Not sure if screenshots are cheating or not, but I FINALLY got the world cup streaming on a mobile phone. Note I say “a” mobile phone, not “my” mobile phone. It still doesn’t work on my iPhone 3GS, but it works fine on Mat’s iPhone 3G. Oh well, at least now I can finally watch world cup matches from my bed!
Rewind about 5 years ago and I wasn’t a soccer fan. I followed the paths of most Aussies; it was all about NRL or AFL, swimming, tennis or netball (which I loved because I was an active player myself). I perceived soccer as a boring 90min game where it was a good game if someone scored. When someone did eventually get a goal, I thought it was exciting for all of about 30 seconds while the players celebrated. Then I got bored again.
My sister did the best she could to convince me. She tried to tell me it was a game of passion, and about the struggle to get a goal. She told me of the ultimate elation when they finally did break through and found the back of the net. Still, I didn’t understand.
Then she took me to my first live game, a socceroos match in 2005 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. I was exposed to the crowds and the electricity in the air as we watched the ball going back and forth on the field. I became hooked.
An email I received this morning from FFA:
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Dear Kelly
You may have noticed an article in some of Saturday’s papers which said that the Hyundai A-League and football in general is “in crisis”.
The writer (Rebecca Wilson) said the alleged “crisis” was the reason for the result between Adelaide United and Gamba Osaka in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League and that Adelaide was “humiliated”.
I thought it might be helpful to write to let you know just how wrong this view is.
For a start, I’ve always thought that a team which makes it to a final of a competition has actually performed very well.
Whether it be the NRL or AFL Grand Finals, the finals of the cricket One Day Internationals or finals of the Super 14s, it is generally accepted that the two teams competing have excelled to get that far.
Let’s put Adelaide United’s achievement in making it to the final of the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Champions League against Gamba Osaka into perspective.
To get to the final, Adelaide had to:
(a) finish as either minor premiers or champions of the Hyundai A-League to earn the right to represent Australia in the first place
(b) come through a group stage playing six home and away matches against teams from Korea, China and Vietnam
(c) navigate through the quarter finals and semi finals, playing a further four home and away matches, against one of the most successful teams in J-League history, Kashima Antlers, and Bunyodkor from Uzbekistan, and
(d) meet another top team from the Japanese league which is widely considered the top national league in the Asian confederation.
Since 2006, we have been actively addressing the shortcomings of the sport with a long term plan for Australia to improve its technical skills and to achieve sustained success internationally.
Last year, Football Federation Australia (FFA) released the first ever national strategic framework for the development of the sport in this country.
It is a long term plan for Australia to achieve sustained success at international level within the historical context of a lack of investment in the critical area of football development over many decades.
The national football development plan sets out a comprehensive program for improving and upgrading the game at every level and for all participants, whether they be players, coaches, referees, volunteers or other administrators. The plan addresses development at two distinct levels:
Since then, we have delivered a number of the initiatives outlined in the national football development plan all of which have the aim of improving the skill levels and technical proficiency of players. These include:
Small sided football is critical to our strategy as it gives children more touches of the ball, leading to improved skill levels. After just one year, 70,000 children are playing small sided football and this number will increase further over the next two years.
It’s one thing to produce good players, but we also need to produce good coaches.
While it’s terrific to see the ‘mums and dads’ at weekend games helping out their children’s teams, we also want to ensure those mums and dads have the skills they need also to help children appropriately as they guide them in the early years.
To date, we have:
In time for the 2009 winter football season, we will have a new online course available for accredited coaches to supplement and complement certificate courses.
The article also suggested that the best players go overseas.
This is a reality which has been ever-present in football for 25 years and reflects the fact that football is the truly global game.
It is almost a rite of passage for talented young Australian players to try their luck in the bigger and richer leagues around the world, just as it is for young footballers from elsewhere such as South America.
It is a reality which other sports are only now just starting to experience as the epicentre of some of the other sports shifts.
But with our large participant base, our nine national teams for men and women, and regular competitive opportunities through the Asian Football Confederation, the Hyundai A-League (along with the National Youth League and the Westfield W-League) will grow into a more and more significant competition and source of playing talent for national teams as the competition matures and evolves.
At the end of season 3 of the Hyundai A-League, average crowds were 15,350, club memberships increased by almost 100% on season 1 and FOX Sports continued to report increasing viewer numbers.
Even though there has been a small reduction in crowds to date in this season, we are light years ahead of the old national soccer league.
Expansion will not only give us the best geographical footprint of any national sporting competition in the country, but more teams will help make the competition even more vibrant and attractive.
We are expanding to ten teams next season, with the addition of the Gold Coast and North Queensland Fury, and to twelve the season after.
Even further growth of the Hyundai A-League will come from creating local heroes that young players can touch and see week-in, week-out and we are taking positive steps to ensure that we have enough quality players available.
Importantly, an expanded Hyundai A-League will also give clubs an extended season with more games which – as every coach and armchair expert knows – leads to improved skill levels, technical proficiency and match preparedness.
So, far from being “in crisis” we are rebuilding from the grassroots up.
