Soccer tycoon Clive Palmer attacks the Australian game on the GC

[Redb]

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/10/14/17419_gold-coast-top-story.html

Palmer attempts to deride Aussie Rules to prop up his own soccer franchise on the GC.

This is the type of soccer mentality that turns fans of both codes off soccer in this country.

what a hypocrite seeing as the Robina stadium which he did not put a cent into is already built.

Redb

 

[Giants FC]

Were any taxpayer funds used to build Robina Stadium?

I don't have a problem with it if there were. I've never been there but it looks like a top-class facility and fulfills a need - and the Titans have had some great crowds there. But if Palmer's comments are to have any credibility I would assume he will re-imburse the governments for every cent of government money that was used to build Robina.

 

[Merv]

Not interested in post after post of off topic bickering and petty point scoring.

Post on topic about AFL expansion.

 

[samiam]

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/10/14/17419_gold-coast-top-story.html

Palmer attempts to deride Aussie Rules to prop up his own soccer franchise on the GC.

This is the type of soccer mentality that turns fans of both codes off soccer in this country.

what a hypocrite seeing as the Robina stadium which he did not put a cent into is already built.

Redb

It appears that the soccer franchise will attack other codes as a means of creating its own space in the market. The benefits of this approach are questionable, when compared with the expansion strategies of GC17 (Family Friendly) and GC Titans.

 

[HitEmHardFreo]

It's a post black hole...

As I was saying, it seems soccer does fear football. How else to explain the outburst?

 

[samiam]

It's a post black hole...

As I was saying, it seems soccer does fear football. How else to explain the outburst?

Freo, we are the only people online with our hands getting exercise not looking at (adult content).

I think it is more a matter of the soccer franchise wanting publicity, wanting to stake out a claim. They are the unknown, and truth be told probably even have something to fear from netball.

 

[W.Bulldogs_Aus_WC06]

It's a post black hole...

As I was saying, it seems soccer does fear football. How else to explain the outburst?

the sport of soccer does not fear the sport of football. This man may be hoping to gain some more supporters for his team. Why would this turn anyone off soccer as a sport? lol

 

[Rob]

the sport of soccer does not fear the sport of football. This man may be hoping to gain some more supporters for his team. Why would this turn anyone off soccer as a sport? lol

Because there are probably more football supporters on the Gold Coast than soccer supporters, and the A-League's appeal is partly because it's played during summer and can appeal to all sports fans that don't have anything better to do, given cricket's ineptness in coming up with a domestic league that anyone gives a s**t about.

The only thing comments like Palmer's will do is piss off a part of your target market. Downie's response was first class - calm and rational without degrading Palmer's sport.

 

[Cool Cat]

This guy has 6 billion dollars and he dares to bitch and pass judgement on what anyone else (governments included) spends their money on. A 6 billion dollar personal fortune = one greedy, greedy man obsessed with having more and more.

Just because you are rich Mr Whoeveryouare, does not mean that you know better than anyone else.

For instance, you don't like football.

 

[Golen Swans]

Because there are probably more football supporters on the Gold Coast than soccer supporters, .

You think? thats why blokes hate us afl types cos we just assume our sport is the gun. Its not so popular up there in the qld and so many of the younglings play soccer and nrl that afl is just a blip on the chart.

 

[Rob]

You think? thats why blokes hate us afl types cos we just assume our sport is the gun. Its not so popular up there in the qld and so many of the younglings play soccer and nrl that afl is just a blip on the chart.

Participation is a different kettle of fish to attendance and watching the game. If participation resulted in more people through the gates the A-League would average 50,000 a match.

 

[kaypee]

palmer's comments are hypocritical. it's not as if soccer receives no public funding, and he presumably hopes to benefit from the boost that that funding provides. in a perfect world, the afl would be able to get the gc team up and running with as little government involvement as possible - look at the mess they've got themselves into with the gabba contract, a stadium that they essentially subsidise and have now wound up being slave to.

 

[vinnie]

Clive palmer is a legend, like Frank lowey. He chose to fund a soccer team because he knows it has international value for the future.

