The Football Thread (6 Viewers)

[slip]

an fa cup style competition would be a great idea, A-league clubs could play mid week.

a-league div 2, promotion/relegation will not happen for at least 15years. this is for several reasons. 1st it isnt yet profitable for 8 major teams to play in a national competition (its a jsut a fact of australia being such a large country). the 2nd reason is that any clubs in 2nd div would have to meet the same criteria the a-league clubs themselves met... that is a large target market ie no ethnic ties. the ffa would not want syndey fc competing with another sydney club till sydney fc was extremely profitable.

the ffa has given the 8 teams exclusive licences. that is no new teams from any of the current 8 locations will be allowed for 5years.

the ffa has spoken of expansion in 3 to 5 years... teams mentioned were geelong, wollongong, far north queensland (possibly townsville) so it would probably be 2 of those 3 teams and i think it would be more like5-8years before we see that.

state league play-offs has been proposed but as i said letting clubs like that into the new league really goes against the whoel a-league philosphy of a fresh start.

finally NZ isnt a waste of space, where in australia would an 8th team go (shut up wollongong - as far as i know you didnt even place a bid for an a-league side, there were no other places not currently represented who placed bids.) NZ itself should be a profitable team, given that they have a whole country to themselves, if i were them it would be 5 games auckland 5 games wellington 1 game duniden... finally a quality NZ is (or was) good for australia internationally. lets remember why we lost direct world cup qualification...australia lost to nz. nz went to the confeds and got shat on. if nz were competitive it wouldnt have cost us direct qualification. we may be in asia now but we still have a responcibility to the nations in the ofc (ffa recognises this helping fund pacific island nations and the asking the nz knights to be in the a-league).

Tassie and NT is a nice dream, but at the moment the costs would be extremely high, and with population spread in NT the target market is small, which makes it hard to get alot of people to games, but then again there aint a fuck load to do in darwin, trust me ive been there.

 

[my sharona]

So which games are we all going to?

Sydney FC vs Central Coast Mariners

 

[Komit]

slip, what if NZ win the A-League - they can't go to the Asian Cups since they are in the OFC. NZ have no place in Australian football. If they want our support and a place within this country's football regime they should have at least tried to put together a stronger and more dominant squad.

As for State League play-offs - we are talking ages - 10 years minimum. 10 years is enough for a "fresh start". One way or another, more teams have to be added into the A-League within a maximum of 5 years - a season with only 21 games per team is not really that good. An FA Cup type competition could fix this in the short-run, but ultimately, the A-League should be aiming for a 20-team competition.

 

[DRAGONZ]

the ffa has spoken of expansion in 3 to 5 years... teams mentioned were geelong, wollongong, far north queensland (possibly townsville) so it would probably be 2 of those 3 teams and i think it would be more like5-8years before we see that.

finally NZ isnt a waste of space, where in australia would an 8th team go (shut up wollongong - as far as i know you didnt even place a bid for an a-league side, there were no other places not currently represented who placed bids.) NZ itself should be a profitable team, given that they have a whole country to themselves, if i were them it would be 5 games auckland 5 games wellington 1 game duniden... finally a quality NZ is (or was) good for australia internationally. lets remember why we lost direct world cup qualification...australia lost to nz. nz went to the confeds and got shat on. if nz were competitive it wouldnt have cost us direct qualification. we may be in asia now but we still have a responcibility to the nations in the ofc (ffa recognises this helping fund pacific island nations and the asking the nz knights to be in the a-league).

I've also heard a rumour about future (and I'm talking wayyyyy into the future) expansion into Asia. Supposedly, NZ is being used as a bit of a tool in this international expansion.

If it were to go ahead, I'd be upset at the impracticality of having a team from Asia, but it would certainly be good for the promotion of the Australian competition.

Before any of this, though, we should all just be concentrating on making the A-League something that will last more than just 5, 10, 20 or 30 years.

This is the football revolution that is supposed to take us into the 22nd century in Australia!

 

[bJ_Bhoy 87]

im not sure how an fa cup style tournament would work. many state premier leagues play in winter, leaving them having to play football in their off season. they wouldn't be very competitive at all, as they are not at their peak.

it would be great to have tho. we not only have to have state premier league squads, perhaps amateur clubs could be involved also, leaving the competition with either 32 or 64 clubs. different football seasons are the biggest problem otherwise the tournament would get the go ahead

 

[HeCtic]

Someone bring a camera to the Mariners game. A pic of us Football threaders will make a nice sig

 

[Komit]

The NSW State League finished before the winter and usually starts this or next month - but because of the SoccerNSW revamp - it is starting next year. NSW State League games will pretty much be played at the same time as the A-League and the Victorian Premier League is starting play-offs this week so the seasons wouldn't be a problem. The FA Cup style comp is completely viable - only if State League teams can obtain the funding to travel.

 

[LMF^^]

Someone bring a camera to the Mariners game. A pic of us Football threaders will make a nice sig

Good idea.
I'll be the one takin the picture.

