The Football (all sorts) Thread

[STL]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/...750137394.html <-- sweet

Yeah that was pretty cool. I dunno, I seem to care about soccer only at the national level. I think its a good sport that kind of unites the country in a way that cricket never will.

[dirge]

I'm over League.

Storm & Easts get away with a _lot_ (I'm not just referring to grapple, but that's part of it), due to the politics of the game. How is is that Perth get axed because of the money they're losing (during the Superleague war), yet Melbourne lose that same amount year in and year out? There's an agenda there which disgusts me. St George always fail to inspire but get their players in rep teams anyway. Purely because they're St George. If their players were really that good, St George would actually be deep into the finals every year. Honest clubs who develop juniors (Penrith, Canberra, Tigers) get no favours because it's not politically convenient. At least the Bulldogs with the SBW saga are finally starting to learn to stop defending their players no matter what.

How the ***** are Paul Gallen & Willy Mason picked for the national team? One's a morally bankrupt thug and the other is a manchild who embarrasses the sport on a regular basis. There are plenty of forwards which can do the job, without promoting the message to youngsters that players can carry on like brats without consequences.

I like the sport but detest the way it's being run. It's risking irrelevance anyway, as long as it's wasting all it's effort developing TV markets it'll never win over instead of actually supporting the sport in its heartland. Not that the Central Coast Mariners & South Coast United are complaining!

The AFL doesn't fear League, and it doesn't have to. It fears football, and rightly so. The RLWC is a joke, and no matter how many goals Qatar might ship, the Socceroos provide something that neither AFL or League can possibly hope to offer. The Socceroos _qualifying_ for the World Cup Finals is a bigger deal that then Kangaroos winning the RLWC - they're the only ones in the race, whereas the Socceroos face actual competition.

AFL will always be secure in Victoria, but it's aware that the Socceroos (and, in time, the A-League) is capable of overwhelming it outside of the city on the Yarra. The NRL continues to live in the bubble of TV markets while its junior numbers hemorrhage (mostly to football).

I'm an A-League season ticket holder, and I have to say I find the games far more satisfying than watching Storm niggle their opponents into submission, St George's "stars" play to their actual potential or Easts' mercenaries all give up when their soulless clubs falls behind (Luke Ricketson & Craig Fitzgibbon aside).

[jacksplatt11]

I agree with you on a few things there, but I still enjoy the game for the game, and try to ignore the fact that its poorly run and administrated.. The AFL not being scared of NRL, very true... Australia being the only team in the race for the RLWC, unless a huge upset occurs (although I still enjoy it because I enjoy the game).. and Mason being pretty much a big useless joke haha...

2 things you may enjoy though:

1. Mason did his ACL and will take no part in the RLWC.. Which is good because I hate him, and it means the selectors can't pick him which for some reason they seem to feel that they have to do

2. There are no St George players in the squad

Just thought they might brighten up your day as you seem a little angry up there ^^ haha

[dirge]

2 things you may enjoy though:

1. Mason did his ACL and will take no part in the RLWC.. Which is good because I hate him, and it means the selectors can't pick him which for some reason they seem to feel that they have to do

Yeah I know about that. It'll lift the maturity of the squad, at least. The fact is I don't care at all about the RLWC.

2. There are no St George players in the squad

Gasnier has chased the €s and gone (and done a really bad job of denying it, too), otherwise he'd be there. Cooper is injured. But it is a nice change, I guess

Just thought they might brighten up your day as you seem a little angry up there ^^ haha

Nah, I'm not angry. I'm dissillusioned. The sport - which I still love - is heading for disaster in the medium-long term, if major changes aren't brought in during the next couple of years. The damage is already done in Gosford and Wollongong's next.

I'm past the point of being angry about it, because I'd rather watch the well-run A-League than witness the NRL slowly destroy Rugby League.

[i_amtrunks]

I wasn't surprised about the World Cup qualifier result. Qatar could have (and should have) scored 2 goals, but botched them good.
What really surprised me was the amazing quality of the pitch, and it's drainage, it was under 2 inches of water, half an hour later looked much drier than the Olympic Stadium at Homebush ever does.

League is a niche sport at best, it's homes are in NSW/QLD and the north of England, with some growing support in the Pacific thanks to Rugby Union treating them like crap (although League is doing similar things by letting all the Fijians and Tongans play for Aus and NZ). One of the big problems the NRL has is it has too many sub-committees and organisations, NSWRL, QRL, Country League, ARL etc etc.

It also didny stamp out the crap when it was formed, allowing Easts to do whatever they want, and not doing enough with the various scandals over the years. The Bulldogs should have be removed from the comp 4 years ago when they were on their 4th "last straw". Easts removing their teams from SG Ball and the Harodl Matthews Cups is disgusting, it frees up more money for Easts to buy Tigers, Penrith and Newcastle juniors, how it helps League by letting Easts stop developing their own juniors is beyond me.

[Bartrim]

I see the Bulldogs are interested in Greg Bird. I think He'd fit right in there

[jacksplatt11]

I see the Bulldogs are interested in Greg Bird. I think He'd fit right in there

Haha, I heard he's been talking to the Roosters? Who knows... Last I heard he was drunk in Cronulla getting into random peoples cars, then flew over to USA to be with the girlfriend he allegedly bashed, thus breaking the AVO she had on him... Just a stupid thug

On AFL terms, looks like Barry Hall is seriously considering leaving the Swans to become a boxer, but of course any small rumour can be magnified by the media.. Danny Green says he's been talking to him though..

[i_amtrunks]

I see the Bulldogs are interested in Greg Bird. I think He'd fit right in there

There is something seriously wrong with any club that wants to hire any player with a record like Bird or Carney. You know what they are going to do, and all you are doing is wasting your money and losing supporters.
While I do think Kimmorley is over-rated he might be the boring old fart the club needs to steer it's younger players in the right direction (both on and off the field).

I wonder how B. Cousins will go at St Kilda...

[Borgeman]

slightly off topic, but the Aussie U-17 football team just missed world cup qualification by losing to yemen 3-2 in the asian cup quarters. its a big disappointment because my dad manages a 15yr old ethiopian kid in the starting eleven (who is a gun i assure you) who now will miss out on playing on the big stage in fron of all the big scouts...

George

[jacksplatt11]

Certaintly not off topic Borge, soccer is a football of all sorts last time I checked sucks for that kid, hopefully he can still make it big somehow..

And Trunks, gotta agree with you there. I find it hard to believe that some clubs, of any sport, think that a player who has a history of alcohol, violence etc, will just suddenly be a changed person at a new club. Especially in this case since Bird will be moving to a club in the same state, he can still keep contact with the kind of people he was with in Cronulla, so he will still be up to the same old stupid stuff. To be honest though I think Bird is beyond help, some people are just born stupid.

Cousins will be interesting, it was him and Michael Gardiner who got up to trouble over in Perth just a few years back, and now perhaps they will be at the same club again? Recipe for disaster me thinks.. While I'm all for his rehabilitation from drugs and return to footy, as he hasn't caused any violence etc like some other players and it'll be a good story, I don't think St Kilda will be the right fit for him with Gardiner there..