A League

[GVGjr]

Re: A League

What is wrong with these people that go to A-League matches and light flares, cause trouble. The game must be so boring they have nothing else to do. It is a disgrace and needs to be stamped out.

It's a very small portion of people doing this and the A League is putting steps in place to fix it. It's a great competition with just a few bugs to straighten out. The people doing it are idiots and will hopefully be caught out quickly

[westdog54]

Re: A League

It's a very small portion of people doing this and the A League is putting steps in place to fix it. It's a great competition with just a few bugs to straighten out. The people doing it are idiots and will hopefully be caught out quickly

I'd like to think that the A-League is serious about this, but between them, the stadiums and the clubs I've seen enough first hand to believe that they are paying lip service to the problem.

It will take someone being killed or seriously injured for them to take real action.

[Sedat]

Re: A League

What is wrong with these people that go to A-League matches and light flares, cause trouble. The game must be so boring they have nothing else to do. It is a disgrace and needs to be stamped out.

Sorry bornadog, but this is the ignorant response that mainstream media feeds on to support their chosen narrative. The reality is that the media exposure used to highlight 'trouble' at A-league matches is ridiculously disproportionate to the actual issue, which as GVGjr points out comes from a tiny proportion of idiots (I won't dignify them by calling them fans) and barely registers when you are at the actual game.

There are fist fights and loutish behaviour at the footy just about every week, and there are unruly crowds and drunken behaviour at the cricket in far higher proportion than there are at the soccer. But throw in a flare and a bunch of woggy looking supporters and our mainstream media goes into meltdown. I don't like dickheads in the crowd at any sport - but I don't preference one dickhead over another purely because one of them lights a flare.

Quite obviously, the world game is a real threat for the pissant and insular minds controlling the AFL, and they are duly utilising every dirty trick in the book to lean on their mates in the media to do a hatchet job on soccer and the local league. Can you imagine the media uproar if someone was bashed at a soccer game the way that woman was at the Hawks Freo final?

I was driving through Richmond last Saturday night, right in the middle of hordes of crowds walking to the derby. Fans, families, women and children all walking excitedly in unison to AAMI Park, Victory and City fans all mixed together. Not a skerrick of trouble, and there almost never is.

It's fine if you don't like soccer, but this opinion is thrown down soccer fans throats time and again. Non-fans of the other codes do not try to dissuade footy, cricket, rugby or league fans from watching their chosen sport, so why do non-soccer fans feel the need to tell all and sundry what a shithouse, boring game it is? We happen to like it a lot, and our numbers are only growing every year.

[Bornadog]

Re: A League

Sedat i think it is far worse than what you make out to be. I have only ever been to one A League game (last year) and idiots in front of us let off a flare and a woman and her daughter were burnt.



When is the last time you saw a flare lit at an AFL match or cricket?

Yes there are a minority of supporters who do this but it is extremely dangerous.

This is creating a bad image of the A-League and they should take a leaf from the BBL where a family oriented atmosphere is now the norm, and crowds are flocking to it.

[Sedat]

Re: A League

Sedat i think it is far worse than what you make out to be. I have only ever been to one A League game (last year) and idiots in front of us let off a flare and a woman and her daughter were burnt.



When is the last time you saw a flare lit at an AFL match or cricket?

Yes there are a minority of supporters who do this but it is extremely dangerous.

This is creating a bad image of the A-League and they should take a leaf from the BBL where a family oriented atmosphere is now the norm, and crowds are flocking to it.

And I think you are drastically over-stating the issue, just as I believe the mainstream media are doing in some futile attempt to blunt the growth of the game in our market.

I am far from a flare-apologist - I don't like them and I want to see them removed from the game for the reasons you mentioned above. But a flare does not equal a riot. I've been to dozens of A-League matches and I've felt nothing but completely safe and in a family atmosphere. If you sat right in the middle of the Collingwood cheer squad, I suspect you would also find it an uncomfortable experience being at the footy, irrespective of the lack of flares.

That is precisely my point - a dickhead supporter is a dickhead supporter, no matter what the code, and every code has its share of dickheads, soccer no more than others (probably less). You and everyone else are getting caught up in the use of flares as the only form of anti-social crowd behaviour, because it is the only point of difference between scumbags at the soccer and at other sports.

[Twodogs]

Re: A League

And I think you are drastically over-stating the issue, just as I believe the mainstream media are doing in some futile attempt to blunt the growth of the game in our market.

I am far from a flare-apologist - I don't like them and I want to see them removed from the game for the reasons you mentioned above. But a flare does not equal a riot. I've been to dozens of A-League matches and I've felt nothing but completely safe and in a family atmosphere. If you sat right in the middle of the Collingwood cheer squad, I suspect you would also find it an uncomfortable experience being at the footy, irrespective of the lack of flares.

That is precisely my point - a dickhead supporter is a dickhead supporter, no matter what the code, and every code has its share of dickheads, soccer no more than others (probably less). You and everyone else are getting caught up in the use of flares as the only form of anti-social crowd behaviour, because it is the only point of difference between scumbags at the soccer and at other sports.

It seems to me to be mainly young blokes with a bit of an attitude problem. In a lot of ways the worst thing you can do is give them a lot of attention. It suits their agenda perfectly.

[Bulldog4life]

Re: A League

The biggest problem is that a person can smuggle anything it seems into a sporting game. One day it might be something far worse than a flare.

[Bornadog]

Re: A League

And I think you are drastically over-stating the issue,

No I am not.

Flares have been taken to grounds for many years now and are dangerous and it needs to be stamped out.

If you read my posts, I never said anything about riots, the majority of fans etc. I said these people who take the flares in.

