The law of averages - South Melbourne 1 Edgeworth Eagles 0

I find myself attracted to the safe and meaningless, and repulsed by the risky and meaningful. There's no risk and little meaning in what South Melbourne does in its day job as an NPL club. When people call such an existence 'living in the wilderness', it's not merely an existential turn of phrase. Like wild animals left to roam free and undisturbed, people only pay attention to us occasionally, most usually when an Oz Soccer David Attenborough type comes drifting in to take stock of our oddness, before moving on to the next oddball species.

However events like last night's match much more resembled a zoo. We were there not just to play a game, but also to be marveled and gawked at by the audience at home, neutrals and unfamiliars at the game, and the roving cameramen and photographers. It was quite unlike anything I'd ever experienced at a soccer match. Since the NSL ended, we've had games with bigger crowds than this, games with actual silverware on the line as opposed to the most rank outside chance of achieving such in four month's time. But nothing quite like a situation where Lakeside and the club were the main point of interest.

An inflated special occasion Clarendon Corner in action last night
against Edgeworth. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

So apart from feeling compelled to eat down the road because the social club was being used for a sold-out pre-game function - and I'm led to believe by some that got to Lakeside earlier than I did that the transition from private to public function wasn't entirely smooth - one found oneself on the terraces not only with a couple of thousand of more or less strangers, but also sharing Clarendon Corner with people I wouldn't know from a bar of soap. Of course the club in its public pronouncements spun it a different way, framing the match as a dress rehearsal for what they hope is something bigger.

And speaking of dress rehearsals, what about going for the Kappa kit last night as opposed to a Puma one? It was rather like the use of BLK as opposed to Adidas for the Palm Beach game two years ago, do not be surprised to see Kappa become our kit sponsor next season. Of course with Kappa being the signature label of the 1990s Altona North effnik techno bunny test station KISS (or Hitz or KIX or Stomp or Clomp or some piece of crap) FM listening demographic, that rules me out of buying any merch next year. - unless it's a beanie with a pompom.

Anyway, while I don't begrudge the club framing the match as a sort of top-flight audition, I and others have an issue in the things said as part of that process. But that's no secret, and if one must turn to someone who almost by necessity bucks this trend, it's Chris Taylor. Taylor acknowledges the importance of the team's success in the FFA Cup and the implied magnitude of the opportunity, but he also has to make sure the players don't get too far ahead of themselves, and instead treat the game on the field on its own merits.

Alas, at South Melbourne that's probably an impossible task to accomplish. Everyone has expectations, and the players are no different, regardless of whether they were there two years ago against Palm Beach, were making their South FFA Cup national stage debut last night, or had experience of playing on bigger stages than this one. None of it seemed to make a difference early on for us, because even if we didn't exactly crumple under both the implied pressure of the occasion and the real pressure of our opponent, we didn't exactly set the world on fire either.

The first half had a a measure of ebb and flow about it, but no one is under the illusion that anyone other than Edgeworth should have led at halftime. We relied on Nikola Roganovic being right on top of his game, Jesse Daley just manging a goal line clearance onto the crossbar and out, and Daniel McBreen butchering the best chance of the entire game just before halftime, to keep things level. At that point I was wondering how we would come out in the second half, and not much more than that - things were getting too hectic and nervy to pay attention to the fact that unlike every other team in our league, Edgeworth played with two up front.

That we started the second half a lot better didn't entirely reassure me. 'How long is this going to last?' I wondered. As it turned out, apart from probably one more chance for the visitors requiring another Roganovic save, that improvement lasted for the rest of the match. Our runs forward went deeper, our ball retention lasted longer, and apart from the monotonous and repetitive long ball tactic, we looked far likelier to score than our opponents in the second half.

Milos Lujic had been double-teamed all night, and effectively so. It's not that bombing it into him was absolutely the wrong idea, or the only idea we had, but Edgeworth's tall and tight defense kept close check on our man. I guess the aim then was if there was so much attention being paid to Lujic, that there would be free players in and around the box to pounce on a loose ball and have a crack at goal. Unfortunately that seldom happened, the ball landing unfavourably for us when it was not properly cleared by the Edgeworth defense. The good thing however was that in the second half at least, our midfield had the composure to keep the ball and stick to their plan of moving the opposition from side to side. Granted, this was made easier as the match wore on by several things.

