How big football grows within this country is entirely within the hands of its fans.

Remember that next time only 4,000 of Melbourne's 18,000 members decide to go to the game.

To be honest, growing up with nothing but Rugby League, I grew to love football early on, and I must say so did many of my mates. I really do not believe the animosity towards football exists within Rugby League communities as it does with the AFL communities. I love both sports just as much as each other, and honestly believe that both codes can benefit from each other. However, AFL on the other hand is bitter towards every other sporting code and it's pretty sad to watch their politicking, especially around the time of the world cup bid. Their selfishness was unbelievable and i'm assuming around this time is where the anti-football propaganda escalated amongst the AFL community.

Quote:
yeah i reckon......people just dont get the aussie humour
The above is code for " We are racists, so fuck "
For years they have been trotting out that old line, it's almost as good as " I don't hate all wogs "
I work with a South African guy and he said " at least we only hated the blacks, the Aussies hate everyone ". Yes we all have foreign friends,but the majority don't like the race,why do you think most Australian born of ethnic parents do not proclaim to be Aussies ?

For years I've been trying to get you to do something-something more tangible than words on the web.Its obvious you're an intelligent bloke Chips but its actually time for folks to do something rather than take potshots from the sidelines

I'm not waiting,I am doing

The easiest thing to do is to get all your mates to A-league matches and no longer go to AFL matches. There is no need to answer back on forums etc, that is what they (AFL people) want as it does not look good on football fans complaining all the time.

Get people to A-league, get them interested and become real fans. Support your team, vocally, colorfully, and by numbers.

That is what you should be doing if you want football to grow in Australia and is what will scare the other football codes the most.

+1

My contribution goes a long way back.

At amateur, semi pro, NSL and A-L levels.

Throughout this time there's been one constant......would-be fans never walked the walk, and so-called fans changed their minds like the weather. It's not in joe average aussies culture to fall in love with the game called sockah.

I wish you luck in your endeavours to bring about change.

Absolutely-this is the most basic thing you can do,but it goes deeper than this for some of us

When a flare hits the deck the 90% that don't think its funny need to "boo" it
When the chant of "f... off Sydney" starts up,the 90% that don't think its funny need to "boo" it

We actually need the minors to know that what they are doing isn't a joke and isn't acceptable.Only then may we may get some respect from the wider community



Edited by girtXc: 11/6/2011 01:50:02 PM

I'm talking about since year 1 of the A League
Bitterness can't rule your life forever surely.Put that mind of yours towards the challenge,you love the game too much

Any bitterness is tempered with massive lashings of reality.

I'm not one that easily buys into hype, no matter who's spruiking it.

If it walks like a duck....

Edited by judy free: 11/6/2011 02:27:39 PM

we aren't talking about your mates though. we are talking about the apparatchiks in the afl and nrl media. soccer is no threat to their sports so why do they take the time to belittle it. as chips says they like to see the reaction they get but there is has to be more to it than that.

Edited by RobA: 11/6/2011 02:31:26 PM

Well as a newly converted football supporter (just over 4 years supporting the game) I rejoice in the fact that I am persucuted for my love of football. I rejoice in the fact that I feel disowned. it just means I don't have a problem and that its obvious they see us as an infectious virus. They see us as a scab on the knee. Keep picking at it and we continue to grow and be resilient.

Football followers continue to put up the fine fight.

This. He's a top bloke on top of that. Would love to pick his brain over things like this over a couple of beers.


He'd certainly be getting my vote!

Another thing and I hear this all the time from a certain Adelaide radio personality but I think the main problem AFL personalities have is that they try to watch Football like
they are watching AFL.

Lesson number one. Both sports are not related so of course your not going to GET IT if you watch the round ball game through AFL eyes. Same works the other way around.

Edited by Timmo: 11/6/2011 03:52:23 PM

The AFL are scared of anything different. Most of the anti-football media in my experience comes out of Melbourne and the AFL outlets. There is the odd piece from a Sydney reporter but it seems less regular.

I'm a massive Rugby League fan and I have no problems supporting both sports so I don't know why more people can't do it.

