Confessions of an ungrateful bastard
Confessions of an ungrateful bastard
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.
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...
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...
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...
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... ;-)
http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2012/02/24/once-in-a-lifetime-a-defining-football-moment/
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...
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.
http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2012/04/29/the-nzfc-grand-final/Enzo Giordani2012-04-29 11:00:11
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/
I've done a Christmas poem which mixes football with the old legend of how the fairy got on top of the Christmas tree with Clement Clarke Moore's 'Night Before Christmas'.
I hope you enjoy it...
http://in-the-back-of-the.net/2012/12/12/how-the-fairy-got-on-top-of-the-christmas-tree/
A catalogue on the best (IMHO) www.in-the-back-of-the.net posts of 2012 for your summer reading pleasure should you feel the desire...
Nice one on Ricki
Nice one on Ricki
Thanks! The full transcript includes a bit of an interesting insight into when the Phoenix was set up. He looked great, has dropped a heap of weight and seemed pretty content with life in contrast to Mr turner at the same event last year. :-)
Enzo looks like Vic Reeves.
#Eranu
Enzo looks like Vic Reeves.
#Eranu
*googles Vic Reeves*
Thanks! I think... :-)
Vic is certainly the funnier of him and Bob Mortimer.