Australian Football Fixation: 2007 Hyundai A-League, AFC Champions League, Asia, Socceroos

Stan Lazaridis Fails Drug Test – The Reaction in Aus Footy Circles

2007-03-14T14:42:00.000+10:00

Perth Glory Football Club have confirmed their former Australia international footballer Stan Lazaridis has tested positive to a banned substance. Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority informed the club of a positive finding on a test sample taken in November 2006.

The Reaction:

Official PFA Statement on Stan Lazaridis

“Stan’s situation is simply one of unfortunate timing and the bureaucracy needing to service a professional athlete who plies his trade throughout the world. He has advised the relevant authorities since 2005 of his medical circumstances, and those authorities have accepted the legitimacy of his medical condition and the prescribed medical treatment.

Official Perth Glory FC Statement on Stan Lazaridis

Perth Glory FC will support Lazaridis through the process. He also has the support of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and has engaged Senior Legal Counsel.

Fox Sports Blog: Oh, Lazza. Why, oh why?

Hearing last night that Stan Lazaridis had tested positive for a banned substance, I had to sit down with a mug of Horlicks and calm my nerves. Stan Lazaridis? The guy is so nice he makes Hi-5 look like Cannibal Corpse. Surely there was a mistake. Stan the Man? Busted?

Fox Sports: Tribunal to rule on Lazaridis

FOOTBALL Federation Australia has convened its anti-doping tribunal to determine whether Perth Glory's former Socceroo, Stan Lazaridis, has breached its guidelines.

Fury as Lazaridis 'tarnished'

THE drug charge levelled against former Australia player Stan Lazaridis was labelled "ridiculous" and a "botch-up" after it was revealed that the defender had sought permission to use treatment for a skin condition 16 months ago.

Football Australia CEO Ben Buckley Interview with Tom Smithies

2007-03-13T09:37:00.001+10:00

Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley talks to Tom Smithies about the "massive potential" of Australian football.

Q: What has surprised you?

A: The sheer amount of competitions we're in, from the men's senior team to under-17s women, beach football to futsal. The global scale of the sport, you recognise as an outsider but only once you're in it do you get an appreciation for how big it really is. I'm starting to get used to issues out of FIFA or the AFC that impact upon where we want to go.

For instance, the AFL is the controlling body worldwide - you make a decision at central office and you've made the decision, whereas decisions come out of Europe and Asia that affect how we want to operate.

World Cup qualification, a youth league, new national coach, converting participants into spectators, he's onto it all. It's only taken a century to find someone willing to do all of that, but we won't go there again.

Follow the Fox Sports link below for the whole interview.

read more at Fox Sports | digg story

Media Reports Dutchman van Gaal an Australia Target

2007-03-12T00:59:00.000+10:00

In a brief, but frank interview on SBS’ TheWorldGame TV program, Louis van Gaal indicated he’d consider managing Australia’s 2010 World Cup campaign, but he admitted that his first choice would be to manage a country that is capable of winning the tournament.

Considering that most World Cup contenders such as Spain, France, Brasil and Argentina, prefer fellow countrymen to manage them, we may be in with a good chance.

"I am always interested in a very good job and I think the coach of the Australian team is a very exciting job because I have failed with the Netherlands in 2002 and I want to participate in a world championship because I have won everything else," he said.

Given that he has already had an unsuccessful stint with the Dutch national team; it’s unlikely he’d be chosen to replace current manager Marco van Basten if he was to vacate the position, so we may see him down under by the end of the year.

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Mark Viduka Interview 'I'm 31 and I'd really love to win something'

2007-03-10T19:41:00.001+10:00

Mark Viduka Interview in The Guardian:

In the same breath Viduka also mentioned Italy's last-minute penalty against Australia at the World Cup, when Fabio Grosso needed no encouragement to fall over Lucas Neill's leg - "I think about that very often." That brought us to Cristiano Ronaldo and United's controversial 2-1 victory at Boro in December. "I'm not really one to be diving, I'm not too fond of it. Sometimes perhaps I should go down a little bit easier."

Les Murray's Assessment of the fledgling A-League

2007-03-09T19:12:00.000+10:00

SBS’ Les Murray bakes a football cake and plants an A-League tree to assess Australia’s fledgling footy comp – and make a lot of sense too.

Let's hope the Hyundai A-League club bosses were paying close attention to Melbourne Victory and the impact of style and substance versus uninspiring pragmatic results accumulation.

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FFA Scourers Globe for Hiddink Successor

2007-03-06T21:38:00.000+10:00

Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley has just returned from Europe after meeting with possible coaching candidates and has reiterated the belief that given our impressive World Cup performances we are now a very appealing prospect for some of the world’s finest coaches.

Just as encouraging is the ambition and patience the FFA is showing by not rushing into signing the first big name to put his hand up almost three years out from the next World Cup.

It appears that Graham Arnold will lead the team for at least another nine months which includes the 2007 Asian Cup campaign in July. This allows us to enhance our reputation further while allowing prospective candidates to make their decision closer to the beginning of the next qualifying campaign.

