serious14
Well-Known Member
This idiot normally writes AFL for the Herald Sun - quite frankly that's where he should have stayed. How come every other pundit from every other sport in the country feels the need to comment on "soccer"?? This my friends is a classic case of smell the fear - this guy is shitting himself...... do pray tell Trevor, how goes the plans for your AFL World Cup?? 
"Grow up, soccer needs a reality check
Comment by Trevor Grant, February 05, 2008
AUSTRALIAN soccer still has its head in the clouds. It's understandable. The sport had been as dead as Ned Kelly for 32 years when it sat bolt upright in its coffin one tumultuous November evening in Sydney in 2005.
Suddenly we couldn't get enough of it. People who had dismissed 'football' as boring were now getting their rocks off on endless replays of John Aloisi's winning penalty against Uruguay that night.
Seven months later, they were stomping around in the middle of the night, becoming seriously unbalanced after our boys were robbed against Italy when within reach of the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals.
The reaction to our World Cup journey was unprecedented. Heaving masses of humanity filled city squares across the nation, getting high on patriotism and seemingly declaring a new order in sport.
It has also been a heady ride for the true believers longing for recognition of the world game in a distant outpost where local football is as much about men hunting each other as a leather ball.
On the back of the 2006 World Cup, we have seen the flowering of a new domestic competition. It, too, has filled stadiums and won hearts.
People now call the game football, without apology.
Soccer has grown up and those codes we have always called football are frightened it might be payback time.
Yet, from where I sit, soccer is more like a teenager who thinks he's an adult. Indeed, I sense the game is still a long way from threatening the dominant status here of AFL or NRL, if ever.
For all the obvious gains, so many problems remain, and one of the most obvious is that the game has got ahead of itself in Australia.
Self-belief is a wonderful thing, until it becomes self-delusion.
Recently, new Socceroos manager Pim Verbeek gave an unflattering assessment of the standard of the A-League. He said training with a couple of the lowly German Bundesliga clubs would be better preparation for his players than playing A-League games.
The reaction was revealing. Sydney FC coach John Kosmina was typical. He said Verbeek was letting down the marketing campaign in Australia. In other words, the Dutchman needed to keep his mouth shut and go along with the con.
I've got news for Kosmina. There are plenty of sports fans out there who can't be conned.
They are canny observers who are aware that the A-League is an over-hyped, under-developed competition that bears no comparison with other top leagues around the world.
Socceroo David Carney, who switched from Sydney FC to Sheffield United in the English Championship last year, is in a good position to judge. Last week he said there was a massive gap in standard.
Soccer here has lived on hype more than substance for the past 18 months. Its cause will be much better served by a greater recognition of where it's at and the challenges that lay ahead.
Will our best teenage talent continue to disappear overseas or can the A-League become a relevant breeding ground, and thus more exciting, rather than a superannuation tour for ageing stars?
Can we ever find a way around the tyranny of distance which, as ever this week, continues to affect preparation for critical international matches? And what about the challenge of the heat of Asia, both competitively and meteorologically?
Having built its new house on the shifting sands of one brilliant World Cup campaign, Australian soccer now faces the unpalatable proposition that the foundation could crack if it fails to reach the 2010 Cup.
As the Socceroos head into the first qualifying game against Qatar, let us revisit a warning from Verbeek. "We have to get back to reality here in Australia," he said. For soccer's sake, we hope everyone who loves the game is listening."
"Grow up, soccer needs a reality check
Comment by Trevor Grant, February 05, 2008
AUSTRALIAN soccer still has its head in the clouds. It's understandable. The sport had been as dead as Ned Kelly for 32 years when it sat bolt upright in its coffin one tumultuous November evening in Sydney in 2005.
Suddenly we couldn't get enough of it. People who had dismissed 'football' as boring were now getting their rocks off on endless replays of John Aloisi's winning penalty against Uruguay that night.
Seven months later, they were stomping around in the middle of the night, becoming seriously unbalanced after our boys were robbed against Italy when within reach of the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals.
The reaction to our World Cup journey was unprecedented. Heaving masses of humanity filled city squares across the nation, getting high on patriotism and seemingly declaring a new order in sport.
It has also been a heady ride for the true believers longing for recognition of the world game in a distant outpost where local football is as much about men hunting each other as a leather ball.
On the back of the 2006 World Cup, we have seen the flowering of a new domestic competition. It, too, has filled stadiums and won hearts.
People now call the game football, without apology.
Soccer has grown up and those codes we have always called football are frightened it might be payback time.
Yet, from where I sit, soccer is more like a teenager who thinks he's an adult. Indeed, I sense the game is still a long way from threatening the dominant status here of AFL or NRL, if ever.
For all the obvious gains, so many problems remain, and one of the most obvious is that the game has got ahead of itself in Australia.
Self-belief is a wonderful thing, until it becomes self-delusion.
Recently, new Socceroos manager Pim Verbeek gave an unflattering assessment of the standard of the A-League. He said training with a couple of the lowly German Bundesliga clubs would be better preparation for his players than playing A-League games.
The reaction was revealing. Sydney FC coach John Kosmina was typical. He said Verbeek was letting down the marketing campaign in Australia. In other words, the Dutchman needed to keep his mouth shut and go along with the con.
I've got news for Kosmina. There are plenty of sports fans out there who can't be conned.
They are canny observers who are aware that the A-League is an over-hyped, under-developed competition that bears no comparison with other top leagues around the world.
Socceroo David Carney, who switched from Sydney FC to Sheffield United in the English Championship last year, is in a good position to judge. Last week he said there was a massive gap in standard.
Soccer here has lived on hype more than substance for the past 18 months. Its cause will be much better served by a greater recognition of where it's at and the challenges that lay ahead.
Will our best teenage talent continue to disappear overseas or can the A-League become a relevant breeding ground, and thus more exciting, rather than a superannuation tour for ageing stars?
Can we ever find a way around the tyranny of distance which, as ever this week, continues to affect preparation for critical international matches? And what about the challenge of the heat of Asia, both competitively and meteorologically?
Having built its new house on the shifting sands of one brilliant World Cup campaign, Australian soccer now faces the unpalatable proposition that the foundation could crack if it fails to reach the 2010 Cup.
As the Socceroos head into the first qualifying game against Qatar, let us revisit a warning from Verbeek. "We have to get back to reality here in Australia," he said. For soccer's sake, we hope everyone who loves the game is listening."
