maybe they should stop doing all these interveiws


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article Roos Happy To Ditch Hype?
SOCCEROOS skipper Lucas Neill is relieved to have left behind what he labels 'a circus' surrounding the squad and to be fully focused on football matters in South Africa.

Have your say.

Why should they stop?

I thought as much...

Four years ago, the media interest in the Socceroos grew with each game. Now, right from the beginning, everybody wants their cut. All the papers, television networks and radio networks (most of which have shown no interest in football since 2006) want to cash in on the Socceroos trademarked World Cup campaign. Does it boost football's profile in Australia? Of course it does, massively! That's why the FFA were so open-slather in giving people access to the Socceroos in Melbourne.

But does it boost Australia's chances of succeeding at the World Cup? No... not in the slightest. In fact it's a big distraction. The same in-demand players like Lucas Neill have to run around like headless chooks giving the same answers to the same questions from countless journalists who wouldn't know a football from an ostrich egg, while at the same time, trying to prepare for a World Cup. Then, ironically, the same journalists are the first to query these same players as to why their performance against New Zealand was so crap! Anyone who thinks dealing with the mass media is easy must be kidding themselves.

Hopefully now that they're in South Africa the media circus will die down, but I'm not confident on that front. Every major outlet seems to have their man in Jo'burg, chasing a comment whenever they can get it and even the South African media has taken an interest with Australia being first to arrive. The sponsor's advertising boards have been erected around the Socceroos training ground because the FFA know the news networks will have their cameras trained on it for the next two weeks.

The Socceroos are a brand which is currently the hottest commodity. If the FFA wants to strike while the iron is hot, it must be careful not to get burnt.

Can somebody wake me up when Danny Boy finishes his rant...

Imagine what it is like for an NT like Italy or Brazil, or...well every other country!

Danny boy how can you possibly complain about that? Mass media saturation is what we desperately need

Danny Boy. I'm afraid that's how the world works.

It would be terrible if such a poor performance against NZ didn't cause questions to be asked of the coach and the team. It may be uncomfortable for the players but at least the public is interested.

Let it go, they are in South Africa now and have to play Denmark on Tuesday, what's done is done.

"Mass media saturation is what we desperately need"

Exactly. Everyone complains that we never get enough coverage so enjoy it for a little while.

It's the world cup for fucks sake of course there is going to be a shit load of coverage, it's part and parcel. And its probably nothing compared to what England, Brazil, Spain etc. players are going through.

Good luck boys!! I hope you're getting paid media apprearence fees

That's an assumption that I completely disagree with. 'Mass media saturation' and 'access to players' are two completely different topics. You can have 'mass media saturation' like there would be in every other country without having a select group of players spending practically half their day doing interviews. There is mass media saturation during State of Origin time in Australia, but have the media been given the sort of access to the players as they have to the Socceroos? No.

Why? Because it is a distraction that would cause detriment to the performance of the team.

Access to players in most bigger football nations is much more regimented... and if you don't think that matters then you are very naive. The British press are always regarded as one of England's biggest hurdles to winning any major tournament. I'm sure the Australian press core would love nothing more than to have that situation develop here. They couldn't care less if the team wins or loses... in fact I think they'd rather they lose so they can savage them. Bad news sells better than good news.