Silence is Golden
Everything about the Perth Glory’s performance at the weekend against the Melbourne Victory was exceptional. There was a big crowd roaring the team on, – one that a visitor from Brisbane ranked the best he had experienced anywhere in the A league! – and there was a supreme performance on the park.
Melbourne Victory were not allowed to play due to the exceptionally hard working Perth Glory. They closed them down, they harried them across the park, and in the end Victory became frustrated, and as good as gave up.
This detracted from the Glory’s performance in which every player was outstanding; Berger’s attacking runs, Sterjovski’s running and defending, Pantelidis at the back was simply superb, with the ever-steady Bas Van den Brink and in the midfield, Burns, McGarry and Miller ran the show. The dominance of these three surpassing any performance by a Glory midfield for many years.
Everything was great and it restored faith that the club can climb to the top of the mountain again.
There was one sad element. Ian Ferguson has copped abuse all season from the fans, some who quite clearly do not want him at the club. Yet he has stood tall and taken all that has been thrown at him. He has kept on with his job along with his supporting cast and it looks like their hard work is beginning to pay dividends. Yet some fans still were not happy. It would have been nice if the shed had acknowledged that he picked the right team, and had his tactics spot on, and because of that played a key part in such a magnificent victory. As it was no doubt shutting up those who have given him so much stick no doubt proves that silence is golden! Maybe next time?
One Green Bottle
It is not often that a referee awards three penalties in a game and receives not criticism. Throw in an additional sending off and still not criticism and one would think the man in black/yellow or green, has had a good game. Peter Green the man in the middle for the Perth Glory against Melbourne Victory certainly did have a good game.
He bravely and correctly awarded a penalty against Victory’s Adrian Leijer for holding in the box, after he had just warned the player, when many would have had another word. He was also correct with both of the other spot kick decisions.
Initially many in the crowd felt that Steve Pantelidis may have milked Danny Allsopp’s high challenge that saw the Victory striker sent from the field, especially as following treatment there was absolutely no limp as he left the field to rejoin play after receiving treatment. On the replays again the referee was spot on the challenge was high and studs were raised.
Yet after the game everyone was talking about three decisions he did not give in the game.
In the 16th minute Kewell was late and high with a challenge on Glory’s Evan Berger. He received quite rightly a yellow card, although many wondered if a player such as Jacob Burns or Steve Pantelidis had been guilty of the challenge whether they would have got off so lightly. Reputations rightly or wrongly affecting outcomes.
Then in the second half there were not one, but two occasions where Harry Kewell appeared to dive searching for a penalty. One of these instants it appeared it was either a penalty, or a dive. The referee did not award the penalty; therefore it should have been a dive and a yellow card, which would have meant that the Victory’s star man was having an early bath.
The card never came and Kewell has since admitted that he “technically” dived.
Having had such an outstanding game it was sad that Mr. Green was remembered for the decision he failed to make rather than the good ones he did make.
We have witnessed it with Kevin Muscat, Craig Moore and now Harry Kewell, big name players who bring people through the turnstiles, who appear to get away with challenges that others would not based on their reputations. If the A League is to be taken seriously this must stop now.
No More Comparisons Please
In the lead up to the Perth Glory’s home fixture against Melbourne Victory, Western Australia’s most capped Socceroo, Stan Lazarides came out and stated, as many before him have and many in the future will, that the Victory’s Harry Kewell is Australia’s David Beckham.
Be honest does he really warrant comparison to Beckham on any level?
Harry Kewell has always had immense talent of that there can be no doubt. Was he the greatest player Australia has produced? That debate will rage on for years as how does one decide what makes a player great? Is it trophies won? Is it consistency? Is it the way you carry yourself off and on the pitch? Or is it marketability?
When he first went to the LA Galaxy David Beckham in that first season did not enamour himself to his teammates or the fans. He was no doubt frustrated that the players around him could not see situations as quickly and be in position to receive the ball, or pass it to him when he needed it. He did not practice as much as he had throughout his career and his focus shifted.
To be fair to Beckham, that changed in season two and his head was back where it had always been and in the end he performed as those who invested in taking him to America expected. He also won the Galaxy the MLS Cup.
