Culina: AFL supporters who dont embrace football are "insecure in their code"

[TheVideoMan]

Soccer won;t be popular in this country due to the joneses and Smiths not accepting a foreign game. There is still a huge racist under current when it comes to soccer from many anglos in this country still. Sure people got into the world cup but thats just b/c Australia was competing on a world stage - had nothing to do with a new found love of soccer.

The ones that have embraced the code are usually ex pats anyway or sons of migrants. Your typical footy lov'n meat pie beer sinking aussie does not want a bar of the wog game.

 

[pazza]

What's the got to do with onfield talent? I'm not denying we struggled with crowds last season, but our negative play can almost entirely be blamed on that moronic coach we were stuck with, and this has been proven with the attacking and successful style we're playing with, under the influence of Culina. Watch and see, my friend.

It's called putting the money into developing your own talent - and then using that talent to make a team a success.

No point spending a certain part of the salary cap on getting an old player, like Yorke was and then having that player hold up the development of others.

This is where the Victory did get it right - most of the current squad is playing in the Premier League now on in Melbourne, so when the A-League starts up again, the players are ready to go. I'm sure that we'll chase Mark Viduka's signature in time, but, given he comes from Melbourne, that's fair enough.

 

[james Dean]

Branko Culina? Yeah that sounds really Australian isn't he Croatian? Who the hell is he to tell us what is Un-Australian when he isn't even Australian.. Go back to your soft-**** sport 'Branko'

These two pics pretty much sum up Soccer

 

[TheVideoMan]

Branko Culina? Yeah that sounds really Australian isn't he Croatian? Who the hell is he to tell us what is Un-Australian when he isn't even Australian.. Go back to your soft-**** sport 'Branko'

Thank you for proving my point right. It didn't take long you racist anglo prick.

 

[Lowie01]

Branko Culina? Yeah that sounds really Australian isn't he Croatian? Who the hell is he to tell us what is Un-Australian when he isn't even Australian.. Go back to your soft-**** sport 'Branko'

Everybody, welcome to 1925.

 

[mark73]

Are you trying to troll or be a bigfooty comedian? Cause you missed your mark badly. Have you seen what teh AFL dishes up these days? Uncontested footy, kicking sideway, hardly any contact or its deemed dangerous?

I would seriously concentrate on AFL atm b/c the game is going shit at a fast past.

The only thing going shit at a fast pace is your posting. AFL is ingrained in Australian culture through generations and generations. All cultures, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Arabic. It will always have a modicum of support and participants. You "futbol" "revolutionists" pop up every few years but then generally fall back into obscurity after a while. Nothing to see here. And this is from someone who saupports both codes.

 

[TheVideoMan]

errr oooooooooooooooo kay.

 

[Ted Ed Fred]

The main problem with AFL these days is the influx of bitter, overbearing, shrill, know-it-all, bandwaggoning Swans fans that have polluted Australian football forums over the last 6 months or so. A truely repulsive species.

 

[retroparty]

The main problem with AFL these days is the influx of bitter, overbearing, shrill, know-it-all, bandwaggoning Swans fans that have polluted Australian football forums over the last 6 months or so. A truely repulsive species.

yep that just about sums it up.

 

[mattwinter]

This isn't a knock on AFL, but a sport doesn't need to be high-scoring to be interesting and exciting.

I've always found it weird that people will say they hate football because it is low scoring and then will go and watch a day of test match cricket. (that's not a knock on cricket either - but like football it is a sport which is less action packed).

I'm not going to argue which is a better sport, personally I like watching football a lot more, mainly because I consider it far more 'significant' than AFL - let me explain what I mean - the AFL is one competition, with 16 teams, and theres one thing that matters, the premiership, teams that finish bottom of the ladder are helped by getting good players in the draft. The draft is a stupid concept because it rewards failure - I don't like that at all, and what is worse is that local players often get taken to a team they don't want to go to, and have basically no choice but to accept the salary they are offered and play for that club.

