Should we take a stand against soccer?

[finders]

See, that's just emotive bias. I agree in the sense that I far prefer Australian Rules to Soccer, but calling it the most exciting and spectacular is silly. It sounds like the ramblings of a man who thinks we should introduce 9 points for supergoals.

You get boring games of soccer, you get boring games of AFL. You also get exciting games of each. Just because you don't like a particular sport doesn't mean it's all automatically boring. Plenty of foreigners find Aussie Rules boring and don't like it.



A-League is a low quality league. Why is that representative of the game as a whole? How many spectators do WAFL/VFL/Amateur clubs get?

Soccer appeals to the bogan brain dead with very little to do with their time!
It is mosty numblingly boring and fake with all the silly diving that makes it more suited to women!

BTW the A League is supposed to showcase soccer in Australia but ironically it actually hinders the game by being of such a poor quality compared with the leading soccers leagues in other countries.Even the wast majority of so called soccer fans in OZ wouldnt walk across the road to watch it going by this years crowds.

 

[Ironmonger]

[/B]

Soccer appeals to the bogan brain dead with very little to do with their time!
It is mosty numblingly boring and fake with all the silly diving that makes it more suited to women!

BTW the A League is supposed to showcase soccer in Australia but ironically it actually hinders the game by being of such a poor quality compared with the leading soccers leagues in other countries.Even the wast majority of so called soccer fans in OZ wouldnt walk across the road to watch it going by this years crowds.

There's no reason or merit to this post. Its just offensive.

Can the mods close this thread, please? I fail to see what purpose its serving.

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Certainly don't see how that post from 'Finders' contributes anything worthwhile - childish and stupid in the extreme that was. Exactly like some of the ludicrous and pathetic comments we've seen from some rugby league posters on the main board at times

Too bad these characters won't ever be able to start their tin-head "movement" outside of BF though, then they'd get a severe kick up the date for it, and maybe even have some sense knocked into them...

 

[Slattery_20]

There's no reason or merit to this post. Its just offensive.

Can the mods close this thread, please? I fail to see what purpose its serving.

It lets a few knuckle-draggers vent and feel better about themselves.

 

[zachary]

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

Where to begin. Well, let's start with his claim that Australian Football has received has received six times the funding from the 3 tiers of government in the last 6 years, and that soccer has only received $77m. Conveniently omitting the $280m stadium built by the Victorian Government - how do you miss something like that? He also claims that the federal government put in $77m to redevlop the MCG. Wrong. The federal government has never put a cent into the MCG, despite the fact that the MCG upgrade was for the Commonwealth Games. The Howard government had allocated $91m towards the Commonwealth Games upgrade, Tony Abbott refused to hand it over in an ideological dispute with the State Labor governmnent over union involvement in the construction. The MCG has NEVER had any Federal funding. Australian Football paid for most the MCG - the $77m was the total the State government has put into the stadium in 150 YEARS! The MCG has been paid for by loans taken out by the MCC members and recouped from returns from AFL matches. He claims money spent on Adelaide oval benefits the AFL (because it is oval shaped) but somehow overlooks the funding for rectangular stadiums up and down the country. Cockerill includes the paltry funding for oval stadiums in his figures for Australian football, but leaves out massive funding for rectangular stadiums in Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Central Coast and elsewhere in his soccer figures.It's pretty clear the "don't call it soccer" crowd are not going to let facts and figures get in the way of their taxpayer funded party. Cockerills' article fails basis maths - do not believe a word they say about the so called economic benefits of this circus. They will say anything.
I don't think we should take a stand against soccer, but I do think we should take a stand against the passive/aggressive jerks who demand that we call their game football, the billionaires who demand government funding for their code far above that provided for other sports, our weak governments who give in to their demands and the cultural cringers who think anything from overseas is better than our indigenous Australian game

 

[Kapital city TIGER]

well said Zachary. (No idea if the figures you or anyone uses are legit, but these things are so debatable, agree with the gist tho!)

Whats not debatable is that the AFL has already made moves to counter Soccers growing profile, by pushing into GWC. With a complete absence of facts to back me up, Id suggest that GWS has much more growing interest in soccer than rugby which hardly draws a crowd at stadium, (but probly rates ok on the box) Youve got to be in it to win it forming the underpinning of the AFLs push there, sooner rather than later framing the timing. Yes its a strategem built on time worn cliches!

