A-Leagues & Football Australia General Chat and News Thread

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Still the strangest, most pointless game of A-League I think I have ever seen.

It wasn't pointless at all. IIRC, we needed to win by 3 or 4 goals to get a home final or something along those lines. I'll give you the strange part.
 
It wasn't pointless at all. IIRC, we needed to win by 3 or 4 goals to get a home final or something along those lines. I'll give you the strange part.

Yes you’re right there, not quite pointless heading into the game. Should have used a better word.
Just meant towards the end of the game when that result seemed unachievable some players seemed to relax and start thinking about playing each other again in the finals the next week, all obviously turned a bit bizarre with the final goal.

The A-League site put it number 1 in top games of the season which I couldn’t agree with at all. Entertaining perhaps but not quality of football.
 
How long can Fox stick with Archie? I can handle him on panel shows but when he actually has to speak without already knowing what he is going to say it is just pure horror.
 

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Edit: wait maybe there was a deleted post and I am out of context here.
Edit 2: actually I think I have merged threads in my mind and made my own context. Ignore this post. Carry on with your lives.


Not sure what Perth Glory tweet you're talking about but A League posted about it too. There has to be some truth to the enquiries.

 
Edit: wait maybe there was a deleted post and I am out of context here.
Edit 2: actually I think I have merged threads in my mind and made my own context. Ignore this post. Carry on with your lives.


Not sure what Perth Glory tweet you're talking about but A League posted about it too. There has to be some truth to the enquiries.

Deleted post.
I accidently posted a link saying the signing had happened. Was half asleep when I did it.
 
Don't know if any of you guys know this but FOXTEL have a new loyalty scheme called FOXTEL NOW.

Basically if you have FOXTEL you go to your account and sign up for it.

Result is you can get free tickets to the A-League amongst other competitions.

Currently available are tickets for Western United V WSW on Saturday...

and

Newcastle Jets v WSW on 30/11/19

Two tickets per account.
 
Holy s**t... That's ****ed up! His assessment of Arnold though is about right!

How To Die Today': Former Sydney star reveals mental health battle
By Vince Rugari
November 8, 2019 — 5.01pm

Former Sydney FC defender Sebastian Ryall has opened up on his mental health battles in a brave new book that provides his perspective on the accusations that derailed his career and how taunts from opposition fans sent him into a spiral of depression.
Ryall, who surprised his teammates when he suddenly retired from the game in January 2018, has self-published an e-book, titled 'How To Die Today', through the Amazon Kindle store.
Sebastian Ryall has written a powerful e-book that details his struggles with mental health and lifts the lid on his time in the A-League.
Photo: Steven Siewert
It is a powerful read - part-memoir, part-self-help book - which outlines the talented defender's journey from "fame to suicide and finally to liberation" and how he struggled with the fallout from an incident he says left him "wrongfully branded as a paedophile."
Ryall was 18 and contracted to Melbourne Victory when he met a girl, who told him she was 16, out the front of a nightclub in Sydney in the early hours of January 25, 2008.
In the book, Ryall said he and the girl had merely kissed and exchanged phone numbers before discovering she was actually only 13 years old. Months later, he was charged by police with engaging in a sex act with a minor, and because of the length of time since the incident, Ryall said from a security camera at a nearby RSL that would have exonerated him had been overwritten.

"That meant there was no way to prove I just kissed her," he wrote. "I couldn't believe it. I was in a state of shock. I was petrified, scared, and worried about what happened. I hoped no one in the football world would find out."
That day ruined me and it took two suicide attempts before I eventually got over it.
When it emerged publicly, Ryall was stood down from playing for his club and for the Young Socceroos by Football Federation Australia for bringing the game into disrepute.
The charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence but the mud would stick for the remainder of Ryall's career.
Ryall, who switched to Sydney FC in 2009, was the subject of relentless abuse from supporters of other A-League clubs and particularly Melbourne Victory.

