The Haters Of The AFL Respond

[yulong]

I fired off a email, did not go through the article, point by point but just let him know that it was joke of a article.

Seriously how can the editors let this crap get through, oh hang on !!!..... he is the editor.

Expected this sort of thing from the Daily tele.

Yeah you can email the Executive Editor and ask why he has such a nong as Sports Editor. If you read their Code of Ethics it becomes even funnier.

It's so poorly written for a professional and reads like a "my favourite team" grade 6 report. Full of inaccuracies and biased, fact-less opinion.

Did he play thugby perhaps?

 

[CatDog29]

Its funny, every 4 years in the month or so leading up to the soccer world cup i become interested, particularly if Australia get through. However after watching a couple of games each time I think how pleased i am that we have AFL. It takes me 4 years to forget how painfully boring it is going through 90+min of soccer for a total of 4-5mins combined actual interesting action (and thats being generous). Give me 100% action AFL any time. Am i wrong or is the diving getting even worse in soccer - they even have rules about it but do nothing - what a pussy game it is.

Not all the world is pussified about their sport - there are many countries playing both forms of rugby. Perhaps they need a little enlightening as they are increasingly getting in NSW and QLD, or should we really keep it just for ourselves and like the US don't give a damn about what the others think. Geesh who cares what pussy game others follow we have AFL. We are Aussies and this is our game - anyone has a problem if they worry more about what others think than what they think.

 

[Pj.Rj.Hj]

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/les-murray/blog/1010995/Football-has-little-to-worry-about

I see the anti-soccer mob back home has found a fresh horse to ride on – Australia’s failure to advance to the second phase of the World Cup.

Boy, they are loving this.

Whew, it was close though. A few less goals conceded to Germany or Wilkshire converting his sitter against Ghana and our boys would have been in the last 16 and may now be preparing to face Uruguay in the quarter-finals.

That’s where Ghana is now, the team which till it met the USA managed to score just two goals, two lousy and lucky penalties, in its three group games. And which played two of those three games largely against 10 men.

Yet, against the steely Americans, they scored two wonderful goals and looked all the part of worthy quarter-finalists and noble torchbearers of the African cause.

That’s the fine line between success and failure in a football World Cup, the wondrous fickleness of the game that these miserable Neanderthals do not understand, or refuse to see.

It’s the theatre of it which makes the World Cup so appealing, even in Australia where so far nine million people have watched it and where it brings tens of thousands out into city squares to watch and celebrate in the dead of winter.

And the pointy end is still to come.

The anti-soccer resistance movement continues to shrink and has become totally irrelevant, its members cutting lonely figures stumbling about in the dark.

They huddle in desperate fear that Australia will get to host the World Cup in 12 years time. What that might do to demonstrate how important football is to Australians terrifies them.

Most of them are so old they’ll hopefully be smelling violets from underneath by the time that happens.

The few younger ones will of course jump on the bandwagon and cash in as cheap media tarts. Some of them are here in South Africa doing it now.

Of course they could be right in their argument that ‘the round ball game’ is less than entertaining.

To quote a colleague with us here in Cape Town: ‘The other codes are never dull. Salary cap rorts. Defecating in hotel corridors. Pack rape. Drugs. Racism. That's what football needs. More meatheads. Spice it up a bit.’

Football and its broad appeal in Australia has gone so far in the past 30 years that I have long ago ceased to be concerned by these cave dwellers.

But I do wish they’d shut up.

I've always like Les Murray, I hope this is just a bit of tonge in cheek stuff.

I guess what the soccer faithful forget especially in the excitment of a world cup is that the vast majority of fans of the other codes don't mind soccer on some level, who hasn't serious had a good time kicking a soccer ball down at a park with some friends. Any serious hate is directed at the likes of the soccer fans shooting there mouths of while showing no respect to Aussie Rules or Rugby League which are intrenched in the nations cultural fabric. The likes of FIFA themselves who have no serious regard for the fainess of the game and ofcourse the primadonas who litter the elite level.

Australians will support their national side in anything. The interest may dwarf the likes of the Wallabies but that is because we're only seriously interested every 4 years because it's the "World Cup", the biggest sporting event on the planet, who doens't want to be part of that and the festive atmosphere.

