He said as he whinged about whingers.

Bluebird. I've won the league 3 times. So you know what was sweet? Winning the GF each time. Epic games all of them. Split my eyebrow open one match, played on like jock stein. Anyway the point is, when we won the league we felt like champions. We knew we were the best. We had tough competition all year from Belconnen. And then we faced them in the grand final. That win was the icing on the cake of a great season. Geez we celebrated.

It's ok bud. I'm assuming you're either from Victoria or just never played with a finals series. Growing up in SA neither had I but you embrace the rules of the competition you're in. Or maybe you've never kicked a ball in anger?

Every competition I've played in has had one trophy. They have also been competitive and no team or individual was ever punished for being too good

How do A League teams embrace the rules of the competition when there are two separate titles, and the one that has the most importance placed on it by the FFA is at opposites by the one with the most importance placed on it by the AFC? How do they embrace the rules when one team gets a guest player but others don't. One team gets concessions but others don't. 25 games in the season human referees are used and then Wellington are booted from the finals race due to video refereeing

How do City cope with winning a national cup competition and not being in the ACL like every other eligible nation where as Brisbane make the ACL for winning 11 league games in a 27 game season

This is not a "me" problem

Jesus just tune out bud. You don't like the aleague. It's ok. We won't hold it against you. Unless you come on a football forum and bag the shit out of the competition we love. Yep, you're winning.

Sunday's final came 6th in the Foxtel ratings, just below the supercars, a very good result:

 

4	LIVE: SUPERCARS PHILLIP ISLAND: RACE 6	FOX SPORTS 506	176,000
5	LIVE: SUPERCARS LIVE PHILLIP ISLAND	FOX SPORTS 506	122,000
6	LIVE: FOOTBALL: A-LEAGUE MELB C V PERTH	FOX SPORTS 505	116,000
7	LIVE: AFL: BOUNCE	FOX FOOTY	109,000
8	LIVE: NRL SUNDAY TICKET	FOX LEAGUE	105,000

Sunday's final did not make the top 20 of the FTA multi channels, which cut out at 134k:

20

THOMAS AND FRIENDS-AM

ABC2

134,000

Not liking the A League is a valid opinion and valid discussion for a football forum

I guess I'm in the same boat as pippinu where people want to have him banned for posting poor ratings

You might love the A League but I love Australian football. I expect better. If better offends you then long may we argue

This is an interesting result in the context of a long running debate led by Bluebird, who has argued it doesn't make much difference whether the A-League is shown on SBS1 or SBS2.

I've always suspected that he is only partly right, and that there most definitely is some effect, we just don't precisely how much.

Last night, Ch 7 chose to show the AFL nationally on 7Mate giving priority to the grand final of MKR.

The game was played between Richmond and Melbourne and attracted 85k to the MCG on a wet Monday night.

The game got metro ratings of 480k.  I estimate that's about 20% short of where it would have been if it had been shown on the main channel, but still a decent result for a secondary channel, especially in direct competition to MKR.

How good is that for the multi channels?  Well, I just noticed the Monday before, this was the winner:

1

SHAUN THE SHEEP-EV

ABC2

223,000

One of the great shows. As a kid was addicted. 

Thank you. Exactly my point. Both should be celebrated and sure some may prefer one over the other but ill be dammed to have someone lile bluebird try and tell the majority how the comp should be formatted.

I personally came from more of a purist background and if there is one year i should be screaming in favour of celebrating first past the post its this year as fc have been so bloody dominant, but i disagree with bluebird in saying that the pressure cooker of the finals is a cliche. Its not. Plenty of examples in local and world football where the better team on paper either leading up in qualifiers etc had failed miserably when it has counted in one off matches. And i think testing teams on both counts is vital and rather intriguing. If a club manages to win the double they have truly outdone all other teams in the comp and should be viewed as a fantastic achievement.  

Its amazing how so many people here have this view of bluebird. Ive said the same thing over the years. I just come to expect it now so it doesnt even truly bother me.

I wonder if he ever sits down and reflects how arrogant he comes off sometimes. Would hate to be sitting around a dinner table with him. Hes jusy too closed minded.

