There always is and will be the type of person that wants the Mercedes.

The funniest thing about the label "eurosnob" is that it's premised on the belief that it is confined to the world outside Europe. It's rubbish. It happens here in Europe too. People support clubs like Real and Chelsea with no historical or cultural connection to the clubs and dump on their own country just as well as any Aussie. I live in a one team town of 800,000 people and am one of 1,000 people that attend the games.

The eurosnob to me is someone who only follows a European team while living in Australia. Special mention to the eurosnob who says “Australia have no chance in this tournament”

Your local team doesn't owe you anything.

My 16 year old grew up on the HAL (and playing junior football). He knew nothing of European leagues even though Dad has a passing interest in Leeds Utd, Forest, Doncaster Rovers and Borussia Mönchengladbach due to past overseas business postings ....

But damn it .....

Optus Sport is creating a whole new generation of Eurosnobs and the boy who can never get up in a morning is up two days running watching the Champions league grrr

eurosnobs are the worst type of fans bar none and I still give it to those flogs at every opportunity i get. if you love the game, you have to support it domestically. no excuses.


"I don''t follow that HAL because its shit quality" is the most pathetic excuse of them all and a really shithouse attitude. the more people that support the game, the more money it will bring to the game, which in turn will improve the quality. So your "Thus the solution is to improve the HAL" line is on you and your eurosnob mates my friend. At a minimum, I would hope you follow a NPL team if you refuse to follow the HAL. 

As for the HAL being plastic, there is no doubt the FFA and some clubs go about things in a cringeworthy way from time to time. But its still a baby at 14 years old. Things like pro/rel are coming. in fact, it will all come quicker if more and more eurosnobs got behind the HAL. 

Im a fan of the HAL but i also enjoy playing devils advocate so ill bite. 

Your argument about the league having more money being better quality is true in the theory but in practice it is totally wrong in the minds of a 'Eurosnob' here is why - 

The NSL had an operating budget about a 3rd of the budget the HAL has and it has as good quality, pro/rel and had far more passion (be it some of that passion was racist) 

Fact are facts an NSL based squad could go toe-to-toe with a team like Argentina and Germany the HAL based side lost to Kuwait....

The HAL is a baby of a league i agree but it isnt run properly and the fact of the matter is promotion relegation should of been standard when the league started and not have to be introduced. The FFA ask for 20 million for a HAL licence which is guaranteed to lose money  for the owner thus is absolutely ridiculous

Keep in mind i am a HAL fan but if you ask me 
- no pro/rel
- moronic finals play offs 
- sal cap of 3 million and a salary floor of around 2.3m is just idiotic
- small squads 
- teams play each other THREE times plus any pre-season is just over kill and gets boring teams shouldnt play each other more then twice (HOME AND AWAY thats IT) 
- FFA has no direction 
- no proper youth development 
- lack of connection to the clubs 

All these issues stem from bad governance but is why there are so many euro snobs 


As for your 1st comment about supporting the game domestically why? no one has too do anything, im a MVFC fan and we have a good support base and are developing a good football culture but i look across at city which is owned by a billionaire does little to nothing for the community, has 80% empty stadiums and no club culture due to not having its own defined area why would someone support them? i'd argue you are more included to support you local NSL team for me that would probably be Melbourne Knights then your local HAL team... At least if you support a side like Arsenal you can jump on youtube watch the banter shows like AFTV and feel part of the club and understand that the North London derby is important and how football is so important to the fans (basically the heart and soul of the club)....i simply see that much in the HAL (note im not a Arsenal fan) but these are the facts and bitc*hing about eurosnobs isnt going to help improve the league.

HOWEVER if the HAL tried to replicate the culture these clubs have created built a heart and soul to the club  it would be more successful - a good current example it AUFC (Once again im a MVFC fan) they are promoting local talent instead of signing foreign has ins and it is actually working that has good crowd numbers which has grown and have a connection to the Adelaide community because people like Mabil have come though the ranks and are now playing for Australia. 

If anything if you want more 'eurosnobs' to be fans maybe look at why they are fans of european football and not Australian because personally i totally get it but i also think the HAL can be culturally a better league to connect with if it is properly run and clubs are giving the ability to pull in the right direction 
 

“NSL toe to toe with Argentina and Germany”?

Just goes to show how massively delusional some are on here. Mind boggling really.

His comment was that an NSL based side - ie/ golden generation - could go toe-to-toe with the big nations...  Whereas the current squads, HAL developed, struggle...  He is correct.

Coffee Jackal, you make some pretty good points, but comparing the HAL to a league that folded 15 years ago is ridiculous.  

- no pro/rel: Disagree this could have started from day 1. 
- moronic finals play offs: you're joking right? This is a typical eurosnob attitude. the HAL finals brings TV ratings and money to the game. its here to stay. 
- sal cap of 3 million and a salary floor of around 2.3m is just idiotic: totally agree.
- small squads: yep, agree.
- teams play each other THREE times plus any pre-season is just over kill and gets boring teams shouldnt play each other more then twice (HOME AND AWAY thats IT): yep, agree
- FFA has no direction: yep, agree. 
- no proper youth development: yep, agree. 
- lack of connection to the clubs: mmm... maybe you need to elaborate on this one a bit more. 

I'm a Eurosnob and it is impossible to convert one when you have a closed boring and lackluster league.