Not only does this make the competition unfair, but it means teams don't care about youth development etc. because they know that young players are just going to get stolen. There's also things like the uneven draw - where the AFL can just choose 7 clubs that your team gets to play twice - honestly I don't think there's anything more ridiculus in world sport.

Back to the matter at hand, Sydney FC are certainly on the edge of doing something very significant. They will go to Japan to take on one of the biggest clubs in Asia, Urawa spends around $50 million on football each year, while Sydney is restricted in a salary cap so much that most Urawa players would be making more than what the entire Sydney FC team gets put together. There will be a massive crowd of fanatical supporters against Sydney, and it will make for a very tough assignment.

Personally I think they'll loose, but even if that happens it will have been a great achievement to get this far (still alive in the competition), and the club, players and Branko all deserve a big pat on the back. And yes I think Branko has a point that this isn't being talked up enough by the Australian media.

Mind you, this is the first time Aussie clubs have been in the Champions league, and it takes games like this to enhance the competition's reputation - start getting into situations like this every year and soon the media will take a lot more interest.

 

[mark73]

Soccer won;t be popular in this country due to the joneses and Smiths not accepting a foreign game. There is still a huge racist under current when it comes to soccer from many anglos in this country still. Sure people got into the world cup but thats just b/c Australia was competing on a world stage - had nothing to do with a new found love of soccer.

Checked out some of the Australian youth teams brainiac? There are quite a few "Jones's" there and not as many I's and O's.

The ones that have embraced the code are usually ex pats anyway or sons of migrants. Your typical footy lov'n meat pie beer sinking aussie does not want a bar of the wog game.

Ah, so now we're getting to the real issue. A "wog" with a persecution complex and a set against "Skips"

Can't you morons make it a little harder next time?

 

[TheVideoMan]

The main problem with AFL these days is the influx of bitter, overbearing, shrill, know-it-all, bandwaggoning Swans fans that have polluted Australian football forums over the last 6 months or so. A truely repulsive species.

The main problem with AFL these days is, they continue to do nothing about a team of drug taking morons and pamper to their needs and their fans (west coast eagles inc) are so pathetic and mentally challenged that they come on a footy forum sprouting incoherent crap. They are essentially a step back for humanity.

 

[mattwinter]

The only thing going shit at a fast pace is your posting. AFL is ingrained in Australian culture through generations and generations. All cultures, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Arabic. It will always have a modicum of support and participants. You "futbol" "revolutionists" pop up every few years but then generally fall back into obscurity after a while. Nothing to see here. And this is from someone who saupports both codes.

What? Do you seriously expect people to believe that?

Yes football fans do tend to 'pop up' every now and then - but in the past this has been because of World Cup qualifiers every four years. May I remind you that over the past two years there's been the World Cup qualifier against Uruguay, the first season of the A-league, the world cup, the second season of the A-league (and the massive crowds in Melbourne week-in-week-out), the Asian champions league, the move into the Asian confederation...

There's the Asian Cup this year, a big competition, which will only strengthen Australian football. Yes after this there is a bit of a gap between major competitions, but there's the third season of the A-league and then we are straight into World Cup qualifying for 2010 - when exactly do you expect football support to die down?

This is not like in the past, football is here to stay, get used to it.

 

[TheVideoMan]

This isn't a knock on AFL, but a sport doesn't need to be high-scoring to be interesting and exciting.

I've always found it weird that people will say they hate football because it is low scoring and then will go and watch a day of test match cricket. (that's not a knock on cricket either - but like football it is a sport which is less action packed).

I'm not going to argue which is a better sport, personally I like watching football a lot more, mainly because I consider it far more 'significant' than AFL - let me explain what I mean - the AFL is one competition, with 16 teams, and theres one thing that matters, the premiership, teams that finish bottom of the ladder are helped by getting good players in the draft. The draft is a stupid concept because it rewards failure - I don't like that at all, and what is worse is that local players often get taken to a team they don't want to go to, and have basically no choice but to accept the salary they are offered and play for that club.

