The A-League Returns, So Bring On The Clowns

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Matthew Hall

Quotes, chaos, drama, soap, egos, idiots, and entertainment.

What you don't need to read here is yet more pointless predictions on which team will finish where and who will be the stars of the new A-League season.

For one reason, the A-League play-off format means 27 rounds will be played to decide which four dud teams are eliminated to make way for the "top" six who then fight it out to be the "best" team.

Rewarding mediocrity, finishing sixth in the "regular" season, still gives you a shot at being the "best".

Plus, the one-off sudden-death Grand Final allows a team three seconds of madness in a one-off match to waste an entire season's worth of good work by losing to a bad back-pass or a referee's poor decision.

You can be awful and great all at once.

It's entertainment. It's brilliant.

Certainly, Football Federation Australia's marketing of the A-League has gone up a few gears.

"The Players are committed - now it's your turn," claims one online ad that greets visitors to the A-League's official website. That sounds more like an ultimatum than a polite invitation.

"Be Part of Something Bigger" is the tag line for a TV commercial. OK, then, I'll stay home on the weekend and watch England's Premier League live on TV.

So will Melbourne Victory win the title this season?

Will Robbie Fowler prove to be more than an out-of-place pasty white English veteran playing footy in the tropics?

Has Sydney's shake-up made any difference to general ambivalence felt about the team?

Will John Aloisi score?

Can Perth return to their glory days?

Is Gold Coast United for real?

Anyone who claims to know the answers to any of those questions is kidding us, kidding themselves, or totally full of it. So as far as predictions go - pass the beer nuts.

Which brings us conveniently to Clive Palmer and Miron Bleiberg, respectively the owner and coach, of new team Gold Coast United.

Clive and Miron apparently boycotted their team's season kick-off against neighbours Brisbane Roar, because of some hoo-ha over the venue of the first game, or something.

As you do.

Clive considered not going to the game, apparently, while Miron refused to fulfill his contractual obligations (with FFA) to promote the match at press conferences.

In comical circumstances, Roar coach Frank Farina attended a public press conference in Brisbane last week accompanied by a cardboard cut-out of Bleiberg and said: "[Bleiberg is] a little bit disgraceful. All of us coaches and players, we have a duty to promote our game. I think it's their duty - coaches, players, administrators - to help promote football in this country."

Farina is right. This is about entertainment choices. We really can stay home and watch football beamed in from Europe rather than the inferior-standard A-League.

But perhaps Bleiberg is an errant genius. His no-show stirred up a sub-plot giving this game more headlines than it maybe deserved.

But maybe he's just a clown if his reaction to news he must acquire a coaching licence if he wants to take Gold Coast United into the Asian Champions League is any guide.

Under new Asian Football Confederation rules, coaches at a professional (key word) level must hold an "A Licence" by 2010 if they want to participate in AFC competitions.

FFA has said all A-League coaches must possess the same badge by 2011.

It is a similar situation facing Branko Culina, the Newcastle Jets coach.

"I don't really care about what FFA want or requires," Bleiberg said. "If I feel like taking the course I will, if I don't feel like it, I won't. Nobody is going to force me."

Unless of course, you want to be part of something bigger, as the marketing slogan goes.

It's going to be a long year but obviously an entertaining one.

Bring on the clowns.

COMMENTS

Three points:

How do AFC accredited coaching licences and courses compare with say UEFA standards? (I read last year there were big questions marks about the AFC systems and technical approaches in coaching - worth noting that results since the peak at 2002 WC have declined and reflected in lower FIFA rankings apart from newcomers Australia - is this a symptom?)

The trumpet blowing, postering and rhetorics of some HAL coaches and their club owners can add some spice to the "entertainment" package though unless its backed up with consistency and improvements to the standard of football on the park compared with last season, then it will produce disappointment for fans and followers - hype alone just ain't enough to bring the crowds back week-in week-out. Pim will be reserving judgement on whether things have really improved, and the playing standards can provide 4-5 of his Socceroos stars with the right stuff in prep for the 2010 finals. The early signs with SFC are that a quality coach can facilitate and inspire a cohesive squad with much higher levels of fitness, professionlism and likelihood of success - watch this space as they give this 2009-2010 HAL title a big shake.

Six teams in play offs is almost rewarding a lack of consistent results and is too close to what the AFL and ARL have done. Hope we soon have an FA Cup style comp that accommodate the cut throat style drama, and reduce the HAL finals series back down to four teams, then only two and eventually the top of ladder wins the title like just about every other major club league with credibility around the world. Football is different and doesn't need to be a follower in this country.

by Pablo on August 08, 2009 at 12:57 PM

Admittedly there is a lot of pre-season talk when it comes to the A-league that can be taken with more than a healthy grain of salt. Much of what you've put here for starters. But while the A-league may not be the best in the world, it's the best we have here, and there's nothing wrong with building that up by the ffa. "Be part of something bigger" is a shot at the other codes in this country. Highlighting the fact that football has a global reach and goes beyond the provincial. A good move in a World Cup year. This, combined with "The Players are committed - now it's your turn" will hopefully drag some of the
"Socceroos only" fans and "Eurosnobs" off the couch and out to games. It's a catch 22 for the ffa and those types of fans. It needs them to get involved to increase turnover and improve the standard of the league and game. But they wont come if standards don't improve, prefering instead to bitch and whinge about how crap the A-league is, yet do nothing to try and help raise standards. Like perhaps going to a football match. oh the horror! Standards will improve....to quote another tag line "it wont happen over night, but it will happen". And faster if we all get involved.

As far as the six team finals go, I think it was more a case of pre-empting what would be required next season with another two teams in the comp and not wanting to have to change the format again. And without a relagation threat, 6 teams being able to make the finals should keep things interesting right till the end of the season. Promotion/relagation and an FA Cup style comp are still a few years away I reckon.

by scooter on August 09, 2009 at 08:18 AM

wow, a lot of venom here. perhaps you like watching football on tv, but the attraction of the local game is the.. localness. being in a packed stadium with the crowd all cheering together - the feeling cant compare, no matter how big your LCD.

by damo on September 06, 2009 at 07:17 PM

The Sun-Herald

Matthew Hall

The A-League Returns, So Bring On The Clowns

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