First, Edgeworth clearly didn't have the fitness to keep up for the whole game. I had a decent discussion after the game with one of the behind the scenes folks, who reckoned that had Edgeworth been playing in our NPL, that would be an area they'd improve on quickly, and that they would finish in the top four in our league. I'm not so sure - they'd be competitive, but I couldn't see them finishing higher than 5th or 6th - they just don't have the spread of talent. Second, their lack of fitness was also tied to a conservative game plan, which saw them sit back deeper and deeper as the game wore on. Because so much of their emphasis was on Lujic, and then on negating our left hand side, they also played exceedingly narrow in defense. Thank goodness that the right hand side eventually clicked into gear - helped by bringing on Leigh Minopoulos for the 'having a bad day' Jesse Daley - and the midfield, especially Pavlou were able to do as they pleased.

Once the increased room down the left made itself apparent, our chief weapon of Nick Epifano and Brad Norton overlapping on that wing and crossing the ball started to get into gear. Speaking of the People's Champ, last night was far from his most glorious game in terms of getting on the score sheet or putting in the pivotal pass, but it was by far the most composed and complete game I've seen him play for South. His penchant for losing focus and turning inward was almost non-existent, his willingness to do his defensive duties unquestionable. The slide tackle near the sideline towards the end of the game was a highlight, but the more important stuff of covering his part of the pitch was more noteworthy.

Third, when we needed players to step up, we had them. When Edgeworth needed players to do the same, they were found wanting. At the pub before the game, one of the more perceptive people made the observation that Edgeworth had four good players against our seven. I didn't bother asking about who those seven might be for us, let alone who Edgeworth's four may have been (McBreen? The Japanese guy? The goalkeeper?). It occurred to me however afterwards that the observation played out as being fundamentally true. Millar, Schroen, Daley, Foschini - none had good games. But Foschini's output in the second half improved significantly, and Schroen came into the game late on. He delivered the pinpoint corner to Lujic, who was heavily marked even then, for what was the winning goal which sent us all into pandemonium.

Marcus Schroen and an Edgeworth opponent both go to ground in search
 of the ball. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

The first half was topsy-turvy, but ended up with Edgeworth being unfortunate not to be ahead. The second half we made our adjustments, had players who hadn't been good in the first half increase their input in the second, and there was little that Edgeworth seemed to able be able to do to counter that except batten down the hatches and wait for extra time and penalties. It's my well-researched opinion that when it comes to the leading sides in each NPL, just about all of them are of equivalent quality to each other. But it's also true that some NPLs are more equal than others. Whatever setbacks and quasi-disasters we've endured at a national level in recent years - the losses to MetroStars, Palm Beach, and Hobart Olympia - it's not for having been played off the park by any of them. At least two of those losses we were all over our opponents, without being able to take our chances. Call this result the law of averages sorting its business out for us at last, at least on the field.

Off the field - the crowd, atmosphere, stadium - is where much of the attention was. I don't think anyone expected a huge Edgeworth contingent to come down for the game, and that turned out to be the case. Situated mostly in the balcony section - they were VIPs I suppose - they made a bit of noise, having the advantage of being able to stamp on the wooden floorboards and having decent coverage from the roof to carry their chants. Too bad for them it took them a while to figure out who they were playing:

Edgeworth fans chanting "we can't hear Olympic sing" Took 15mins & two chants later to correct it to South Melbourne. lol #FFACup #SMFC17

— Steven Chang (@Gixibyte) July 26, 2017

I guess our fame has either diminished in the time we've been absent from the national spotlight, or it hadn't traveled as far as we'd thought it had in the first place. That, or the Edgeworth fans were being casually racist in thinking that every Greek team's nickname was Olympic, as is the case for the main Greek mob in Newcastle, Hamilton Olympic.

