Adelaide: Shaking the tree... 0-0 at Hindmarsh

Adelaide could not, as Layton Hewitt would say, find a way to win. Man of the match Angelo Costanzo took Thompson and Allsopp out of the match. And Adelaide dominated, particularly in the second half. But rarely looked close to scoring. Good passing game. Won the mid-field. Diego looked good without dominating. Fred was right out of the picture. I even saw Thompson doing a bit of defending.

Five yellow cards were the main feature. All seemed pretty right. You don't carry cards from the home and away season. But two yellow cards and you miss the next finals game. And some key players picked up their first in what could be three more games that could lead a player to miss the grand final. Adelaide: Spagnuolo, Costanzo and Djite (for kicking Melbourne goalie Michael Theoklitos in the head). And Melbourne: Vargas
and Thompson.

This puts the advantage to Melbourne for the next leg. Home crowd advantage. 30,000 plus? 40,000 plus? And yet the Adelaide home crowd is an interesting bunch. We watched them hit Liam Reddy in the head with a coke bottle after he trod on Fernando a few weeks back. Today, together with about with 1,000 plus from Melbourne, they packed and shook Hindmarsh. About 15,575 in total. As good as it gets in this stadium. They booed Muscat. They called for penalties and fouls. They made a noise for Melbourne goal kicks. Still 0-0. Reminded me of the Roar fans frustration at Lang Park when Adelaide hung on for 0-0 - and then for Adelaide to win an easier battle on another day.

It's finals time and Australia's 3 top refs are in Asian at a conference. It reminds me of stories of the old national soccer league when Australia's top soccer journalist took his holidays on finals day. Anyhow, the ref didn't have much influence on the Adelaide v Melbourne outcome.

The tightness of the race for a final seat made the A-League V2 a big success...

Version 2: Gate-take grows 18% over version 1

Melbourne Victory showed that winning attracts crowds. Even if their away performance was slightly better than their home results, fans stuck with last year’s 7th placed team. Melbourne’s 115% crowd growth almost covered the overall net A-League growth of 18%.

After taking out second place in last year’s finals, Central Coast were able to grow their crowd by an impressive 37%. Damian Mori’s short term contract can be cited as a critical factor in buoying CCM’s home crowd mid-season. And if they’d had him as a permanent signing, given the missed opportunities once he’d had to move on, CCM probably would have made the finals. I’d say at the expense of Sydney.

And Sydney FC was the crowd disappointment this year. I’ve heard the Dwight Yorke marque argument. But it seems unfair to fans across Australia if one team is going to be singled out for $450,000 in extra money from Hyundia each year - as the press reported they were in version one. And even then they apparently went over the salary cap with David Zdrilic. It is a problem if Sydney-siders are only going to come and watch if Sydney win. But I think the problem is more fundamental. I don’t think it is about all the other sport on - look at Melbourne’s performance. I think it is about the level of entertainment and poorly chosen promotion. On the entertainment issue former socceroo and scorer of over 100 National Soccer League goals, Francis Awaritefe, agrees. Awaritefe writes in ‘Are we selling sport or entertainment? A-League teams have an obligation to play attractive football’ in Soccer International Volume 15 No 1 January 2007 on page 18:

‘For the A-League to remain viable and sustainable into the future, playing for results alone, where results is paramount, brings with it negative tactics, with the inevitable consequence that fans will vote with their feet and spend their hard-earned readies elsewhere… ‘

and he goes on..

‘I believe that football is in the entertainment business, where the consumer pays to see skilful, creative and exciting football….

And specifically on Sydney FC, Awaritefe writes:

‘.. Sydney FC has undergone a revival in terms of its results, however finds that its home crowd is falling.’

Awaritefe cites Mark Rudan’s comments about getting results being a priority over entertainment, he denies that the lack of a marque is the issue, and points to the crowd growth for the exciting teams.

The Version 2 season gate-take supports Awaritefe’s views and my own (as expressed in earlier blogs). Take last night. Sydney are in the finals and playing to defend their title. And yet they can only attract a crowd of 21,000. Imagine if that game was at Lang Park and the Roar was in the finals. Last week the Roar got 32,000.

And that brings us to the Roar. The unfortunate timing of home games meant their 2nd last home game was played in early December and the last on 20 January. Fortunately, the Roar’s great away game performances, beating the two top teams Melbourne and Adelaide, set-up a cracker for the final game. And the crowd for the last game meant the Roar grew their home crowd by 1%. Unfortunately, I am guessing it cost something like $500,000 net to keep Land Park as the home ground. On the current deal they probably need a season crowd of around 200,000 and only managed 165,000. Still, this is second to Melbourne’s 305,000. And much better than Sydney FC’s 18% fall in crowd to 150,000.