He scored a dramatic late equaliser against Victory at AAMI Park on Australia Day, 2012 but revealed how chants from the crowd destroyed him internally, and made him feel like walking off the pitch and quitting the game during the warm-up.
"Do they know how I was deceived by this dumb young girl, who’s ruined my life? Nope. Do they care? Nope," Ryall wrote. "There is a reason why in the justice system the person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, because that’s fair. What I experienced on that day wasn’t fair.
"And to make it worse I had already been deemed innocent of such a terrible crime. I had never hurt anyone in my life, but after that day I was out to hurt myself in any way I could. I f---ing hated that those lowlife people thought I was something I wasn’t.
"That day ruined me and it took two suicide attempts before I eventually got over it."
Ryall details his descent into alcohol and drug abuse, admitting there were at least 30 times when he thought his career would have been over had drug testers shown up at the club.

He said that during a week off training between the 2015 A-League grand final and friendlies against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in Sydney, he "took drugs every single day of that week, not just dabbling in it, but partying hard, snorting lines of cocaine at pubs, clubs, friends' houses, everywhere."
Sebastian Ryall says he had more than a bottle of wine the night before Sydney FC faced Harry Kane's Tottenham Hotspur in a friendly in 2
015.

"The night before the [Tottenham] game I had more than a bottle of wine, smoked many cigarettes and slept on my mate’s couch," Ryall wrote. "When I woke up I ate a bacon and egg roll and again smoked a heap of cigarettes throughout the day leading up to the game.
"We lost the game 1-0. I had a great game, clearing the ball off the line and playing really well — I had fans messaging me saying I had Harry Kane in my pocket! I even got his signed jersey."

Ryall also explained how he struggled with personality differences between himself and former Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold, who is now in charge of the Socceroos.

Ryall delivered a blistering assessment of Arnold, describing him as a "fantastic coach" with the right intent but that he showed "no care for my wellbeing" at times, said players would privately laugh at him because of his "over the top" aggression in team talks, and suggested that much of the club's success during his reign "falls to chance."
"People don’t talk about it because he's the national team coach and no player wants to ruin their chances of representing their country," he wrote.
Ryall, now 30, wrote that he would refuse to do any interviews with media to draw attention to himself because the book was written to assist other people. True to his word, Ryall declined to comment when contacted by the Herald
.
Most of the book comprises Ryall's personal meditations on philosophy and psychology, advice on how to overcome panic and social anxiety, as well as how to confront suicidal thoughts.
"This book relates to me but was created to help others. I have let go of all attachments to negative thoughts so dwelling in the past isn’t what I’m about," he wrote.

"To free the mind is a gift and that is my gift to give.
"If you are reading this and can identify then I beg you please, please just don’t do it. Things change and you will too. Whatever you are going through, no matter how bad it is, you have to accept you can’t change the past. It absolutely sucks, and I get it. There may be nothing you can ever do to change it, but you need to accept that things in this life aren’t fair.
"The first step to recovery is accepting that terribly cruel fact. The next step to recovery is to seek help."

 
Wow.
Wellington Phoenix get screwed every week and nobody cares
By Mike Tuckerman / Expert

20 hours ago

Wellington Phoenix get shafted by shocking refereeing decisions on a regular basis but no one in Australia cares or does anything about it because the club is based in New Zealand.
It might be time to put our hands up and admit something that has been abundantly clear over the opening four rounds of the season.

It’s the fact that Australian-based fans, media and administrators couldn’t care less about what happens on the pitch to Wellington Phoenix – because they’re a Kiwi club.

Players illegally returning to the field and getting involved in the action? VAR decisions that make sense to no one? It doesn’t matter, because the Phoenix are just a Kiwi club.

There’s long been an unspoken feeling among Aussie fans that the Phoenix are nothing more than cannon fodder to be shuttled across the Tasman every fortnight to serve as bit-part actors in another comfortable home win.