Some of their other behaviour was less than endearing though, and that's coming from the perspective of South fans who themselves don't always have the best reputation of being either gracious hosts or guests. Coming up the stairs next to Clarendon Corner, they got a bit lippy, as well as making a few objectionable gestures. Not that I would countenance any retaliation - which from our end didn't happen anyway - but it seemed like a stupid thing to do and something that could've easily led to something worse than moronic banter. From some accounts closer to where they were camped for the match, their behaviour up on the balcony wasn't much better.

The crowd was reported at being 2,622. Being a South crowd, I'm not going to go into the debate about whether the number was 'real' or not. How would I even know? The crowd looked good on the broadcast, and seemed to sound good when there was something happening (or when there was chanting), otherwise it was a lot like the old NSL days of reactive noise, which I don't mind. I hate when crowds become so self-absorbed they don't pay attention to the game. There were a lot of free tickets handed out by the club, and there was clearly an effort - or directive - made to to get as many of our juniors and their parents out there as possible.

But you can hand out as many free tickets as you want, but it doesn't mean people will turn up. Given the opponent, the weather, being midweek and every other complicating factor, I was expecting about 1,500, hoping for 2,000, and glad if we were able to get anywhere near filling the stand. As it was, the match was reportedly the second best attended in the FFA CUP national stage between two NPL sides, and the best between two NPL sides at the round of 32 stage. What does that prove? I'm not sure it proves much beyond what we already knew - that the NPL is of little interest to anyone but a few hundred diehards, and that South has a core following of about 2,500 who can be counted on to come out for 'occasion' matches. Oh, and that should there be bigger occasions, and more favourable fixturing circumstances, we could get more of the old recalcitrant, drifter, fickle South fans back for such games.

Of course it was a relief to win for the sake of getting the national stage monkey off the back. But it was also a relief to win for the sake of not having to put up with the usual torrent of crap that emanates from people who hate us whenever we talk ourselves up and go on to cock up in one way or another. Instead right now all we have to deal with is pockets of online saltiness, mostly based around the usual complaints - Greeks this, ethnic that, chanting Hellas, and something to do with the Crawford Report despite the person making claims about its contents not having read it. But there were also unusually desperate comments, complaining about our playing style, or that the quality of game was not up to scratch. Quite what people like that expect from two semi-professional teams, which play in a second tier whose talent is spread thin across eight or nine divisions, and without the benefit of starting lineups being half made up of visa players, I'm not exactly sure. People are funny like that.

But for every knocker there are people who found the contest at the very least entertaining, and not only for its climactic finish. Which is more than can be said of the broadcaster covering the game. Waiting at the tram stop and watching the Fox Sports coverage of the winning goal on my phone was a little underwhelming - not for the goal itself or the wild celebrations, but for commentators Brenton Speed and especially Simon Colosimo sucking the life out of a 94th minute winner.

@MilosLujic he scores when he wants. We can't get enough of this #FFACup winning goal last night. We're through to the Final 16. pic.twitter.com/fbGsbzDwDF

— South Melbourne FC (@smfc) July 27, 2017

People took the piss out of Brandon Galgano and his over the top call of our win against Dandy City, but at least and the understated Rick Mensik seemed to care about the game they were calling. Still, no tram that terminated early, and certainly no rail replacement bus, could take the edge off the win.

Meanwhile, for those keeping track of these things...
It appears as if our fixture didn't manage to crack 40k viewership on Fox Sports. While obviously finishing too late for Neos Kosmos to do a write up today - though it managed to get brief pieces in on a couple of NPL teams playing A-League teams in the latter's pre-season friendlies. Our current best friends at the Herald Sun got their piece in, while I assume The Age's Michael Lynch had a day off, which is why The Age relied on an AAP piece for its FFA Cup coverage, as did The World Game. Looking at ABC News Breakfast this morning, and Channel Ten News this afternoon, there was no mention of the FFA Cup. But I think someone noted that Channel Nine had something in its evening news broadcast, which if true, would fit insofar as they also featured our win over Dandenong City.

