I just read an excellent Article from Andy Green in the Guardian on the economics of Football clubs. Both he and David Conn have done a great job in exploring the failures of the recent takeovers of Football clubs in England.
Andy Green does however lend an ear to one salient point, which he then neglects to expand upon.
Such deals have proved a tragedy for English football as they have replaced community and success on the pitch as the priorities for clubs with the pursuit of profit.
People didn’t just come for the match now, they came for the party. Drinking beer and smoking are still allowed in the stands, a rarity in modern football. The raucous atmosphere is no surprise given the locals’ immersion in pop and rock culture – The Beatles resided in St Pauli for a few years in the early 1960s. The team even [6] by AC/DC, and every St Pauli goal is celebrated by a rendition of Blur’s ‘Song 2’.
Interest in the world game in Australia almost turned hysterical as the Socceroos much anticipated appearance in the World Cup came and went. And while I didn’t attend the FIFA Fanfest or any other venue for that matter, I’d doubt the hysteria from Aussie ‘soccer’ fans during their games matched that of those supporters from Spain or the Netherlands who live here during last nights World Cup Final.
The Netherlands made no friends with the way they approached the start of the game, but they earned your respect nonetheless. Not only because they made their way effectively to final with some of the best individual and team performances in the tournament, but also because some of them will never get another chance to grace that stage. And I get sentimental sometimes.
Spain didn’t win the tournament by scoring lots of goals, but just by scoring more goals than the other teams. Four 1-0 wins in the knockouts tells that story reasonably clearly. Continue reading →
The A-League Finals are coming to their climatic conclusion and the Socceroo’s much anticipated appearance in the FIFA World Cup South Africa is fast approaching. Interest in the world game in Australia is likely to turn hysterical this year. But will that hysteria by Aussie ‘soccer’ fans come anything close to those supporters from around the world who live here in Australia.
To understand our hotblooded passion, you have to understand the sometimes illogical rationale behind that passion. You have to understand the despair we feel when we see how they’ve allowed “Media” companies to buy and sell OUR “content”. When facilitated Sponsor hanger-ons take OUR seats in the vain attempt to make us consumers of their trash. Our disdain when we see how they try to turn OUR players into Superstars of gossip magazines, billboards and chat shows. How they’ve ruined our team Jerseys in the name of Marketing, unimaginative design or even “Fabric Technology”. And, most worryingly, changed our logos to Trademark them or make them ‘modern’. Continue reading →
Hands up if you remember any of the teams who finished third in the World cup before this morning. Unless of course it was your team which won the playoff.
So while it offers the semifinal losers the chance to complete their World cup on a high, it really is like the human coccyx. A holdover from an amateur antiquity which belongs with the Olympics.
Which is not to say, as this morning, they don’t often turn out to be cracking games with plenty of goals. And then too often contribute to skewing the golden boot results. Continue reading →
Okay so Dirk doesn’t score lots of goals, but I bet the Dutch fans are glad the manager Bert van Marwijk didn’t listen to experts wanted Kuyt dropped after the first two games when Robben became available again.
Kuyt’s work ethic is one of the reasons the man will be remembered among Liverpool fans who appreciate heart long after he is retired. Perhaps even up there with recent cult heroes like Scouser Jan and Sami.
If the Netherlands win the World Cup there are a number of players they can thank. Not least Robben’s ability to make all the fouls on him look like dives. Or is it the other way around? But also Dirk Kuyts effort to date, especially his near post header for Sneijders second goal versus the always overrated Brazilians.
That sort of stuff is classic football, the type of thing Ray Houghton used to do for John Aldridge both in Green and in Red. You can have yer Samba football boys, but if we get a pack of petulant entitled crocks when the pressure is on. I’ll take effort and effectiveness over class any day.
Roll on Uruguay in the Morning. Both teams down a few players. Uruguay thanking Suarez’s “professional” effort on the line (and Gyan’s abject bottling of the penalty) for theirs.
Or Budweiser causing him to bottle it?
But Dirk will be playing. As he always does. Wayne Rooney learn a thing or two from him.
As an Englishman said to me this morning, if that sort of thing happens while getting trounced by a better team it can only happen to England. Today’s World Cup post is all about the world of multi-dimensional games of football. In both games today the referee and linesmen were existing in differing realities to the rest of us.
In the English game, the ball didn’t cross the line. For the rest of us, it wasn’t even worthy of the Russian Linesman. In the Argentina game, Tevez wasn’t offside. For the rest of us he was probably offside twice, but definitely at least a metre off side before he headed the ball home.
I think plenty has been said about both incidents elsewhere, but its worth mentioning a few positives and negatives which came out of them;
There should be laws enforcing holidays every four years for the World Cup. There also should be laws which support the provision of 24/7 child care during the same period. And finally ALL other types of sport should be suspended for the duration.
Instead I need to find a balance. One where I can be up all night watching football, sleep at Continue reading →
And so the day it came. When the plucky underdog went up against the entrenched giant. When the game went on so long, the cows actually did come home. Did you think I was talking about Australian v Serbia? We’ll get to that in a minute. I was thinking of Mahut v Isner, Slovenija v England and Rudd v Gillard actually.
But in the last two days we saw the Goliaths of football – Argentina, Germany, England - progress at the expense of the David’s.
For many Australian’s, this morning will be the last time they hear the dulcet tones of a Vuvuzela. Shows over folks, you can go back to your football played at Cricket Continue reading →
