Should we take a stand against soccer?

[Hoops]

oh dear

Rex, you sound like an NRL supporter in regards to football, If that's your objective, job well done

 

[RobbieK]

There is plenty of room for multiple football codes in this country. Two have a limited appeal - Rugby Union and Rugby League. Their expansion outside of NSW and Queensland will be minimal.

There are two codes which are able to have truly national competition and interest - Aussie Rule and soccer/football/whatever you want to call it.

There is no reason why both can't exist on a national level. It isn't necessarily a zero-sum-game where if one flourishes the other necessarily flounders.

Anyone afraid of football knocking off the AFL any time soon is silly - the AFL is the dominant league of football in this country and will be for some time yet. In 50 or 100 years things may be a little different, and I think that is mainly due to the major advantage football has over Aussie rules - international competition. In the end that will allow the roudn ball game to tap into lucrative Asian markets (in particular) that aren't really open to the AFL. Eventually I see them becoming close to equals - one ruling the winter, the other the summer.

In terms of funding, I don't see why people are worried about football. Perspective is needed - since 2003 soccer in Australia has recieved $77million from the federal government, of which over half is solely for bidding for the World Cup. In that time the AFL has recieved over $450million from all levels of government.

Now, I personally don't think that either code really ought to be getting money like that from the government, but the AFL is clearly far from doing poorly and football isn't really even close.

 

[dart]

I notice you live in Sydney with the rest of the paranoid NRL plebs.

if he was a "true" fan he'd live in melbourne, within walking distance of the hallowed turf of the MCG.

 

[loki04]

Even with constant fiddling and rule changes, Aussie Rules is the far superior product.

Have faith.

^^ This.

I do wish they would revert the rules back to the 2000 season perfect interpretations that year.

Btw Aussie Rules is FOOTBALL in this country, not Soccer.

 

[madmug]

Yea we should all panic, the massive turn out for the Goldcoasts last match was 2616 (including give a ways & press gang activity). That must really worry Vlad the impaler down at HQ! The world cup probably wont happen. If it does, it will just further highlight what is a poor 5th rate local soccer comp. The advantage of a WC would be to see stadium upgrades which would benefit all sports, especially Aussie Rules Footy. The current A-league must be a total embarrassment to SBS. They only have two programs, the A-League & Rex, WOOF

 

[Hoops]

In terms of funding, I don't see why people are worried about football. Perspective is needed - since 2003 soccer in Australia has recieved $77million from the federal government, of which over half is solely for bidding for the World Cup. In that time the AFL has recieved over $450million from all levels of government.

source?

 

[Hodgepodge]

OP is from adelaide.

It all make sense

 

[Hodgepodge]

Yea we should all panic, the massive turn out for the Goldcoasts last match was 2616 (including give a ways & press gang activity).

Are you talking about the A-League side?

You should know that the crowd was capped to 5000 and many fans refused to show up in protest. The cap has since been scrapped.

 

[RobbieK]

source?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/fo...p/2009/10/29/1256405474204.html?page=fullpage

 

[rooboy]

Why must we continually discuss this issue? People will support what ever sport they want to, and these threads won't change that, not should they.

I'm not keen on soccer, but each to their own. No one likes to have other peoples' opinions shoved down their throat.

So ,no, we shouldn't take a stand against soccer, or any other sport.

 

[TigersBoy]

Are you talking about the A-League side?

You should know that the crowd was capped to 5000 and many fans refused to show up in protest. The cap has since been scrapped.

Yes and I respect them as Fans and it bloody worked too.

 

[Hoops]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/fo...p/2009/10/29/1256405474204.html?page=fullpage

There is so many things wrong with that article,

apart from factual errors such as federal government funding for the MCG, or just spin, 3 tiers of government compared to one so that the huge amount spent by local government on soccer grounds is left out and than throwing all levels of football under the "AFL" as well as the clubs is just misleading and doesn't help his cause

 

[Pie eyed]

Even with constant fiddling and rule changes, Aussie Rules is the far superior product.

Have faith.

I'm with TBD.
You can spend a fortune, and soccers case they and the Australian Government already have, promoting a product, but if it's an average product the market will decide where it goes.

 

[wikipediaAFLproject]

You have many things to learn ... and so do i.

A few hints:
- If you care so much about soccer growing don't talk about it. For soccer at the moment pretty much any publicity is good publicity, and all you have to do is sit and wait for a few really bad Australian soccer stories to start creeping out.
- The best defense is a good offense. So if you like football and not soccer get out there and start promoting football (in australia and overseas). Because football needs to grow in order to survive.
- Don't pay out soccer, but don't glorify it either. If you pay it out you're basically making people not want to play football.
- Make friends with people who love soccer. Introduce them to football slowly. Its taken me years for some of the hard-core soccer fans ive converted.
- Learn the history of both sports.