Not only does this make the competition unfair, but it means teams don't care about youth development etc. because they know that young players are just going to get stolen. There's also things like the uneven draw - where the AFL can just choose 7 clubs that your team gets to play twice - honestly I don't think there's anything more ridiculus in world sport.

Back to the matter at hand, Sydney FC are certainly on the edge of doing something very significant. They will go to Japan to take on one of the biggest clubs in Asia, Urawa spends around $50 million on football each year, while Sydney is restricted in a salary cap so much that most Urawa players would be making more than what the entire Sydney FC team gets put together. There will be a massive crowd of fanatical supporters against Sydney, and it will make for a very tough assignment.

Personally I think they'll loose, but even if that happens it will have been a great achievement to get this far (still alive in the competition), and the club, players and Branko all deserve a big pat on the back. And yes I think Branko has a point that this isn't being talked up enough by the Australian media.

Mind you, this is the first time Aussie clubs have been in the Champions league, and it takes games like this to enhance the competition's reputation - start getting into situations like this every year and soon the media will take a lot more interest.

A perfectly articulated post. Actually this is way to good of a post to be wasted on bigfooty.

 

[mattwinter]

A perfectly articulated post. Actually this is way to good of a post to be wasted on bigfooty.

whoops.. forgot that

 

[james Dean]

Thank you for proving my point right. It didn't take long you racist anglo prick.

Croatian is a race?

 

[ApplecrossWC]

errr i know about all that. Thanks for wasting time..no thanks..no really thanks. Did you refuse to read what another posted has stated. We are out of synch with the comp being held at present.

Don't worry Melbourne won't be left out of the spotlight and has a chance next..no need to cry.

He said exactly what I just said and you said "you feel embarrassed for him." So I am not sure why you wrote that if what he posted was a fact. I guess the fact that 4th best team in the league representing Australia at the moment is embarrassing so maybe you were right.

Don't worry about Melbourne, you should be worrying about Sydney pulling a crowd number that isn't embarrassing.

 

[ApplecrossWC]

They had 20,000 for the Urawa game. Compare that to some of the attendances in places like China and Korea and it stacks up very well.

Ok so it was 20,000. Yes it is good if you compare it to China but apart from that it's piss poor.

 

[cos789]

This isn't a knock on AFL, but a sport doesn't need to be high-scoring to be interesting and exciting.

I've always found it weird that people will say they hate football because it is low scoring and then will go and watch a day of test match cricket. (that's not a knock on cricket either - but like football it is a sport which is less action packed).

I'm not going to argue which is a better sport, personally I like watching football a lot more, mainly because I consider it far more 'significant' than AFL - let me explain what I mean - the AFL is one competition, with 16 teams, and theres one thing that matters, the premiership, teams that finish bottom of the ladder are helped by getting good players in the draft. The draft is a stupid concept because it rewards failure - I don't like that at all, and what is worse is that local players often get taken to a team they don't want to go to, and have basically no choice but to accept the salary they are offered and play for that club.

Not only does this make the competition unfair, but it means teams don't care about youth development etc. because they know that young players are just going to get stolen. There's also things like the uneven draw - where the AFL can just choose 7 clubs that your team gets to play twice - honestly I don't think there's anything more ridiculus in world sport.

Back to the matter at hand, Sydney FC are certainly on the edge of doing something very significant. They will go to Japan to take on one of the biggest clubs in Asia, Urawa spends around $50 million on football each year, while Sydney is restricted in a salary cap so much that most Urawa players would be making more than what the entire Sydney FC team gets put together. There will be a massive crowd of fanatical supporters against Sydney, and it will make for a very tough assignment.

Personally I think they'll loose, but even if that happens it will have been a great achievement to get this far (still alive in the competition), and the club, players and Branko all deserve a big pat on the back. And yes I think Branko has a point that this isn't being talked up enough by the Australian media.

Mind you, this is the first time Aussie clubs have been in the Champions league, and it takes games like this to enhance the competition's reputation - start getting into situations like this every year and soon the media will take a lot more interest.

This isn't a knock on soccer, but a sport does need scoring at regular intervals to be interesting and exciting.