Soccer in Australia is SO FAR away from international level that it will NEVER be viable without $$$$$ from overseas. Once top level Aussie players are coming home to play for Adelaide etc perhaps it will get a guernsey. Ill watch a few matches, look forward to having someone else to cheer for (when my beloved Tigers are threatening to bring in another spoon for instance) But Id rather watch Hockey.

Aussie rules is one of the great things about Australia, like our people, land and environment.

 

[Consolaçao]

lol secretly trying to convert people and boasting about refining your conversion techniques over the years, yeah you sound like a lot of fun.

i don't see how you can judge the man from a few posts. seems like maybe you're just one of those 'internet heroes' letting off a little bit of steam, picking fights?
I know exactly what he's talking about for what its worth. To an outsider, footy wouldn't make sense, as it's actually quite a complex game as opposed to soccer, which is about the most simple game on the planet (hence its popularity). Nothing wrong with introducing (not 'converting' as you put it) people to the game. I took a Brazilian mate to a Swans game last year. He enjoyed it, I answered his questions, explained how the game works. Does this make me a loser as well?

 

[Slattery_20]

I don't think soccer has to be a top level league to be viable. There's a definite niche for soccer. As long as it's an attractive, competitive league then people will rock up. NRL has a bit to fear IMHO, they don't seem to be doing much to help themselves.

 

[Caesar]

Agree with everyone here who has said soccer is not a threat to AFL. AFL has massive rusted-on support in the southern states, it will always be a huge game. The idea that it will ever be otherwise is absurd.

I'd go further. I actually think the growth of soccer in Australia will be good for the game of Australian football. The more crowded the domestic market becomes, the cost/return of AFL investing in growth in Australia becomes more unattractive.

I think it'll convince those muppets at AFL House to actually pay some attention to growing the game internationally for once. After years and years of ignoring the potential overseas and giving them peanuts in terms of development money, we might see some real, committed movement. Imagine how much growth you'd see in some of the developing markets if the AFL was to focus the millions and millions they're sinking into NSW and QLD there.

As someone who's spent more than a couple of years living overseas, the neglect of the AFL for those programs is disgusting.

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

Conveniently omitting the $280m stadium built by the Victorian Government - how do you miss something like that?

You mean the stadium that was built for rugby union?

Cockerill includes the paltry funding for oval stadiums in his figures for Australian football, but leaves out massive funding for rectangular stadiums in Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Central Coast and elsewhere in his soccer figures.

Alright, that's pathetic. Those stadia were built for union, league, league and league respectively. Soccer clubs just happened to use them after the fact. Would you prefer that they not use them, and in the case of the last specifically, let it become a white elephant?

And for Christ's sake, Lang Park is a hundred ****ing years old. What, did the Brisbane Roar travel back to 1911 to demand that the stadium was built for them?

 

[Hoops]

Where to begin. Well, let's start with his claim that Australian Football has received has received six times the funding from the 3 tiers of government in the last 6 years, and that soccer has only received $77m. Conveniently omitting the $280m stadium built by the Victorian Government - how do you miss something like that? He also claims that the federal government put in $77m to redevlop the MCG. Wrong. The federal government has never put a cent into the MCG, despite the fact that the MCG upgrade was for the Commonwealth Games. The Howard government had allocated $91m towards the Commonwealth Games upgrade, Tony Abbott refused to hand it over in an ideological dispute with the State Labor governmnent over union involvement in the construction. The MCG has NEVER had any Federal funding. Australian Football paid for most the MCG - the $77m was the total the State government has put into the stadium in 150 YEARS! The MCG has been paid for by loans taken out by the MCC members and recouped from returns from AFL matches. He claims money spent on Adelaide oval benefits the AFL (because it is oval shaped) but somehow overlooks the funding for rectangular stadiums up and down the country. Cockerill includes the paltry funding for oval stadiums in his figures for Australian football, but leaves out massive funding for rectangular stadiums in Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Central Coast and elsewhere in his soccer figures.It's pretty clear the "don't call it soccer" crowd are not going to let facts and figures get in the way of their taxpayer funded party. Cockerills' article fails basis maths - do not believe a word they say about the so called economic benefits of this circus. They will say anything.
I don't think we should take a stand against soccer, but I do think we should take a stand against the passive/aggressive jerks who demand that we call their game football, the billionaires who demand government funding for their code far above that provided for other sports, our weak governments who give in to their demands and the cultural cringers who think anything from overseas is better than our indigenous Australian game

Thanks Zachary, I missed BTP's reply to my post, and I'm glad I did as you put better than I ever could

 

[twentydollarnote]

Agree with everyone here who has said soccer is not a threat to AFL. AFL has massive rusted-on support in the southern states, it will always be a huge game. The idea that it will ever be otherwise is absurd.