If palmer was with AFL's GC17, you hear no end of how great he is. The reality is that the most successful business people in Australia go for soccer. AFL cannot attract them - it can only attract the dodgy ones - because it doesn't have enough global clout.

I think its fantastic that this bloke can come out and support soccer and have a go at other codes. Why shouldn't this happen? Soccer gets knocked every week in the Melb and Sydney media. One comment knocking gold coast and the AFL types on the forum are falling over in the penalty box.

 

[mustapha]

Participation is a different kettle of fish to attendance and watching the game. If participation resulted in more people through the gates the A-League would average 50,000 a match.

The A-League is only 4 years old. 50,000 average crowds would never happen in such a young competition. Maybe we will see crowds of that size in 20 years time when more than one generation of support has followed the league.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

Clive palmer is a legend, like Frank lowey. He chose to fund a soccer team because he knows it has international value for the future.

If palmer was with AFL's GC17, you hear no end of how great he is. The reality is that the most successful business people in Australia go for soccer. AFL cannot attract them - it can only attract the dodgy ones - because it doesn't have enough global clout.

I think its fantastic that this bloke can come out and support soccer and have a go at other codes. Why shouldn't this happen? Soccer gets knocked every week in the Melb and Sydney media. One comment knocking gold coast and the AFL types on the forum are falling over in the penalty box.

AFL doesn't attract them because they can't own the team (for the most part) you don't get the ego stroke of being team owner when you become involved wth AFL teams.

However there are still quite a few wealthy individuals involved with AFL teams, but their involvement come out of love of their team and not how can i make money out of this.

 

[vinnie]

Soccer crowds have to grow because the world is becoming more global. Those that don't like the sport will never go, that's fine. But those being born now will be exposed to the glamour and scope the world game has to offer like never before. Wait till video streaming becomes more accessible by web.

Those hoping soccer fails are probably also hoping Australia becomes more isolationist, like it was in the 1940's.

many argue that soccer crowds are up beyond sustainable levels. I'd argue the opposite - they have been kept artificailly low for so long (due to mis-management) and are now approaching their normal levels. Just look at the sell-outs Adelaide (the most AFL-centric city isn't it?) Unitied is getting for its Asian Champions League Game. Imgaine they get through and play Uruwa, then Man Scum United. Huge.

 

[vinnie]

AFL doesn't attract them because they can't own the team (for the most part) you don't get the ego stroke of being team owner when you become involved wth AFL teams.

However there are still quite a few wealthy individuals involved with AFL teams, but their involvement come out of love of their team and not how can i make money out of this.

So in the case of CG17, why should rate payers subsidise the AFL team? (thourgh the Gold Coast Council). That's robbery. I'd be livid. Teams should stand up on their own - that's Clive's point.

Stadiums are different. The stadium has multiple purposes fopr the public good and was funded for League originally. Those arguing that the league/soccer stadium shouldn't get funding need to look at Melbourne stadiums like the Dome and MGC and think - has any aspect of these stadiums been funded publicly? - the answer is yes. Hyprocrites.

 

[Jabso]

This is the type of soccer mentality that turns fans of both codes off soccer in this country.


Redb

I find, in Melbourne at least, soccer fans are the least aggressive towards AFL.

 

[harmesy 37]

Palmer has two key points from what I can understand from the article.



1) that tax payers money should be put towards hospitals instead of sport facilities.

That is a valid point, but as he is a billionaire i would hope that he could put some money into hospital funds on the gold coast.


I am sure he would love to put money where his mouth is to back up his concern for public health.




2) he states that soccer is "better entertainment"

I like this sentence from Palmer the most -
"We will be running Gold Coast United on a fraction of that and it will be better supported than the AFL and provide better entertainment."


Better entertainment?

i think that is a bit "rich" (pardon the pun) for a billionaire to state that a game that doesn't allow someone to use the most skillful part of the human body -the hands - is better entertainment than footy.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

So in the case of CG17, why should rate payers subsidise the AFL team? (thourgh the Gold Coast Council). That's robbery. I'd be livid. Teams should stand up on their own - that's Clive's point.