Newcastle showed what winning will do for gate-take. In the first half of the season where they played exciting football but failed to win they attracted 36,000 to 5 home games, for the second half of the season they attracted 78,000 fans.

Overall, the A-League struggled to match season one in the first half. The opening match numbers were down 21%. Then, leaving out Melbourne and its growth, overall crowds fell until the last three home games. I think a big factor in this was the small number of teams in the A-League (8) - infrequent fans have seen it all before - and then that almost any team could make the finals by the last three home games (a very good thing and new fans were won over to see if the home team could make it). Pity teams still don't have great home win records, this would keep the fans happier.

Sydney v Newcastle - living without

Grrrrrr We've had a power cut and the power keeps going off and on, and Foxtel says they are out for my area till 10pm. So I'll miss the game and it won't be recorded.

But what I can see is that Sydney seem to have dominated the first half and Alex Brosque scored in the 15th minute. Why did Butcher leave him on the bench for so many games? Last year Alex built up to the potential to be the A-League's best striker. Now given some full games he is showing it. Milligan scored in the 30th. 2-0 Sydney.

BUT why oh why did Newcastle start with Vaughan Coveny in the run on squad and Milton Rodriguez - perhaps the A-League's 2nd best foreign player after Fred - on the bench. Milton came on in the 57th and seems to have changed the game - scored in the 71st. My next line was going to be about how all 3 goal scorers had got yellow cards, but the A-League site has changed Milton's yellow to Joel Griffith. So no story there, except I am missing the pictures.

If only I could see this.....

Lament 2 .... a neat line in character assassination ...

This article 'Roar axe sharpened for under-achievers' on page 98 of the Courier-Mail on 24 January 2007 got me. Crikey.

'Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.' OK OK that would mean next to no journalism in Australia and probably a corrupt state - I know I know. But crikey. This is my team. It is our Queensland team. 32,000 of us watched them play what was one of the best games I have seen live. Certainly the best A-League game this year and I have watched all of them (most via Foxtel). Despite being a draw.

I was also staggered to read the comments from readers on the Courier-Mail online site. Didn't they see this team beat Melbourne (clearly the best team in the A-League) who were lucky enough to have Archie Thompson play for far less than he is worth (a factor of 10) and were lucky enough to sign Fred (who should be in Europe earning mega dollars) and who hoovered up all those Victorian based national soccer league champions plus Muscat (the only returning Australian from English Premier League to fire-up).

Did anyone notice this team's performance in the last 3 games? In the Sydney game that lead us to miss the finals, didn't they see that who ever booked Robbie Williams wrecked the pitch and caused Sydney's goal, that the Roar's goal was a sublime, planned combination from Sasa, Reinaldo and Damian, and that Australia's best referee missed a clear Sydney hand ball penalty?

Under-achievers? Get real.

Look at football results from around the world. For between one and three clubs in each competition it is about winning. For the rest it is about accumulating points. Sydney qualified and the Roar didn't because Sydney contrived and bored their own fans to draw 8 games and lost only 5. The Roar lost 8 and drew 5. Adelaide, who came second, lost 8 but won 10 as opposed to the Roar's 8. Adelaide coach Kossie said 'we were tanked' by the Roar in round one, but the score was 0-0 (Adelaide v Roar has been draw, Adelaide win, Roar win - even with 2nd place).

The under-achieving match-up the Roar lost was with NZ (5-0, 0-1 and 1-3) and NZ seem to have been able to breach (what is transparent of) FFA rules on squad numbers - fielding a very different team by the end of the season. Anyway, why is a close A-League competition that any team can win bad?

Players are people. Melbourne stuck with most of their 'under-achieving' players last season and built the foundation for a powerhouse that could attract 20,000 to 40,000 fans for home games. The Roar made big changes to their squad last season to find how difficult it is to match players to the style of the A-League.

Under-achievers? This is the sort of stuff written in this article:

'nor his waistline helped Dilevski's campaign'

- he looked fit to me, and scored the best set-piece goal of the season against Sydney in round one (later the paper reported that no set-piece goals had been scored under Miron).

'But a mid-season haircut appeared to have a Samson-like effect on Ognenovski, who battled a form slump before getting it together in the final few rounds.'

- the guy was out with injury and then wasn't played for what turned out to be the critical New Zealand game. Didn't this journalist see Sasa's 'getting it together' in the last game? 7/10 for Sasa and give 8.5 for Ben Griffin? Ben is good but next season he'll be better. Ben the same score as Matt McKay? Get real.

Marcus Wedau

3/10

. Get real. Frank didn't give him any game time. For some reason he played Chad. Will we ever know if Marcus was any good?

