more myth than reality. Halfway into the A-League’s fourth season, the club’s results have been inconsistent and its play erratic. People have been hating the Sky Blues not because they have been sweeping all before them, but because their instinct tells them that it’s the right thing to do. Sydney might talk like a Manchester United, but up until now it hasn’t been able to walk like one. If and when that happens, people will really have a reason to despise the club. That can only be good for the league.

And that is where Paul Ramsay and David Traktovenko come in. In a revealing article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Scott Barlow, the duo’s spokesman, revealed the big plans that they have for Sydney. By focussing on the grassroots, devoting greater resources to marketing and recruiting astutely from abroad, they intend to have the team consistently challenging for the title.

That, however, is just the beginning. For it turns out that Barlow’s masters- much like Clive Palmer at Gold Coast United- are concentrating as much on the Asian Champions League as they are the A-League. “[We] are going to be measuring our success not only in terms of the A-League, but also the ACL. We want to make Sydney FC an internationally recognised brand, and one of the premier clubs in Asia-Pacific. To do that, we must be consistently competing at that level.”

While it remains to be seen whether the deeds of Ramsay and Traktovenko match their rhetoric, one can only applaud their sentiments. Clearly, the pair has recognised a truth that not enough Australians have been willing or able to accept- namely, that our future lies in Asia. No less than 46 countries and four billion people are aligned with the Asian Football Confederation, which means that the region is a source of great potential benefit for Australia, a footballing minnow of little more than 20 million people. Asia can provide coaches and players to help us raise our standards; Asia can provide consumers to watch our league and buy its merchandise; Asia can provide sponsors to invest in our game. There are a great many geopolitical analysts willing to predict that just as the 20th century was the American century, so the 21st will be the Asian century; in other words, one can expect the continent’s wealth and influence to exponentially increase over the coming decades. For Australian football to become more deeply involved in Asia is therefore nothing more than the commonest of common sense.

Hopefully, that is something that the new owners of Sydney FC will be able to achieve. It would be a good start if some of the foreigners they’ve talked about recruiting hailed from Asia. In the A-League’s history, a bafflingly low number of imports have been sourced from there, despite the fact that the success of the likes of Hyuk-Su Seo, Jin-Hyung Song and Shengqing Qu has meant that the Asians have generally been more successful than the Europeans. Another obvious move would be to develop an affiliation with an Asian club, akin to the relationship that Perth Glory has with Shanghai Shenhua. It would also be pleasing if Sydney could find some Asian business partners, a task made easier by the fact that the team is based in the country’s commercial capital.

As a participant in the world game and a representative of one of the world’s most famous and cosmopolitan cities, it is logical for Sydney FC to possess grand ambitions. The Central Coast has been a valuable inclusion in the local competition- and, as Sport: The Australian Disease has argued, so has Wellington- but clubs of that stature can never realistically hope to become “one of the premier clubs in Asia-Pacific”. The FC, though, has at least a theoretical chance of achieving such eminence.

If Sydney FC was to regularly do well in the A-League, and if Sydney FC was to regularly challenge in the Asian Champions League, it would create a happy situation in which success begat success. Increasing local influence would lead to deepening regional involvement, which in turn would help the club to maintain its local dominance. And while most Australian football fans would be as instinctively repelled by the thought of Sydney succeeding as most English football fans would be of Manchester United succeeding, secretly they should wish for nothing more. For the more despised the club becomes, the better the A-League will be doing.

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Australian Premier League?

November 25th 2008 05:08

Will the English Premier League be coming to Australian shores?

It’s been a busy month for Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam. Not long after declaring that the Wellington Phoenix should be expelled from the A-League, he has thrown his support behind the English Premier League’s controversial ‘39th round’ proposal.

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Phoenix falling?

November 18th 2008 07:16

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

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What’s in a name?

October 30th 2008 05:15

“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

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Is this a face that only a mother could love?

October 3rd 2008 09:07

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

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Once again, a win for Adelaide is a win for Australian football

September 26th 2008 06:32

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

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

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

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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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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