One can tell how Sydney centric the FFA mob are with their obsessive asault on Victoria and the AFL. AFL now the longer term benefits of a massive boost in sporting infrastructure. What person seriously doesn't want to host the world cup. Perth is screaming for a new stadium. Securing the 2022 World Cup would put these developments into immediate action (new Stadium, Airport).

 

[krudmonk]

THIS!!!! if America got involved they would add like 15 time-outs per half and slow the game down and also drive the wages of players so high that we couldn't afford to keep our stars in Australia even the biggest duds in the NBA earn more than some of the biggest stars in the AFL.

What the ****? We haven't done that with soccer, have we? No, in fact we've continually shifted more toward the status quo.

Also, a big part of the gonzo commercial American culture for which we get criticised is Rupert Murdoch...

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Soccer is individually a very skillful game, but if only they could use those skills for good instead of evil. In other words, with all the massive skills these guys possess, why are they only able to score 1 goal in a game?

Quite simply, over a 90 minute match, not enough happens to keep me interested, regardless of the skills the players possess. Why is it you can go down the street to do some shopping, come home again 20 minutes later and nothing has happened?

They only play those retched horns for two reasons .... to keep the majority of people awake, and to cover up the sound of the others snoring in the crowd.

 

[Freo Blood]

They might not wreck the actual sport but they would certainly wreck our national comp if it ever got big over there.

There's no way we'd be able to match the salaries they could offer and we'd be left watching the equivalent of A-League talent running around for our beloved clubs.

Makes sense that the most appropriate place for me to comment was from a Freo fan, they make the most sense!!

Anyway, what he said also applies to soccer. If it was to get big here the best players would always play in europe for bigger money than the oz league could offer. So at the end of the day we will always have a second rate sport if soccer was to overtake afl as biggest winter sport in oz.

As long as the afl "controls" the grass roots and pays adequately for a career then we should maintain the strength to be the no. 1 on oz. Same as in USA with NFL. Also, club competition seems to always trump national competition in popularity at the end of the day.

 

[Giants FC]

I bit. I've written back to the SMH about that's muppet's article. Let's see if the SMH will publish this:

In relation to Stephen Samuelson's article; his analogy of AFL being like cane toads breaks down in that AFL is native to Australia, unlike cane toads and international sports.
The suggestion that the AFL "deliberately obstructed" the FFA's World Cup bid is also untrue. Within the confines of the original agreement that the AFL would retain access to Docklands and would be locked out of the MCG for no more than 10 weeks, the AFL gave the FFA everything they wanted for their World Cup bid.
But the underlying point, lamenting that AFL attracts elite sportspeople, is futile in a liberal democracy. Is Mr Samuelson seriously suggesting Australia should go the Soviet/Chinese route of testing all children at a young age to determine which sport the state thinks they are best suited to and then forcing them to play that sport?
AFL may not have global clout, or Frank Lowy's billions to get in bed with the government. But if people choose to play the little Aussie battler game rather than the giant multinational, is that really a bad thing?

 

[Demonic Ascent]

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/les-murray/blog/1010995/Football-has-little-to-worry-about



I've always like Les Murray, I hope this is just a bit of tonge in cheek stuff.

I guess what the soccer faithful forget especially in the excitment of a world cup is that the vast majority of fans of the other codes don't mind soccer on some level, who hasn't serious had a good time kicking a soccer ball down at a park with some friends. Any serious hate is directed at the likes of the soccer fans shooting there mouths of while showing no respect to Aussie Rules or Rugby League which are intrenched in the nations cultural fabric. The likes of FIFA themselves who have no serious regard for the fainess of the game and ofcourse the primadonas who litter the elite level.

Australians will support their national side in anything. The interest may dwarf the likes of the Wallabies but that is because we're only seriously interested every 4 years because it's the "World Cup", the biggest sporting event on the planet, who doens't want to be part of that and the festive atmosphere.

One can tell how Sydney centric the FFA mob are with their obsessive asault on Victoria and the AFL. AFL now the longer term benefits of a massive boost in sporting infrastructure. What person seriously doesn't want to host the world cup. Perth is screaming for a new stadium. Securing the 2022 World Cup would put these developments into immediate action (new Stadium, Airport).

