Is there a less inspiring sporting team in Australia than the Socceroos? Granted, Australia’s national cricket team is hardly going to inspire authors to write heroic short stories or graphic novels about the imperiousness of the Australian male on the field of sport but at least there is some interest which comes from the desolation of total defeat which was inflicted on them in India. Soccer…..ahem, football and it’s practitioners are just, well…….blah!
When Tim Cahill is raised to the heights of glory and lauded as an Aussie sporting superstar then severe doubts are raised in my mind about the taste of the Australian sporting public.
Soccer, sorry….football may have it’s delights and one can’t argue with the fact as it is followed worldwide by millions of adherents but as anyone who knows me well will be aware, it is not my cup of tea and my critique of the game may err to the negative as a result.
The game is on a bit of a roll in this country at the moment. The A-League, the national soccer/football competition has been getting solid crowds, if not knocking the roofs off stadiums as it’s most ardent admirers would have you believe. Local derby’s between teams based in the major capital cities have seen sell out crowds which unfortunately, despite the hype is still only half the number of people who go to an average AFL game.
The Western Sydney Wanderers, a new franchise based out of western Sydney will have the AFL’s newest team, the Greater Western Sydney Giants crying with envy at their first year success, built on the back of burgeoning crowds yet is hardly surprising. Western Sydney is Australia’s multicultural playground and soccer surely has a cultural grounding in the streets of Parramatta and beyond which can’t possibly be matched elsewhere except perhaps in various ethnic ghettoes in Melbourne.
That being said they certainly blotted their copybook last weekend with the disgraceful behaviour exhibited by their supporters who abused diners in a restaurant, some of whom appeared to be fans of the team the Wanderers were playing that night.
It is a peculiar habit of the game, whereby violence and unruly behaviour often surfaces in the terraces of the grounds where soccer teams play or in streets surrounding the venues for these matches. A problem which rears it’s ugly head every now and again and is a dirty particle in the fabric of the game which frequent washing seems unable to dislodge. AFL crowds, which can be up to four times bigger than anything seen in the A-League, are angels by comparison. There is certainly a discussion to be had about the propensity of bad behaviour by soccer fans and why it is insidious to that particular game but my blog is not the place to have it.
To each is own and while soccer is certainly travelling on an upward plane, I think the zenith of it’s popularity in this country may fall well below that of other sporting codes and competitions.
The Socceroos, the name itself makes me cringe with cultural inferiority, played last night in a World Cup qualifier and only just escaped with a draw against the Oman national team. Apparently this isn’t a good result and I briefly glimpsed a news story this morning quoting an unhappy coach who has declared spots are up for grabs after such an insipid performance. Ho hum.
The crowd seemed poor and I feel soccer’s popularity and well-being may well hinge in this country, along with the A-League, on the success of the national team. But until they can produce a squad capable of competing with the pampered prima donnas of Italy and Argentina and other such football luminaries, the game in this country will more than likely run a distant fourth to the other football codes in terms of popularity, where manliness of action is king and these traits have been enshrined and glorified down through the ages, rightly or wrongly. Can the men of soccer live up to the reputation established by Australian sportsmen of the past across a range of sports? It remains to be seen but if the examples on offer last night are the best specimens of charismatic Australian sport stars the game can dredge up, then we will be waiting a long time for the round ball game to hit the top of the charts in Australia.
When Tim Cahill is raised to the heights of glory and lauded as an Aussie sporting superstar then severe doubts are raised in my mind about the taste of the Australian sporting public.
Soccer, sorry….football may have it’s delights and one can’t argue with the fact as it is followed worldwide by millions of adherents but as anyone who knows me well will be aware, it is not my cup of tea and my critique of the game may err to the negative as a result.
The game is on a bit of a roll in this country at the moment. The A-League, the national soccer/football competition has been getting solid crowds, if not knocking the roofs off stadiums as it’s most ardent admirers would have you believe. Local derby’s between teams based in the major capital cities have seen sell out crowds which unfortunately, despite the hype is still only half the number of people who go to an average AFL game.
The Western Sydney Wanderers, a new franchise based out of western Sydney will have the AFL’s newest team, the Greater Western Sydney Giants crying with envy at their first year success, built on the back of burgeoning crowds yet is hardly surprising. Western Sydney is Australia’s multicultural playground and soccer surely has a cultural grounding in the streets of Parramatta and beyond which can’t possibly be matched elsewhere except perhaps in various ethnic ghettoes in Melbourne.
That being said they certainly blotted their copybook last weekend with the disgraceful behaviour exhibited by their supporters who abused diners in a restaurant, some of whom appeared to be fans of the team the Wanderers were playing that night.
It is a peculiar habit of the game, whereby violence and unruly behaviour often surfaces in the terraces of the grounds where soccer teams play or in streets surrounding the venues for these matches. A problem which rears it’s ugly head every now and again and is a dirty particle in the fabric of the game which frequent washing seems unable to dislodge. AFL crowds, which can be up to four times bigger than anything seen in the A-League, are angels by comparison. There is certainly a discussion to be had about the propensity of bad behaviour by soccer fans and why it is insidious to that particular game but my blog is not the place to have it.
To each is own and while soccer is certainly travelling on an upward plane, I think the zenith of it’s popularity in this country may fall well below that of other sporting codes and competitions.
The Socceroos, the name itself makes me cringe with cultural inferiority, played last night in a World Cup qualifier and only just escaped with a draw against the Oman national team. Apparently this isn’t a good result and I briefly glimpsed a news story this morning quoting an unhappy coach who has declared spots are up for grabs after such an insipid performance. Ho hum.
The crowd seemed poor and I feel soccer’s popularity and well-being may well hinge in this country, along with the A-League, on the success of the national team. But until they can produce a squad capable of competing with the pampered prima donnas of Italy and Argentina and other such football luminaries, the game in this country will more than likely run a distant fourth to the other football codes in terms of popularity, where manliness of action is king and these traits have been enshrined and glorified down through the ages, rightly or wrongly. Can the men of soccer live up to the reputation established by Australian sportsmen of the past across a range of sports? It remains to be seen but if the examples on offer last night are the best specimens of charismatic Australian sport stars the game can dredge up, then we will be waiting a long time for the round ball game to hit the top of the charts in Australia.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 