There is a salary cap, the league is closed and it is the same year after year. There is no club culture, and the product is dead boring and low quality.

NSL produced Golden Generation which could go toe to toe with Argentina and Germany.

Nowadays, we can't go toe to toe with Jordan!

So why bother viewing an Australian Football Forum, let alone commenting on one. If every registered player attended 2 a-league games a year, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Should be made mandatory as part of FFA registration.

I think some of the posts should answer your question.  Almost impossible to change.  

I understand why they like other leagues, but am struggling to understand why they waste so much time on this forum posting bitter and poisonous posts concerning the HAL.  I pity their pathetic existence.

Important to remember that the NSL only 'folded' because it was being replaced by the HAL.  Once the replacement league was confirmed there was no air left for the NSL to breath.  Crawford Report and NSL Report both advocated the transition from NSL to a new, improved competition, not the destruction of one to make room for the other.  NSL wasn't perfect by a long stretch, but by throwing away the whole thing in order to start again the FFA took a sledgehammer to the foundations of the game.

- teams play each other THREE times plus any pre-season is just over kill and gets boring teams shouldnt play each other more then twice (HOME AND AWAY thats IT): yep, agree

Plus a good chance of playing again the FFA Cup, plus play again in the finals...  Familiarity breeds contempt.

+1 farken. 

I still live in hope that one day, the Nuvo New Dawn will begin with:
1) promotion/relegation
2) a second division
3) abolition of salary cap.

By all means bring these points into A-League reality, the sooner the better- but will you and other Eurosnobs then at least attend some A-League games and at least try to positively engage in a meaningful way with the game in this country, instead of denigrating it? The Game in this country needs all the support it can get.  When it comes to Europe I largely follow Socceroos playing there. I don't have any particular ancestral connection to the clubs that play there, so do not follow Euro Clubs. It doesn't worry me that the level of play in the A-League is as high as the top leagues in Europe.

The HAL cant survive with good attendance during the final series but poor attendance during the season - the final series under minds the point of topping the ladder and every league game making the league inherently less interesting because you can theoretically come 6th and win the title so most casual fans dont take notice until towards the end of the season.

How many people do you know say you 'ill go to a match or two maybe something like the  semi final' - you would rather 'yea ill catch a few games this season the MVFC vs SFC fixture is coming up that should be a cracker' 

See the final series is probably the 2nd worst thing about the HAL the worst being no pro and rel - to me if a European only football fan told me it is a bit of a 'mickey mouse comp' i couldnt disagree based on a finals series. Im a MVFC fan and even i think it is incredible that we could finish 4th last season and win the 'major title' ... 

Depends on your perspective, the global pull of the sport is creating plenty new fans of the sport who otherwise would have just watched AFL or Rugby in the past. But it brings up a good point, people would undoubtedly see more news and information of foreign clubs than they do of their local clubs and from that perspective they'd probably have a stronger connection to a foreign club than they do here. It also doesn't help that Australian sport culture is quite plastic, at least in Victoria anyway where everything is centralised.

Good on him that is what football passion is and it is that passion the HAL needs to tap into. Instead our FFA is next to useless when it comes to fan engagement 

Its a bit like comparing the snags at bunnings (HAL) to a rib eye at Squires Loft, both are bbq'd meat and fill you when you are hungry, but given a choice most people will go the steak.

The people brought up on cheap sauages (HAL fanboys) have difficulty understanding what the fuss is about a ribeye because old Myrtle at bunnings gives them extra oinions (star wars round) for free and thats ripper bonza mate!!

:laugh:biatch - probably for paulc :hehe:

with pauly's love of greeks I could have used souvlakis in the example

Pleeeaase!
Stop with the bullshit lies that the NSL ‘produced’ the Golden Generation.
It is simply NOT true!
Many of the Golden Generation players never played in the NSL (eg Kewell, Neill), some played a few NSL games eg (Schwarzer), some played a lot (eg Chipperfield) and some played NSL but were natural freaks and would have been super players no matter what (eg Viduka, Cahill).
It was not some ‘magic’ caused by a semi professional competition.
Just the same as overseas, it was pure dumb luck that a group of talented players came together at the same time. 
Thats why here and overseas they call it a “Golden Generation “.

Depends!

If the league is truly open and not plastic, then yes, I would attend.

We also need to go into smaller stadiums. Brisbane Roar playing at Suncorp is an abomination.

It was the NSL that developed all these players whether they played in the NSL or not.

fact is, even at the NPL level, clubs had something to play for and they developed talent. Now there is nothing to play for at all.

Plus there are so many more players you fail to mention such as: Trimboli, Awaritefe, Craig Foster, Charlie Yankos, Frank Farina, Alex Tobin. Mori, Taliadoros, Lazarides, Zelic, Bosnich, Okon, Kryncevic and so many more. We had star players galore.

Now we have enough plastic to open a recycling plant.

Yes

Doesn't Mexico have a playoff format in their competition? Never would call them plastic, so not sure playoffs in and of itself should necessarily be a negative. 

Championship is a clear example.

I don't mind the finals. What's annoying is that the winner of the finals is deemed the champions. The premiers should be held in higher regard.

For all the complaints about “franchises” and “made up clubs” A-League sides seem a lot more real and likeable than any of the big euro clubs who are more business than club.