'Vidosic had lifted himself from the bottom of the club's priority list to become the most important player in the squad'

- I think the club have known about this guy for some time but he had a car accident before the pre-season and had to be temporarily replaced.

'Scottish striker all but disappeared from view. With the new restriction on overseas players set down by the FFA (four per club), Lynch could be an off-season casualty'

- Well he got injured. Then lost a bit of form. His relatives live on the Gold Coast, so if he became an Aussie (how long does that take?)? Simon Lynch's real problem is that Mori plays the role he played (up-front goal poacher) and the two of them together on the park looked awkward.

'.. only three goals ... but the years looked to have caught up with the likeable striker'

- Facts please, 4 goals.
Ante started from the bench to make way for Mori. He scored four cracker goals (round 1 against NZ set up by Zhang (80 min), against Melbourne in round one (16 min), round 2 Perth v Roar (14 min) when Roar were 0-1 after 90 seconds, and round three against NZ 80m). Plus he has set up some chances and goals particularly for Dario in 90+2 against Melbourne. But his big role is in mentoring - he has been a sensation particularly with Dario - I have watched them train side by side. He has had his head up all season. He only started 9 games, ran on for 19 and played for only 951 minutes - so 4 goals is not bad - look to the coaches.

Sorry Damian Mori took too long to score for the Roar to get 8.5. The Roar had to change the way the whole team played to suit him. He suits Central Coasts style. And that is probably the real story, don't be surprised if he starts for CCM next year.

But the one that makes me most.. well crikey...

'The Brazilian striker is a club favourite though it is hard to understand why on the back of yet another under-whelming performance. His season was a case of too many opportunities missed and he never really lived up to his so-called reputation as a header-specialist. Four goals was not good enough.'

- grrrrrrrr
Have you watched all his games? Frank sat Reinaldo in the stands a couple of times. And on the bench for others when they needed him. The problem with Reinaldo is that he plays brilliantly most of the time but not all the time.

Under-achievers? When in doubt blame the players.

How about the results reflecting the high quality of the A-League? Or the way football IS for almost all teams? Only Adelaide and Melbourne won more games than the Roar. Australian's expecting their team to win every game is a big frustration for the FFA. They talk of it in the press. Perhaps we are too used to cricket where our national team obliterates weak competition almost every year. Well good football isn't about that. And good journalism should be part of the explanation of good football and not encouraging the jingoism.

Round 19 and the A-League was still open and fans over Australia had a reason to go see their team. Maybe close is good.

The Roar spent less on acquiring players than the winning clubs in A-League version one and didn't spend the most in version two, the club made these calls. The fans got exciting football. But too few wins at home. But we also did not get our fair share of penalties. And in a sport where goals are rare, winning is rarer, and penalties are almost certain goals - this needs to be looked at. Why don't refs give the Roar more penalties - 1 in 42 games. Compare this to Melbourne - who got two against the Roar and 5 in the first 6 matches and then had to be warned by the FFA about diving in the box... hang on, something not right there... isn't that a criticism of the FFA against its own refs?

This is the world game. Australia's football performance is noticed outside Australia. Lift the journalism game. What about the quality of the journalism this year? 1/10 and that is for getting a story in. Facts wrong, stories missed.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21107895-5003412,00.html

Journalism lament 1

It is interesting that the Queensland Courier-Mail insists on referring to football as soccer. It is less interesting that I have to hunt for their 'soccer' news everyday around 10 pages in from the back page. Of course I am grateful that they try to write something for me everyday.

I like cricket. But I like a contest. I want to be on the edge of seat wondering, assessing, working out possibilities and options. I like watching captains seeking a way to win. But do Queenslanders really read 10 plus pages on one one-sided cricket series? And yet, there is next to no reporting on the tests that involve other countries even though the results of these games are exciting, unpredictable and sometimes sensational.

At the start of the summer it was pretty obvious that Australia has a far, far better cricket team than England - before a test ball was bowled. And yet 10 pages every day. Flintoff this and that, England not giving up, Fletcher under threat. zzzzzzzzz WAKE-UP The Australia v England Ashes Series was one sided and boring, every 10 years or so they may doctor some pitches and win some matches at home but Australia has this lark down pat. They have too much depth to lose here to England.

Yes, yes there were big crowds at the gabba, MCG and SCG and the other grounds sold out days 1 and maybe two. But how many years will that happen for such one-sided games? Or am I missing the point. Are people turning up to see the win irrespective of the quality of the opposition? OK there is a bit of that in every sport.

But 10 pages every day? You have to know your readers well, I guess, to keep them entertained on a no-brainer result for that many pages in a summer.