What Les should realise is that a lot of those people watching the World Cup and freezing their arses off at Federation Square are the same people that would laugh at soccer having any comparison to our indigenous game. Most people (in Melbourne anyway) love sport and will follow their team be that AFL, NRL, Socceroos, Wallabies, EPL, Serie A, NFL, NBA etc. We do not get intimidated by other games like NRL or soccer "invading" our city, we embrace them knowing full well that our game is still the best.

We just laugh whenn we here this whining from NRL or soccer tragics because 1) we will support NRL & soccer teams as well & 2) we have full confidence that nothing beats our game.

 

[harmesy 37]

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/les-murray/blog/1010995/Football-has-little-to-worry-about



I've always like Les Murray, I hope this is just a bit of tonge in cheek stuff.

Is this a serious article from Latino lamb delicate Lessie Murray?



He has joined his mate Fozzie Foster in fantasyland...what a laff.


These two guys are nuts. I wonder if they know the SMH Sports Editor Stephen "Oxbridge" Samulson.



Come on Michael Cockerill....surely you can top these buffoons in creating a thorougly moronic, irrational puff piece on the evils of AFL and the glory of England's game.



Apparently I must be a "cave dweller" for daring not to follow the preferred sporting preferences of poms and their Hungarian mate Latino Lamb delicate Les.


I personally quite liked soccer back in the 1990's..that was until these clowns came along and told everyone to forswear their enjoyment of Australian footy, and started dictating to people what and how they should spend their leisure time. yeah, cave dwellers...right on Les.

 

[Redb#]

Amusing that the NFL parallel was argued so poorly. I bet SS knew he could not argue this rubbish without addressing the NFL in the USA. His response was so weak it just exposes the whole piece to his ultimate humiliation and shows the fear and bias.

This article is great in so many ways. It demonstrates the AFL - Australian football is building north of the Murray. As other codes bemoan their lot in life, the AFL is being held up for its success now and in the future.

I think the debate though should move to the poor allocation of resources to two rugby codes in Australia.

Using SS's logic, rugby league should fold and be merged into rugby union the much larger internatonal sport.

Australia should have three football codes:

Australian football.
Rugby. (rugby union as its known now)
Soccer.

 

[Blue star]

So much newsprint rubbish, so little time.

The analogy with cane toads is critically flawed in that, unlike Australian football, cane toads are an introduced species. As such, the analogy with cane toads would be more apt to the spread of soccer.

Early in the article, the author again pens the falsehood that the AFL "deliberately obstructed" the FFA's World Cup bid - a bid that many soccer fans and journalists are hailing as an attempt to bring about the AFL's destruction.
We hear that line that the AFL tried to block the FFA's bid often from soccer people, but it is a barefaced lie. The reality is that, within the confines of the original agreement that the AFL would retain access to Docklands and that the AFL would be locked out of the MCG for no longer than 10 weeks, the AFL gave the FFA everything they wanted for their bid. So don't you dare go round blaming the AFL if the FFA's World Cup bid fails.
From here, we hear that the AFL is bad because they have a salary cap and a draft, that the AFL thus controls which clubs players end up at. Notwithstanding that a draft trade system does enable players to move to the club of their choice, surely it is a better system than in other codes; where a handful of clubs will always dominate while other clubs know that their fate forever will always be only to make up the numbers and they have no hope of ever being competitive against the elite few.

But the over-riding theme is that the Australian football is bad because it is only played in Australia. But it that really a bad thing?
If I were to go to a local take-away shop for lunch instead of going to KFC, would it be bad to not embrace the world chicken? If you were to go to an independent film festival (to watch gay cowboys eating pudding lol) instead of to the big movie theatre, is it bad to not be embracing the world movie? If a person in Greece spoke Greek, is it bad to not be speaking the world language? If a person in the Pacific islands wore a traditional tribal outfit, is it bad to not be wearing the world fashions?
There are global tastes, but there are local tastes too. And why should the local tastes always assume a role of subservience?

What worries the writer is that Australian football, while globally insignificant, is locally strong. In every other country in the world, soccer is bigger than Australian football - no-one in their right mind disputes that. But we don't live in every other country in the world.
Australian football may not have global clout. Our game doesn't have Lowy's billions to get in bed with the government. But our little Aussie battler game has spirit - and we're not going down without a fight.