Lest we start howling at the torment of our own irrelevance though, it's worth noting that for 'some reason' Fox Sports persists in showing our FFA Cup games, even without an A-League opponent draw card, and that the wider lack of media coverage says as much about the wider sporting public's disinterest in the FFA Cup and Australian soccer as a whole. The competition may have captured the attention of some dedicated members of Australian soccer, but it has a long way to go before it crosses over to being anything like a mainstream concern.

Next game
Back to league action away to Pascoe Vale on Saturday night.

Final thought
It's rather a minor thing of course, but Fox Sport's on screen scoreboard and clock having us listed by the three letter shorthand of 'SOM' just seems unbalanced at best. What's wrong with a two letter initialism of 'SM'? If they insist on three letters, why not even 'SMH'? Of course, I kid...

Winning run comes to an end - Oakleigh Cannons 3 South Melbourne 0

The winning run had to end somewhere, and it ended here.

A pretty good crowd - don't ask me for a number, because I'm no good with those things - turned up to see the match of the season, with the stakes being South running away with the title, or being brought back towards the chasing pack. Sadly, the latter happened.

South captain Michael Eagar copped a knock at training during the week - probably on the same ankle that saw him miss recent matches against Pascoe Vale and Werribee - so James Musa partnered Andrew Mullett in central defence - other than that, it was the usual South lineup that has done so well up to this point.

We started well enough, in that the game was a bit of a scrap, but we had our fair share of the ball. Andreas Govas hit the post from a long range free kick, and Nate Foster and Goran Zoric were lurking around the box, but we were doing enough to keep them out, while winning enough ball in midfield to keep things interesting at the other end.

The second half, when it mattered, was all Oakleigh. Sure, they may have opened the scoring thanks in part to a deflection, but they had been hovering on the edge of the 18 yard box several times during the match, and eventually they got enough space to make that possession count.

Where Oakleigh's passing was neat, sharp and effective, our midfield presence was often non-existent, and our passing poor. Jamie Reed and Milos Lujic were well blanketed by the Oakleigh defence, but they weren't helped by the appalling delivery - time and again instead of balls to feet or into space, they were fed looping, hit and hope passes which any striker would struggle to make something worthwhile of.

Even our wide play was below par. Excuses about a small, tight and bumpy ground can only go so far because the home side seemed to handle those conditions well enough. The few times we made it behind the Oakleigh defence, we were called back for offside, including when we appeared to have opened the scoring in the first half. It was at the other end of the ground from me, and no one seemed to make too much of a fuss about the decision at the time.

Sliding Doors moment
It was a disgraceful decision. Quite how the relevant official made that call is anyone's guess, because all I can see is Lujic in perfect position, and being held by his opponent for good measure. The pass coming to Lujic isn't even from twenty metres away - it's within the reasonable bounds of the official's line of sight or field of vision.


Now of course these things happen, close calls favour one side over another, but this one seems just so wrong, so unjust, that it really just shatters all your faith in humankind.

The point of all this, is that although we had not been playing particularly well, we had been playing well enough in the first half, and going up a goal to the good could well have changed the game completely, forcing Oakleigh to come out and chase the game or alter their approach.


Back in the actualised world
The second and third goals we conceded were almost carbon copies of each other, as first Foster, and then Zoric, waltzed through our defence. There was little that Jason Saldaris could do for any of the goals.

Leigh Minopoulos added a little bit of spark when he came on, but few of our players could say they beat their direct opponents on the night. Still, I liked the fact that the team fought it out. Sure, we padded out the stats a bit when Oakleigh had taken their foot off the pedal in the last 15 minutes or so, but at least we didn't sulk our way to the finish.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the night was acting captain Brad Norton getting sent off in the fifth minute of injury time, after receiving a second yellow card for a reckless challenge.

One of the resident jokers (and he knows who he is) wanted me to write that we had been out-coached. That may or may not be so, but the reality was that our skill level wasn't up to the task, and we were so often second to the ball - crucial when your opponent uses speed as one of its main tools, and when the refereeing leans towards the more pedantic end of the scale - that coaching, good or bad, had very little do with it.

