Round ball code talk

[werner]

If only I could go back in time & become mega-rich ala Back to the Future part II, I'd clean up this sorry club, get great players in & a very good coach.

We already have the players .......... believe it or not .......

 

[Garibaldi Red]

That was an awfully harsh penalty given against Elsey. You are allowed to stand your ground but Geria played for it and made the most of it. A 50/50 decision that has gone against us that could just open the floodgates in a hostile environment?

Eugene farked up there for that free kick. Hate saying it but that's how it is

I agree with you on both of these points werner

 

[raptalia]

Am I hearing this right ?
Are soccer fans around the country boycotting the game because 100 soccer hooligans were banned and had their names published?
Am I asked to believe that these people were banned for no reason?

 

[LukeSA]

Am I hearing this right ?
Are soccer fans around the country boycotting the game because 100 soccer hooligans were banned and had their names published?
Am I asked to believe that these people were banned for no reason?

Yeah, i can't make head nor tails of it either.

The CEO was having a bitch because a cop said that soccer fans acted like pack animals and he was "deeply offended" A cop would have first had knowledge of the behaviours of soccer crowds not someone who if they attend sits in a VIP box which is fully catered and fully stocked bar which is away from the average fan.

But i don't get the protest, why buy tickets and leave the game? you are essentially saying "we don't agree with your practices but we still want to give you money" If you want to protest, don't buy a ticket and don't go.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

198 guys have been banned from soccer for 10 years or more and their pictures were splashed over the paper - Sunday Telegraph. It was a leaked document. It was confidential and broke privacy rules including publishing photos.

Those 198 dont have the right to an appeal. Some probably most deserve a long ban but some dont. Case in point a 16 or 17 year old kid who was doing nothing wrong, has a flare thrown next to him, he is struggling to breath with the smoke, so picks up the flare and throws it in front to get clear air to breath, is spotted throwing it away so is thrown out, gets a 10 year ban and has no right of appeal. That isnt fair.

Alan Jones calling these guys suburban terrorists and linking them to terrorist or at least liking them to the terrorists in Paris was BS. Dopey Rebecca Wilson agreeing with him and fueling the flame hasnt helped. Plus in her usual stupid dopey way can put a coherent argument together. She wrote

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...e-football-thugs/story-fni0cwl5-1227617318241

Soccer in Australia is at risk of becoming on a par with the worst of the English Premier League and European soccer turmoil. The biggest problem is Football Federation Australia and the Wanderers are reluctant to engage in a full and frank admission that the problem has become endemic and acute. The two bodies must concede that there are some rats in the ranks of club supporters who wreak havoc at games.

They must show us a way out of the stand-off with police, hamstrung by an organisation too willing to blame everyone but themselves for a cultural problem within the sport that worsens each season. FFA is loath to make a genuine and concerted stand against the Wanderers because of the value they deliver the A-League. What it sees are full stadiums, passionate fans and big sponsorship deals.

The document she had leaked to her, was a document which had the names of 198 blokes banned by the FFA for causing problems. It was a police/FFA joint document. So how can she say the FFA are doing nothing when they have kicked out 198 people from the game for at least 10 years??

The soccer fans are pissed off that there is no appeal process for some of those fans, like the kid I mentioned, but the BS in Sydney by Wilson and Jones has thrown petrol on the fire branding all fans hooligans and terrorists. Oh and Rebecca Wilson has said she has never been to an A League game yet in her typical fashion makes these sweeping generalizations about the game, the fans and FFA.

Edit: the majority of the 198 were Western Sydney Wanderers fans

 

[raptalia]

Thank you for the heads up on what is happening...

The kid you mention was obviously hard done by but that would not apply to them all so why walk out on the team you are supposed to support? Adelaide United have done nothing wrong (except lose a game or two but that is another issue) so why turn your back on them? Why not direct your efforts at getting justice for the few that have been treated unfairly? The FFA bans and the publishing of names plus supporter reaction places all 198 individuals in the same category which clearly they are not.

