Guest article: A-League Round 12 – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Here is another article from guest columnist Martin Cassidy that looked back on an eventful round of matches from a couple of weeks ago in the A-League. For the many international readers of this blog, the A-League is a two-and-a-bit year old football competition that is trying to establish itself in Australia. Football, or soccer as it is known by many in Australia, has had a difficult history and there is therefore much interest in how this young and promising football competition is performing in such a fanatical sporting country and market saturated by Australian Rules Football and the two Rugby codes. Articles such as this will give you a great insight into the trials and tribulations the game of football face in Australia every week.

Vincent

The four matches played across the weekend encapsulated all that is the A-League: the good, the bad and the ugly. The round opened Friday night with title contenders Newcastle hosting the winless Perth side who’s coach of the last two seasons was sacked after the previous weekend’s defeat. With the evenness of the competition this season, surely that would be one the tipsters could bank on.

That evenness was exemplified by Melbourne’s position, struggling in 6th but only a win from 2nd place. Melbourne hosted Sydney in the glamour clash of the round, in spite of the fact it was 5th vs 6th. As the champions of the first two seasons and each with Socceroos featuring, this would once again attract a big crowd and media attention. The other two games were a top of the table clash between Central Coast and the ever consistent Adelaide, 1st vs 2nd, while Queensland welcomed back skipper Craig Moore for their home game against Wellington.


The Good

The first good news arrived Friday when Perth managed a form reversal, as so often happens following a coaches’ sacking, producing a 4-1 away win in Newcastle. Having been poor for most of the last two seasons and lacking any real punch up front, they found a potent threat in 20 year old Nikita Rukavytsya. New coach and former Socceroo David Mitchell, assistant to now sacked Ron Smith, made some simple changes including returning Jamie Harnwell from his makeshift striker role to his preferred central defensive duties. Rukavytsya came in for his first start for five rounds and had a hand in all four Perth goals, scoring twice himself. So simple in hindsight.

Overall it was more guts and emotion than technical or tactical superiority that won the day. Mitchell’s post-match comments reflected that assessment, stating: “Before the game I said to the boys that they had to die for each other out on the park, nothing less would be tolerated”. It remains to be seen if this change in form can continue beyond the typical honeymoon period of a new coach, indeed beyond the emotion of the occasion but the result is good for the competition, for Perth fans and hopefully for the struggling crowd figures over there.

The best news of the round came Saturday afternoon courtesy of Socceroo John Aloisi. In the match between the top two teams in the competition, new recruit Aloisi managed his first goal in the A-League, converting a self-earned penalty. He capped a solid performance from himself and his team by scoring a second with a well judged volley from close range. Having always been a prolific goal scorer, most notably for Osasuna and Alaves in the Primera Liga as well as in England and internationally, it will be a very interesting indicator for the league to see how much influence he can exert and more importantly in how many goals he can score.

For promoters and naysayers alike of the A-League’s standard, a player of Aloisi’s quality and experience competing here at just 31 years old adds credibility and surely offers some guidance as to the competition’s standing in world football. He scored 11 goals in the 05/06 Spanish premier league season for a relegated team, scored in a Spanish Cup final, scored 4 goals against Germany and Argentina at the 05 Confederations Cup, and against Japan at both the World and Asian Cups. Australia always produces good goalkeepers and with the likes of Socceroos stars Craig Moore, Tony Popovic and Tony Vidmar among the defensive ranks of A-League clubs, the task for strikers here is not that easy. That said I would expect a player of Aloisi’s quality to average close to a goal a game in this competition. At that rate Central Coast would be clear favourites to take the championship this season.

I must make a passing comment on several good things happening at Queensland Roar. Now up to second in the league following a 3-0 win over Wellington, keeping them unbeaten in their last six games since un undeserved 0-2 defeat in Melbourne, Queensland welcomed back Craig Moore on the weekend but were without Danny Tiatto through injury. Since that Melbourne loss in which they were comprehensively the better and more attacking team on the night, coach Frank Farina has resolved the goal scoring problems most notably via teenagers Michael Zullo and Robbie Kruse. They both debuted the week following that loss and have played a huge role in the club’s success since. Credit to Farina for taking a gamble, indeed for selecting more than the minimum youth players required by A-League policy. I maintain he was not the right man to lead the Socceroos to the World Cup but the national team also had some great results under his stewardship. Having coaches of his experience is fantastic for the league and surely for youngsters like Zullo and Kruse.

