Thierry Henry like many afore him says "it's up to the referee!"
But what about decency from himself and the French team. Not once but twice did the ball "hit@ more
like he quided the ball with his hand...and what gaul, what cheek to celebrate and blame the
referee!
Imagine a French side that wins the World Cup, Henry as captain would receive the trophy.
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MORNING all.
There seems be a bit of a void of Perth Glory stuff today, especially considering there's usually a
presser on a Monday morning.
Not even the Perth Glory website has anything for Monday.
Though in truth, FP is not privy to the Glory's media schedule (yet) and maybe there's something
planned for today.
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One of the points in Frank Lowry's speech I failed to touch on in my last blog was the idea of
moving the start time of the A-League Season to the first week in October.
After a honeymoon that was the first three seasons it has become blindingly obvious in the last two
that the A-League struggles to make any impact in the mass media in the August/September period.
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John: Watching the roar wasn't much fun Saturday
Informed Source: I'll bet. They seem to be in a big low.
John: Bob Malcolm caused 2 goals and looked like he wasn't even playing, so did Moore in the 1st 20
mins.
Informed Source: Malcolm may well know that he's unlikely to be part of the main mix from here on
in.
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Guarantees just aren't what they used to be. Back in the day a guarantee was something
extraordinarily, spectacular: A sacred declaration of one team's predicted dominance over
another.  It was something that got fans to pay close attention to an event even if the game
didn't fascinate them.
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Gold Coast must be relieved. Gold Coast can look forward to a rapidly healing home ground. The NRL
would also be relieved. The Broncos did the job on the Titans and secured a home final for Lang
Park this Saturday. It could be the biggest rugby league game of the year - 52,000, full house. The
Titans, victims of poor refing, also play a final, but not at home.
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This entire post follows on from the comments on my last piece.
When I first read your comment, Ed, I had to go back and re-read my article. I didn't realise how
much it came across as so dark on the A-League. When I sat down to write I had in mind a bit of a
comparison of the two soccer experiences of the day, highlighting the simple joys of junior and
amateur league soccer.
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Preview: Why England Lose by Simon Kuper and Stefan SzymanskiDid you know Arsene Wenger has a master's degree in economics? And what has he learnt from it?
Don't buy old players, buy in them their early 20s and sell them as soon as someone offers more
than you think they are worth.
Another insightfull take from the Australian Financial Review:
'.
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He settled into the back seat of the cab. His blackberry flashed.
It seemed like it would be fun when he signed up. Lots of international travel. Helping Australia's
most international of sports reach its destiny. And secure the type of TV rights deal he and the
team had won for the AFL. And the World Cup.
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So the favoured Western Sydney bid has collapsed.
In all probability, this is good news for the A-League. It's surely inconceivable that the FFA will
consider the nebulous bid fronted by a Socceroo captain who can't even find a club of his own at
the moment; Canberra is the only realistic option if they are going to expand to twelve teams in
2010/11.
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Interesting article on The Roar today regarding the viability of having the A-League on Free To Air
(FTA) TV. It has generated a substantial amount of discussion amongst the readers and got me
thinking about where I stand on the topic.
Although author Adrian Musolino makes some good points I cannot help but think he has missed a
critical one.
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Well it was the bottom of the table clash we've been waiting for all season. I walked from the
shop, past the Irish Pub on the corner which only had AFL on, and past the two pubs in the mall
which also only had AFL on, to the Pig & Whistle on the mall which had AFL on two screens and the
A-League on the smallest third screen.
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When you hear of Simon Hill and Robbie Slater jetting off to Thailand, Uzbekistan, South Africa and
even Ireland (were they in Ireland?) the world is now really full of opportunities for those in the
Australia media football game.
SMH Seb Hassett was recently in South Africa, and many other football journalists get to go hither
and thither from time to time.
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"Who's that," said the young girl watching the team in Australian colours fighting the team in
Chinese colours on the telly.
"That's the Matildas," replied the Mum.
Well I saw my friend Tom Sermanni defending the Young Matildas and I know some of the shenanigans
that have gone on in games against the Chinese and North Koreans in the past but what the team did
in response to a player allegedly being tripped, debatable from the footage in my opinion, what the
player and team did is.
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Now this is scary. The financials are so bad within the Argentine league that next week's scheduled
kickoff has been delayed indefinitely. You know the recent AFL demise began with a suspension of
one season and it doesn't look set to recover. I'm not saying it's going to happen but I'm just
saying that there is an outside chance it
could happen.
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This subject, I will admit at the outset, since first writing about it in September last year, has
continued to absorb me. I see material everywhere, constantly, and have taken to making sure I have
a notebook so I can at least partially document the extent of the absurdity. This material has
overwhelmed me in fact, to the extent that it has held me back writing about it at all.
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It isn't on the online version, but in today's Courier Mail there is a report, page 89, that Miron
is boycotting A-League promotions because the opening game of the season was swapped from Gold
Coast home to Brisbane home.
It said he missed the Unicef event for Queensland teams, will miss the Sydney season launch and
won't say anything to promote the opener Brisbane v Gold Coast at Lang Park on August 8.
