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World Cup 2026 Australia thread

Kitwally said:
Problem is, those dickheads will for sure let off lots of flares. Sigh…………
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This issue around fan behaviour and flares in particular, is something which will continue to come up. Fans are determined to set them off and police hate them.

I was at one of the initial meetings in Parramatta when the Wanderers were forming. Lyall Gorman said flares will always be a problem and there is no way do have them done that will ever be acceptable to police, venues, mainstream normies, political figures etc. I think he was and still is correct about this.

I was in the RBB the first few years when flares were going off, blokes were starting fights, police were getting involved and there were bans on limited evidence. Police and venues will never accept it happening, it is such a visual and explicit 'fuck you' to them. It is also pretty impossible to actually identify the guys doing it (from outside looking in), so the only option they have it to come down on all fans collectively or ignore it. It will never get ignored.

So then you end up with things like this with Fed square or over policing, bans without evidence etc. Is it unfair? Yep. But at the same time I know for a fact that some of the guys who did get banned back then, were setting off flares. Because I saw them do it or they boasted about doing it. So they cry about there being no evidence, despite actually having done the thing in the first place. I doubt anything has changed since then.

Crowd behaviour overall at football matches it no different to any other code. You can go any week to NRL or AFL and see blokes fighting. But the flares are such an obvious middle finger and they are far more prominent within football. The whole thing holds the game back. It gives the other codes easy leverage and a free kick to cause us problems politically. Causes massive over policing at games which in turn sees people drift away from supporting the sport.
 
Let me add another aspect to this drama from South Melbourne's perspective.

The Federation Cup decision was made by someone who must have ZERO interest in Soccer. If she had some inkling how big and politically sensitive this decision would be, there is no way she would have instituted this ban.

South Melbourne has to deal with similar types at the State Sports Centre Trust. They are in charge of operations there.

They treat us like rubbish .... Western United asked the Trust if they could use the stadium whilst they get their stadium 'built'. The Trust said YES, not even bothering to ask South Melbourne, who had the authority, and exercised it, to say NO!

The lights went out twice over the years, and our club could not find anyone to talk to! Had to abandon one of the games.

There are other stories which I cannot recall.

But these are the type of people who STILL have the keys to much of Melbourne's infrastructure (for want of a better word). Born and bred into an Australian Anglo-centric world where Australian Rules and Cricket are still the ONLY sports around.
 
melbcityguy said:
Hopefully nobody gets hurt and it should be a great time
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All teeth gnashing aside, I think the APlLreally dropped the ball here. It was an easy marketing win if the Aleague clubs came out and offered their training grounds as fan engagement venues for the World Cup... for the cost of a few speakers and a projector they could have engaged with thousands of potential fans... AND shown they care about the football community.
 
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