[westdog54]

Re: A League

And I think you are drastically over-stating the issue, just as I believe the mainstream media are doing in some futile attempt to blunt the growth of the game in our market.

I am far from a flare-apologist - I don't like them and I want to see them removed from the game for the reasons you mentioned above. But a flare does not equal a riot. I've been to dozens of A-League matches and I've felt nothing but completely safe and in a family atmosphere. If you sat right in the middle of the Collingwood cheer squad, I suspect you would also find it an uncomfortable experience being at the footy, irrespective of the lack of flares.

That is precisely my point - a dickhead supporter is a dickhead supporter, no matter what the code, and every code has its share of dickheads, soccer no more than others (probably less). You and everyone else are getting caught up in the use of flares as the only form of anti-social crowd behaviour, because it is the only point of difference between scumbags at the soccer and at other sports.

I'm glad you've written this Sedat, because it's a pretty good summary of the bullshit, victim-mentality agenda being pushed by certain sections of the football community.

For the record, flares are NOT "the only point of difference between scumbags at the soccer and other sports", as you so eloquently put it.

Fans of other sports do not march through streets en masse on a weekly basis to get to games. Active soccer supporters do.

Fans of other sports do not attack and vandalise vehicles belonging up other clubs or fans of other clubs on match day. Active soccer supporters go.

Fans of other sports don't have organised brawls between supporter groups. Active supporter groups do.

Fans of other sports don't feel the bed to cover their faces in the midst of their behaviour. Active soccer supporters do.

Fans of other sports do not attempt to assault or accost members of the media who attempt to record their activities. Active soccer supporters do.

Fans of other sports do not openly bait and threaten Police who try to curtail their behaviour. Active soccer supporters do.

Fans of other sports don't leave massive clean up and damage bills in their wake after a game. Seats are broken and charred floors are almost traditional at Soccer games.

For Christ's sake, get your head out of the sand and acknowledge that Soccer in Australia has a massive problem on its hands

[GVGjr]

Re: A League

I was driving through Richmond last Saturday night, right in the middle of hordes of crowds walking to the derby. Fans, families, women and children all walking excitedly in unison to AAMI Park, Victory and City fans all mixed together. Not a skerrick of trouble, and there almost never is.

It's fine if you don't like soccer, but this opinion is thrown down soccer fans throats time and again. Non-fans of the other codes do not try to dissuade footy, cricket, rugby or league fans from watching their chosen sport, so why do non-soccer fans feel the need to tell all and sundry what a shithouse, boring game it is? We happen to like it a lot, and our numbers are only growing every year.

I'm not a huge fan of the world game but I do think the A League is a great competition. I've taken the train into the city at times and have seen first hand how the families react with each other on the way to Victory games and to be honest they behave and engaged with each other better than a comparison of traveling with supporters for AFL games.

I hope that the A League is taking the issue seriously because once they fix it up then the competition will just continue to grow and it will take a lot of the ammunition away from the media to use. The next 3 to 5 years could be huge for the A League.

[westdog54]

Re: A League

That was one of the brilliant things about the Asian Cup. There was little to no issue with crowd behaviour because people were there to watch the game.

[Twodogs]

Re: A League

That was one of the brilliant things about the Asian Cup. There was little to no issue with crowd behaviour because people were there to watch the game.

No active supporters there.

[westdog54]

Re: A League

No active supporters there.

Oh there were plenty of Active supporters. They just behaved.

The Uzbekistan active supporter group were probably the most fun sporting crowd I've ever stood amongst.

[Sedat]

Re: A League

I'm glad you've written this Sedat, because it's a pretty good summary of the bullshit, victim-mentality agenda being pushed by certain sections of the football community.

For the record, flares are NOT "the only point of difference between scumbags at the soccer and other sports", as you so eloquently put it.

Fans of other sports do not march through streets en masse on a weekly basis to get to games. Active soccer supporters do.

Fans of other sports do not attack and vandalise vehicles belonging up other clubs or fans of other clubs on match day. Active soccer supporters go.

Fans of other sports don't have organised brawls between supporter groups. Active supporter groups do.

Fans of other sports don't feel the bed to cover their faces in the midst of their behaviour. Active soccer supporters do.

Fans of other sports do not attempt to assault or accost members of the media who attempt to record their activities. Active soccer supporters do.

Fans of other sports do not openly bait and threaten Police who try to curtail their behaviour. Active soccer supporters do.

Fans of other sports don't leave massive clean up and damage bills in their wake after a game. Seats are broken and charred floors are almost traditional at Soccer games.

For Christ's sake, get your head out of the sand and acknowledge that Soccer in Australia has a massive problem on its hands

I haven't seen any of what you claim take place in all of my experiences going to A-League matches, so I can only thoroughly disagree with your assertions. That's not to say it doesn't happen, and of course anybody partaking in such activity should be kicked out of the sport. But I haven't seen it at all - quite the opposite in fact. My A-League experiences with my kids has been nothing short of thoroughly enjoyable - both walking to the game and watching the game. My head is not in the sand - soccer clearly has an image problem with mainstream media.

Any so called 'massive clean-up' following a soccer match would be minuscule compared to cricket internationals and the Spring Racing Carnival.

Have all those trees in Easey St and Sackville St Collingwood been repaired after the ferals destroyed and uprooted everything in 1986 when a Barry Mitchell free kick got the Swans over the line at Vic Park? Like I said, there are dickhead supporters in every code, and I hope every last dickhead and their flares are kicked out of the soccer for good - then we can stop hearing shrill bullshit from privileged white media commentators about a game they don't give a shit about and would never go to.

[Remi Moses]

Re: A League

Apparently stkilda beach was nice and destroyed New Year's Eve as well.