And when they’re playing at a Westpac Stadium they’ve called home every single season since they were founded in 2007, hardly anyone watches them on TV.

Because the stadium’s too big. Or we don’t like the commentators.

Or because we’re definitely football fans who support our local league, just as long as it never involves actually watching any football.

The age-old complaints about the Sky Sports commentators speak volumes about our collective mindset.

Jason Pine and Heremaia Ngata calling the action? Biased!

But Jamie Harnwell or Stan Lazaridis calling a Perth Glory game? Or Alex Brosque on the Fox Sports panel at a Sydney derby? That’s totally fine.

And if you’re the Phoenix what you need to do is sit down, shut up and not make too much noise in case someone threatens to yank your A-League licence out from underneath you.

And if you’re Phoenix general manager David Dome, you probably shouldn’t ask new Referees Advisor Strebre Delovski for a “please explain” around VAR decisions and why you always seem to get first-time referees.

Haven’t you already been told why the A-League gives “the more experienced referees to the bigger games” anyway?

And if you’re a member of the Yellow Fever, you can absolutely nod along in agreement to every word that’s written here.

Just don’t admit it publicly. Because years ago, Mike Tuckerman said on Twitter it might help your cause if a few more Phoenix fans turned up in the stands, and you didn’t like that.

Or maybe you just didn’t like the forceful language and strong opinions – especially since they weren’t coming from you.

If someone writes one column you don’t agree with, it’s probably safer to ignore the 860 others and wait for Simon Hill to join Twitter so you can agree with him instead. That way you can say it’s nice to finally see a journalist talk about these issues for once.

That’s the status quo. It’s the way things are and the way they’ll always be, because everyone in the A-League is pretty much only in it for themselves.

And we certainly don’t care about what some club from New Zealand is doing.

If we did, we’d probably mention Auckland in the same breath as every other potential A-League expansion city.

Or we’d talk about how Wellington, with its picturesque city centre and countless pubs and quirky bars, is the best away day in the competition.

Or we’d be following the exploits of Sarpreet Singh, who has the potential to be the finest Kiwi export since Wynton Rufer.

But we don’t.

Because it’s Friday, so we should be talking about Melbourne City’s clash with the Central Coast Mariners tonight. Or, more specifically, about how City have no identity.

Or we should be talking about Melbourne Victory instead. Why didn’t they play on Melbourne Cup eve again?

Probably because it would have disadvantaged Wellington Phoenix.

But that’s okay. Nobody cares about them anyway.

 
Holy s**t... That's f’ed up! His assessment of Arnold though is about right!

How To Die Today': Former Sydney star reveals mental health battle
By Vince Rugari
November 8, 2019 — 5.01pm

Former Sydney FC defender Sebastian Ryall has opened up on his mental health battles in a brave new book that provides his perspective on the accusations that derailed his career and how taunts from opposition fans sent him into a spiral of depression.
Ryall, who surprised his teammates when he suddenly retired from the game in January 2018, has self-published an e-book, titled 'How To Die Today', through the Amazon Kindle store.
Sebastian Ryall has written a powerful e-book that details his struggles with mental health and lifts the lid on his time in the A-League.
Photo: Steven Siewert
It is a powerful read - part-memoir, part-self-help book - which outlines the talented defender's journey from "fame to suicide and finally to liberation" and how he struggled with the fallout from an incident he says left him "wrongfully branded as a paedophile."
Ryall was 18 and contracted to Melbourne Victory when he met a girl, who told him she was 16, out the front of a nightclub in Sydney in the early hours of January 25, 2008.
In the book, Ryall said he and the girl had merely kissed and exchanged phone numbers before discovering she was actually only 13 years old. Months later, he was charged by police with engaging in a sex act with a minor, and because of the length of time since the incident, Ryall said from a security camera at a nearby RSL that would have exonerated him had been overwritten.

