Confessions of an ungrateful bastard

Hi,

A couple of comments Enzo:

1. It's easy to be dismissive of the A-League when you compare it to well established leagues with tradition and cack-loads of money. It's a young league in a region where the sport is well and truly behind the pecking order of other sports. So don't have too high hopes for the standard of the league for another decade or so.

2. Nice that you acknowledge the fan base as making the Nix games an enjoyable experience. However if you were in Tardistan or Sydney or Adelaide you'd probably experience something similar.

I don't disagree with your blog, but I think that as you start to follow a team you can't but help start to take an interest in the opposition and the goings on elsewhere in the competition.

the A-league is a little bit astro-turfed...so? We had to start from somewhere and play catch up...

When I was in Korea I was able to watch a lot of the league using (I think) www.afc.tv- Adelaide's run in the ACL and to be honest I enjoy the rivalries.

Some of the football can be cack, it's a comparatively lowly paid salary capped league that's how it's guna be- but this year has to be better than ever for a kiwi fan- Kiwis in most teams, ex-Nix players everywhere, high profile socceroos returning...just no time to watch, and don't have sky...

Enzo

Tis easy to look at whats wrong... its difficult at times to be part of the solution i.e. watch and attend games... but if you honestly think that last season the Roar, Mariners & AU did not raise the standard to massive new levels then you are looking for problems ... in Australia we call them Euro Snobs i.e. Man U, Real, Barca etc...

Outside Rangers & Celtic the top three A-League teams last season would have beaten every other team in the Scottish league and we are only starting our Seventh season...

Your comment pertaining to the clubs are owned by some wealthy owners is such a foolish one... how and who would put up the money anyway...

Suggest you take a long hard look ... compare apples to apples and for a young league with not a lot of money it's come a long way in a short time...

Well said Midfielde,r I have the same problem with my UK work mates who refuse to go too games because its not British football. Does piss me off a little bit as the standard of the A-League is improving each year.

Must admit after spending 6 months in based in Holland watching continental footbal(mainly Dutch) I have had a couple of football shocks. First was finally gettting to watch a EPL game Man U vs Liverpool. It all seemed like helter skelter football...the ball pinging all over the field, neither side keeping possession for long. After a diet of watching continental possession football it was like watching the game at Fast forward. But after getting used to the pace it was of course totally enjoyable.

Hi again, thanks for all the comments! I'm sorry I haven't replied before now. My excuse is the forum wouldn't let me log back in for some reason. Kept coming up with an error message saying to check that cookies were enabled. Had to borrow someone else's computer before it would let me back in. Weird.

I completely agree with Zinidane. It is all about context and that is essentially the point of my post - obviously made poorly! I was trying to say that the fans, the location, the attachment you develop to a team based on how it makes you feel trumps my snobbery about the League. As I mentioned, I happen to love NZ club football. It's not the quality of the football in the A-League I was complaining about, it's more the blandness of the whole product that I believe still needs work.

The A-League is a developing league, sure but it's had 7 years now. It's improving but I think it is still pretty vanilla whichever way you cut it. This has partly been due to the FFA so tightly controlling it in the early days. They dictated what shirts the teams wore, what music could be played in the venues, what fans could and couldn't do, what replays could and couldn't be shown on the big screen. In my view, this all but made the clubs into clones of each other and took away some of that all important context. They have loosened up a lot in the last couple of years and this has helped but I believe it held the league back for too long.

Midfielder said: "Your comment pertaining to the clubs are owned by some wealthy owners is such a foolish one... how and who would put up the money anyway..."

I'm baffled as to where I said anything about wealthy owners. Please direct me to the relevant comment and I'll tell you how you got the wrong end of the stick.

Anyway, keep the comments coming if you feel so inclined, and feel free to post them over on the blog too! I'd like to start generating some debate there... ;-)

Hi Enzo,

FYI I have posted some photos from today's game in Auckland here: http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2011/11/19/the-lattes-the-yuppies-and-the-phoenix/

Hi again, just a quick note to promote my latest post - about my experience watching the All Whites qualify for the World Cup at the Cake Tin and how hard it was to watch them go on to meet Italy in the tournament proper. Hopefully it will whet the appetite somewhat for the friendly vs Jamaica on Wednesday night.

http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2012/02/24/once-in-a-lifetime-a-defining-football-moment/ Enzo Giordani2012-04-19 13:51:29

Not sure on your point on the Scottish teams to be honest, or what basis you have for such an assertion? Matt McKay, the captain of last years champions could not get a game in the SPL, so not sure what that says about your point?

On topic, it really annoys me when others from the UK watch maybe one A League game that happens to be crap and then refuse to watch anymore on the basis that the standard is too crap.

If you are gonna live here, may as well get along to live games when you can I say.

tbh Steve-O - you usually go on about how crap we are .

FYI I have done a blog post and photo gallery on last night's Sydney FC semi-final. I got some fairly good photos of the Yellow Fever and an awesome semi-nude paparazzi shot of Gareth Morgan!

I hope nobody minds, but I'm sort of turning this thread into a place where I can just regularly spam you with whatever rubbish I have written lately. If it's getting annoying, feel free to tell me to shove off. Enzo Giordani2012-04-19 13:43:36

Photos and write-up from last night's NZFC Final between Waitakere United and Team Wellington.

http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2012/04/29/the-nzfc-grand-final/Enzo Giordani2012-04-29 11:00:11

Aaaaaaaand more of the same from today's O-League final first leg:

http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2012/04/29/tefinal/

Two pieces this weekend. One on the Auckland Football Federation Central/West over 35s and the importance of grassroots football: http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2012/05/06/who-are-ya/

The other is on Lynn-Avon vs Papakura City in the Women's Knockout Cup: http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2012/05/06/knockout/

Enzo's latest effort is simply superb: http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2015/12/23/my-favourite-year/ Go on a journey as a football fan with him. It's a great ride!