Thank you for your commitment to football.
We hope to see you at a Hyundai A-League, National Youth League, Westfield W-League and Qantas Socceroos match in the very near future.
Cheers
Ben Buckley
Chief Executive Officer
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A link to the article by Rebecca Wilson that prompted the response: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24654341-5006301,00.html
Last week my sister was lucky enough to score corporate box seats for the Qld Roar v Adelaide United soccer (football/fitba/whatever) match at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. In fact, she signed away her cocktail making skills to get the seats, quite a sacrifice.
I tried searching on the Suncorp Stadium website but was a little disappointed when the only thing I could find about “Corporate Hospitality” was an offer to get seats for two events, held one and two months ago respectively. They could have at least a little bit of info advertising (or warning) of what was involved. Instead, googling about corporate seats led me to the ANZ stadium page for Corporate Boxes that at least made it look appealing (even if the waitress’s hair was a bit windswept – but that’s just being picky). In the end, I just assumed that we would be able to order food & drinks from the comfort of our chairs, and have a good view of the game, if not any other perks.
Eventually the day arrived, and Amy and I made our way to our seats. It took a fair bit of walking through corridors to get to our spot, but we found it. We discovered that it was an open air box (which I had guessed correctly and therefore packed a warm jacket, Amy wasn’t so careful) and there were others in the box with us. No problems though, we still had a good view, and surprisingly there was a TV set right in front of Amy so we could see the broadcast nice and clearly. It just played what was playing in the big screens though, so getting normal seats didn’t mean you were missing out on anything much.
We also found we received free copies of “The Full 90″ magazine, and some sponsor merchandise i.e. pens and stubby coolers. We both grabbed a pen, and I got a stubby cooler for Mat since he has a massive collection at home, and he likes Waeco stuff (the sponsor). We twittered about our positions, and then decided to have a look at the menu and order some food/drinks. First bombshell for the night. Food platters were all designed for approx. 10 people, and they didn’t do individual trays. So if you wanted a plate of food you were looking at $70 for something de
cent, $45 minimum, and only $35 if you wanted 15 pieces of chocolates. Subtext – unless you’re with a group of friends, then you want to be rich with dispensable funds to buy food you could normally get for around the $20 – $30 mark. Ultimately, we didn’t get anything to eat. The couple behind us enquired whether they could order food from downstairs and get it brought up, the answer was no. So that left us with drinks. I ordered a vodka and lemonade for me, and a rum and coke for Amy. Total cost – $26. It turns out you don’t just get a premix drink, you get a little bottle of a sprit, and a bottle of the related soft drink (image). It worked out to be two small drinks (using the plastic cups provided) but I still wasn’t overly impressed.
The view was quite good though. We could clearly see the entire field, and with a TV in front of us we definitely weren’t going to miss out on anything. Unless you’re me, and you’re either trying to pick up your ticket off the floor and miss a penalty, or miss the goal by the home team. Due to the fact we couldn’t order food from downstairs and have it brought up, and we weren’t in the mood to break our budgets by ordering cheese and crackers for $90 (I’m guessing – I don’t remember how much it actually was) Amy and I headed downstairs for some dinner during half time. We ate our food downstairs, then with only some hot chips left to share between us walked upstairs. We thought they might have let us back in with just chips, but unfortunately that was to be proven wrong. Second bombshell for the evening. The lady told me to put my bottle of coke zero in my bag, and we were to either finish the chips off, or leave them with her to be thrown in the bin. We ate a couple more and ruturned them. As we made our way to our seats through the (now seemingly endless) corridors, we heard a massive cheer erupt from the crowd. Just as we got to the seats. If we were ten seconds earlier we would have seen it. If the lady hadn’t stopped us from eating we would have seen it. If we stayed downstairs to finish our chips we would have seen it. It’s only typical that we would have timed it so badly that we didn’t get to see the goal. Thank god for our little telly and replays.
The view from our seats in the corporate box
The match ended up being a 1-1 draw (twice in a row for Roar). As we headed home Amy and I reflected on the experience. The seats were good – it was enjoyable to watch from there. If you’re in a group of friends it would be a LOT better – you could take advantage of the food service, and knowing in advance how much you’re paying for drinks you could plan to spend big. But for two people it wasn’t that crash hot. When you’re in the crowd below it’s easy to get swept up in the feeling of the match, and scream loudly for your team. Upstairs, when you don’t know anyone, it’s easy to keep a close rein on your emotions. For that, I didn’t enjoy it – I’m the one in the crowd who yells and whistles, and upstairs in the corporate box it felt like that would have been really out of place. At least if I was in a group of my friends up there I wouldn’t care about getting too excited, and cheering on my team.
So at the end of the day it was a bittersweet experience. We had a great view and perks, and with a bunch of mates it would be fantastic. I’m still stoked that we got to go and try something new, and extremely grateful that Amy got the tickets. I just hope there comes a time again when we DO have all our friends up there, and we can live it up for the evening, but if there’s only going to be a few of us, then I know I definitely want to be in the crowd below, being my usual loud and noisy self.