In a night of few highlights for South supporters, there was at least genuine appreciation for the efforts of the team this far into the season. Throughout the match there was a good vibe among the South fans, even as the winning run came to such a sudden stop.

Clarendon Corner, which often saves up its best performance for this trip, went through much of its chanting canon - the pro-South chants, anti-Oakleigh chants, anti-Aki Ionnas chants, the 'sack the board' chant, the gimmick in joke chants. The performance on the field may have been sub-par, but we've had so little to  complaint on field this year that now wasn't the time to start.

Because at the end of all that, we're still six points ahead of Oakleigh on the table, heading into the last game of the first half of the season - and the first of a stretch of six consecutive home games. One perhaps can't expect a similar stretch of wins to continue into the second half of the season, but I'd rather be where we are at the moment than where the chasing pack is.

Next week
Bottom of the table Goulburn Valley Suns at home to round out the first half of the season - without having played reigning champs Northcote yet mind you. Strange league this NPL. It'll be the first of six consecutive home matches,

Dockerty Cup news
The first part was easy - who would we play, Green Gully or Melbourne Knights? Melbourne Knights won that game 4-1, so then came the bit that was apparently far too difficult to sort out from the get go.

The game was scheduled for this coming Tuesday, which was great for us, but obviously absurd for the Knights, who had to play today, and then on Friday - three games in five odd days? Pretty stupid in anyone's language.

It was also absurd from a 'let's get some people through the gate' angle, because it's on a training night for many, many people.

It kicked off a whole stupid discussion on smfcboard (and soccer forum), about FIFA rules, South running scared of the second last placed team, and which awesome players would Knights bring in after the transfer window opened who weren't cup tied (probably Andrew Barisic).

In the end, somehow, sanity prevailed on all sides, and the game has been moved to take place in a few weeks time.

So, Wednesday June 25th, 7:30PM at Lakeside, it is then. Mark it down in your diaries.

More minor ponderings on the 'rules'
There was a Serbian flag in front of a batch of Oakleigh fans behind the goals. Also a post-match pitch invasion. Makes you think.

Light blue, navy blue, sky blue.
But not royal blue; never royal blue.

Then again
At least they haven't taken our name, yet.

And what happens to...
Heart's identity? You know, the one that was all about the south-eastern suburbs (via Bundoora), bitter NSL fan, Kevin Muscat and colour blue hating, real traditional club, no gimmick, pretty football, YOOF! (arf) demographic? That person is surely going to be annoyed by all this.

The less talked about division in Australian soccer
That between Australian soccer fans that have pay television, and those that don't. It usually manifests itself during the year when the former try to talk to the latter about overseas leagues, but is felt most deeply when it comes to the Socceroos.

And while the situation has improved marginally with SBS showing some games on a one hour delay, for those matches not covered under that agreement - and that still is most of them - they exist on a different plane.

Twice yesterday at Avondale Heights, one chap fell into the trap of asking first myself, and then later another bloke, whether we had watched that morning's Australia vs Croatia friendly, as he had done. Neither of us had, and the reason was the same: no Foxtel.

Leaving aside my indifference to the A-League and overseas football in general, even those with an interest in those things are almost obliged to get pay television to make the most of that experience.

Otherwise, they'll end up in a modified version of the situation that I'm in - knowing of the existence of certain players, of being able to recognise most of the names, but knowing actually very little about what kind of players our national team representatives are, and how they're going week to week - unless you get lucky enough to see a cherry picked snippet on a news broadcast

As long as Fox is paying the bills (not South's bills, obviously, but you get my drift) then situations like this will keep popping up - but at least we're not at the stage of having segregated facilities at Australian soccer venues for Foxtel people and non-Foxtel people. Not yet, anyway.

Blog redesign
Shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic and all that. If you know some decent html and and want to make it look pretty, be my guest. Hell, even a nicer background image would be good.

Teenagers and telephones
Roy Hay's phone going off while being interviewed about his new book on ABC News Breakfast the other day was classic comedy.

Social club news
Anyone heard anything?