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Its great to see the National Australia Bank getting involved in supporting the identification of
the next generation of Socceroos. The fact that the FFA now have attracted corporate sponsorship
for its A-League Youth award is yet another indication of the growth of the game within this
country.
Of course the NAB have been long time supporters of young sporting talent in this country with
their long standing sponsorship deal with the AFL for their Rising Start award.
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AFL the darling of Australian sport, here for 150 years and with my beloved St Kilda leading the
way have only
ONE player, one current professional player Sydney Swans Craig Bolton drafted from Canberra in
their league.
One, according to the Canberra Times.
Can that be right?
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Canberra Times was full of stories about how much money we should give the AFL to come to
Canberra.
And as Don Furner the Raiders Coach said Brumbies, Raiders, maybe 6 AFL games if Western Sydney get
in and a A-League team, the city can't sustain 4 codes.
So the logical argument is AFL get stuffed!
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Football now spend $8 million per year on junior development/grassroots football. A long way from
the AFL's $45 million but lightyears from the old days, and that figure will surely continue to
grow in coming years.
Cottees announcing school football gala days, up to $20,000 for your club for up to three years
from NAB/FFA and now this.
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AFL Great Ron Barassi says "By 2025 there will only be three professional football codes in
Australia and when of them will be soccer" ( I think he meant football.)
With all the shenanigan in Union and League; the large increase in Union wages now on offer over
the more established League code at a national level will it be one of these codes that suffer.
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Words of wisdom from the Grandmother sitting next to me at the Celtic game as Bob Malcolm ran on.
Hmmm looks like we need him, I thought carefully to myself.
Barry Hand is a Sydney Swans players who recently retired because he couldn't stop himself hitting
opponents. The Grandmother was a big AFL fan.
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Well unique at least, and bring colour and atmosphere wherever they go.
31,000 turned up to see Celtic trounce the Brisbane Roar 3-0 today at Suncorp. And a Kiwi Chris
Killen got two for the Celts.
And with Fulham and Wolves pulling in around 20,000 and 11,000 this weekend across the wide brown
land clearly the Scottish Champions have slightly more fan power than the English Premier League
clubs; no surprise there.
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The news that Melbourne Victory are set to bid for a Super 15 Rugby Union licence makes so much
sense to me.
AFL and Football should create two teams, one club in West Sydney, and of course the Brumbies one
of the countries smartest business teams are missing a huge opportunity by not bidding for the
A-League4Canberra licence.
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These days, the A-League average (salary) is more than $100,000 — a marked increase
in a few short years on the sort of wages that were offered (and often not paid by bankrupt clubs)
in the old National Soccer League.
Michael Lynch writing in The Age looks at where the A-League can source their next players from.
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When Matt Giteau signed for the Brumbies their was an outpouring of sorts from the Canberra Rugby
fan base, Ben Cousins in AFL joining Richmond had an impressive turnout but 50,000 turning out to
see Kaka as he arrives at the Bernabau outdid them all.
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OK so Tim Cahill popped up and scored 2 brilliant goals. But it was Carle who was magnificent and
clearly wasted in the biff of the English championship (although he also showed he has learnt a bit
of that).
And the game was it slow? No way. We need to get over this idea than anything less than end-to-end
is dull.
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Melbourne Heart is in for 2010-11.
Then the FFA could go with 11 teams. Or one more from:
- Canberra - active campaign for some years. Canberra Arrows is Frank Farina's former team.
- western Sydney - possibly one of the heartlands of football in Australia. Stretching from
Blacktown to the Blue Mountains, and stretching from 7 hills to Richmond - a massive potential fan
base.
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Great to hear that the first person to ring Frank Lowy to congratulate him on Socceroos qualifying
for the 2010 World Cup was fmr football boss and head of Australian Rugby Union...John O'Neill. We
need more of this.
And even Andrew Dimitriou, (see quote below) AFL Supremo has come out and has said AFL supports the
Aussie World Cup bid.
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39,540 rocked up to celebrate Australia's qualification to the World Cup on the coldest Sydney
night of the year.
Sydney's biggest winter sports crowd of the year once again turned out for football.
Wallabies drew 39,600 to their Baa Baa's clash even with SBW spruiking the interest, and of course
this included the bigger playing squads.
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What are News Limited afraid of? Some very strange articles are appearing out of that newspaper
regarding football.
They, clearly, are deliberately running the game down, using non-football language and generally
abusing anything non-Australia.
Pim is un-Australian, the Bahrainians players names are mocked.
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Interesting to see the Japanese national newspaper advertising at the ANZ Stadium last
night...guess that doesn't happen in the AFL or Rugby League.
>
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Socceroos have qualified for the third time at the biggest tournment in World sport and the Daily
Telegraph's Ben English is criticising the attendance at tonights game.
Now that is a bigger crowd than the League Centenary test, promoted just a tad, bigger than the
Wallabies v Baa Baa's, promoted widely with SBW and co, and bigger than the AFL v Ireland, but the
guy wants to have a go.
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AFL, Rugby Union and the relatively poor Rugby League stars can only dream of the sort of reward
footballers get for playing their game.
Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill and Mark Schwarzer, can expect up to $2 million in
sponsorships prior to the World Cup, according to the World Game website today.
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