In some individual cases the FFA have to see sense for sure but I also do not give a rat's about those who were justifiably banned or the fact that they were publicly shamed. Carrying flares and weapons into sporting contests is not to be condoned.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Some fans have been banned based on CCTV footage. When they have asked to see the footage they have been told it doesnt exist. This Fox Sports page gives a summary of all the issues but I will cut and paste the main ones

http://www.foxsports.com.au/footbal...rters-are-saying/story-e6frf4gl-1227628288962
THE DEMANDS
In a joint statement made by the North Terrace and the RBB — the main supporter groups of Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney respectively — supporters asked for the FFA to:
- Issue a statement condemning the articles and supporting the fans.
- Launch an investigation into how such information was leaked and present the findings to the public in a transparent manner.
- Work out and implement an independent and transparent appeals process, agreed upon by all parties including every active supporter group.

THE CONSEQUENCES
A series of protests were made over the weekend.
- Sydney supporters held aloft banners, while Melbourne City active fans boycotted their match completely.
- Sections of Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney supporters each staged walkouts on the 30th minute mark of their games, while Central Coast fans also held banners.

WHAT THE FFA HAS SAID
The FFA released a statement on Thursday last week that claimed there had “always been” an appeals process for banned supporters.

“Before issuing a banned notice, an FFA security committee reviews credible information provided by law enforcement, stadium security, FFA’s security consultants and clubs,” it read. “The information includes CCTV, photos and other forms of evidence.

“Since the inception of the banning process, it has always been the case that if a banned person can prove that they did not engage in the relevant behaviour the ban will not apply. “If a banned person can bring the evidence that proves this to FFA through their club, the ban will be lifted.”

FFA CEO David Gallop also released a statement last week that said: “Chances are we will never know who leaked the list and why they did it, but that’s not the main issue.”
....
WHAT THE SUPPORTERS HAVE SAID

http://www.foxsports.com.au/footbal...rters-are-saying/story-e6frf4gl-1227628288962

 

[raptalia]

So the FFA say there is an appeal process. The fans say there isn't.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

This will put things in context. The Sunday Telegraph article was on 22nd of November and things bubble up over the next week and into the weekend. David Gallop was in India for a few days on Asian Football Confederation business and missed the weekend of 28-29th fan protest. He got home from India on Monday and gave a presser on Tuesday 1st December and then that's when things went off the rails. Click on the link - Point made time to support your team to read the full statement from Gallop.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2015/12/01/a-league-fans-banned_n_8694714.html
Football fans say this was the worst press conference in the history of press conferences. They are absolutely seething. One fan told us he would “give a kidney to get that man in a room and give him a piece of my mind”. This is all about a press conference which Football Federation (FFA) Australia chief David Gallop gave on Tuesday.

Gallop gave the conference because football fans have been dragged through the gutter in recent weeks, after a Sydney newspaper named and shamed 198 fans who’ve been banned from attending A-League matches for various behavioural offences.

The 198 were obtained via a leaked document. Most believe it was wrong to their publish their names and faces, full stop. Fans were especially outraged, as many of the 198 intended to appeal their bans.

At this point, the dispute was between fans and the paper. But it soon became a civil war as fans and the FFA argued over the appeal process.

Back in November, A-League head Damien de Bohun said that fans could not appeal spectator bans. This, he claimed, was a deterrent to troublemaking. When predictable outrage ensued, de Bohun announced that OK, maybe the FFA would look into a way to overturn bans. Meanwhile, the FFA issued a statement saying banned spectators have always been able to try to prove their innocence.

Talk about mixed messages. The FFA’s left foot didn’t seem to know what the right foot was doing. Banned fans were particularly incensed that they couldn’t access CCTV or other technology to prove their innocence. They felt abandoned by their own people. Meanwhile, the press vitriol continued. One particularly dopey columnist likened football fans to terrorists.

Attacked from without and within, some fans walked out of A-League matches last weekend en masse. They were sick of being portrayed as the bad boys and girls of Australian sports fandom. They wanted to make a point.

Only one man could defuse the situation. He’d been in India all week on Asian Football Confederation business, but with his calm demeanour, his (professed) love for the game and his understanding of the fanbase’s passion, David Gallop could hose all this down.

He failed. And how.

Fans had expected Gallop to come out on the front foot in their defence, and in support of everything positive about football. They expected stern words directed at those who paint all football fans as thugs. They believed he would announce transparent appeal processes for those seeking to appeal bans.

