Mike Sheahan

[From The Fence]

I think what Sheahan, and maybe some of the posters on here, don’t understand is that to enjoy the A-league you have to invest a bit of emotional energy into it.

What I mean is that; unless you are a true soccer lover, you might not really enjoy watching the A-league from a neutral or non-passionate perspective. So, unless you’re really supporting one of the teams playing (which I doubt Sheahan was) you might very well find it a bit ho-hum.

The A-league will not survive on quality alone; realistically it would struggle to be in he top 20 leagues in the world. Your average armchair sports fan can flick from the A-league to the EPL or the champions league, and will obviously see a better product. What the A-league need to do is to focus on the "live and local" aspect, having reasonable quality on the pitch and great atmosphere in the stands.

I’ve been to half a dozen games at the dome, including last weekend's, and my passion for the club is really starting to grow. For me that’s simply what the A-league needs, passion.

As, apart from at the very highest levels of the game, soccer without passion can be fairly average.

 

[i_hate_scams]

he has a vested interest to write this stuff to promote the sport which he is a "so call" expert in.

i have long stop reading dribble from him and co. I can make up my own mind what is exciting or not.

 

[Theseventhhamster]

Got to ask you guys...

Do you want to read a netball correspondent's opinion on the Ashes? The food critic to give an opinion on world politics?

I just don't know why he would write something like this. Mike doesn't like the sport...fair enough, but why would anyone want to hear what he has to say about it? He probably doesn't like rugby, league or basketball, but why should he try to comment on them.

Because many of the people that turn up to Victory matches are casual supporters who are not soccer nuts. He writes from the outsider perspective in an AFL state. It makes sense to me.

 

[GhostofJimJess]

Got to ask you guys...

Do you want to read a netball correspondent's opinion on the Ashes? The food critic to give an opinion on world politics?

Or Ronald McDonald's review of Hungry Jacks?

 

[finders]

You can't will or write soccer away, no matter how hard you try.

If he doesn't realise how bias he is, he's a true idiot...

Your the idiot mate!
Mike is just telling it like it is!
Every soccer game Ive been to Ive started to get bored before half time.
There is no comparison between the codes.

If soccer is so popular how come they could only pull 47,000 (In a city of almost 4 million = 1% ) to a final when telstra dome holds 56,600 and why dont they play in the real season winter? = No guts for a fight.?

 

[Astro_]

Your the idiot mate!
Mike is just telling it like it is!
Every soccer game Ive been to Ive started to get bored before half time.
There is no comparison between the codes.

If soccer is so popular how come they could only pull 47,000 (In a city of almost 4 million = 1% ) to a final when telstra dome holds 56,600 and why dont they play in the real season winter? = No guts for a fight.?

+

Partly im with you mate, soccer tends to have long boring patches. In saying that ive still attended many Victory games this year and will be heading to the final as well. Lets remember that only the Victory are successful in pulling big crowds. The 1st leg of the Sydney/Newcastle match only pulled 22,000, and this is 2 NSW teams.

The A-league signed a deal with foxtel for the next 10 years, therefore there will limited exposure on FTA in the many years to come. Read the newspapers and AFL is still getting a lot more material than A-League and we are in pre-season. A-league has a long way to go.

I think the problem is that we talk about AFL vs Soccer to much in the sense that its one or the other. Im a mad AFL fan, but im a soccer fan too. I follow my favorite code in the winter and the other in the summer. Let the two sports co-exists without the debate of one or the other.

Lets be honest, once the footy kicks off you wont hear a thing about soccer for the 6 mths, however AFL was still flooding the back pages of the papers in the summer months.

 

[Sir_Adrian84]

Side issue alert:
Bolt would have to be Hawthorn, surely.

Melbourne

 

[Sir_Adrian84]

Your the idiot mate!
Mike is just telling it like it is!
Every soccer game Ive been to Ive started to get bored before half time.
There is no comparison between the codes.

If soccer is so popular how come they could only pull 47,000 (In a city of almost 4 million = 1% ) to a final when telstra dome holds 56,600 and why dont they play in the real season winter? = No guts for a fight.?

i think it is to be in line with the european seasons

From March-May, Adelaide and Sydney play in the Asian Champions League during the winter football seasons so it will be interesting to see how they go.

 

[3kzisfootball]

Great....another 'football vs soccer' thread....

You know American Football? I find it boring. Can't stand it. Tried to watch a bit of it on the telly last night, did not last three minutes.