Stadiums are different. The stadium has multiple purposes fopr the public good and was funded for League originally. Those arguing that the league/soccer stadium shouldn't get funding need to look at Melbourne stadiums like the Dome and MGC and think - has any aspect of these stadiums been funded publicly? - the answer is yes. Hyprocrites.

Or the new rectangular stadium in Melbourne (when the government could have said the dome is quite suitable), plus the MCG is owned by the Victorian Government, the MCC run it. It's not about whether league/soccer stadiums shouldn't get funding, it's about why only they should get the funding for their stadiums and Cricket/Australian Football can't.

AFL clubs are membership based clubs, not privately owned organisations like A-League "Clubs". They are owned by the community. State and local councils routinely provide funding for sporting clubs.

 

[Dasher39]

2) he states that soccer is "better entertainment"

I like this sentence from Palmer the most -
"We will be running Gold Coast United on a fraction of that and it will be better supported than the AFL and provide better entertainment."


Better entertainment?

i think that is a bit "rich" (pardon the pun) for a billionaire to state that a game that doesn't allow someone to use the most skillful part of the human body -the hands - is better entertainment than footy.

Of course he is going to say that, he's hardly going to come out and say, "well it wont be that good, the AFL will probably be better".

And when you have Clive Palmer (an egomaniac) and Miron Bleiberg involved one thing it will be in entertaining.

I don't think his comments are that bad, even if they are a touch hypocritical. His point is simply he doesn't believe public funds should be used to build sports infrastructure, for any sport. Just because they will play out of Skilled Park (built with public funds) doesn't mean he agreed with the decision to build it. It's simply the best stadium on the Coast for Football (read Soccer), so it's obvious GCU will play there.

All the other comments are just done to create a bit of news about GCU during a quiet time for them.

As I said with Bleiberg involved, with the team flying in personal jets and helicopters and having the best of everything this team will create a hell of a lot of interest.

 

[grayham]

Robina Stadium is 100% government funded.

The NRL and FFA didnt put a cent in.

 

[QL 21]

1) that tax payers money should be put towards hospitals instead of sport facilities.

That is a valid point, but as he is a billionaire i would hope that he could put some money into hospital funds on the gold coast.

Well, I assume he pays taxes too, so some of his money is going towards the hospital funds. Just because he's a billionaire, doesn't mean he is obliged to fund new hospitals, that's the governments duty.

Anyway, how would you know much money money he donates? For all we know, he could be very generous with the money he gives to charity.

 

[zero]

no doubt he will be reimbursing the government for robina stadium when united starts up

i particularly like this bit - ""We've done away with subsidies for a lot of things in Australia and I don't know why we'd want to pick AFL to give all that money ahead of say rugby league, soccer, racing or athletics. It's a form of pork barrelling politics."

so the 250 million spent by the QLD government on suncorp stadium and 160 million spent on robina is fine to spend public money on, but not aussie rules?

also - "We will be running Gold Coast United on a fraction of that and it will be better supported than the AFL and provide better entertainment", yeah, where else will the people of the coast be able to get all the entertainment of low scoring and diving.

(dont get me wrong, i like soccer, but even the champions league can be tedious at times, and the A-league isnt a boil on the ass of that comp)

 

[vinnie]

Soccer in this country needs types like clive palmer - big mouthed, wealthy, rude, larrikin - but canny and successful. I know not everybody agrees with him, but it gets people talking. And he'll treat his players better than any other sporting club in this country.

For too long we've had to put up with are loud, wittless bogans like those on the Sunday AFL footy show, that have had a free run voicing their opinions on the sporting world without challenge and basically living off their pasts. The news media is the same - sick to death of hearing the same footy media clowns trying to get one over each other and shoving that game down our throats every night on the news. The number of AFL journalists needs to be seriously culled and the media need to employ better, acute soccer comentators to balance the sporting coverage.

Australia needs new voices.