Juventus to visit Australia

Juventus to visit Australia

Next stop Wellington??

'Twould be a sight, the nix and juve.

Why not? They are comning to Aus anyway, the Nix broke even with the Becks event, they easily bring in the crowd for Juve and Celtic.

Would they, though? I'm skeptical how big a crowd Juve would pull in Wellington. In Melbourne it's certain to fill the Dome ( or even the MCG ) because of the huge Italian community. (there will probably be more people in Juve tops than Victory ones)

Joe Bloggs off the street in Welly wouldn't even know how big Juventus are. Compare that to Beckham - everyone knows him.
valeo2008-04-17 10:23:01

Yes I agree. Don't think Juve would be such a big crowd-puller as Becks was unfortunately.

Because you'd be keeping for them ?

Actually, I think you'd be suprised how many might be interested.

A lot of the Beckham crowd would return just for the event, and there are a lot of closet Juventini across NZ.  You might even see the more devoted of the Australian fans cross the Tasman to catch them agian, after all it's cheaper than going to Turin.
Hard News2008-04-17 10:37:24

Correct.

if they do come, would I be allowed to make a banner in Italian?

Stadium management weren't keen on our All Whites banners, and at least they could read them... so I don't like your chances.  You might want to avoid the words Agnelli, Perdenti and Calciopoli and the Italian equivalents of Bung and Referee

.
Hard News2008-04-17 10:55:14

love your logo mate!

theprof2008-04-17 13:31:22

Juve rule

Just realised.  They are talking end of May so that pretty much removes EURO champs players.  No Buffon, Camoranesi, Iaquinta, Chiellini (probably), Trezeguet (probably), Tiago, Grygera.

Can't see us being in a state to play a game then anyway.  Victory might work as they have ACL matches in to May.

Didn't Terry mention something about another big team coming to Wellington next season?  It probably isn't Juventus though.  Hopefully whoever it is will have all of their top players here. loyalgunner2008-04-17 16:05:33

I think we need to se more success in the A-League first. Juve would attract (probably) a lot less screaming girls and more football lovers who just want to see a great game. Sadly, there is a lot less of the latter in Wellington (and NZ as a whole)

Juventus, Celtic? I feel a woody coming on! BIG names in world football. Celtic might not be a major contender now but they once were and they are known everywhere. I'd go to either of those games.

the media and phoenix would pump it up big time, we'd probably get a full house

Melbourne would be wet over this news.

So "Vaffanculo" and "Juve merda!" are fine?

My Italian is pretty limited, but I probably come up with something better than my Korean "She fell over" banner at Nix vs Queensland...

Been think about it. Few years back I was watching AS Roma vs Juventus and they got us to hold a banner (which of course we couldn't see and we would've been beaten up if we refused to hold!) which said:

Celtic are still one of the biggest clubs in the world even though they haven't done great in Europe recently.

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/75445,why-we-said-no-to-juve-phoenix.aspx
Why We Said No To Juve: Phoenix EXCLUSIVE: Wellington Phoenix have rejected the chance to host Juventus in a friendly at Westpac Stadium with the head overruling the heart. The Italian giants are due in Melbourne later this month to take on Ernie Merrick�s Victory with a bumper crowd expected after a tremendous response from supporters.

But what�s right for Melbourne is not necessarily right for Wellington and the club�s chief executive has no regrets.

Tony Pignata told au.fourfourtwo.com: �We did have Juventus us approach us to play them in a friendly here and there was some dialogue between the two clubs.

�Juventus is a big name in football but we have to look at whether something is going to be commercially viable for Wellington Phoenix.

�You have to examine whether or not you are going to at least break even when you enter into this type of thing and ultimately I didn�t believe that we would have a sell-out situation here.

�You look at the situation in Melbourne and you can fully understand why they have gone for it. There is obviously a big Italian population in the city and the match is a big pull.

�Terry (Serepisos) is the one who you are asking to write the cheque and ultimately you have a responsibility to make sure it will be money well spent and as a football club we have to make sure that the money you do spend is spent wisely.�

While Juventus will not be coming to Wellington to lock horns with Ricki Herbert�s men, the Phoenix could soon be on the road. Pignata confirmed that negotiations were ongoing for a tour of China in June.

He said: �Hopefully it will be an opportunity to play three matches over there and a chance for the squad to get some games under their belt.�

The Phoenix will launch their membership drive for 2008/9 on June 9 with a clear goal in mind. Pignata said: �We had over 2,500 members last season and this time we hope to get over 4,000.�

Bullion2008-05-07 17:04:59

I'd rather have Juv here than the waste of time trip to China. I can't figure the rationale of even going to China regardles of the Juv idea. That beats me, might as well do a tour of Brazil and learn a few skills.

Yeah a few games against some Brazilian teams would be of more use and probably not cost too much more. There would be so many teams to choose from at similar skill levels to the Phoenix that China does seem bizarre...

Rubbish,

More suitable timeframes, more reliable infrastructure, sides that play n the ACL so you have a benchmark for how the A-League stacks up.  Leilei Gao's potential popularity.

We're an Asian side, touring Asia makes much more sense than playing Brazilian third division sides.

As for Juve ?  Don't waste my time.

What that man said only im more subtle.

If it was Ipswich, Would you endorse that game??

Points.

1, If it was a matter of Terry spending millions he wouldn't get back on Ipswich or keeping the Phoenix floating I'd definitely take the Phoenix.  There is zero chance that a Juve game missing internationals would make a profit, even with a full Juve the profit would be highly unlikely and we'd get spanked.  How does that help the team prepare for a season ?

2, The Wellington Phoenix are registered to the Football Federation of Australia.  They are an Australian club based in New Zealand and therefore part of Asia.

3, The Oceania debate has been covered in far more detail in the All Whites thread with this point debated until death.

The New Zealand public aren't quite "educated" enough for us to sell-out a match against an under-strength Juventus team. Tony made some valid points in that article.

C'mon guys, us vs Juventus would have sold out, they are a far larger club then the Galaxy. disco_mart2008-05-08 06:12:17

i'm just glad we refused to host those bastards. I am actually not even sure they would have sold out. Surely Juventus is a big name, but do you reckon it is as big as, say, AC Milan or Inter Milan down here??

But they don't have a Beckham.  Whether we like it or not our football is VERY anglocentric, much more than even Australia's (despite Craig Foster's bigotted clap trap).  A city 1/10th the size of Melbourne with a devout, but small Italian contingent - many who hate Juventus - would be a significant risk and highly unlikely to justify the cost.

If Juve were wearing the costs then try it as an experiment, if Terry has to pay for it out of his pocket and only 10k turn up ?  He and the club are screwed.

As for the ACL LG, we aren't but I firmly believe we should be elligible particularly if Cardiff are allowed an English UEFA spot.  On the flip side I don't believe the Phoenix should be elligible for an Oceania spot.