The last of the good news was the continued public support for Melbourne Victory. The Melbourne – Sydney contest Saturday night attracted the largest crowd of the A-League thus far this season. On the final day of the VRC Melbourne Cup carnival, with more than 80,000 at the races on the day, Victory pulled a crowd of 31,884. Each of Victory’s six home games this season has attracted more than 25,500 at an average of 28,187. These figures are impressive compared with most leagues throughout the world but quite remarkable in comparison to the next best supported team here, with Sydney averaging just over 15,000 and their largest crowd is 18,457.

The Bad

The various bad aspects of the A-League came under the spotlight in round 12 and can be best described by one term – ill-discipline. Ahmad Elrich has returned to Australia during this season to be Wellington’s marquee player. He has played for the Socceroos, the Olyroos at the Athens Olympics and has returned from an injury-plagued period in the English Premier League. At the peak of his career he should be able to produce the style and quality worthy of that record but his notable contribution last weekend was a straight red for an elbow on his opponent. This follows Craig Moore being sent off in his A-League debut, Danny Tiatto producing numerous mistimed tackles, kicks and stray forearms, and the trend continues among other high profile players including a straight red for Steve Corica when Sydney hosted Melbourne. Better should be expected from current and former Socceroos. Meanwhile Melbourne recently had three players red carded in two matches, each receiving further penalty from the competition judiciary. With Kevin Muscat suspended for the coming weekend that makes four in as many weeks for a struggling defending champion.

Elsewhere, despite my earlier praise for Melbourne crowds, there is some concern in the drop in numbers from the corresponding Melbourne – Sydney fixture last season. Given the nature of this 21-round competition, last season Melbourne hosted Sydney twice, drawing crowds of 39,730 and a non-finals record 50,333. In the only home fixture against Sydney this season, the Saturday night crowd of 31,884 is disappointing in that context and follows a slight decline in Sydney earlier this season between the competition heavyweights. This match on the weekend was an exciting and eventful 0-0 draw but mainstream media here is still more comfortable with higher scoring sports. The coverage of the match the following day centred primarily on incidents of crowd violence and the small time afforded to the on-field coverage included a description of “a dull goalless draw”. The game still has a long way to go to convert some in the media which unfortunately is necessary for continued growth and prosperity.

The Ugly

It is debatable as to how bad the “riots” and “violence” were at the Melbourne – Sydney match but it certainly attracted the attention of the media and the Football Federation. I recall there being four arrests last season among the 50,333 attending this fixture and the media played it up for much more than it was worth. I was unaware at the game that night of any incidents, that is until the news headlines the next day. It is amazing how poor picture and audio quality on a video phone can be made to distort a situation. Suddenly Victory supporters making the same chant as any other week becomes a primitive sounding roar that could frighten a hoard of Vikings.

I do not wish to trivialise Saturday’s situation nor make any excuse for what are essentially dickheads with no real interest in the game. But it is not as bad as reported. I understand a group of Sydney supporters caused mayhem on the way to the ground and that should not be tolerated. There were apparently incidents of that same group pulling stadium seating out and throwing them from the second level onto opposition fans. Again, this is anti-social behaviour at best, criminal more likely and should be dealt with accordingly. I could have identified several groups of young male Victory “supporters” at recent games who do the equivalent of driving up and down Chapel Street and I bet this is the younger brothers who haven’t yet got their license. At the games however, they walk back and forth around the wing, calling out to young girls and taking no interest in the on-field action. Some of these people are among the ugly element that still haunts Australian football – what FFA have tried to leave behind with the “old soccer, new football” slogan. There is obviously still work to be done but make no mistake, this type of behaviour will not be tolerated in new football.