Sports & Fitness A-League Thread

The A-League season kicks off tomorrow night.

I was living in Brisbane when the A-League began in 2005, so as a football fan I got on board as a Brisbane Roar fan. As for most football fans in Australia, the only option prior to that was the English Premier League (and I was a massive Liverpool fan!).

Over the last 10 years I've found myself becoming a much bigger fan of the A-League than the EPL. Obviously the quality is not even close to the EPL, but having a local professional team that I can go and watch live every second week (and games in aussie prime time) has made it easy to get hooked. I've been a season member for the last four years, and don't miss a single home game.

Are there any other A-League fans out there? This season hasn't had the excitement that some of the previous ones have, but I'm looking forward to it regardless.

I think the front runners at the moment would have to Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City, as well as Sydney FC. Unfortunately Brisbane has had a tough off-season and I can see us having a rough year.

 

Yep. I'll be at Adl Utd v Mel Vic Friday night. Looking forward to it.

 

The A League is definitely bigger and better, it's been a huge success.
It pays to remember with the EPL that it is only quality because of the foreign players.
The english themselves are actually next to useless at football.

 

The A-League has has improved immensely in the last 10 years and a lot of young Australian players have benefitted. But I'd also argue that the increase in quality has been driven largely by the foreigners.

 

I wouldn't have thought the number their allowed would make a significant difference, they are only allowed 5 per squad of 26.
The whole structure of the competition is designed to strengthen Australian soccer and the region in general.
I'd argue that most of the foreign players have been well past their best and have made no significant impact in what is a decidedly physical league.

 

Sydney FC fan .

We were members for the first few years , but haven't had membership recently . Now we have a weekender we're there every second weekend and last year those synced with many of the games .

I think the standard is under rated . Obviously not up there with the top four leagues , EPL etc , but I think it's close to the championship etc .

Sydney have made some good ins this year . Hoole looks the goods . They lacked pace last year and had too many skilfull oldies and MV ruthlessly exposed this in the GF .

The standard has improved dramatically in last 4-5 years and I think Ange up at the roar and Arnie at CC have been the main drivers behind that . That's triggered the other clubs to look for decent coaches . Hopefully poppa gets things back on track
at western Sydney .

I hope roar sort out their ownership issues . They sound almost as bad as Clive was at Gold Coast , though obviously the FFA won't let them go the same way . Not long ago they were unbeatable . Must be frustrating . Pity re loosing Bratten . Hopefully he hooks up with the right club to take him to the next level .

Cliff

 

I don't disagree - the Australian players have come a long way.

And there have certainly been some foreigners who have been past their best and were a complete waste (e.g. Romario, Jardel) but there were some who helped lift the profile of the league and bring some very important experience to the younger players (e.g. Del Piero, Fowler, Hesky).

But in the last couple of years in particular there have also been more 'unknown' foreigners who have really lit up the league (Carrusca, Cirio, Isaias, Broich, Ferreira, Koren, Berisha, Finkler, Delpierre, Khalfallah, Keogh, Janko, Dimitrijevic). Maybe a small proportion of players overall, but having that quality in the dressing room can only help to increase the quality overall.

 

As a Sydney fan I was in two minds about alessandro . He got bums on seats . Had a few moments of magic , but the reality is that at times he was a passenger as he wouldn't / couldn't put the opposition under pressure and they'd play the ball out with no issues .

I may be wrong , but while they had their biggest crowds , he had no impact on their overall position and ? Missed out on finals both seasons ( or early exits )

Not renewing him , but getting Arnie in was one of the best decisions FC have made .

Cliff

 

I know one thing, it is better than the Scottish Premier League.

 

So SPL is worse than A league ? .

Maybe that's why Rogic is tearing it up at Celtic , now he's finally fit . Another 12-18 months and he'll move on to bigger and better .

Cliff

 

The Scottish Premier League is diabolical these days.
It's been downgraded by UEFA since Rangers went bankrupt and doesn't even have automatic qualfying places for the Champions League.
Celtic have not even been able to get past the qualifiers the past 2 seasons.
It's noticeably worse than it was 10 years ago.

 

I absolutely love the EPL, and the couple of times I've been to a game have been almost surreal. But there's a massive disconnect between the players, the clubs and the fans.

The G'day-League is a great product. Removing most of the ethnicism of the old NSL was a master-stroke. Even though the one town / one team model has since devolved, it broke those ties and engaged with a whole new legion of fans (consumers).

Salary caps may be unthinkable for European leagues but have proven time and again to help keep clubs on an even playing field.

And knowing that the players you are sledging can actually hear you... Priceless.

C'mon you Reds!

 

I got a membership with a few friends to WSW - just wanted to have fun with the crowd sitting in the RBB. Will probably go to an odd game this season to soak up the atmosphere when i can. Not sure about the policing issues their having (don't keep track), but i've seen a few games where it was absolutely buzzing. Great atmosphere. Especially in the RBB, its crazy and great to see Australian football have that sort of buzz and atmosphere to it.

Can't really say that i'm a big fan yet, my first 3-5 a league games involved them winning the champions league, playing Sydney FC and that semi final was incredible. Typical band-wagon fan.

 

Great player in his day without doubt but when a 40 year old Italian hobbling around the goal square looks like a genus you know the A league is not there yet.
I did like the way the Roar played for a couple of seasons, they took football locally to another level which the other clubs have now achieved. Shame the Roar have gone down hill so quickly and lost so many quality players.

 

He was a great player though, an Italian treasure.
Of all the big name marquee players that came, he was the only one to make a significant impact.

 

Robbie Fowler did a good job and was a regular scorer in a really bad Townsville team.
Dwight Yorke also comes to mind but there haven't been too many.

 

It's a very physical league and I think many of them underestimate what they're in for.
Yorke was pretty average and Fowler was only ever a striker that needed everything laid on for him.
Even in his best years at Liverpool, he had terrific players around him to make him look good.
English Strikers, with the exception of Lineker, are rarely more than just finishers and as a rule lack creativity outside of that.
In the last 20-30 years, apart from Paul Gascoigne and Steve Mcmanaman, I haven't seen an english player that can dribble the ball.

 

I remember Harry Kewell being surprised at the pace and level the A-league was at when he came here for his "retirement tour"

 

He would have one that was easily found out.
Highly skilled but lazy.
If you could have rolled Tim Cahills dogmatism and work ethic into Harry Kewell, he could have been anything.

 

If you have a look at some of his goals at TSV in his late 30s in a really crap team there wasn't much 'assistance'. Shearer was world class in his day, there are very few strikers in the world who can dribble past numerous defenders. Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez and maybe Sterling come to mind and Bale with sheer speed. I actually think Suarez is better than Ronaldo as he never stops running, chasing and doing the dirty work. He never gives up, doesn't sulk and more a team player.
Chewing ears is his Achilles heal but no ones perfect.