Great points made Glory and Fame , It is so pleasing to read your view and put into words everything that we are thinking.
Does this peanut writter think we are going to down tools anD follow a game we don't find as entertaining ?
The fact is we have the choice of picking whatever sport we like to follow, They all basically go head to head here and people vote with there feet (and money)if the world game is a better spectacle then why don't they or NRL for that matter have the crowds that AFL do.
As for salary caps most if not all of the biggest soccer clubs in the world are broke and owe hundreds of millions of dollars .
We are lucky that we have the best game in the world and it is in such secure financially good hands.
The game will continue to grow and prosper as our own game ,the rest of the world can only look on in envy at something they don't understand ,which tells you more about them than it does about our great game.

 

[finders]

All AFL/AUSTRALIAN Football supporters should be very worried about this scam and how OUR money is being squandered by the FFA and Lowy on their dream of a soccer WC!


Just look at the type of foreingers that soccer are using for their bid.

Isnt there any decent Australians that could do the bidding for us instead of these sleasy conmen? Then again with Lowy in charge its just normal business practice I suppose.

Its about time the Government were made aware of the type of people that are representing our Nation and getting paid by OUR tax money.I reckon there is a good story for 4 Corners in this!

http://www.transparencyinsport.org/B...sub-index.html


http://www.transparencyinsport.org/P...ld(page1).html

 

[Reggi05]

Most of the great sporting competitions in the world, the ones that draw the crowds, V viewing and passion are domestic competitions. NFL, EPL, AFL. In the scheme of things international football comps are relatively small

I am a nut for footy, but not sport, NFL is the only other football code I enjoy watching without simply getting bored that nothing is happening. It's not meant as criticism, I'm just not interested

I love that footy is our national sport and essentially unique to our country. Does not detract at all, it's a great unique cultural thing

That article was a real cultural cringe comment. I suspect given the sheer volumes of kids playing Soccer vs Rugby in NSW, most of the great athlete's don't play Rugby as kids and adults. We are about to get a lesson on that in with Karmichel Hunt

 

[Reggi05]

I It takes me 4 years to forget how painfully boring it is going through 90+min of soccer for a total of 4-5mins combined actual interesting action (and thats being generous). Give me 100% action AFL any time. Am i wrong or is the diving getting even worse in soccer - they even have rules about it but do nothing - what a pussy game it is.

Glad I'm not the only one. I leave a post it note on the TV

 

[Blue star]

Gee thanks for the insult. For no apparent reason.

I could have written just about anything couldn't I and you still would have said the same thing? Idiot. Why would you deliberately try to make an enemy?

Mate don't take it to heart,most find your views entertaining.
Keep making your points and if others don't like em then that's there problem not yours, you've got just as much right as anyone to post your beliefs and have your say.
If people deliberately try to make an enemy for no reason then they show what they are in the real world.
Keep at it ,it's what makes bigfooty interesting that we have all different views and you shouldn't be made to feel unwelcome as it would be a pretty boring site if we all agreed , I think we can all agree on this one point,,that the pies are destined for the next 5 flags? Lol

 

[PrideOf]

Jesus Les. I hope this was meant to be tongue-in-cheek but it reads more like knob-in-hand.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/les-murray/blog/1010995/Football-has-little-to-worry-about

I see the anti-soccer mob back home has found a fresh horse to ride on – Australia’s failure to advance to the second phase of the World Cup.

Boy, they are loving this.

This is where soccer just doesn't get it. Most people commenting on the World Cup are focussing on the red cards and feeling sorry for the Socceroos because we're minnows in a sea of sharks. There is some real sympathy in some parts for our national team.

But every time the soccer fraternity lumps everyone together as 'the anti-soccer mob' it completely evaporates that goodwill.

That’s the fine line between success and failure in a football World Cup, the wondrous fickleness of the game that these miserable Neanderthals do not understand, or refuse to see.

It’s the theatre of it which makes the World Cup so appealing, even in Australia where so far nine million people have watched it and where it brings tens of thousands out into city squares to watch and celebrate in the dead of winter.

As we have done in 2006 as well. But calling all non-soccer people 'miserable Neanderthals'? Jesus Les, way to get people offside. Perhaps you at least understand that term.

And the pointy end is still to come.

