Central League

I can picture that I will not win lotto next Saturday...But, seriously - I support your initiative to get rid of nonsense behaviour at football games. I  just don't think it is the Greeks that are the problem. There is a bias against them. Do you really want me to create a repository of homophobic/otherwise offending words/expressions i hear at the CL games when Olympic are playing miles away... When a player is down injured "is your fanny all right?" is an OK comment ? I have heard that and far worse things when Olympic are nowhere to be seen. Let's just be fair here...

A bias against Olympic? That's horseshark. If you see that sort of stuff at other games do something about it just like the people who are standing up against this instance and others. It is possible to throw a bit of banter around at football games without over stepping the line with regards to homophobia etc. These people have obviously failed to identify the line by a long way and it's not acceptable. I really don't think trying to make Olympic the victim in this is going to work TheHun.

None of it is ok, from any club. It was Olympic supporters this time, that's not a double standard, it's just fact. Abusive language toward officials/fans/players has been called out in the past from other clubs and the ASBP too, so again no double standard there. Don't think I have heard any homophobic abuse in recent memory thankfully. The last time I recall being shocked by abuse was travelling up to Wairarapa for a Chatham cup game, the locals were giving the ref all sorts - I called it out at the time. 

It's not just an Olympic problem, but my worst experiences of hearing abuse have been at Olympic and that one time at Wairarapa. That's not to say it doesn't happen elsewhere, nor is it representative of Olympic or the Greek community as a whole. 

Maybe you should keep a log of homophobic abuse and call it out as it happens if it is so prevalent - maybe then it'll help it become less of a problem. People can only comment on what they do hear, and in this instance it's unfortunately come from an Olympic supporter. 

im not even going to touch your claim of referees being biased against Greeks. 

Victim !? No, when did I say that ?

You will hear the 'F", the "C" (and worse) words at Olympic games - just like you will at any other CL game. Let's just not make a drama of it, even though the Greeks invented the drama...

"Let's not make a drama out of a 17 year old goalkeeper being the subject of homophobic abuse"

And "this is not against Olympic as a club...",   It is just against the "selected few" - is total nonsense . You propose that we all 'act' Well, please act then !

Who are the 'selected few' ? Stavros Papadopulous ? Nikos Panajotis ? Names man, names...Act !

Anyway, almost midnight - off to sleep. I feel you have the right intentions, but maybe watch CNN a tad too much...

That is a big part of the problem. You cite examples from other games of 1on1 comments and I'm sure there are many and people should be reporting those too (and many are). However the scale of a 30-40 man faceless mob on a hill loudly screaming homophobic comments is quite different and unsurprisingly gets derided much more loudly in return.

These guys choose to hide in a large group in the dark and you want other people to name names before doing anything. They are relying on safety in numbers and it's the club members providing exactly that protection. Perhaps the others in the mob that are right there and know these people should be talking to them rather than relying on a member of the public to approach a mob - the fact that isn't happening says to me this isn't a "select few" but a culture that it not only is ok but based on the laughter from up there almost welcomed. It's a problem the club needs to actually lead by example on fixing don't you reckon?

everyone knows the people on the bank. Back in the day you used to get half decent banter from behind the goal at grounds like Harcourt and Nui. 

Btw with this racism thing- was there a single Greek player in the playing/coaching squad on Sat?

Squad: Basalaj, Agalavarra, Weston, Wood, Lawrence, Findley, Johnson, Palezevic, Barcia, Mulholland, Blackburn, Bgoni, Junca, Baz, Minshull. 

Staff: Jacobs, Prosser, Junca, Taye.

(with apologies in advance for any spelling errors in that).

As a side note, has anyone estimated Luis Corralles' $$/game? He's always on reasonably good money, and he has hardly played the last two or three seasons. How many appearances for Olympic this year?

Homophobic and racist abuse is a club-agnostic issue that needs to be addressed as a whole. It just happens that this time, it was Olympic supporters guilty of it. There no anti-Olympic agenda from those at the game who heard it and have reported on it, it's just that they were there and heard it. If it happened at the Wests vs Wairarapa game, they'd have done the exact same thing.

Trundled out to Endeavour Park to watch the top of the table clash yesterday.

First things first: very good crowd in, very bad parking situation, extremely disappointing sausage sizzle feat. stale bread and no onions :( 

On the crowd, it is awesome to see so much of the junior club down to support the first team. I know there's nothing else to do in Whitby, but still it's good to see. Most of Wests' juniors aren't from Whitby anyway ;)

To the match. Wests came out *much* stronger. Had a very good first quarter hour. They pressed Wairarapa very high, and Wairarapa just couldn't get out. Corey Chettleburgh in the Wairarapa midfield was just chasing around, never got given the ball to feet in control so almost always had to go backwards. Coey Turipa looked like bambi on ice every time the ball was played back to him and Wests were completely in command. 

But Wairarapa weathered that storm and started getting the ball forwards. When they isolated the Western Suburbs fullbacks one on one they created all sorts of trouble for them. But a combination of wayward crossing, some last-ditch defending and a couple of confident takes from Withers in the Wests goal kept them out.

