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The Australian Championship 🇦🇺🏆

southmelb said:
Interesting that many are picking Marconi for the smash and grab win.

Im coming around to the fact that this is going to be a difficult assignment for us away from Lakeside but also that its at a ground thats left us with plenty of scars in the past and a number of players from those games will be involved in this final.

Also think if the forecast gets worse and the rain is severe we wont be able to pin Marconi back as much and the long throw will probably need to be binned.
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In your opinion is the running track/field dimensions of lakeside a factor re the long throws? You seem to deploy it regardless of the venue
 
Glenardo said:
In your opinion is the running track/field dimensions of lakeside a factor re the long throws? You seem to deploy it regardless of the venue
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We've scored from it on other grounds but the bulk of them have come at Lakeside. Some grounds like Preston or Hume its almost pointless cos they're really big. Dont think Mikkola played in the away game against Heidelberg this year and my memory is failing me on previous visits, the main one i remember is the 2022 gf where we got smashed in the driving rain at the village, he couldnt reach the box with the slippery ball. I vaguely remember another encounter there where Heidelberg had a really tall.keeper and he was just grabbing them.

Whilst the goals are important, the use of it is as much about building pressure and keeping field territory, more and more teams are doing it now, the Wanderers won the Sydney derby off the long throw as well.
 
Kitwally said:
www.smh.com.au

After 20 years, the glory days are back at Marconi’s ‘Palace’. Are they here to stay?

The giant ball outside Marconi Stadium tells the story of a club that slipped into obscurity when the A-League began, but is now working towards a brighter future.
www.smh.com.au www.smh.com.au
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Did anyone else pick up on the line that we now won't have a league format for at least five years?!!!


“One point that I keep trying to make internally is you can’t build a trend line off one data point. You can’t build a trend line off two data points. Three data points, you can start finding things out, whether it’s working or not.”
Football Australia chairman Anter Isaac.

There will be at least five data points.

Despite pre-launch rumours that it would be short-lived, Isaac says FA’s board has decided to support the Championship for five years. It is a loss-making exercise, but the federation sees it as more of an investment in the game, one that is intended to give further opportunities to players, coaches, referees and administrators, and aspirational NPL clubs a suitable environment to increase their operations.

Those clubs, that have been calling for a second division almost since the A-League started two decades ago, are now coming to terms with what that requires, and the difficulties of reaching the benchmarks set by FA: not just better football, but better marketing, merchandising, membership, sponsorship and brand awareness.

There were some “nerves” among A-League clubs when it launched, Isaac says, but now they’ve seen it for themselves, they realise it is not so much a direct threat but an opportunity, and an incubator they could soon benefit from. By the time the A-League next expands, Isaac hopes clubs such as Marconi, courtesy of their experiences in the Championship, will be in a position to table a serious, legitimate bid to rejoin the full-time professional ranks.

“That’s probably the more reasonable pathway for them in the medium to long term,” Isaac says.
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HappyGuus said:
Did anyone else pick up on the line that we now won't have a league format for at least five years?!!!
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Unfortunately, yes and if you recall it was one of the things we warned would happen if this was somewhat of a success as a way for the FA to not have to commit fully and appease the APL when it was announced. Almost a masterstroke on their part, after the ROIs and the rejections of candidature, to manipulate the situation bc now it falls back on the clubs that want a h&a to have to do it themselves or break away.. its basically throwing a bone to keep them happy and quiet and itself unsoiled despute failing to live up to the promises imo
 
Sutherlandbear said:
More eyes, more bums on seats = more TV money, etc,etc. If you want the game to grow, you need more interest, and that is both leagues.
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I get that and apparently SBS was happy with the viewership.

Success can also be measured by;

Entertainment - There were some cracking goals in this championship.

Young talent & More Football - More football, better for the game overall. We've had clubs play over 40 games this season, more professional we get the better.

Coverage - Overall it was ok i thought, considering the strict budget.
 
Monoethnic Social Club said:
I think thats fair, but I refiute the very first line.. Yes maybe the ex NSL clubs made the most noise about this, and have for the past 15 years - my club at the forefront... but I reckon the real answers lie with the member federation clubs that unexpectedly had to play in this... what do they think?
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But do you think most EX-NSL clubs would of preferred this format? i mean no-one knew until months out what was going to happen

Not making excuses for my club or Olympic, but once the format deviated from the 8 league format, maybe some clubs weren't as interested.
 
southmelb said:
We've scored from it on other grounds but the bulk of them have come at Lakeside. Some grounds like Preston or Hume its almost pointless cos they're really big. Dont think Mikkola played in the away game against Heidelberg this year and my memory is failing me on previous visits, the main one i remember is the 2022 gf where we got smashed in the driving rain at the village, he couldnt reach the box with the slippery ball. I vaguely remember another encounter there where Heidelberg had a really tall.keeper and he was just grabbing them.