Cricket? Give me a break. Five days of tedium. No wonder you get so many people evicted during a match.

OK - I am being provocative on purpose here. Millions of Americans follow gridiron and just try to tell millions of Indians/Pakistani/Sri Lankan people that cricket is boring.

What I am trying to tell here is that on what authority can anyone call any sport 'boring'?

So Sheahan and some of you here don't like soccer. That is fine. You don't have to tell us. We can already list all the arguments: Not enough goals, the players are primadonnas and cheat, etc. etc. We heard it all before. At Nauseaum.

So why does Sheahan regurgitate the same old argument again and again? We read this article everytime soccer gets a bit of a profile in our city.

So he tells us that some people brought up on AFL can't undestand the game. Well, I am in shock. I have to go home. I can't do any work today.

What next. Other shock revelations that Kevin Rudd wants to become Prime Minister and that Paris Hilton is not a virgin? Spare me.

Sheahan is entitled to his opinion. But frankly to think that he's getting paid for that reheated soup of an article astounds me.

And all those who don't like soccer out there. please do us a favour. We know. You can concentrate on football and the soccer people can concentrate on their sport. Don't worry about the 'soccer evangelists' that say that soccer is going to take over Australia. Is not going to happen and it is not desirable anyway. The more variety the better.

Me? I love both codes. Aren't I a lucky one?

 

[mustapha]

Bingo.

As I wrote earlier, its like they say these harsh things about soccer, saying how boring it is [and in the same breath refuse to acknowledge the wonder that is the flood in the AFL] in the belief taht everyone will take on their opinoin.

For mine, it comes off as very insecure, as you have stated, to the point of paranoia. Why would you write a negative article about another sport if you weren't fearful of it. Where are the negative article on lacrosse and syncronized swimming. Well, there are none. Why? Becasue they don't pose the obvious threat that soccer does.

My favourite newsstory in this specialist area. A Channel 9 story on ACA or the 7 equivalent saying that the heading in the game of soccer could lead to child brain damage. You could sniff the AFL a mile awayand was an obvious rebuttal to the understanding/mood of mothers that AFL is more likely to damage or injure thier kids than any other sports so they would switch from soccer back to football.

Essentially, articles like Sheahan's come up every once in a while, usually when soccer is going well, to sate the people who love AFL and hate soccer. All the people praising the article, I assume, fall into taht category.

Exactly. Expect a few more Sheahan specials after the packed friendlies against Argentina and Uruguay this year. He wouldn't write these articles if the game was struggling.

 

[Sir_Adrian84]

Great....another 'football vs soccer' thread....

You know American Football? I find it boring. Can't stand it. Tried to watch a bit of it on the telly last night, did not last three minutes.

Cricket? Give me a break. Five days of tedium. No wonder you get so many people evicted during a match.

OK - I am being provocative on purpose here. Millions of Americans follow gridiron and just try to tell millions of Indians/Pakistani/Sri Lankan people that cricket is boring.

What I am trying to tell here is that on what authority can anyone call any sport 'boring'?

So Sheahan and some of you here don't like soccer. That is fine. You don't have to tell us. We can already list all the arguments: Not enough goals, the players are primadonnas and cheat, etc. etc. We heard it all before. At Nauseaum.

So why does Sheahan regurgitate the same old argument again and again? We read this article everytime soccer gets a bit of a profile in our city.

So he tells us that some people brought up on AFL can't undestand the game. Well, I am in shock. I have to go home. I can't do any work today.

What next. Other shock revelations that Kevin Rudd wants to become Prime Minister and that Paris Hilton is not a virgin? Spare me.

Sheahan is entitled to his opinion. But frankly to think that he's getting paid for that reheated soup of an article astounds me.

And all those who don't like soccer out there. please do us a favour. We know. You can concentrate on football and the soccer people can concentrate on their sport. Don't worry about the 'soccer evangelists' that say that soccer is going to take over Australia. Is not going to happen and it is not desirable anyway. The more variety the better.

Me? I love both codes. Aren't I a lucky one?

Good point

We always hear about how soccer will take over etc that AFL/NRL/Cricket etc are dying.

the more sport we have the better

 

[clobba]

Yep I think he hit it on the head for me it just doesnt work, it bores the hell out of me & I just cant work out the point of it all with the nothing results & the Hammy swan dives like prima ballerina's.
But if there are AFL supporters out there that like it that's fine, I have no problem with people following 2 codes....its just that I havent seen anything that comes close to AFL for an enjoyable spectacle & contest and so have only 1 code.
As to being the most popular code in the world, well I would guess Mc Donalds is one of the most eaten food's around also but that doesnt make it tasty.