Around the grounds
Facilities Audit Fun Time Spectacular!
Got the call some time on Saturday morning, after not having planned to go anywhere or see anyone. So off to Avondale Heights it was, knowing only that they were on top of NPL1 by two games or so - I didn't even know who their opponents were.

Avondale Heights' ground has been much maligned by several people in NPL circles, including me, and I'd never even seen the place. The one time I actually saw Avondale Heights play a game, it was actually at Port Melbourne in one of those playoffs from state 2 to state 1.

Isn't it only right then, that I see for myself what all the fuss is about, and just how much worse it was then say, Brunswick City? They started off well, as they had some bloke manning the car park and collecting entrance money. Now admittedly I didn't pay, because I have an FFV season pass, but as it turned out, what could have been a win for Avondale Heights devolved into a draw when I entered and realised, hey, it's an open park, and there are a billion ways to get into the ground and not even see the bloke in the car park.

What about shelter? Well, Brunswick City has very limited shelter, and so does Avondale Heights. The problem for Avondale Heights is that the shelter that does exist is all behind the goals, in the worst possible viewing position, because you have not one, but two fences blocking your view. You have the perimeter fence of the field, and behind that you also have another, taller fence to stop the ball from getting into the crowd.

The combined effect of these two fences is to block the view of the goal at the other side of the field - which is not a problem if it's not raining, because you can just move to another part of the venue, maybe along the sidelines - but it was raining yesterday, for a good portion of the day, so you then have to bring a brolly or hide under the trees Moreland City's Campbell Reserve style.

At least moving along the wing next to the benches allows you to see the concrete and metal drainage lane which exists probably just over a metre from the sideline, with nice gravelly kind of thing right next to that. You can then move around and see the odd framing device on the goals.

No club, if it's at all possible, would choose to have to play under such conditions, and maybe Avondale Heights have plans and agreements with their local council to get the upgrades necessary to bring the venue up to NPL standard, but it's going to take some serious work.

The game itself, played a on a pretty heavy field, was a bit of a snore fest. Heights deserved their 1-0 win, and the standard was better than the state league 1 (both north/west and south/east) I've seen this year, but there was something missing. Not on the field, because the players from both sides were putting in the requisite effort, but mostly from the small crowd - some sort of edge, of interest. Maybe I'm looking for too many holes to poke at. One last thing on this match - the Heights goalkeeper was punished late in the match for taking longer than the designated six seconds to get rid of the ball, and had an indirect free kick awarded against him - but no yellow card, which I thought was unusual.

Final thought
Can we not have this be the start of our annual mid-season slump? Thanks.

Steve From Broady reviews Sir Alex Ferguson's "My Autobiography"

Firstly, this is no joke I actually read a book. FREAKY, I know.

Anyway as an Arsenal fan I have despised Mr Ferguson for the past 10 years, but when he announced his shock retirement at the end of last season you did have to stand there and applaud the great man's achievements tracking all the way back to his days at Aberdeen where he won three Scottish leagues, four cups and a league cup. He also lead them to some European glory winning the UEFA Cup in the 1982-83 season.

It was with all that Mr Ferguson got a chance to manage Manchester United. It was a tough start to his time at United not winning silverware in his first few years. In the book Sir Alex goes into depth about how hard his first few years at the club were. But when the old first division was re-branded, this was when Sir Alex struck, winning the league in the first season in the Premier League.

It was at this time Sir Alex brought in heaps of big names to the club. In his book he had a crack at Roy Keane which was a bit of a surprise, and Keane hit back later saying the book is full of lies and that Ferguson was just trying to sell books. My favourite part of the rest of the book was when Ferguson ripped into our own Mark Bosnich, calling him the most unprofessional player he has ever seen.

At my young age it's hard to watch Bosnich now on Fox Sports and see the guy he was described as back then. There was a classic story of when the Man United team was on the bus home after a disappointing result, and Mark was ordering the whole shop over the phone at a Chinese Restaurant to be delivered to the bus stop.