"That meant there was no way to prove I just kissed her," he wrote. "I couldn't believe it. I was in a state of shock. I was petrified, scared, and worried about what happened. I hoped no one in the football world would find out."
That day ruined me and it took two suicide attempts before I eventually got over it.
When it emerged publicly, Ryall was stood down from playing for his club and for the Young Socceroos by Football Federation Australia for bringing the game into disrepute.
The charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence but the mud would stick for the remainder of Ryall's career.
Ryall, who switched to Sydney FC in 2009, was the subject of relentless abuse from supporters of other A-League clubs and particularly Melbourne Victory.

He scored a dramatic late equaliser against Victory at AAMI Park on Australia Day, 2012 but revealed how chants from the crowd destroyed him internally, and made him feel like walking off the pitch and quitting the game during the warm-up.
"Do they know how I was deceived by this dumb young girl, who’s ruined my life? Nope. Do they care? Nope," Ryall wrote. "There is a reason why in the justice system the person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, because that’s fair. What I experienced on that day wasn’t fair.
"And to make it worse I had already been deemed innocent of such a terrible crime. I had never hurt anyone in my life, but after that day I was out to hurt myself in any way I could. I f---ing hated that those lowlife people thought I was something I wasn’t.
"That day ruined me and it took two suicide attempts before I eventually got over it."
Ryall details his descent into alcohol and drug abuse, admitting there were at least 30 times when he thought his career would have been over had drug testers shown up at the club.

He said that during a week off training between the 2015 A-League grand final and friendlies against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in Sydney, he "took drugs every single day of that week, not just dabbling in it, but partying hard, snorting lines of cocaine at pubs, clubs, friends' houses, everywhere."
Sebastian Ryall says he had more than a bottle of wine the night before Sydney FC faced Harry Kane's Tottenham Hotspur in a friendly in 2
015.

"The night before the [Tottenham] game I had more than a bottle of wine, smoked many cigarettes and slept on my mate’s couch," Ryall wrote. "When I woke up I ate a bacon and egg roll and again smoked a heap of cigarettes throughout the day leading up to the game.
"We lost the game 1-0. I had a great game, clearing the ball off the line and playing really well — I had fans messaging me saying I had Harry Kane in my pocket! I even got his signed jersey."

Ryall also explained how he struggled with personality differences between himself and former Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold, who is now in charge of the Socceroos.

Ryall delivered a blistering assessment of Arnold, describing him as a "fantastic coach" with the right intent but that he showed "no care for my wellbeing" at times, said players would privately laugh at him because of his "over the top" aggression in team talks, and suggested that much of the club's success during his reign "falls to chance."
"People don’t talk about it because he's the national team coach and no player wants to ruin their chances of representing their country," he wrote.
Ryall, now 30, wrote that he would refuse to do any interviews with media to draw attention to himself because the book was written to assist other people. True to his word, Ryall declined to comment when contacted by the Herald
.
Most of the book comprises Ryall's personal meditations on philosophy and psychology, advice on how to overcome panic and social anxiety, as well as how to confront suicidal thoughts.
"This book relates to me but was created to help others. I have let go of all attachments to negative thoughts so dwelling in the past isn’t what I’m about," he wrote.

"To free the mind is a gift and that is my gift to give.
"If you are reading this and can identify then I beg you please, please just don’t do it. Things change and you will too. Whatever you are going through, no matter how bad it is, you have to accept you can’t change the past. It absolutely sucks, and I get it. There may be nothing you can ever do to change it, but you need to accept that things in this life aren’t fair.
"The first step to recovery is accepting that terribly cruel fact. The next step to recovery is to seek help."

Kind of feel bad now. Was any of this information released at the time of his criminal charges? Seems bloody harsh.
 
Did anyone see bosnich fire up about nbl passing thr a league ?

I tend to agree this year nbl has great pulling power but that will go when bell leaves imo

Hope it shakes ffa up a bit. We have the top club in the world as owners (city) why not allow loans ? And the quicker they kill off Wellington the better
 

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