But no-one cares as soon as the Socceroos are out.

The anti-soccer resistance movement continues to shrink and has become totally irrelevant, its members cutting lonely figures stumbling about in the dark.

They huddle in desperate fear that Australia will get to host the World Cup in 12 years time. What that might do to demonstrate how important football is to Australians terrifies them.

Um, what? Once again Les, if you stopped alienating people with this bullshit and embraced people then we'd be half a chance of getting behind your sport more often than once every four years.

And in terms of huddling? I think you'll find most other sports would be happy with improved facilities that a World Cup would bring.

Most of them are so old they’ll hopefully be smelling violets from underneath by the time that happens.

The few younger ones will of course jump on the bandwagon and cash in as cheap media tarts. Some of them are here in South Africa doing it now.

Now you're just abusing people for the sake of it.

Of course they could be right in their argument that ‘the round ball game’ is less than entertaining.

Of course they could. It's called free speech and a right to an opinion.

To quote a colleague with us here in Cape Town: ‘The other codes are never dull. Salary cap rorts. Defecating in hotel corridors. Pack rape. Drugs. Racism. That's what football needs. More meatheads. Spice it up a bit.’

But I do wish they’d shut up.

Who? The meatheads or your 'informed' commentators who feel the need to abuse everyone who isn't on your side?

Football and its broad appeal in Australia has gone so far in the past 30 years that I have long ago ceased to be concerned by these cave dwellers.

And yet you've spent a whole column - which could have been used to win people over - in being concerned about them.



Soccer just doesn't get it. They're not going to win people over from AFL or either Rugby code to soccer as their Number 1 sport. The games are too different - Aussie codes are very physical, soccer is not. But rather than get Aussies to embrace soccer as their Number 2 sport - which would boost numbers massively - their main media spokesman carries on like this.

Disappointing Les. I thought you were better than this. Obviously not.

 

[Fitzcray]

STEPHEN SAMUELSON is a dog of epic proportions and it is little wonder he comes from Sydney where they think rugby league is the only football code on the planet.
This raband idiot is of the opinion that because soccer is big elsewhere that we all of sudden must embrace it.
Stepehen : soccer means nothing to people in Australia because it is played by primadonnas and is downcast boring.
Barely any scoring and no physical contact.
We like scoring in Australia and Australian Rules Football provides this and more.
Soccer is one week away from returning to the sports results section where the vile garbage that breeds crowd thugs belongs.

 

[forwardpocket]

To "balance" the incredible rant by the SMH sports editor, the SMH should give some decent coverage to next weekend's AFL under-16 national championships.

In fact "national" will be a misnomer as in addition to WA, SA, NT, ACT-NSW, Vic, Qld, Tas - there will be a World-18 and Pacific teams competing.

See http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20100625075236344

Australian Football was once called "Australasian Football" in the late 19th century when it was more popular in NSW, Qld and NZ than Rugby and also played in Sth Africa. OK it went backwards for a century as the British empire pushed the games of Rugby and Soccer to the 4 corners of the globe.

But the growth of Aussie Rules around the world in the past 10 years indicates that the 21st century is one of re-internationalising the game. The 21st century allows the internet, global TV and Aussie expats in unprecedented numbers to market the code globally in a way the 20th century could not.

So even though the AFL is likely to always be the pinnacle of Australian Football - numerous overseas leagues will act as feeder comps to swell the talent pool and the TV rights with overseas fans from niche markets.


An AFL with a strong international aspect will be great for Australia's image in the world. Every year 1,000s more join the dozens of international Australian Football leagues and this will only continue to grow.

Next weekend at Blacktown is another major step towards a more talented and more cashed up AFL.

 

[Bomberman86]

^ this .....Nobody in their right mind would consider watching a boring as dishwater game, where the players dive and carry on like prima donnas at the suggestion of any physical contact...after growing up on the skillful and tough Aussie Rules ....I have found soccer to be good for two things, and two things only .

1: A game parent's can get their little kids into...(esp effeminate type boys) where they know there is zero chance of them getting hurt.

2: A cure for Insomnia

Let the rest of the world put up with that boring crap...after all ..it's all they know, while we watch a real Sport.