I think alot of Australians feel insecure about their own culture and are hostile to anything foreign (in their minds)

I find the NRL media to be fairly supportive of football in general (taking the Telegraph out of the equation as they aren't media and aren't considered NRL media by Rugby League fans) and during the World Cup bid they were very supportive.

The AFL media are quite the opposite and it isn't helped by the delusions of grandeur the AFL feed the Melbourne media.

Are you saying we're all a bunch of racists?

Great article, too bad we can't spam some of these across the anti-football media.

great stuff simon.

Why is that when i go to the smh sport section> football... one of the main articles i get is Richard Hinds negative crap..?? why even put his article in the football section? Dis guy knows nothing about any sport..

Edited by tribina: 11/6/2011 06:54:38 PM

It's clear as day that the AFL (and NRL, although to a somewhat lesser degree) - centric media is part of the "anti-soccer" strategy by those codes. It is definitely time football returned fire. In fact, I think it's high time we got onto the front foot. What have we got to lose? Over half the newspaper publications bury football as deep as they can, avoid positive stories, highlight the negatives, and generally go our of the their way to stick the boot into football.

The way I see it, the code that looks to dominate all others is AFL, so step 1 should be football and rugby league forming an unofficial alliance. Surely enough common sense could be found for an alliance like that to start. Keep the AFL out at all cost. Step 2 should be a concerted attack against AFL through the media, phone ins, internet, whatever it takes. It's a very dirty little war going on, and it needs to be won.

I don't understand why people don't see this - football and rugby league can coexist happily, while aussie rules, the Coles/Woolworths of Australian sport, is hellbent on derailing all other sport, which they see as their direct competitors.

Tip.

Channel your energies into making an effort to attend HAL games, as opposed to wasting time/effort demanding respect from others.

Until strayan sockah gets its house in order we will continue to be the whipping boys of strayan sport.

Too many so-called sockah fans pre-occupied with how they are viewed by others.

Sorry, don't agree. Well, not entirely. I've hardly missed a home game (SFC) since the HAL's inception, but am very aware of the concerted anti-football media bias that exists, in the print media particularly. The HAL obviously needs to do a whole lot better at connecting with football fans and general sports fans - that goes without saying. But Socceroo games are well attended, and the print media still heaps shyte on them. So yes, football definitely needs a strategy.

cant believe I am going to do this to one of your posts but....

+1

Forget about AFL, NRL, etc. and worry about getting yourself and all your mates to A-league and Socceroos Matches. Anyone who attends a football match and experiences the product for themselves can make up their own mind about these journalists.

The biggest thing holding football back in this country are the tens of thousands of so-called football fans who never attend A-league matches, NOT the dozen or so journalists who only write a handful of articles a year on "soccer".

Its the people who like football but don't attend matches that you should be focusing your energy on. That would be far more beneficial to Australian football than anything else.

I agree

Your logic has no place here.

28k on Tuesday in Melbourne is well below par for the Socceroos.

Yeah there is an anti-football bias in some sections of the media, but we cant change that.

You attend matches and so are not the problem as I see it. Its your mates that love football but dont go, or the guys at your club that play but dont go, or your uncles and aunties that went to NSL but not the HAL.

If we can get more and more people to the games, the message these journalists are trying to spread becomes a lot more diluted.

Why? It is fear. Fear that one day all the kids that play our game will grow up to watch our game over theirs. Fear that the Socceroos will gain mainstream acceptance as the number national team, something the AFL can never achieve. Its fear. Imagined or real. But fear nevertheless.

And two AFL clubs Port Adelaide and Brisbane Lions are now in major debt and are dependant on AFL financial support. Yes they have a shitload of money, but that won't please them, especially that both these clubs have won Premierships in recent times, and that they have Gold Coast Nd West Sydney to finance.

Great article, Simon writes it well.

i reckon the code wars need to be fought on all fronts. On the net, discssion boards (the roar), by attending as many HAL games as possible (meaning ppl involved with the game, ex nsl, eurosnobs..everybody united). Well few years back victory were getting those super crowds..and not a word from the papers, barely a positive story..same old 'one guy lit a flair at a victory game its back to the bad old nsl days..'.

The so-called analysts and headline grabbers who are innvolved in the football dept need to help each other grow and become known.

Edited by tribina: 11/6/2011 09:49:37 PM