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Now that the AFL season is well & truly into mothballs, it’s time to look further afield for other sporting interests & pursuits. A recently new innovation is the A League.
For years Australian soccer spiraled out of control. A major contributor to this in my view was that teams were set up along racial lines. In Melbourne for example we had South Melbourne (Greece), Preston (Macedonia), Sunshine Knights (Croatia), Footscray JUST (Serbia), George Cross (Scotland), Green Gully (Malta) & Brunswick (Italy).
Unfortunately many of these matches were marred by crowd violence. I can testify to this first hand. I didn’t know there was a difference between Croats & Serbs when I was in High School. I thought they were all Yugoslavs & went to watch a match in Footscray between these sides. The match was suspended as the crowd rioted. I vowed that I’d never attend another soccer match in Australia whilst we had that sort of set up.
I have no idea how things were in other states.
The A League was set up 3 seasons ago & 8 teams were included. One from Victoria (Melbourne Victory), 3 from NSW (Sydney FC, Newcastle Jjets & Central Coast Mariners) 1 from Queensland (Queensland Roar), 1 from SA (Adelaide United), 1 from WA (Perth Glory) & the 8th team from NZ (New Zealand Knights, but now Wellington Phoenix).
This has been a fantastic initiative from Soccer Australia & there have been massive crowds in attendance, particularly in Melbourne.
In the inaugural season Sydney FC won the title, whilst last season Melbourne Victory claimed the throne.
So, who follows the fortunes of the A League & to what degree? Do you attend regularly or just sit back & watch the games on Foxtel?
I didn’t attend any games in the first season, but my kids got interested last season & we went to half a dozen games, including the Grand Final.
For years Australian soccer spiraled out of control. A major contributor to this in my view was that teams were set up along racial lines. In Melbourne for example we had South Melbourne (Greece), Preston (Macedonia), Sunshine Knights (Croatia), Footscray JUST (Serbia), George Cross (Scotland), Green Gully (Malta) & Brunswick (Italy).
Unfortunately many of these matches were marred by crowd violence. I can testify to this first hand. I didn’t know there was a difference between Croats & Serbs when I was in High School. I thought they were all Yugoslavs & went to watch a match in Footscray between these sides. The match was suspended as the crowd rioted. I vowed that I’d never attend another soccer match in Australia whilst we had that sort of set up.
I have no idea how things were in other states.
The A League was set up 3 seasons ago & 8 teams were included. One from Victoria (Melbourne Victory), 3 from NSW (Sydney FC, Newcastle Jjets & Central Coast Mariners) 1 from Queensland (Queensland Roar), 1 from SA (Adelaide United), 1 from WA (Perth Glory) & the 8th team from NZ (New Zealand Knights, but now Wellington Phoenix).
This has been a fantastic initiative from Soccer Australia & there have been massive crowds in attendance, particularly in Melbourne.
In the inaugural season Sydney FC won the title, whilst last season Melbourne Victory claimed the throne.
So, who follows the fortunes of the A League & to what degree? Do you attend regularly or just sit back & watch the games on Foxtel?
I didn’t attend any games in the first season, but my kids got interested last season & we went to half a dozen games, including the Grand Final.
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