In 1999 Man United played in the first ever club World Cup. Unlike South Melbourne, Sir Alex thought this tournament was a waste of time and that being forced to participate cost them an FA Cup. Overall this was a good book and since I don't plan on reading another book for a few years I will give it five stars.

Mark Bosnich gives us the thumbs up - but should we actually care?

A whole two years ago now, we had a jersey presentation night at Kinisi. Among the guests on the footballing panel was that was a part of the event, was one Mark Bosnich, of Socceroos, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Chelsea, cocaine, down and out followed by rebirth as the rehabilitated crazy thing on his head, stupid laugh and tell it like it is pundit on Fox Sports soccer coverage.

Back then, whatever my opinion was of what he was saying, at least it seemed like he actually believed in it, and wasn't trying to pander to our la la land hopes of getting back into the top-flight. Here's what I noted as the gist of what he said about that issue back then:

Unlike Les Murray in the past, Mark Bosnich at least had the courtesy not to humour our delusions of grandeur, by being unapologetic about his and/or the FoxSports team's stance that change was necessary in the game and that we should be relegated to the toxic waste dump of Australian football.

Though he did not use the phrase 'toxic waste dump of Australian football', his message was pretty damn clear: South, and clubs like South, had had their time in the sun, but everyone else had moved on, and it was time we did, too. No offense, you still have good tradition and that.

Two years on, and his opinion seems to have softened on the matter somewhat.



The person who posted this video has called it an endorsement of our A-League ambitions. I wouldn't go that far myself. But Bosnich goes further in this piece on the Fox Sports site.

How did he get from his previous line of thinking on the matter, to where he is now? Two years ago he would have politely knocked this on the head. But now when talking about our great tradition, he's not pushing us aside as yesterday's news, but claiming that we actually have something to offer.

To be honest, it's all a bit confusing. And we don't even have a game this weekend to take our minds off this rubbish.

And can I just say...

... that rearranging the furniture in my study/pc room was the best thing I've done this month... at least... maybe even this whole semester... because now less extensions means much better internet access and speeds which means me being able to watch streaming videos like the Socceroos beating a pathetic Qatar 4-0 with few breaks in quality until the last 20 minutes or so, when my bro started doing crap on the pc... anyway, the bad side was of actually having to listen to that farkstick Robbie Slater, especially when the Arabic language channel coverage cut out at 4-0 and went back to regular programming... which is a shame because I quite like Arabic commentary.

Which one was the bigger game?

For those who haven't seen it already... as well as something to keep the blog going while I'm seriously busy and unable to do substantial updates, nor even troll the forums too much because of crappy internet at home.

Blame Canada! Blame Canada! They're not even a real country anyway.

Now I don't want to harp on it, but then again, when the shit hits the fan these days, and it's been four long years of being absent from the big stage, how much more can the NSL get blamed? For so long the proponents of the A-League and the new way of things have said that we are not the same, that there is no relation. And when the going gets good, and the crowds are big, and the sponsorships roll in, and the rivers are made of chocolate, it's all due to their good work and isn't lovely that we've moved on form the bad old days of the old NSL.

And yet, when violent acts occur in the stands in the A-League - and they have occurred with such an alarming frequency considering the 'main cause' was removed - then one has to wonder what perhaps is the real problem. And maybe, just maybe, it was never really an ethnic thing, because that's gone now. Perhaps it was just the usual and sadly most common reason for it all, a bunch of probably drunk, well 'ard thugs, who view getting into a bit of biff at the soccer - or the cricket - as part of the experience.

But that problem can't be dealt with until there is acknowledgment made that the common denominator is not ethnics tensions but mostly young men on the piss who don't object to violence. But if that acknowledgement is made, then as a consequence all sorts of other inferences will have to be made. That the pigeonholing of NSL-era violence more than a touch of a racist and xenophobic dimension to it. That the fist shaking of so many years was not at what is now edging closer to boys being boys, but rather at the horrible ethnics and their foreign game. But I don't see that happening in the near future, or even a distant one. The FFA and media will refer back to the bad old days, and the ones responsible for the argle barhgle and their looking the other way contemporaries will smile and say, at least it wasn't ethnic.