For the sake of argument, I have bolded youre entire post. Its comments like these that make people like you the same as all those idiots who bag AFL. Each sport has its merits, and its bad points. One might argue that AFL has become softer by the year, no thanks to characters like Mr Demetriou.

 

[Obeanie1]

**** The Haters! Most bullshit article ever read. Aren't the majority of AFL players from Victoria? So they are basically saying the talent is in Vic.

If this is the case would allinterstate sides stop drafting all the gun WA kids in the first round.

As for the article it is soooooooo obvious a troll from a non AFL fan simply trying to sell papers. Ackermanis- esque in its stupidity and inflamitory nature.

This knob head thinks losing our best home grown talent to soccer overseas is a good thing?

Losing Rubgy players to Japan, France and England is a good thing?

Who cares about the rest of the world and these lessor sports. We know that the AFL is the hardest, most skillfull and toughest game on the planet and good on our young men who want to play it.

 

[Redb#]

To "balance" the incredible rant by the SMH sports editor, the SMH should give some decent coverage to next weekend's AFL under-16 national championships.

In fact "national" will be a misnomer as in addition to WA, SA, NT, ACT-NSW, Vic, Qld, Tas - there will be a World-18 and Pacific teams competing.

See http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20100625075236344

Australian Football was once called "Australasian Football" in the late 19th century when it was more popular in NSW, Qld and NZ than Rugby and also played in Sth Africa. OK it went backwards for a century as the British empire pushed the games of Rugby and Soccer to the 4 corners of the globe.

But the growth of Aussie Rules around the world in the past 10 years indicates that the 21st century is one of re-internationalising the game. The 21st century allows the internet, global TV and Aussie expats in unprecedented numbers to market the code globally in a way the 20th century could not.

So even though the AFL is likely to always be the pinnacle of Australian Football - numerous overseas leagues will act as feeder comps to swell the talent pool and the TV rights with overseas fans from niche markets.


An AFL with a strong international aspect will be great for Australia's image in the world. Every year 1,000s more join the dozens of international Australian Football leagues and this will only continue to grow.

Next weekend at Blacktown is another major step towards a more talented and more cashed up AFL.

great post.

And it really helped France and Italy to have a virtual sports mono culture. Cant blame an Aussie Rules presence for that.

 

[finders]

[
Soccer just doesn't get it. They're not going to win people over from AFL or either Rugby code to soccer as their Number 1 sport. The games are too different - Aussie codes are very physical, soccer is not. But rather than get Aussies to embrace soccer as their Number 2 sport - which would boost numbers massively - their main media spokesman carries on like this.

Disappointing Les. I thought you were better than this. Obviously not.[/QUOTE]

Murray and Foster and their ilk make their living from Soccer.But denigrating OUR own game just makes them look like sourpuss whingers that cant get their way!

Im 67 and since I was in State school in the 1950s the soccer loving migrants including friends of mine expected to take over from Australian Football a long time back.
Well what do you know? it hasnt happened yet even though the socceroos were in the WC in the 1970s LOL

 

[Blue star]

So if we all decide, in les Murray,s mind,to see the light and follow the soccer do we then get refered to as cheap media tarts as he has called the ones that are spending money to be in Sth Africa?
Why is it that we,AFL supporters, can watch soccer ,NRL and all other sports of our choosing without demanding that the rest should pack up their chosen sports and follow our great game,yet they seem to not leave us alone and follow the sport we choose to follow.
Les has done his sport no favor by trying to bring down Aussie Rules and the supporters that follow it.
It is a cheap shot and I smell some jealousy in the air..
Les in case you haven't noticed we have soccer rugby and everything else here in Victoria and the majority by a mile chooses AFL. Unlike yourself we can, and generally do, watch and support other codes if it is worth watching,without sinking the boot in and demanding
people change codes ,it is a free country and people choose what they wish to watch.
If the product isn't as good people don't buy it.
Name calling and running other codes down still doesn't make me want to change,in fact it makes me dislike soccer just that bit more.
Soccer may be big world wide,but is and always will be a minority sport compared to the AFL in it's home land,go and try and change the Americans from gridiron to soccer and you'll be told the same thing,,,,,,,leave us in peace les Murray and worry more about the hoones in your sport that find it fun to beat other supporters to a pulp,now that's something worth fighting for and using your energy on.