Trust me, the above works. I used to go around preaching soccer hatred (i still dont like it). But now im smart about the way i convert people to football.
When i finish my uni degree i plan help out third world countries, and at the same time introduce them to football.
What Robert Walls says is a losing strategy. Eventually soccer will hit the jackpot in terms of structure in Australia. Many people thought 74' was that jackpot (Rale Rasic did trigger the huge participation rates for soccer bacck then), and many are stating that the Crawford Report and the A-League, along with 06' may be the time. Whatever time ... the only way football can 'win' is to keep growing. We need to grow overseas, as well as NSW and QLD.

 

[BlueTouchPaper]

There is so many things wrong with that article,

apart from factual errors such as federal government funding for the MCG, or just spin, 3 tiers of government compared to one so that the huge amount spent by local government on soccer grounds is left out and than throwing all levels of football under the "AFL" as well as the clubs is just misleading and doesn't help his cause

I thought $77 million was an accurate figure from the Fed! Please provide the rest of the figures that you claim to know.

 

[Crosby87]

Considering the two sports play here in different seasons of the year, how can they be a threat? Let's just worry about ourselves, and encourage as many kids to play AFL as possible.

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

They want to exclusively be called football and want to take the goverment dollars.

Yeah, how DARE they make a choice for themselves! They should do what we tell them and call themselves the Wogball Club for Pansies. And if they don't, we'll do what we've always done to take care of those ****tas; spread broken glass on their pitches so they can't play.

 

[maculosus]

It would appear from this post that you believe AFL has the right to throw around its influence.

Which I suppose it does. As does soccer. I'm yet to hear any example of soccer abusing that right.

As for soccer being big everywhere, I don't really care. But I think it's a magnificent sport and I would love to see it become more successful in Australia.

And if that means interrupting one AFL season out of a hundred in Australia so we can host a soccer world cup, I think thats more than a fair trade off.

Just the fact that Soccer's governing body insist that the World Cup host country suspend all other codes for the duration of the WC and the month prior to the WC. If that isn't abuse then tell me what else one sport could do to another that is abuse.

I've watched all sport for decades and followed many competitions if not the actual games, but while I can tell you roughly how the EPL and even the A-League is going, I just can't bear to watch more than 5 or 10 minutes of a soccer match without getting bored and looking for something else. I know much of the world love it but it's baffling - I can only assume they have little choice.

Those worried about the success of soccer in Australia diminishing the success of AFL should have little fear. In a year when the Aussie national team has enjoyed unparalleled success, club games still have poor crowds. The game just isn't exciting enough to have major success in this country.

 

[robaba]

Take a stand against AD, Andersen and Jillian who have gone out of their way to disenfranchise loyal football supporters.
Rejecting Tasmania.
Wasting money on GC and Western Sydney.
Over the next 20 years AD and his mates have organised for the AFL to be distracted propping up 'emerging' markets whilst Soccer quietly walks into the heartland.
You can already see it happening in the junior ranks.
Of course the culprits will have rewarded themselves with big fat salaries in the meantime.

 

[wikipediaAFLproject]

Take a stand against AD, Andersen and Jillian who have gone out of their way to disenfranchise loyal football supporters.
Rejecting Tasmania.
Wasting money on GC and Western Sydney.
Over the next 20 years AD and his mates have organised for the AFL to be distracted propping up 'emerging' markets whilst Soccer quietly walks into the heartland.
You can already see it happening in the junior ranks.
Of course the culprits will have rewarded themselves with big fat salaries in the meantime.

That is a worrying trend. We need more volunteers. Money can only do so much. The VFL needs a makeover. This makeover can occur at AFL level by removing some Victorian teams such that there is a national league, and then a state league. Rather than a semi-national/state league.

 

[Beaussie]

There is no doubt they are after our territory and I've heard Robert Walls mention before that we should do everything in our power to ensure that soccer does not flourish.

In what ways could we do this taking into consideration they may be in for a windfall of government dollars over the next few years.

Don't stress Rex, soccer in this country will never be a threat to the AFL or NRL. They play soccer in summer for a reason in this country.

Add to that, not one commercial FTA TV network is interested in broadcasting A-League matches and further, A-League average crowds continue a downward slide.

 

[wikipediaAFLproject]

Don't stress Rex, soccer in this country will never be a threat to the AFL or NRL. They play soccer in summer for a reason in this country.

Add to that, not one commercial FTA TV network is interested in broadcasting A-League matches and further, A-League average crowds continue a downward slide.

The competition is for youth which ultimately become the consumers.

Soccer at its highest domestic level is played in summer. State leagues are in winter.
There has been interest from FTA.

 

[speedpeck23]

AFL and soccer are obviously both great games. However no amount of marketing will sell either game. Success will depend on hard work and organisation. Success is not mutually exclusive to either code. Same applies to Rugby League,Rugby Union.. etc etc.

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

What a stupid ass mentality

Yeah, but wouldn't it be funny if Rexie and other assorted children of delusion actually launched something like this in real life

Fact is that Association Football is the 3rd-most attended sport in this country (behind Aussie Rules & cricket)

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

If every other country called Australia Boganland should we do it as well?

I LOLed Ice

Reminds me of that Simpsons episode when the US changed its name to accommodate Bart's answers on a history test....