David Harding
Chris Leahy
Cain LynchThe A-League
The new season of the A-League started last week with a lot of hype after the longest break in it's history. The new league started later than normal, with the AFL now finished for another year as well as the NRL finishing too the A-League can take over as the main football code.
The hype surrounding Harry Kewell, and Brett Emerton's returns to Australia to play in the league saw one of the biggest rivalries presently between the Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC even bigger.
Over 40,000 piled on into Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, to view a draw, which had it's moments, had it's down times. Emerton had a chance to score his first goal in the league from a penalty, but a decent save by Ante Čović ruined the fairytale return.
The Newcastle Jets game against the Melbourne Heart was probably the most exciting of the day, with the Jets managing to steal the win over the Melbourne Heart very late in the game. The crowds at some games looked pretty good, but some not so.
This weekend there was a big crowd Friday Night to see Adelaide United and the Melbourne Victory battle. These two teams also have a rivalry facing off in 2 Grand finals, with the Victory winning both, the Victory had the spoils over the Reds until recently. The Reds now are fighting back, and this night the Reds would win, and again Kewell wasn't really great.
It will take Emerton and Kewell some time to get themselves into the games here, the league is very different to what they have played in before and they must slowly learn to adapt.
But a lot of negative comments have been tossed the A-Leagues way with people calling it 'shit' and such, I've found the league to be pretty decent probably the only issues have been the way it's been run.
But I suppose it's trial and error, the addition of Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury probably ranks as error. Even though now we have Gold Coast still in the league, but still not getting the crowds. While North Queensland weren't getting huge crowds themselves they seemed to be more in touch with their community, just lacked a lot of funds and such.
It seems that the Gold Coast owner hasn't really sold the club to it's public, and with a new AFL side starting this season it seemed as if they'd allowed the AFL to get one over them. The Suns promoted themselves, even made the signings to get the word out, even ran commercials promoting themselves as well.
By all reports last season it seemed as if Gold Coast hadn't, whether they have now I am not sure, but seems if you are going to try and grow your fanbase you need to try and get in touch with that community and make them the community team.
But I think the A-League has potential, it's getting there slowly, they need to not concern themselves with the code war going on with the AFL and NRL, both of those leagues CEOs seem to be keen to try and one up each other.
The "We are football" campaign put forward by the A-League this season seems a hit already, boosted clearly by having Carle, Kewell, and Emerton in the league. Now if the league was able to retain players, and not lose them overseas, and recruited some more big names, either homegrown or from overseas it could see more focused on it.
Though I'd not like to see players who are looking at one last pay check before retiring, the A-League needs a name that will be around 4-5 seasons and has a made reputation. But currently all the A-League can do now is focus on making more positives, getting the word out there and making sure clubs are run well.
But anyway, that's my views so far, I will edit this post later as it's 4am and I thought I'd better post a blog before it was inactive... or placed on the inactive list.
The hype surrounding Harry Kewell, and Brett Emerton's returns to Australia to play in the league saw one of the biggest rivalries presently between the Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC even bigger.
Over 40,000 piled on into Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, to view a draw, which had it's moments, had it's down times. Emerton had a chance to score his first goal in the league from a penalty, but a decent save by Ante Čović ruined the fairytale return.
The Newcastle Jets game against the Melbourne Heart was probably the most exciting of the day, with the Jets managing to steal the win over the Melbourne Heart very late in the game. The crowds at some games looked pretty good, but some not so.
This weekend there was a big crowd Friday Night to see Adelaide United and the Melbourne Victory battle. These two teams also have a rivalry facing off in 2 Grand finals, with the Victory winning both, the Victory had the spoils over the Reds until recently. The Reds now are fighting back, and this night the Reds would win, and again Kewell wasn't really great.
It will take Emerton and Kewell some time to get themselves into the games here, the league is very different to what they have played in before and they must slowly learn to adapt.
But a lot of negative comments have been tossed the A-Leagues way with people calling it 'shit' and such, I've found the league to be pretty decent probably the only issues have been the way it's been run.
But I suppose it's trial and error, the addition of Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury probably ranks as error. Even though now we have Gold Coast still in the league, but still not getting the crowds. While North Queensland weren't getting huge crowds themselves they seemed to be more in touch with their community, just lacked a lot of funds and such.
It seems that the Gold Coast owner hasn't really sold the club to it's public, and with a new AFL side starting this season it seemed as if they'd allowed the AFL to get one over them. The Suns promoted themselves, even made the signings to get the word out, even ran commercials promoting themselves as well.
By all reports last season it seemed as if Gold Coast hadn't, whether they have now I am not sure, but seems if you are going to try and grow your fanbase you need to try and get in touch with that community and make them the community team.
But I think the A-League has potential, it's getting there slowly, they need to not concern themselves with the code war going on with the AFL and NRL, both of those leagues CEOs seem to be keen to try and one up each other.
The "We are football" campaign put forward by the A-League this season seems a hit already, boosted clearly by having Carle, Kewell, and Emerton in the league. Now if the league was able to retain players, and not lose them overseas, and recruited some more big names, either homegrown or from overseas it could see more focused on it.
Though I'd not like to see players who are looking at one last pay check before retiring, the A-League needs a name that will be around 4-5 seasons and has a made reputation. But currently all the A-League can do now is focus on making more positives, getting the word out there and making sure clubs are run well.
But anyway, that's my views so far, I will edit this post later as it's 4am and I thought I'd better post a blog before it was inactive... or placed on the inactive list.
