midfielder
Well-Known Member
Had a difficult choice this is my 2, 000 post .. OK pale in comparison to some others but a milestone for Midfielder. I had to chose between a thread about my Mariner journey or about Football in Australia.. I decided to make it about football in Australia and the post on my Mariner journey will be at 2, 500 assuming mods still allow me on the site.
Where to start, from the ashes of a corrupt, inept, bankrupt both morally and financially football system to where we are today. WOW Obie Wan has done an incredible job . We sit 16 in the FIFA ranking have qualified for the 2010 world cup with over 12 months to spare.
Dutch is the flavour the media wants to play.. but me in my mid fifties.. I like to draw my own conclusions and love the freedom provided by the net and sites like this..
What a chequered past.. from the 1955 revolution by the new football over the associations... to the 2004 revolution. IMO the key turning points Nick Tanna & Perth Glory, they showed Football could be main stream; the 1997 loss to Iran made people think about football, the appointment of David Hill who began the great change, Nick Greiner whose appointment of Ian Knob, led to the putting the NSL into bankruptcy..Who can forget Uruguay in 2005 & the WC in 2006... Never forgetting many along the way like the Northern Spirit; the team IMO that did more to break ethnic clubs hold in Sydney and make football mainstream news, than any other event I know.. Amazing things happened like the time in either the late 70s or early 80s when those running Soccer told Kerry Packer to Fark Off when he offered to set up a 10 team competition Australia wide with more money on offer than either AFL or RL to be broadcast national wide both on TV & Radio (The team structure for those that dont know, 1 Brisbane, 1 Newcastle, 3 Sydney, 1 Canberra, 2 Melbourne, 1 Adelaide, I Perth)
Today we have we have the phoenix rising or the waking of the sleeping giant whatever you want to call it but the bad lands of the past appear to be gone. The future WOW what it could be think about it ....2015 Asian Cup, 2022 World Cup, 2021 Confederations Cup, Womens world cup all possible to be held in Australia.
Future broadcast deals and revenue streams other codes could only dream about are being talked of. Football operating across a number of broadcast platforms. International / Domestic Competition / International Domestic competition / FFA Cup format. International tournaments including Mens & Womens World Cups, Asian Cups Olympics.
Still a long way to go but I am more confident than I have been before.. football will become accepted to be a mainstream Australian sport .. still heaps to do still a long way to grow, but as we approach Hal 5, we have in place a number of building blocks to built upon.
Me I also continue my own football journey and still play in the over 35s, am in a team in the World Masters over 50s Div 1, my God I shit myself at times when I think about these games .. I shake my head and say how the Fark did I get myself into a Div 1 side full of players from the Prague s, Apias etc of my age bracket I feel so out of place with their off the ball play, movement off the ball, running in space, touch etc knowing I will be playing former internationals and yet strangely proud and feel well I can do it (like my first game of football was when I was 24 played league before that, post that I played in the U 6 & U 7, then played league)
A bit like Hal actually, hopelessly outclassed by those around me, but with a willingness to give it a go and my best shot ... enough people are saying. OK we respect you enough to watch and let you play in a Div 1 side Like Hal is outclassed by Europe and our overseas players yet there is enough class, and players giving their best that we will go along and watch. As the money increases the youth players produce better players, the technical side of the FFA begins to take effect (I know 15 to 20 years away) but we are moving forward and at a rapid rate.
The football media is still somewhat of a problem child and I hope one day Fox & SBS bury the hatchet Fozza gets a brain and applies as the song goes by the Moody Blues A Question of Balance
Also that my club the Central Coast Mariners, whatever faults they may have are building IMO the single most important piece of football infrastructure in the country... in the Center of Football Excellence .. will be seen in years ahead IMO as one of the most foresighted moves by any football club in the WORLD
My feeling can be best summed up with two youtubes, the first Reverse the Curse , captures so much of what was prior to the 2005 World Cup Qualifier The second a Fox promo [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUIP6STNxSA] & [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-MKnkUQapc]
Where to start, from the ashes of a corrupt, inept, bankrupt both morally and financially football system to where we are today. WOW Obie Wan has done an incredible job . We sit 16 in the FIFA ranking have qualified for the 2010 world cup with over 12 months to spare.
Dutch is the flavour the media wants to play.. but me in my mid fifties.. I like to draw my own conclusions and love the freedom provided by the net and sites like this..
What a chequered past.. from the 1955 revolution by the new football over the associations... to the 2004 revolution. IMO the key turning points Nick Tanna & Perth Glory, they showed Football could be main stream; the 1997 loss to Iran made people think about football, the appointment of David Hill who began the great change, Nick Greiner whose appointment of Ian Knob, led to the putting the NSL into bankruptcy..Who can forget Uruguay in 2005 & the WC in 2006... Never forgetting many along the way like the Northern Spirit; the team IMO that did more to break ethnic clubs hold in Sydney and make football mainstream news, than any other event I know.. Amazing things happened like the time in either the late 70s or early 80s when those running Soccer told Kerry Packer to Fark Off when he offered to set up a 10 team competition Australia wide with more money on offer than either AFL or RL to be broadcast national wide both on TV & Radio (The team structure for those that dont know, 1 Brisbane, 1 Newcastle, 3 Sydney, 1 Canberra, 2 Melbourne, 1 Adelaide, I Perth)
Today we have we have the phoenix rising or the waking of the sleeping giant whatever you want to call it but the bad lands of the past appear to be gone. The future WOW what it could be think about it ....2015 Asian Cup, 2022 World Cup, 2021 Confederations Cup, Womens world cup all possible to be held in Australia.
Future broadcast deals and revenue streams other codes could only dream about are being talked of. Football operating across a number of broadcast platforms. International / Domestic Competition / International Domestic competition / FFA Cup format. International tournaments including Mens & Womens World Cups, Asian Cups Olympics.
Still a long way to go but I am more confident than I have been before.. football will become accepted to be a mainstream Australian sport .. still heaps to do still a long way to grow, but as we approach Hal 5, we have in place a number of building blocks to built upon.
Me I also continue my own football journey and still play in the over 35s, am in a team in the World Masters over 50s Div 1, my God I shit myself at times when I think about these games .. I shake my head and say how the Fark did I get myself into a Div 1 side full of players from the Prague s, Apias etc of my age bracket I feel so out of place with their off the ball play, movement off the ball, running in space, touch etc knowing I will be playing former internationals and yet strangely proud and feel well I can do it (like my first game of football was when I was 24 played league before that, post that I played in the U 6 & U 7, then played league)
A bit like Hal actually, hopelessly outclassed by those around me, but with a willingness to give it a go and my best shot ... enough people are saying. OK we respect you enough to watch and let you play in a Div 1 side Like Hal is outclassed by Europe and our overseas players yet there is enough class, and players giving their best that we will go along and watch. As the money increases the youth players produce better players, the technical side of the FFA begins to take effect (I know 15 to 20 years away) but we are moving forward and at a rapid rate.
The football media is still somewhat of a problem child and I hope one day Fox & SBS bury the hatchet Fozza gets a brain and applies as the song goes by the Moody Blues A Question of Balance
Also that my club the Central Coast Mariners, whatever faults they may have are building IMO the single most important piece of football infrastructure in the country... in the Center of Football Excellence .. will be seen in years ahead IMO as one of the most foresighted moves by any football club in the WORLD
My feeling can be best summed up with two youtubes, the first Reverse the Curse , captures so much of what was prior to the 2005 World Cup Qualifier The second a Fox promo [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUIP6STNxSA] & [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-MKnkUQapc]