I'd go further. I actually think the growth of soccer in Australia will be good for the game of Australian football. The more crowded the domestic market becomes, the cost/return of AFL investing in growth in Australia becomes more unattractive.

I think it'll convince those muppets at AFL House to actually pay some attention to growing the game internationally for once. After years and years of ignoring the potential overseas and giving them peanuts in terms of development money, we might see some real, committed movement. Imagine how much growth you'd see in some of the developing markets if the AFL was to focus the millions and millions they're sinking into NSW and QLD there.

As someone who's spent more than a couple of years living overseas, the neglect of the AFL for those programs is disgusting.

The opposite has happened to what you've said more moneys gone into NSW and QLD, which is the right thing to do considering they are growth areas in the future.

 

[Dominator_7]

What a joke of a thread...

 

[Giants FC]

How would taking a stand against soccer work?
A picket of A-League games? Breaking into soccer venues the night before game day and digging the grounds up? A protest rally when FIFA delegates come to town to check on progress for the World Cup bid? Calling stadiums on game day with bomb threats? It's futile.

All we as Australian Football people can do is work to the growth of our game. As long as our game is strong and growing, then whatever any other sports do is no concern of ours.

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

Breaking into soccer venues the night before game day and digging the grounds up?

Spreading glass shards on the pitch the day before worked pretty well for the VFL in the past.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

How would taking a stand against soccer work?
A picket of A-League games? Breaking into soccer venues the night before game day and digging the grounds up? A protest rally when FIFA delegates come to town to check on progress for the World Cup bid? Calling stadiums on game day with bomb threats? It's futile.

All we as Australian Football people can do is work to the growth of our game. As long as our game is strong and growing, then whatever any other sports do is no concern of ours.

That would never work, they would just count emergency services response in the crowd figures and claim record attendances.

 

[duffman324]

Victory finding it hard to get 20,000 at their games, seems like a waste of time.

 

[Giants FC]

Spreading glass shards on the pitch the day before worked pretty well for the VFL in the past.

I don't see how the AFL can be held responsible for a dance party in early January at a venue the AFL doesn't own.

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

I don't see how the AFL can be held responsible for a dance party in early January at a venue the AFL doesn't own.

My bad, it was actually in Tasmania. Buckets of broken glass were spread on the pitch of North Hobart Oval the night before a Tasmania vs England game in 1951.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

Victory finding it hard to get 20,000 at their games, seems like a waste of time.

Melbourne are averaging 20000 for the season. KUTGW though.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

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.

Im not gonna bother reading this thread as they all go the same way...

But what sort of nob are you OP? Move on from the 1960s champ. Soccer is no threat to Aussie Rules and there is no reason the two cannot flourish in a multicultural, post-2000 Australia.

Rob Walls is of that same breed, harbouring an irrational fear of anything foreign.

I bet you were on the beaches a couple of years ago, "taking a stand for your territory".

w***er.

 

[GOEAGLES 08]

a-league sucks anyway.

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Im not gonna bother reading this thread as they all go the same way...

But what sort of nob are you OP? Move on from the 1960s champ. Soccer is no threat to Aussie Rules and there is no reason the two cannot flourish in a multicultural, post-2000 Australia.

Rob Walls is of that same breed, harbouring an irrational fear of anything foreign.

I bet you were on the beaches a couple of years ago, "taking a stand for your territory".

w***er.

Exceptionally fine points there CD.

And yeah, regarding Cronulla, there are a disturbingly large number of people coming out of the woodwork around here lately who would've been very much at home on those beaches back in 2005.

 

[NTRabbit]

Exceptionally fine points there CD.

And yeah, regarding Cronulla, there are a disturbingly large number of people coming out of the woodwork around here lately who would've been very much at home on those beaches back in 2005.

Yous are just un'strayan

 

[invinciBlues]

And yeah, regarding Cronulla, there are a disturbingly large number of people coming out of the woodwork around here lately who would've been very much at home on those beaches back in 2005.

Gee, it's not like you to be making grand, sweeping statements

Dont like soccer = genocidal maniac who likes to burns down orphanages and kicks puppies while trying to create a master race of bogans in their spare time.