I feel it is correct to credit the SBS people with 'maintaining the rage' when the old C7 saga turned ugly and there was absolutely NO interest in Football. And they did have Johnny Warren trying, trying, all the bloody time, trying, to knock down walls and have reforms made into Football.
They gave Johnny Warren the medium from which he could, with others (and that included Murray), discuss the issues surrounding the sport at that time. I shudder what would have happened if even SBS had shunned football in Australia.
So, for that, we have to be grateful and respectful of their heritage of following the sport and championing it, even when it was horribly out of fashion with most other parts of Australian society.
However, Johnny Warren has passed on, and the Crawford Report has exposed what happened back then. People have been named and it does make those responsible for all that corruption and deceit very camera shy these days.
We now have a new peak Federation. We have a new National premier competition. Structural and philosophical changes HAVE happened and will continue to happen.
While we can dip our hats to the Late JW for some of this, I feel it safe to say that what Johnny Warren was advocating has mostly happened, is under way, or will happen soon. I feel that he can truly Rest In Peace.
Nonetheless, for all that, it is heartbreaking to hear the likes of Foster ( a mere minion of a man to Warren's stature) obsessively berate the limitations of the A-League, the inferiority of the clubs, the inabilities of the players and coaches.
For someone who obviously must be a student of the game, I find it hard to fathom why he chooses to attack the game he so much loves, so often.
Yes, these limitations and inferiorities do exist. Perhaps they are a legacy from a sport that was for so long a pariah in our culture.
Doesn't he realise though, that Rome wasn't built in a day, and that steps that both he and The Late Johnny Warren have advocated are happening or will happen. It's just that it cannot be done overnight.
For example, improving technical proficiencies at both player and coach level will take a generation.
The 11 or 12 year old kids are the ones to watch, they are receiving training and coaching that far exceeds the previous generation's tuition. Their coaches are upgrading the qualifications they need to coach. A generation may be as long as ten years, but by that time, we should be seeing a hugely superior group of coaches and players that will possibly cast aside many at the top level in Australia who are technically deficient.
I predict that the younger current A-League players might end up having a shorter career than they thought they'd have, as the more younger players prove technically mature and able to take on the top level of Football in Australia, and push for permanent spots in the senior team on ability alone.
All this is happening and the predictions are not too far fetched.
And yet, SBS mercilessly attack the game here in Australia, use the racial distinctions of some in the A-League as a cue to generalise those from the same race, and generally tell everyone, that, well, this A-League isn't much chop you know.
I wish they'd change their attitude and say it's the Premier League of Football in Australia, accept that principle and push less aggressively, the need for improvement at all levels.
Sadly they won't do that, as they childishly act along the lines of it being someone else's product and they therefore cannot like it.
As for the Scottish smear, look at the two more succesful coaches in the A-League - Lawrie McKinna & Ernie Merrick. BOTH have been at their respective clubs since they started up, both have won silverware and have the ;large support of both their club and fan base.
And Foster doesn't want that???????????