 

[loki04]

They might not wreck the actual sport but they would certainly wreck our national comp if it ever got big over there.

There's no way we'd be able to match the salaries they could offer and we'd be left watching the equivalent of A-League talent running around for our beloved clubs.

The AFL should be putting steps in place to be the governing body to other countries playing our game almost a copyright of sorts to keep salary cap in line with Australia. That way Australian comp would always remain the number 1 league due to history of the teams in it and the opther leagues would still be strong.

 

[King Elvis]

Around the time of the Sydney Olympics, one of the heads of our Olympic Committee made a similar statement; although without any malice or denigration of AFL.

There are apparently dozens of guys running around in the AFL who could potentially compete at the Olympics in a variety of sports; if they didn't choose to play AFL. I believe a couple of examples thrown up at the time were Shane Crawford as a distance runner (Burton has been mentioned too) and I think Tony Modra was a gun javelin chucker?

The Les Murray article is really disappointing, I've got a lot of respect for him and it's sad to see him indulging in gutter journalism like that.

That’s the fine line between success and failure in a football World Cup, the wondrous fickleness of the game that these miserable Neanderthals do not understand, or refuse to see.

It’s the theatre of it which makes the World Cup so appealing, even in Australia where so far nine million people have watched it and where it brings tens of thousands out into city squares to watch and celebrate in the dead of winter.

He's also just seemingly unintentionally highlighted why Soccer struggles to gain traction here, and it's the typical hands over ears you get from a lot of soccer fanatics who refuse to admit how flawed their game CAN be.

The fine line between success and failure is way too often the referee. The last half a dozen games Australia played at the World Cup, we've received shocking Ref decisions. Cahill gets a red for a sloppy tackle, and there is no recourse; Ghana and Serbia both had examples of their players making tackles that were actually dangerous, no red card.

The wondrous fickleness? I don't see how you can celebrate that a team can progress to the next round without winning a game. Or that New Zealand don't advance because one of the Italians is good at faking contact.

It's the theatre of the game that makes it so appealing?

Now he's just kidding himself.

It's the theatre of the game which prevents it from coming close to AFL. How can you consider what is effectively sanctioned cheating to be a positive of the game?

Kaka gets sent off because a guy from the Ivory Coast dives like you wouldn't believe.

Di Sante constantly falls over like he's been shot in the back of the head, even from a slight tug of the shirt.

Zero consistency on how a handball is treated, whether intentional or accidental.

I know people will crack the shits over this, but the refusal of FIFA to use any kind of technology to insure that the better team (and not the divers or the umpires) win because they deserve to, I wont take it seriously. The only reason for not bringing the technology in, is because they want the human 'error' in refs decisions, it allows them to manipulate the results.

even in Australia where so far nine million people have watched it and where it brings tens of thousands out into city squares to watch and celebrate in the dead of winter.

AFL often gets a couple of hundred thousand to watch it in the dead of winter. That's every week; not every four years.

Really, Soccer lovers need to stop behaving like they have a monopoly on the game, and insulting others who don't enjoy the fact that a huge amount of games are decided on dubious ref decisions or cheating from the players.

I watched all of the Australian games at the last two World Cups. 4 Years ago, I got sucked into it, and really enjoyed it... Until the game against the Italians, where I was reminded why I can't take Soccer seriously.

This World Cup has done nothing to change that.

To quote a colleague with us here in Cape Town: ‘The other codes are never dull. Salary cap rorts. Defecating in hotel corridors. Pack rape. Drugs. Racism. That's what football needs. More meatheads. Spice it up a bit.’

And that's just pathetic.

Salary Cap rorts? Wasn't the Italian Soccer League completely compromised by deliberate and systematic match-fixing? And let's ignore the fact that they reward players who cheat, even in the World Cup.

Drugs? Bosnich says Hello, and I bet your arse it's more widespread than in AFL.

Racism? Didn't Henry have monkey chants made at him all of the time? Hitler gestures? Serbian/Croatians making offensive symbols to each other?

Didn't Gerrard (?) beat the shit out of somebody at a nightclub last Christmas?

Every sport has it's idiots and blemishes, I'd say the AFL matches up pretty well against the other codes, including soccer.

EDIT - Anybody else noticed that most of the countries who are soccer mad don't actually have a national sport?