Instead, Gallop played tough cop. He spoke about why 198 fans had to be banned. He steadfastly stood by the FFA’s refusal to share CCTV and other technology to help fans prove their innocence. In short, Gallop made fan misbehaviour the headline when he should have made passion the headline. At the very moment he needed to preach to the converted, he addressed the worst prejudices of the unconverted.

Football fans were livid.

“NEVER in my born days have I been left so disappointed by such a limp display as on Tuesday,” Fox Sports football commentator Simon Hill thundered on Tuesday. “After a week of demoralising, unfair, and infuriating headlines, the game desperately needed a strong response," Hill added.

“When fans are labelled thugs, criminals, even likened to terrorists, you’d expect one of the main faces of the game to stand up and be counted. After all, those same supporters are the ones used incessantly in FFA marketing campaigns, to promote our point of difference. “We expected to see a football version of Braveheart, all fire and brimstone, ready to charge forward in defence of the game’s greatest asset.”

When the country’s leading football commentator takes on the sport’s governing body in such aggressive terms, you know it’s civil war. Gallop and Hill are friends, too. These are tumultuous times.

Meanwhile, in the absence of David Gallop behaving like Braveheart, The Huffington Post Australia found the next best thing. His name is Grant Muir and he’s the spokesman for Sydney FC supporter group The Cove. Muir is one eloquent, angry Scotsman.

“We expect administrators of sport to support and defend the fans of the sport. Football is a sport that lives and dies by its fans… The FFA has has made no effort whatsoever to defend fans or to call out the inappropriateness [of certain media comments]," he said.

Muir was especially annoyed by the press release issued after the press conference, which had the extremely patronising headline: “Point made, time to support your team”.

“That was the most insulting condescending tripe I’ve ever seen. It was so utterly tone deaf I cannot believe a man with Gallop’s experience let that go out in his name," Muir said.

"He’s trying to tell us how to support our game, I would give a kidney to get that man in a room and give him a piece of my mind.”

Muir is desperate for Australians to understand that neither he himself nor the supporter group he represents has any issue with bans. It’s the lack of transparency in the appeal process that infuriates him.

“They don’t accord us the basic rights that even a murderer gets,” he said.

 

[Garibaldi Red]

http://www.sportsfan.com.au/sixteen...een-charged-in-latest-fifa-probe-sweep_041215

Soccer bosses from across South and Central America are among 16 people charged by US prosecutors with multimillion-dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights to tournaments and matches.

Court documents on Thursday showed that the heads of the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF associations running soccer in the Western Hemisphere were charged along with current and former chiefs of the Brazil Football Confederation (CBF), which hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.

CONCACAF acting president Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, a vice president of world soccer's governing body FIFA, and CONMEBOL head Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay were arrested in a pre-dawn raid by Swiss police at a hotel in Zurich near the headquarters of FIFA, which has been in turmoil since a first round of indictments and arrests last May.

The new indictment identified Brazil Football Confederation chief Marco Polo del Nero and former CBF head Ricardo Teixeira in the list of defendants, both former FIFA executive committee members.

Teixeira is the former son-in-law of longtime FIFA president Joao Havelange.


http://www.sportsfan.com.au/sixteen...een-charged-in-latest-fifa-probe-sweep_041215

 

[Grave Danger]

The fans, the media and the administrators - all campaigners. Just play the games behind locked gates

 

[Greasyrhys]

Finally a win to the Reds!!!

 

[mic59]

Very controversial end to the game at Coopers. Looked like it was going for another draw when the referee paid a last-minute penalty. I've seen those ones passed in any league as the Sydney defenders challenge, while clumsy, was not preventing a goalscoring opportunity. And the ball had bounced away, well out of reach of the player who went down. It was a bit like the one where we lost that semi-final to Italy where the ref wouldn't have been drawn into a penalty if our bloke had stayed on his feet. But that kind of thing happens, another day it could have happened to United. Still not an impressive display, they should have put Sydney away earlier.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Very controversial end to the game at Coopers. Looked like it was going for another draw when the referee paid a last-minute penalty. I've seen those ones passed in any league as the Sydney defenders challenge, while clumsy, was not preventing a goalscoring opportunity. And the ball had bounced away, well out of reach of the player who went down. It was a bit like the one where we lost that semi-final to Italy where the ref wouldn't have been drawn into a penalty if our bloke had stayed on his feet. But that kind of thing happens, another day it could have happened to United. Still not an impressive display, they should have put Sydney away earlier.