Sometimes you just have to laugh when you have the purists,apologists,bitters and trolls going toe to toe.
For some context,it's no point being a purist when nothing about the HAL or FFA Cup or allocation of ACL spots is pure.Everything is changing .The only constant is first past the post Premiers and Grand Final winner.Teams that don't win either of those titles rightly are at the mercy of the generosity of Football governing bodies as to their fate.
FFA Cup is a rigged pr exercise.To argue the winner deserves anything other than a Cup is ridiculous.
It's great the finals series so far has increased ratings over last year amd its not so good crowds are down.It's a travesty that SBS has such diabolical ratings for finals...Yes FFA is responsible for all this..good and bad.Surely ,regardless, they could do a whole lot better.
Ps..dont feed the troll(s)...skip the comment.

Indeed, by definition, all modern team sport is contrived because it follows a set of rules dreamed up by humans.  The shape and dimensions of the field, the ball, what you're allowed to do with it, it's all made up.

Even looking beyond the rules of the game, everything else about a particular sporting competition is all made up:  registration rules, how many you can have on a list, when and how injured players can be replaced on a list, how many can be non-Australian, etc, etc.

People on this board sometimes think that leagues from other countries follow the identical system, but in fact, there are probably as many league structures in the world as there are countries.

Often what these same people really want to say is:  this is the way it has worked in England for at least 140 years, and I'd like Australia to have the same system, league structure, number of clubs, etc, etc.

Last night's game did not make the top 20 which cut out at 46k:

18	THE SIMPSONS	FOX8	48,000
19	AFL TONIGHT	FOX FOOTY	46,000
20	LIVE: WWE RAW	FOX8	46,000

Deleted.  Already covered in another thread.

Sat STV #ALeague #FoxSports #ALFinals #SYDvPER 81k
Sat TV #ALeague #ALFinals #SYDvPER #Viceland (delayed) 53k


Can't deny what the majority of people want

Well you can't dispute that SFC is not a popular team to watch.Maybe people just like them the least and won't watch them winning.It's fair to say everyone expected SFC to win and neutrals like myself would rather watch paint dry.
Perth played MC and got higher ratings.WSW played BR and got higher ratings.

"SFC is not a popular team to watch"

Huh?

SFC have always been the most popular team to watch. They've always had the biggest tv audiences. And their currently in a winning record breaking season.

The reality now is that our 10 team comp is stale and there just isn't that much real support or interest from other people who aren't already rusted on support.

For a comp desperately trying to find a FTA partner, those Tv ratings are nothing short of a disaster.

FFA have to start putting finals back to back on Sundays.

Sunderland v Bournemouth got 47k on SBS last night. I guess people only tune into the "big" teams. Although the midnight kickoff didn't help much, I imagine.

"Sunderland v Bournemouth got 47k on SBS last night. I guess people only tune into the "big" teams. Although the midnight kickoff didn't help much, I imagine."

Sunderland v Bournemouth gets 47k at midnight.
SFC v PG get 53k on Saturday prime time.

Holy cow.

Mvc vs roar 101k foxsports & 98k sbs shitland

FTA ad revenues are falling year on year as detailed in this article: https://mumbrella.com.au/tv-networks-stop-releasing-adspend-data-push-grows-another-licence-fee-reduction-441406

The biggest falls to June 2016 were in NSW 4.9% and Vic 6.8%.

The FTAs are asking the Federal govt for a reduction on their licence fees - big biz rent seeking again.

On the figures in the article I don't think that we will see deals like the ALF and NRL got ever again.

Thats not bad.

Sun TV #ALeague #SBSViceland (delayed) #ALFinals #MVCvBRI National 98k: Metro 80k Regional 18k

Syd 25k
Mel 25k
Bri 24k
Ade 3k
Per 3k

Sorta screams where the next two teams will come from. 

I'm sure this has been answered before - but why do Tassie's ratings not come up? Population not big enough?

Tassie has never been counted in ratings. Like Darwin and other places.  yeah i assume its population.

Thats why people who argue for a Tassie team have zero idea what theyre on about. FFA would never do it.

Tassie is part of the Regional ratings.

Perth has 4 times Hobart's population? Maybe more, and rated 3k.  So Hobart may have been 7 or 8 hundred?  Given how many households each ratings box represents, this isn't even measurable.  Even 3k isn't really.

yes they are. Tasmania is entirely counted as regional ratings and measured by RegionalTam