 

[SOUTH SUPPORTER]

******** soccer

Why don't you ******** off!!

 

[SOUTH SUPPORTER]

Well done mate for standing up for what you believe. Soccer is a boring game that I find embarassing the way that some of the layers go down. He says what so many of us think reguardless of what people will say about him.

A great man for standing up for himself and his beliefs

You're a tosser, seriously.

 

[royals1922]

Anyone remember Carlton Soccer Club?

The A League is full of ghosts of good intentions.

 

[3kzisfootball]

Anyone remember Carlton Soccer Club?

The A League is full of ghosts of good intentions.

Different era. Different administration. You can't compare the old Soccer Australia with inept, semi-corrupt people with people like Buckley and Lowy at the helm of the Football Federation nowdays.

 

[Chewy]

Mike Sheahan: Does Ross Aloisi suffer from osteoporosis? Every time he came into contact with a Melbourne player he went to ground as if every bone in his lower body had crumbled. They go down as if shot and then miraculously get to their feet two and three minutes later as if they have been immersed in Lourdes water.

This reminds me of all the divers in the AFL. They also fall over as though they've been shot.
They must think all umpires are blind and this is the only way they can get a free kick.

Mike Sheahan: It was like watching a group of blokes trying to penetrate the Great Wall of China with a rubber ball.

Again, this reminds me a lot of the AFL.

What AFL games has Iron Mike been watching?
Is he stuck in the past; the glorious 70's, 80's and 90's when footy was free flowing?
Or is he too busy hobnobbing with the AFL chiefs up in the super boxes?

 

[unstable punt]

Why? For voicing his opinion. I believe the idiot here is you

just go back to punt road and enjoy chookshyte tossbag

 

[TheSaviour]

At least the premiers in the a-league didn't cheat the salary cap by over 1.5million dollars to win the title.

Soccer is here to stay and it may not be in sheahans lifetime but will be the biggest code in the country sooner rather than later.

I'm sorry if sheahan doesn't enjoy it but he has made a fool of himself and the soccer fans on the world game will laugh at his article.

I smell fear.

 

[TheSaviour]

People in Melborne should take note of the Perth example.

The Glory were getting nearly 20,000 a game and a Shed ticket was the hottest ticket in town.

A few years later the Glory were losing and they average 8,000 a game.

In the same time footy has got significantly stronger in WA.

While the Victory are popular now that popularity is not likely to be a long term popularity.

Football need not worry until and unless the Adelaide and Richmond gme type of football becomes the rule not the exception.

same as the eagles and dockers.

people forget the dockers were only getting around 15-17k per match in 2002.

the eagles weren;t doing much better. Perth love winners.

 

[3kzisfootball]

Soccer is here to stay and it may not be in sheahans lifetime but will be the biggest code in the country sooner rather than later.

Soccer is here to stay but it is not going to become the biggest code in Australia, although it certainly will be up there.

And I say this as Melbourne Victory member and a soccer nut.

 

[The Fireman]

Melbourne

How apt.

 

[Snuka]

Because many of the people that turn up to Victory matches are casual supporters who are not soccer nuts. He writes from the outsider perspective in an AFL state. It makes sense to me.

He really is writing from an aussie rules expert/supporter's point of view. Why would anyone with even a passing interest in soccer want to read his opinion? I just get the feeling it's a bit of Aussie rules chest pumping that was written to please the supporters of his game and create controversy without having any real value.

Would you like to hear the opinion of the Sun's soccer expert on the experience of an AFL game? Of course you don't.

 

[Grunty]

As to soccer being the most popular code in the world, well I would guess Mc Donalds is one of the most eaten food's around also but that doesnt make it tasty.

Using your logic, we should never says that footy is the most popular sport in Australia, just in case someone comes back with the MacDonalds analogy.

 

[Father Jack]

Would you like to hear the opinion of the Sun's soccer expert on the experience of an AFL game? Of course you don't.

Actually that might be interesting

Funny sort of article, was he attacking the sport, the specific game or just Adelaide's gameplan? He is right about the diving, which i think is the sports biggest weakness coz the match can turn on one penalty being given due to a diving cheat (yes, I am talking to YOU, Cristiano ). But thats the game and I like it regardless.

I prefer footy tho.