If the ****en linesmen didnt call offside because an arm was in front of the last defender who knows if they would have cracked them open.

 

[Greasyrhys]

Definitely a deserved win but a lucky penalty.

 

[werner]

Not a lucky penalty at all, for me. I think it was a job well done by Steb to actually spot it, in such a busy situation. Generally, and understandable, they are the ones that get missed, as the benefit of TV replays show otherwise. I missed it in real time, but the ref didn't! Well done!

 

[werner]

If the ****en linesmen didnt call offside because an arm was in front of the last defender who knows if they would have cracked them open.

I hate rule changes because it is destroying the AFL.

But a rule has to be tweaked in the world game, regarding off-side. The rule needs to keep players body mass as the main point of consideration. If a player has an arm or leg outstretched, or even an erect penis, well it should not be off-side.

Way too many guesses world-wide at the moment, giving the benefit of the doubt to the defenders right now. That's wrong. It needs to be blatant, we want more goals.

 

[Grave Danger]

****ing Europa League!

 

[TeeKray]

I hate rule changes because it is destroying the AFL.

But a rule has to be tweaked in the world game, regarding off-side. The rule needs to keep players body mass as the main point of consideration. If a player has an arm or leg outstretched, or even an erect penis, well it should not be off-side.

Way too many guesses world-wide at the moment, giving the benefit of the doubt to the defenders right now. That's wrong. It needs to be blatant, we want more goals.

In general, I think refereeing tends to favour defenders. Just look at the number of fouls paid from corners against attacking players. Happens regularly. Hardly ever gets blown the other way for a penalty. And it's not for lack of holding and blocking from defenders!

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Last Monday Andrew Jennings did what will probably be his last investigative piece on FIFA for BBC's equivalent of 4 Corners, their leading current affairs program Panorama. The story in full is at this you tube link to his FIFA, Sepp Blatter and Me.

diegodcg I noticed you follow Jennings so you might want to have a look. You will be interested between the 21 minute and 33 minute mark as it concentrates on Brazilian football corruption, Havelange and how he made his mate and Mafia gambling boss Castor Andrade in charge of the Brazilian national football team and then according to Jennings Havelange takes organised crime to FIFA. Then he makes his son inlaw Ricardo Teixeria become the boss of Brazilian Football. And Teixeria then sells the rights to the national team to Nike for a $30mil bribe to his "intermediary." Basically gave Nike full control of the national team and national team. And good old Sepp Blatter threatens to ban Brazil from the World Cup if the politicians investigation into corruption didnt stop. Shit Havelange the tough old bastard is still alive 99. Jennings sits with Flamengo fans during a game for some football fans footage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06tkl9d
Reporter Andrew Jennings has been investigating corruption in world football for the past 15 years. He has exposed the criminality of Fifa executives and repeatedly challenged its president to come clean.

Now with football in crisis, Andrew is once again back on the road investigating Sepp Blatter's Fifa. His reports includes an insight into an FBI investigation, puts a figure on what Qatar supposedly spent to secure the 2022 World Cup and promises fresh evidence that Sepp Blatter has known about corruption all along.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06tkl9d

 

[Ford Fairlane]

How does a manager like Jose Mourinho get sacked not even halfway through a season? Chelsea won the title last year as well as the League Cup and over his career at Chelsea, Mourinho's won three league titles, FA Cup, Community Shield and three League Cups.

Is it just too hard to manage a group of millionaire players assembled from around the world? I'm sure they're shedding their crocodile tears on Twitter.

 

[Greasyrhys]

That Roman sure is a crooked owner (of Chelsea). I wouldn't coach them regardless of how much money is involved

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

How does a manager like Jose Mourinho get sacked not even halfway through a season? Chelsea won the title last year as well as the League Cup and over his career at Chelsea, Mourinho's won three league titles, FA Cup, Community Shield and three League Cups.

Is it just too hard to manage a group of millionaire players assembled from around the world? I'm sure they're shedding their crocodile tears on Twitter.

Stock standard stuff for Euro soccer clubs, especially with big clubs when they have a poor season and they miss out on the Champions League, as by having a bad season they miss out on a potential €30-70mil in revenue the next year if they go deep in the Champions League. That could become €100+mil in total. Most casual sports fans just don't know how big the Champions League is and why it lets the rich get richer!