Whilst the goals are important, the use of it is as much about building pressure and keeping field territory, more and more teams are doing it now, the Wanderers won the Sydney derby off the long throw as well.
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Was interesting to see one of the guys on the champagne football podcast who is involved with spirit talking about how it’s not just a dumb long throw and hope for the best, how there’s a systems to it with blockers who know where to be and what to do etc to maximise chaos and how it’s one thing to identify what’s going on but another thing to combat it
 
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Beretta said:
my only criticism was with Macarthur & Western United, 2 clubs who should of never been given licenses.

i couldn't give a fuck what crowds you get lol.
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Correct as I’ve said before, if you’re going to justify inclusion in the national league at the expense of the traditional clubs being actively excluded you have to atleast be getting much better crowds ala Melbourne victory, Sydney fc or wanderers at their height.

If you’re to deem MacArthur and western as acceptable/worthy then it all of a sudden becomes much harder to justify the continued exclusion of the traditional clubs, who again, offer more than just what you see on a spreadsheet. they were established football factories for players, had people with football know how who had been involved in the game for decades, many of whom have their own facilities etc etc
 
Beretta said:
my only criticism was with Macarthur & Western United, 2 clubs who should of never been given licenses.

i couldn't give a fuck what crowds you get lol.
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Id say a better approach would be "hey look, western united and macarthur are allowed in with small crowds and are making it work, why not let us in too?"

If you say they shouldnt be allowed in because of small crowds then that is a danger of sawing off the branch u are sitting on
 
grazorblade said:
Id say a better approach would be "hey look, western united and macarthur are allowed in with small crowds and are making it work, why not let us in too?"

If you say they shouldnt be allowed in because of small crowds then that is a danger of sawing off the branch u are sitting on
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i just think there were better options at the time.

Baffles me that Canberra don't have an Aleague team.
 
Glenardo said:
Correct as I’ve said before, if you’re going to justify inclusion in the national league at the expense of the traditional clubs being actively excluded you have to atleast be getting much better crowds ala Melbourne victory, Sydney fc or wanderers at their height.

If you’re to deem MacArthur and western as acceptable/worthy then it all of a sudden becomes much harder to justify the continued exclusion of the traditional clubs, who again, offer more than just what you see on a spreadsheet. they were established football factories for players, had people with football know how who had been involved in the game for decades, many of whom have their own facilities etc etc
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Many of the likes of Sutherland Bear, Kitwally et al, come here to this forum subject (Australian Championship) thinking they are speaking to the likes of those back at the dawn of the A League who predicted '5 years tops'.

They do not like the fact that the ridicule and accusations they threw at the NSL have come back to haunt them.

Violence (the NSL was virtually UNPOLICED!!)
Crowds (yes, they are better, and I expected that .... but they have plateaued or even dropped over the last 10 years)
A crappier list of Socceroos! (yes, the team does well on the international stage .... they are greater than the sum of their parts)
Racism ..... the NSL accepted ANY team .... does the A League?!
 
Beretta said:
i just think there were better options at the time.

Baffles me that Canberra don't have an Aleague team.
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that's true too

I actually wouldn't mind if we continue expansion through a combination of promotion and new franchises.
 
Son of Sam said:
Many of the likes of Sutherland Bear, Kitwally et al, come here to this forum subject (Australian Championship) thinking they are speaking to the likes of those back at the dawn of the A League who predicted '5 years tops'.

They do not like the fact that the ridicule and accusations they threw at the NSL have come back to haunt them.

Violence (the NSL was virtually UNPOLICED!!)
Crowds (yes, they are better, and I expected that .... but they have plateaued or even dropped over the last 10 years)
A crappier list of Socceroos! (yes, the team does well on the international stage .... they are greater than the sum of their parts)
Racism ..... the NSL accepted ANY team .... does the A League?!
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curious what the difference was between the people who said "5 year tops" and those like yourself

what did the 5 year tops crew believe?
 
Beretta said:
I get that and apparently SBS was happy with the viewership.

Success can also be measured by;

Entertainment - There were some cracking goals in this championship.

Young talent & More Football - More football, better for the game overall. We've had clubs play over 40 games this season, more professional we get the better.

Coverage - Overall it was ok i thought, considering the strict budget.
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Agreed.
 
grazorblade said:
curious what the difference was between the people who said "5 year tops" and those like yourself

what did the 5 year tops crew believe?
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I was in some respects an outlier .... I was a supporter in a 'broad based' league back in the 1990's. I was AGAINST 'wog' teams, even my own in South Melbourne Hellas.

But my views changed on a lot of things in life once John Howard came into power. And when his hands were all over the new A League, that was the last straw. But I still was rational enough to know that there was a large pool of untapped mainstream support for the code. And that this would ensure that the new league would be successful.

It's just that I wanted nothing to do with it. Instead of the new league being built on inclusion, it was being built on what I considered racism.

The 5 years tops people were just grasping at straws ... a loudmouth minority. They assumed, perhaps, that there is no support for 'broad based' teams, simply because it had never been seen before. The Black Swan effect. Also, they may have lived in a cocooned existence amongst their own ethnic group. I lived in what was then outer suburbia. My suburb was probably a micrtocosm of Australia's then ethnic/cultural/political mix.
 
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