The half wore on in an arm-wrestly way. Hard to tell who was on top, either side could have scored. But then Elijah Just made a goal out of one of Wests' least-promising attacks. Out of nothing almost.

Wests broke down the left, and lumped a hopeful (but quite poor) ball into Just in the centre forward position he took a touch, juggled the ball over a defender's head, and then dinked it in over the advancing Turipa. It really was quite magnificent. 

Worth watching: https://twitter.com/kiwibardy/status/8762668882500...

Wests were winning the arm wrestle. And I tweeted as much just seconds before Paul Ifill also created a goal out of nothing. Controlling a mediocre ball fired wide to him on the right, jinking inside (of course) twice to put the ball on his right foot and then curling it with plenty of pace past Withers. Withers I'll note is quite good so to whip it past him from that distance demonstrated just how much class is left in those ageing legs.

And we went into the break at 1-1.

Wairarapa came out and dominated the first fifteen minutes of the second half. They were parked in Wests' defensive third, but they weren't creating chances. Wests are good at dropping deep and closing down space. Wairarapa thrive on space in behind. 

It looked very much like Wairarapa were going to score, but Wests broke up the other end and won what must be said to be a terrible penalty decision. The only indication that it was any sort of foul was the half-hearted shout from the crowd on the sidelines. That was enough though, and the referee gave it. Owen Parker-Price buried it, and Wairarapa went home.

From there it was a Wests riot. Callum McCowatt scored a hatty and Wairarapa pretty much gave up trying and took up bobsledding.  McCowatt even out-Ifilled Ifill with a jink inside and curl it type affair that left Turipa standing there doing a goldfish impression. Wairarapa were a bit lucky not to have someone sent off as the game wore on.

In the end an emphatic claim to the Central League title from Suburbs. And they did it with not inconsiderable style. 

I still want to know what was in Declan's thermos though...https://twitter.com/gsmithnz/status/87627305321419...

I can also confirm that no homophobic sideline shout outs were heard. I was, however, concerned that Danny Fearon was going to have an aneurysm when McCowatt scored his screamer of a second.

Who has the better youngsters out of the Phoenix and Wests?

Wests would be higher I'd say, but not much in it. Wests have a bit of experience that United don't. Think: Withers, H. Edge, Adams etc.

In terms of the earlier question (whose players are better) I'd probably say Wests too (Billingsley, Just, Green, McCowatt, Parker-Price), but only marginally. United have some very good ones (Wood, Ebbinge, Singh, White).

Just and Singh are the two best of those in my opinion. So one each.

So in effect the Nix / WU side probably about where the Wests side were a couple of years ago. Play nice football at times but a bit naive at times?. I have seen very little of either of them over the last couple of years but interesting to compare

Not sure how many appearances he has made this season, need to ask Olympic or Snads at Capital Football but he has been injured a bit

To say he has hardly played in the last 2-3 seasons isn't really true

2016 Stop Out 15 games (14 league, 1 Cup) out of 19, 8 goals

2015-16 Team Wellington 13 games out of 16, 2 goals

2015 Olympic 13 games (10 league, 3 Cup) out of 22, 12 goals

So since 2015 he's played 73% of the games he could have before this season

Outstanding statistical play. I withdraw and apologise Luis!

I had in mind the season he played for Upper Hutt where he was injured (and paid) a lot.

But I take your facts on board. Unfair criticism. Olympic sure could use him back on the pitch asap.

Hamish Watson was at the Wests game sporting a moon boot. I wonder if he's regretting his investment in Palmy North Marist?

Are you actually calling one of the top 4 referees in the country a blatant cheat and a racist here?

don't know which game you were watching but I thought his performance was fine, maybe because I have the benefit of being neutral

Was a bit baffled at first by the 1st red card, but saw he indicated that the Olympic player pulled the United player back and he gave a red as he deemed it to be a DOGSO

The second red was for Barcia he may have been going for the ball but he took the United's players legs clean away from him and upended him, it was reckless, dangerous and stupid, the ref had no option but to send him off. It happened just on front of the dugouts and the player wasn't going anywhere, it effectively cost Olympic the game, as they looked as if they were going to hold on for a draw if they had kept 10 men on the field

Besides that he had to speak to the Olympic bench a couple of times as they were continually questioning him (without any real justification) and one time they were time wasting by not returning the ball, was definitely not a "shocking" performance by the ref

I think there is some misplaced anger here, must be hard going from 1st last season to bottom dwellers now. 

I just enjoy that some here are trying to say that the worst person out at Wakefield was the referee, not the guys on the hill yelling homophobic abuse at 17 year olds.

An Olympic implosion always brings the Lols, but hopefully the behaviour on the pitch won't distract from the poor behaviour off it

So you mean he applied the definition of DOGSO correctly and sent the player off

*Sigh*

Next you'll be telling me that it's never a card if the player 'got the ball'.

Suggest you just start with reading the laws, before spectating at your next game, much less commenting on the application of the laws.

Your own words above beg to differ. "If the ref had played advantage the WDU would of scored"

You do know that the two "O" in DOGSO stand for Obvious and Opportunity, not the two zero's in 100%, right?