Harry Kewell may well be going through that same first season blues that Beckham had in America, since returning to Australia. Against the Glory his frustration was clear as those around him failed to play to his ability levels.
What is sad however is that a player of his undoubted quality so clearly threw in the towel, and resorted to trying to con the referee, with two blatant dives. Kewell has always been a peripheral player drifting in an out of games, and at 3-0 down at half time against a rampant Glory was, unless he sparked early, never the man for a fight back where the Victory needed all eleven men to work hard for each other.
Beckham despite his first season in the MLS has always been a leader, he has always hated to lose and his personal pride in his own performances would have seen him continue to fight. Even playing when injured recently he has adjusted his game to still be able to offer his teammates options that can still bring success.
Beckham is a remarkable individual, he would not be in our list of truly great players, but the way he carries himself on the pitch and his attitude will always lift him well above Harry Kewell. We believe the two do not warrant comparison at any stage, as even Harry Kewell’s marketability although relative does not bear comparison to Beckham’s.
As stated Beckham’s first season was tough in the USA, let us hope that Kewell’s second in the A League matches Beckham’s subsequent seasons
Going Underground?
It is good to hear that British Olympic Association Chairman Colin Moynihan will not be using the chauffeur driven limousines available to VIPs to attend this year’s London Olympics, insisting that he will be travelling by the London underground to get to the stadium.
Lord Mayor of London the colourful Boris Johnson has pleaded for other VIPs to join the general public and catch the tube to the Olympic venues. But so far his pleas have fallen on deaf ears with IOC President Jacques Rogge and also FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
No real surprises there as both men appear to love the trappings that come with their positions
Going Soft is Hard
It is not just in Australia that the impact of a sport being dropped from the Olympic Games is far reaching.
The Great Britain women’s fast pitch softball team looks like missing the World Championships in Canada because they cannot afford to go.
Ranked one of the top three teams in Europe they have until the end of January to confirm whether they will take up the place that they earned by qualifying. With most of the team being students few can afford the costs attributed to taking part. The overall cost is expected to be GBP60, 000.
Having relied on donations the money has dried up, and UK sport is focusing all of its funding on sports that have a chance of returning Great Britain medals at this year’s Olympics.
It is a very familiar story in Australia, despite some of the athletes having achieved more than some who will grace the Olympic Games.
Getting it Off, Before Getting it On
It appears that Great Britain’s female athletes are outstripping their male counterparts in more ways than one.
They are currently well ahead in the 2012 Cashpoint stakes with a gold medal being valued in the region of GBP 2 million in terms of sponsorship and endorsements.
World sprint cycling champion Victoria Pendleton is leading the way when it comes to girl power and has apparently been seen in various stages of undress in magazines throughout the UK in the lead up to the games.
Other female Olympic athletes have posed for lingerie calendars and also beauty and health products again showcasing their strong fit bodies.
Queen Vic as Pendleton is known to her cycling team mates, is part of a Hovis bread campaign playing the part of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She also spearheads another campaign for Olympic sponsor P & G alongside heptahlete Jessica Ennis and open water swimmer Keri-Anne Payne where they are labeled Brand ambassadors.
The men are currently well behind in cashing in on the marketability of the Olympics and some say they are also more reserved when it comes to showcasing their assets
Foster, Slater, Twitter,
It has been interesting to read the twitter row between Fox Sports Robbie Slater and SBS Craig Foster, but one has to ask whether this disagreement would not have been better aired in private or in a telephone conversation.
Irrespective of who is wrong or who is right and in truth both are simply airing opinions, which they are both entitled to think are right, it has been an embarrassing public disagreement; One that has once again highlighted how football seems to find ways of shooting itself in the foot.
Had this been an open debate with both stating their views it may not have been so bad and probably would have made good television, although the raking up of an indiscretion when on tour was probably below the belt. What happened to what goes on tour stays on tour?
There is a forum for such debate and sadly the Twitter sphere is not the place.