 

[my sharona]

Someone bring a camera to the Mariners game. A pic of us Football threaders will make a nice sig

You're kidding...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[LMF^^]

You guys scared of a little piccie?

I've already offered to be the cameraman, what elz do you want...?

 

[HeCtic]

You guys scared of a little piccie?

 

[slip]

The NSW State League finished before the winter and usually starts this or next month - but because of the SoccerNSW revamp - it is starting next year. NSW State League games will pretty much be played at the same time as the A-League and the Victorian Premier League is starting play-offs this week so the seasons wouldn't be a problem. The FA Cup style comp is completely viable - only if State League teams can obtain the funding to travel.

mate, your post has totally confused me. NSW state league and VPL both run during winter, and are currently wrapping up finals....

Soccer NSW revamp means a proper state league with team representing each region, but it will still run in winter I belieive, right?

FA cup style can easily work, start it in july with amateurs clubs like 2nd division newcastle, sydney, wollongong and so on, then bring 1st div sides in 2nd round then bring the a-league clubs in the 4th round... keeping teams palying as much with in their own region as possible. ie only playign within 4 hrs of home for the first 5 or 6 rounds then im sure crowds will build and clubs/ffa could afford to pay for travel arrangements interstate...

meanwhile i do agreed nz knights being in the a-league is flawed... if they are in the a-league they should be able to win and compete in anything the other a-league clubs compete in. I think they are allowed to quailfy for the asian champions league as they are a part of the australian national league, and would be consider to represent australia in the asian champions league.

And dont say nz knights have disrespected the a-league with the squad. they gave the roar a run for 80minutes, and they werent out played. They have a great manager and they will improve quickly, I dont expect them to be whipping boys.

 

[bJ_Bhoy 87]

And dont say nz knights have disrespected the a-league with the squad. they gave the roar a run for 80minutes, and they werent out played. They have a great manager and they will improve quickly, I dont expect them to be whipping boys.

i dont think they gave queensland a run, all they did was hang in there. im not sure they'll be flogged every week, but theyll struggle. they have a great keeper in danny milosevic. danny hay and darren bazely have had europe experience, but apart from that they are seriously understrength compared to the aussies. that chinese guy in the middle needs to perform and help them out. he could yet be the best signing of the league.

what im trying to say is that although their team looks weak, dont count them out yet. no club is a certainty for anything

 

[Komit]

Sorry mate - the Victoria Premier League is wrapping up now whereas the NSW Premier League Grand Final was in June. So, no, it doesn't run through the winter. You'r eprobably thinking of the Winter Super League - which is like NSW's 2nd Division. The SoccerNSW revamp is bullshit, but I won't go into that.

The Knights do have a solid team (and I have said this before) but I think they should have done a better job in fielding a better team if they really want to compete in a different country's national league. Ans no, if they do win the A-League they will not be allowed to compete in the Asian Cups as NZ is still in the OFC.

 

[slip]

look at the stats from the qld roar - nz knights game, they didnt show that knights were out classed, the showed similar possesion, similar amount of chances (shots, shots on target, corners) and similar amount of fouls.

tv highlights i saw nz knights with as many good chances as the roar up to the 80th minute and then a brilliant goal from the roar, and a blunder by the kiwis. considering the kiwis have been playign for 4 weeks, and the aussies have been playing for like 12 weeks that a bloody good performance. (the preseason makes a huge difference for new teams, 19 in 2hd league in new is basically all new teams each year, our club had no preseason and we lost 7 straight then we performed rather well the rest of the season)

how sure are you about the ofc thing, because they may be based in new zealand, but i would think that they would be considered an australian club. if not as i said its an error for the ffa because its highly unfair, and its error for asia, the name of the competition would be weakened if nz knights were champions and 2nd and 3rd competed because nz werent allowed because they are in the ofc.

 

[Komit]

I've read a lot about the OFC thing but I am a bit unsure of it's validity.

As I said, NZ aren't a bad team but they have no place in AUSTRALIAN football.

 

[copious]

They should bring Wynton Rufer out of retirement, he'll bang a few in the back of the net for NZ Knights.

 

[slip]

I've read a lot about the OFC thing but I am a bit unsure of it's validity.

As I said, NZ aren't a bad team but they have no place in AUSTRALIAN football.

well thanks for your opinion. but the ffa thinks otherwise. as far as im concerned that is all that matters and that is the end of the arguement.

 

[Komit]

It's not really the end of the argument but I'll have to deal with it for now

Wynton Rufer is like a million years old.

 

[bJ_Bhoy 87]

well thanks for your opinion. but the ffa thinks otherwise. as far as im concerned that is all that matters and that is the end of the arguement.

the arguement is over for five years anyway...

then the ffa will see that new zealanders dont support football en masse, that they cant attract players there, that they cant win a game and get into asia (if they can anyway) and that just coz the warriors and nz teams in super 12 work in a comp doesnt mean that it will work in football coz nz'ers dont-give-a-shit-about-our-game!