We was robbed... My own David Bailey incident

Jeecy of the Roar suggested that it was Sasa and not Remo who slipped down onto his all fours just ahead of Alex Brosque's top 4 place winning shot. Shot so I had another look at the replay. And I found something amazing.

Later in the game, at the 60th minute, Mori hit his fantastic sizzer kick which was brilliantly saved by Bolton. Then the corner was quickly taken from the left. Mori soon got the ball again and ran with it on the right of the penalty box. He put the box back into the middle and Dario cannoned the ball into ..... a prostrate Ufuk Talay who stopped the ball with his - hand or FOREARM. Where was Australia's greatest referee? Bolton was out of position. Reinaldo was standing next to Talay and raised his hand - but the game went on. And Roar bow out - 42 A-League games and only one penalty (and there's Jade North giving away 3 hand ball penalties for Newcastle on his own).

By the way, the replay confirmed that it was Remo and not as the Roar reported on their site:
'when Sasa Ognenovski slipped on the loose surface Brosque was on hand to slam a right-footed shot past Liam Reddy.'

Sasa did slip twice, once running to cover the original pass and secondly after the pass was made ahead of Brosque. But it was Remo who ended on all fours in front of Brosque. If his footing holds he stops the pass and no goal. And Liam did get two hands on the ball but pushed it into the net... oh dear (why don't keepers catch the ball anymore?)

That end's final third looked like it was wet before the match. That section has been relayed as a result of the Robbie Williams concert and had to be given time to grow before the rugby league and union seasons. Imagine football fan Robbie Williams suffing up Qld Roar, oh well he did wear a Lions shirt or something.

Really Lang Park was badly prepared for such a key game and unfortunately it seemed to have dried out by the second half.
Also, Frank Farina was reported to be none to happy about a bunch of fans taking to the pitch in their football boots before the game. Wrong call event organisers - too big a game to risk the pitch like that.

Shame we won the toss and chose the wrong end to defend - there was me thinking the toss didn't matter in Football.

Qld Roar v Sydney: the search for Shangri La

One all draw and Queensland are out. But it was so much more than that. A win - and perhaps even the great performance that we saw from the Roar - and football is made in Queensland. A poor performance and, well, it could be back to Ballymore and teams almost as big as crowds.

The FFA would have understood the problem. Sydney have been the big disappointment this year from an entertainment perspective. So the focus has been criticism. Of their defensive play. Of the agro coach. Of fights between players. Of Sasho and Alex, perhaps two of the A-League's best players, sitting on the bench. Of injuries. But most of all of big away games, particularly against Melbourne, and very small home crowds. And of course of the most draws in the A-League (8). Dare I say it - Bore FC. There is some merit to this. Coach Terry Butcher played from Ipswich in Suffork and Suffork's motto is a bore.

From version one I am still washing away the bitter taste of the A-League's main sponsor Hyundia being persuaded to bias the league towards Sydney by paying for half of Dwight Yorke (a reported $900,000 in total). I concede he was good for publicity and Sydney crowds. But I think this season reality hit home. It was realised that, for the game to grow, it could not be all about Sydney. Yet Sydney have gone down the opposite path this year and have cruelled the game at their home ground. By measures of gate-take to ground size and gate-take to catchment population, Sydney have gone backwards in version 2. Of course it would be very disappointing if a team has to win every year to get the crowds in. The Melbourne and Newcastle cases may how important winning - particularly at home - is to attendance.

Yet Queensland is the growth market for football in Australia.

Maximum, Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle and Central Coast, because of ground sizes and local catchment sizes may be able to draw say 5,000 more each per match. But it is hard to see a scenario in which they all did it in every game for a whole season. Queensland could get 10,000 to 15,000 plus more per game all season if it sustained a team considered capable of regularly winning the A-League. If it retains access to Lang Park. At Lang Park 1,000,000 (Brisbane) and up-to 2,500,000 (south-east Queensland, have good access and transport included ticketing.

Melbourne have showed dramatic and sustained crowd growth can happen. And the football bug has a cultural place in one-team Victoria. In Brisbane, the Broncos get these crowds at Lang Park to rugby league, even in their none winning years. Finals football would have brought this bug to football in Queensland. And perhaps two more A-League teams - Gold Coast and from the far north - would have been likely.

Despite the start, and Remo Buess slipping over and allowing Alex Brosque to score in 13 minutes and 32,000 people thinking they would go home unhappy, last night may have been enough. From 20 minutes, despite what looked like Reinaldo being fouled out of the game by Rudan, the game was all Queensland. And Sydney looked dull.

At least enough for regret about how fantastically this team has played sometimes this season and last and yet has only managed to win 4 home games in two seasons from 21 opportunities.