- Apr 27, 2003
- 11,597
- 2,968
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
- Other Teams
- B'ham CityFC Adelaide United FC
A good article from Mike Cockerill in today's SMH. He is right, there are no more excuses. If you want the game to succeed in this country get behind your club and get to the ground and support them,
Turnstile fever rocks the cradle - it mustn't spread
By Michael Cockerill
July 30, 2005
Newcastle is regarded, quite rightly, as the cradle of football in Australia. It is where the clubs have the longest histories, where some of our greatest players have emerged, and where crowds have traditionally been the biggest and best-educated in the country. Novocastrians deserve their reputation as the patriarchs of the game, and they guard it jealously.
So, what gives?
Last Friday night, Newcastle United made their first official appearance as an A-League club in front of their supporters. It was a chilly night but a clear one. Granted, it was a pre-season match and, true enough, it was not heavily marketed by Football Federation Australia. But the local media had done their job, and all genuine football fans - presumably among them the 12,000 registered players in the greater Newcastle area - knew, or should have known, the game was on.
How many people showed? Officially, 1864. Unofficially, barely a thousand souls seemed lost in the floodlit expanse of the rebuilt EnergyAustralia Stadium. It was demoralising, disappointing, even devastating. As a launching pad for the new era, it was a disaster. If Jets chief executive George Liolio is truly unconcerned, as he maintains he is, then he obviously has good relaxation techniques.
With the inaugural A-League season just around the corner, and with Newcastle hosting the historic first match of the competition, it is impossible to feel anything other than concern. No wonder FFA officials were in town yesterday to find out what went wrong.
What went wrong is that the fans have run out of excuses. We are starting to see through the serial whingers for the first time.
For 27 seasons of the now defunct National Soccer League, supporters had a multitude of excuses for not going to games: poor stadiums, crowd violence, poor promotion, poor playing standards, poor scheduling, bad management. Separately, they all had some credence. Together, they made the NSL a lame duck for most of the past decade of its existence.
But now we have a new competition and, supposedly, a new outlook. It is fair to say that FFA has made a number of mistakes during the roll-out process, but these errors should not lessen the curiosity - or, dare we say it, excitement - value.
After almost 16 months of inactivity between the closure of the NSL and last weekend's official start to the pre-season of the A-League, true football fans should have been champing at the bit. But judging by attendances - of which Newcastle's was palpably the worst - they weren't. And the excuses have been running thick and fast ever since.
The truth is there are no longer any excuses. None. The fate of professional football in this country is now in the hands of the fans, who have always reckoned that this is something they wanted.
But responsibility comes with a price, and that price is to turn up first - rain, hail or shine - and ask questions later. It's what they do in the NRL, in the AFL and in Super 12. It's why the powerbrokers, those who determine things like media coverage and sponsorships, listen to the other codes before they listen to football. Because these sports have a support base that is a reality, not a mirage. Fans in these sports have proved they care.
Football fans care, too. But they haven't proved it. At least not in any sustained way. Big games, whether at club or international level, can draw people out of the woodwork. It shows there is a latent audience out there, somewhere.
Four weeks out from the kick-off of Australia's new competition, where are they?
A professional league, something Australia desperately needs, is defined by its level of support. The A-League will never become what it should be unless fans across the country get off their backsides and get through the turnstiles.
Starting from now.
Turnstile fever rocks the cradle - it mustn't spread
By Michael Cockerill
July 30, 2005
Newcastle is regarded, quite rightly, as the cradle of football in Australia. It is where the clubs have the longest histories, where some of our greatest players have emerged, and where crowds have traditionally been the biggest and best-educated in the country. Novocastrians deserve their reputation as the patriarchs of the game, and they guard it jealously.
So, what gives?
Last Friday night, Newcastle United made their first official appearance as an A-League club in front of their supporters. It was a chilly night but a clear one. Granted, it was a pre-season match and, true enough, it was not heavily marketed by Football Federation Australia. But the local media had done their job, and all genuine football fans - presumably among them the 12,000 registered players in the greater Newcastle area - knew, or should have known, the game was on.
How many people showed? Officially, 1864. Unofficially, barely a thousand souls seemed lost in the floodlit expanse of the rebuilt EnergyAustralia Stadium. It was demoralising, disappointing, even devastating. As a launching pad for the new era, it was a disaster. If Jets chief executive George Liolio is truly unconcerned, as he maintains he is, then he obviously has good relaxation techniques.
With the inaugural A-League season just around the corner, and with Newcastle hosting the historic first match of the competition, it is impossible to feel anything other than concern. No wonder FFA officials were in town yesterday to find out what went wrong.
What went wrong is that the fans have run out of excuses. We are starting to see through the serial whingers for the first time.
For 27 seasons of the now defunct National Soccer League, supporters had a multitude of excuses for not going to games: poor stadiums, crowd violence, poor promotion, poor playing standards, poor scheduling, bad management. Separately, they all had some credence. Together, they made the NSL a lame duck for most of the past decade of its existence.
But now we have a new competition and, supposedly, a new outlook. It is fair to say that FFA has made a number of mistakes during the roll-out process, but these errors should not lessen the curiosity - or, dare we say it, excitement - value.
After almost 16 months of inactivity between the closure of the NSL and last weekend's official start to the pre-season of the A-League, true football fans should have been champing at the bit. But judging by attendances - of which Newcastle's was palpably the worst - they weren't. And the excuses have been running thick and fast ever since.
The truth is there are no longer any excuses. None. The fate of professional football in this country is now in the hands of the fans, who have always reckoned that this is something they wanted.
But responsibility comes with a price, and that price is to turn up first - rain, hail or shine - and ask questions later. It's what they do in the NRL, in the AFL and in Super 12. It's why the powerbrokers, those who determine things like media coverage and sponsorships, listen to the other codes before they listen to football. Because these sports have a support base that is a reality, not a mirage. Fans in these sports have proved they care.
Football fans care, too. But they haven't proved it. At least not in any sustained way. Big games, whether at club or international level, can draw people out of the woodwork. It shows there is a latent audience out there, somewhere.
Four weeks out from the kick-off of Australia's new competition, where are they?
A professional league, something Australia desperately needs, is defined by its level of support. The A-League will never become what it should be unless fans across the country get off their backsides and get through the turnstiles.
Starting from now.