This article shows how much monies are available during the 2015-18 Champion League period and has info from 2013/14. It is enormous and it only covers prizemonies, it doesn't cover any extra TV monies as each country has different ways of distributing them from extra games, it doesn't cover extra ticket sale and concession revenues from extra games and it doesn't cover thigs like extra shirt sales and other commercial related income from extra games.

http://www.totalsportek.com/money/uefa-champions-league-prize-money/

So a team winning Champions League in 2016 can pocket around €55 million just in prize money plus of course the “market pool money” (which is explained below) So if a English team were to win Champions League in 2016 they can pocket in the region of €100 million from prize money and market pool only.

Current Champions League 2015-16 Prize Money & Market Pool Distribution:

UEFA Champions League is by far the most highest prize money paying competition in the world, yeah thats right even more than Football World Cup. Champions League’s total prize money pool is around €1.257 billion for the 2015-16 season from which UEFA pays all the 32 participating clubs and the ones who get knockout in the champions league qualifying rounds. The winner of competition can take away anywhere around €50 to €55 million (performance based) plus there is massive increase “Market Pool” from UEFA Tv income. Which is distributed according to proportional value of each TV market

UEFA Champions League 2015-16 Prize Money Fund Distribution:
So how does the distribution of €1.257 billion works among Champions League participant and teams who play in Champions League qualifiers but fail to reach group stages. The total prize money pool (€1.257 billion) is divided into two portions.

• A). Fixed Amount (€724.4 million) awarded according to how the teams finished and performance related bonuses.
• B). Market Pool (€482.9 million). Part of UEFA’s TV income which is distributed according to which league the team comes from and number of matches played by a team.

.....
UEFA Champions League 2015-16 Fixed Amount Distribution
.....
Potential Total Winner of 2015-16 champions league can earn between €50m to €54.5m from “Fixed Amount” pot. Plus Market pool money which can easily elevate total earnings of winners from England, Spain, Germay or Italy around €100 million (prize money + market pool)
.....

How Much FC Barcelona & Juventus Got For Reaching 2015 Final:
FC Barcelona defeated Juventus in the final of Champions League and set to pocket minimum €57.9m million from their 2014-15 european campaign. Although Juventus Lost but they will make more than Barcelona because larger market pool heading Juventus way as they market pool money reserved for Italian teams will only be shared between Juventus and Roma.

• Barcelona will get around €21.5 million in market pool money plus €36.4m in performance based money.
• Juventus will get €32.14 million in market pool (alone Italian team in the knockouts) plus €30.9m in performance based making grand total of €63 million.

.....
How UEFA Distributed Prize Money In 2013-14 Champions League Season:
Following table shows how all the 32 participating teams were paid in prize money, performance bonus and market pool money.


http://www.totalsportek.com/money/uefa-champions-league-prize-money/

 

[TeeKray]

^ This. Also, most of the big European clubs have big stadiums that they own freehold and charge huge crowds huge amounts to attend which makes at least three big mid week Champions League fixtures financially lucrative in that sense too. It also enables you to attract bigger name players in the transfer window because very few big name players want to play for a club not partaking in the Champions League (see Liverpool).

This is one of the reasons why Arsene Wenger has held his job for so long despite not winning the league for 11 years - 16 consecutive years of Champions League football is as good as having won the league several times for those running the club.

 

[mic59]

How does a manager like Jose Mourinho get sacked not even halfway through a season? Chelsea won the title last year as well as the League Cup and over his career at Chelsea, Mourinho's won three league titles, FA Cup, Community Shield and three League Cups.

Is it just too hard to manage a group of millionaire players assembled from around the world? I'm sure they're shedding their crocodile tears on Twitter.

I don't understand it either. I realise that money is all and entry into the European Champions league is a big prize these days, the league is nearly secondary. Chelsea, even with their lowly standing are 11 points out of 5th place with 22 games to go and could, if they improve in the run home and the others run out of puff make 5th and a play-off for the Europa League. Even though that would be a triumph from where they are, the moneymen would see it as a failure, and coaches, whatever their reputation and likelihood to pull the team out of the mire, are always the first to be blamed.