For the record as someone born in Great Britain I have long had the feeling that SBS has pushed an anti British point of view when it comes to football, and as one former top level player in Australia said, had they been so openly against any other nation there would have been an outcry. The truth is the British show a stiff upper lip and simply roll with the punches, they are used to criticism and abuse, deserved or not. At the end of the day, it is after all only an opinion, albeit it pushed at times a little too strongly for some. If like many from that part of the world you find it biased or offensive, simply don’t watch.
Wired for Sound
Not the Footy Show must be getting old and grumpy, or maybe we are simply traditionalists at heart. We are not fans of television stations have cameras in the dressing rooms, believing that these are the one place a players privacy should be sacrosanct.
Neither do we believe in the modern trend of television stations interviewing players as they come off the park at half time, or while they are sitting on the bench. They have a job to do and they should be allowed for the duration of that game to focus solely on that task. How would you feel if during your working day a guy came up and shoved a microphone in your face and asked you some mundane questions about your morning in the office?
Now there is talk that Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg is prepared to be wired up with a microphone for what he said to the Courier Mail’s Marco Monteverde “Anything that’s for the good of the A-League and adds to its attraction, I’m willing to help out with.”
Players and coaches miked-up is all very well for T20 games which are simply a bit of fun and not taken too seriously, but should the nations top football competition engage such a gimmick and what does it say about the league should such a move eventuate?
The entertainment should be on the park and there alone. If any sport starts searching for other avenues to keep viewers interested is heading down a very dangerous path.
Storm in a Beer Cup
With the third test between Australia and India about to get underway in Perth Western Australia, the focus has sadly shifted from the game ahead to the fact that the WACA Ground staff were caught on the pitch having a beer the evening before the test. This is supposedly a tradition that groundsman Cameron Sutherland has carried out for many a year, but this is the first time it has been witnessed on camera.
There is no doubt that the ground staff will have worked very hard to produce a world class strip to showcase hopefully five days of test cricket, and it would appear to be a nice and good team building tradition. The staff are barefoot on the wicket and having worked so hard to prepare a top class strip there is no way that they are going to do anything to harm it on the eve of a test.
India, have struggled in this series and many believe the airing of this footage is their way of deflecting how poorly their team have performed against an Australian side that was a long way from being the side of five years ago. They have compounded how bad their record is away from home and as the second best test side in the world they have been truly humbled in the first two tests.
There is no doubt that it will be a welcome distraction.
However the question has to be asked what would have been Cricket Australia’s reaction had the boot been on the other foot, if the night before a test match in Mumbai a group of Indian ground staff removed the covers and were seen drinking tea on the pitch? They too would probably have reacted in a similar vein.
For a nation that prides itself on their attitude to cricket and the fact that it is like India the nation’s national sport, this was probably not the best image to have sent out around the world, and Australia’s reputation may well be harmed. Already many on the East coast of Australia are raising eyebrows at this sort of behaviour and almost excusing it as their distant cousins in the West.
The tradition of toasting the wicket is one that should be encouraged as the staff have worked hard over a long period of time to deliver a great test match, but should it be the night before the test, and on the actual wicket? Is this the image of Western Australia that we want broadcast around the cricketing world?
Once again one cannot help but feel WA has been caught due to its own naiveté.
Over to You Jim
Many were surprised at the announcement of Irishman Jim Magilton as the Melbourne Victory’s coach replacing the sacked Mehmet Durakovic, but so far it would appear that it could be an inspired choice.
Magilton showed good Irish humour in his press conferences and has also made it clear that he is is his own man and is not impressed by reputations. He has also said that he likes to play a passing style of football which will get him on side with key sections of the media. Cleverly he tempered this by saying it will take time for the team to adapt to his style of play, which is a fair comment.
He has shown his quality in dealing with the media with a professionalism and confidence you would expect from someone who has coached and played in the top leagues in Europe. His appointment is undoubtedly refreshing.
Word out of the Victory camp is that he has made an immediate impression. The intensity at training has lifted and he has made an immediate impact on all the players.
Let us hope that is reflected on the park with a humdinger against Adelaide. Magilton could not only be a great choice for Victory, but also a breath of fresh air to the A League.