I've always found it weird that people will say they don't hate soccer because it is low scoring and then will go and watch a day of test match cricket.

I'm not going to argue which is a better sport, personally I like watching AFL a lot more, mainly because I consider it far more 'significant' than soccer - let me explain what I mean - the AFL is one competition, with 16 teams, and theres one thing that matters, the premiership, teams that finish bottom of the ladder are helped by getting good players in the draft. The draft is a world beating concept because it provides a close and interesting competition- not like competitions were the richest clubs buy premierships .
I hate that .Competitions without controls allows the rich clubs to dominate .
Not only does this make the competition unfair, but it means teams don't care about youth development etc. because they know that young players are just going to get bought. There's also things like playing on even though the premiership was decided weeks ago because the top team has an unbeatable points tally - honestly I don't think there's anything more ridiculus in world sport.

Back to the matter at hand, Essendon AFC are certainly on the edge of doing something very significant. They will go to Japan to take on one of the biggest markets in Asia, together. There will be a massive crowd of fanatical supporters for Essendon with Sheedy as their Messiah, and it will make for a very tough assignment for other teams .

Personally I think essendon have been trend setters , with clubs like Melbourne getting into China and if that happens it will have been a great achievement .Sheedy and Essendon all deserve a big pat on the back. And yes I think Sheedy has a point that this isn't being talked up enough by the Australian media.

Mind you, this is the first time Aussie clubs have been in the forfront of taking the game overseas league, . Subiaco and North Adelaide taking games to RSA enhance the competition's reputation - start getting into situations like this every year and soon the media will take a lot more interest

 

[Rob]

This isn't a knock on soccer, but a sport does need scoring at regular intervals to be interesting and exciting.

I've always found it weird that people will say they don't hate soccer because it is low scoring and then will go and watch a day of test match cricket.

I reckon that has a lot to do with the fact that people actually care about the result. Go and have a look at the crowds at a Pura Cup match - basically non-existent. Yet it's the same game and arguably the same quality as many test matches. But a test match against the Poms has people lining up for hours. Why? Same reason people stayed up all night watching the socceroos in the world cup. Or why we watched Australia II in a yacht race in the 80's. Because people care about what's going to happen.

 

[The Mongrel Punt]

Soccer?

*Yawn*

 

[mulhollanddrive]

Who cares about Soccer vs AFL vs Rugby etc... if you don't like a sport who cares, i dont like badminton or athletics or netball, it contributes nothing to my life.

Why do people have to justify what they like, or you should like this, or you are dumb etc... if you don't like this sport, or this sport is better than this sport.

There is no right or wrong answer, all you do is get yourself worked up over something that is individual and subjective.

And dont forget that the journalist probably promted the quote to make a bit more cash for his next contract and everyone's being sucked in by it.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

``All Australians are sports minded people and if you're not going to accept football you're unAustralian,'' Culina said.

Happy to accept it. Just not going to care about it.

 

[Stealthy]

I disagree with the "unAustralian" comment, but the point is there is an attitude you get from slack jawed bogans when you mention you follow football. It's almost a dirty word with some yokels. Unfortunately the media have a lot to do with this - aiming straight at the lowest common denominator. The World Cup was an eye opener for a lot of people I know and once again another big competition like the ACL is being overlooked by the clueless media.

 

[1858]

I disagree with the "unAustralian" comment, but the point is there is an attitude you get from slack jawed bogans when you mention you follow football. It's almost a dirty word with some yokels. Unfortunately the media have a lot to do with this - aiming straight at the lowest common denominator. The World Cup was an eye opener for a lot of people I know and once again another big competition like the ACL is being overlooked by the clueless media.

I think Australians are all well-aware of the soccer World Cup that is on every four years. It's not a new thing, you know.

Personally, it's attitudes like this soccer coach and soccer's militant adherents that turns people off from the round-ball game. UnAustralian? Jeez, because I don't care for soccer apparently I'm unAustralian? What a wayne-kerr this bloke is.