Deadly Rivalries

But a thing between Melbourne fans and Wellington fans seems to be building up on this forum.

But I am sure their will be a healthy rivalry between Pheonix and all the Australian clubs for the reason that Kiwi Cavalry said, it will pretty much be NZ vs Australia at a club level.

 

Only if the New Zealand sports on offer is competitive.  Hence why games against NZK probably (I don't know for sure) drew smaller than average crowds in Australia.  The Knights' performance was pitiful, so noone could take any joy from beating a Kiwi side.

 

Maybe even set fire to an effigy of Nana Mouskouri

 

You are right Kiwi Canary but for the wrong reasons.  Australia has 7 teams amongst a population of 20 million, a pool of less than 3 million a team pro-rata, whilst NZ has 4 million.  The reason the pool is bigger is that football takes a larger slice of the sports market in Australia than in New Zealand.  Hence by increasing the presence of football in New Zealand there should be a larger average pool to draw upon for the Pheonix, especially as extra clubs come into the Australian market.  This improves the talent available for the A-League, increasing standards in the long term, and is one of the primary reasons for having NZ in the A-League.  This is a fact that a number of Australian supporters fail to grasp as it is a longer term vision and many are obsessed with the shorter term development of the league.

Regarding the expansion of the A-League, the higher powers need to be careful that expanding the league doesn't water-down the talent. We just went through the exercise with the NZFC, and had four franchises apply. In the end Youngheart Manawatu got their off-field issues sorted and their licence was renewed with the other original 7 member franchises. Had New Zealand Football (Soccer) decided to increase the league I believe the talent would have been spread even thinner and the quality of the league would have fallen. Many here believe the standards have dropped when compared to the old national league, however what they aren't taking into account is that many clubs had a huge foreign content, squad-wise. I recall Manawatu United back in the late 70's playing a national league squad almost entirely of Brits with a couple of young kiwis who got a run now and then. These days we've seen a reverse of that situation with most sides now running New Zealand and Pacific Islands players (and the ocassional Aussie) and a sprinkling of Brit imports to hopefully bolster the squads.

I think if you are going for imports then they have to be quality. Over the years there have been so many journeymen turn up and deliver very little, all at the expense of giving local youth the opportunity. I realise this isn't going to work for the Phoenix initially but long term you'd hope that one day they might even win the A-League with a completely NZ-born squad.

Wellington Diamond United won the NL back in 1985 (if my memory recalls - although it might have been 1976) with an entirely Kiwi-based squad so it can be done.

Good post dude.

I'll celebrate a Phoenix win over Victory buy eating one of your national animals - the Kangaroo."

 

Yeah, much tastier than sheep aren't they. Mmmmm, Kangaroo meat, great stuff, I have some probably about once a month. If you are going to eat some too, great, go for it. Help the Aussie economy.

 

"You've got more sheep that us for starters."

But not per person as I've already stated. Face it, NZ really is the sheep-lover's heaven. The Aussie sheep are spread far and wide across the barren deserts, while yours are crammed onto a couple of tiny islands.

 

"One thing that the A-League bosses also want is the potential advertising market. "

For sure, Hyandai wanted a NZ franchise, which is why it had to stay.

 

You're obsessed with Sheep for some reason - perhaps you should buy an inflatable one and live happily ever after.

I feel a lot better now know it was really the Knights that won the A-League on the "per capita" quotient. Marvellous. New Zealand, you win the debate!

 

"That's a ridiculous thing to say. You have more sheep, it doesn't matter whether its per capita."

 

Yes it does. eg, with beer consumption, the Czech Republic comes out first in terms of per capita with 156.9 L/person/year, but they were only 15th overall. China, of course because of its massive populations, tops the consumption list for complete countries, with 28,640, 000 kL.

 

Yes, and I realise that. However, that is not relevant. It is the Knight's own fault that they didn't pull more fans. Therefore, the relevant statistic is not how many fans they had, but how many they could potentially have had. Which is why I mentioned the populaitons.

And sure, I've made a few comments about sheep, but all but the intial one have been in reply to other peoples comments about that same subject, so I wouldn't reallly call that obsessed.

"Using your flawed arguement against itself I could say that each Aussie team could draw from Oz's population."

No, none of the teams are called Australia FC or Australia United. Each team has a city or region which it represents (as well you know!) so therefore they do not represent the whole of Australia.

 

The NEW ZEALAND Knights, on the other hand, are supposed to represent the whole of NZ.

 

But lets pretend you are correct,  andn that the Knights were actually the Auckland Knights.

 

Then the population catchment reduces to 1 million. Then they still come last in the league.

 

The number of fans who actually turn up is irrelevant.

 

No, but the Knights were still supposed to represent them.

 

We're talking about the Knights here.

 

I hope u guys and Nth Qld have a big rivalry as well as you guys and us.

 

I do!!!

 

"and after they won season 1 people thought they were good but they r not very good at all."

 

Hey, last season we won enough points to come 3rd place, we can't be that bad! And we drew with the Urawa Reds, the J-League champions, who have a massive, massive budget, so we can't be that bad!!!

 

Sydney has enough rivals already though, but I think another one will develop with you guys.

 

How on Earth did you come to that conclusion?!?!

 

No logic or reasoning at all.

 

"a Tassie teen"

No. I was born in Sydney and have lived here ever since. I have no idea where you got Tasmania from, seems a bit strange to me.

 

"Dive on the bandwagon after the v1 win by chance?"

Sorry, but wrong again. I supported Sydney teams in the old NSL, and I've been supporting Sydney since the A-League was first announced, obviously because I live here. I've always played and supported football (never AFL or either rugby code) so I don't see how you could say I'm a bandwagon jumper. If you want to see some of those go to Melbourne.

 

 

"lose at least 4"

 

Hmmm, lets see...

 

Lose by at least 4 goals?

 

Lose at least 4 games?

 

Lose at least 4 players?

 

Lose at least 4 coaches?

 

Lose at least 4 fans to Rugby Union?

 

Lose at least 4 dollars?

 

Whichever one it is, good on you for having a Phoenix banner as your signature thingo even though you clearly (cough cough cough) aren't supporting them yet for whatever reason.