I find this considered and intelligent approach very reassuring. It’s a far cry form the dark days of Australian football administration

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Asian Champions League provides tasty topping

2007-03-05T15:23:00.001+10:00

Michael Cockerill in the Sydney Morning Herald:

"MONEY doesn't buy success, but it helps. Urawa Red Diamonds, Japan's biggest club, recently spent three times more on one player (striker Yuki Abe) than Sydney FC, who used to be Australia's biggest club, spend on their entire 23-man squad.

Apart from the odd foray north for friendly tournaments - pioneered by St George in the early 1970s - Australian clubs have had only sporadic contact with Asia - none of it competitive, and none of it financially rewarding. The ACL is certainly competitive, and while it is not yet a money-making venture, it will be."

I'm still amazed how many in the Australian media can’t see what the Asian Champions League will do for Australian football and in particular the A-League. They still believe football is a fad that will all blow over in a few months time.

ACL competition will lead us into the Asian Cup in July, with hopefully Australia putting in another great performance like they did at the World Cup and then it’s A-League time again.

Football is all year round now and it’s not going away.

Thank God the SMH has at least one football writer.

Australian football clubs debut in AFC Champions League

2007-03-04T23:12:00.001+10:00

SYDNEY, March 4 (Reuters) - The inclusion of two Australian teams from the Hyundai A-League has added a new dimension to this season's AFC Champions League, which kicks off with 13 matches in 12 different countries on Wednesday.

Sydney FC and Adelaide United will both make their debuts in Asia's premier club competition, which will be contested over eight months by 28 teams from 15 countries.

It’s not ideal that both of our Champions League participants make their debuts with caretaker coaches, but hopefully both teams give a great account of themselves and further boost league attendances and media interest.

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Huge year for Socceroos as Mexico and United States join the party

2007-03-04T20:21:00.001+10:00

AUSTRALIA will play the United States and Mexico in September in a unique double-header on American soil. The United States Soccer Federation confirmed to The Sun-Herald they are close to an agreement for the Socceroos to play two matches in the US in September.

It’s very encouraging to to see Football Federation Australia building on the credibility gained from Australia’s fine World Cup performances. Hopefully we will tour the United States as Asian champions.

read more | digg story

A-League Attendances Highlight Newfound Strength in Australian Football

2005-11-26T17:41:00.000+10:00

Well it’s been more than a week since Australia’s historic World Cup qualifying victory over Uruguay in Sydney and as you’d expect, the “Australian football coming of age” fanfare in the press has all but abated. After unprecedented levels of cheerful and optimistic press coverage for the beautiful game in Australia and the few obligatory articles on the possible menace to the rugby codes, ranging from slightly anxious to absolute defiance, things are pretty much back to normal in Australia’s mainstream print media.

The first of the “putting football back in its place” articles has appeared in Brisbane rugby league fanzine and part time newspaper, The Courier-Mail. While quite rightly maintaining that the A-League crowd averages rank fourth after Aussie Rules, Super 12 rugby and the National Rugby League, the assertion that “It makes sober reading for soccer aficionados who imagine the A-League realising predictions that it can become Australia’s biggest sporting competition” fails to take into account several notable factors.

Firstly, the Hyundai A-League is a brand new football competition where six of the eight clubs are in their first year of existence and one is only in its second. Many of the clubs in the rugby codes have had the opportunity to cultivate supporter and wider community alliances in their sports premier club competitions for close to one hundred years. The fact that the A-League average attendances of 11,271 at the halfway point in its first season are within only five and a half thousand of the National Rugby League’s 16,688 speaks volumes for the level of nationwide support and potential growth of A-League football in Australia. It’s also worth noting that the average attendance for Rugby League, “the greatest game of all”, in 1995 was only 13,915.

The second and possibly most telling factor is that, while the local Aussie Rules, Rugby League and Rugby Union competitions are the world’s best club competitions with the world’s best players for each of their respective sports, the Hyundai A-League as of yet, is not even close. When you the consider quality of European and South American top tier football leagues and their availability on television and the internet here in Australia, local interest and encouraging attendance figures for the start-up A-League bodes well for substantial growth in both the immediate and long term.

If you add to both these facts that Australian football supporters are more accustomed to watching world class European and South American football and enjoying the immense atmosphere on TV at night rather than attending local matches and contributing to the spectacle on a weekly basis themselves, the A-League figures prove that the league, even in its inaugural season, already has great appeal and should only continue to improve as habits slowly evolve and the lure of the AFC Champions League participation takes hold.

So just how truly national are Australia’s traditional sports?

Currently Aussie Rules enjoys on average just over three times the average attendance of the A-League with figures of 35,307 per match, yet when you compare the potential growth of these two sports, you have to question how much further Aussie Rules can really progress. The player talent pool of Aussie Rules is almost exclusively limited to the state of Victoria alone, whereas Australian football talent comes from all states of Australia, in both capital cities and regional centres. There is no indication that this will change as the widespread adoption of Aussie Rules in schools outside of Victoria is extremely unlikely.

The same can be levelled at both Rugby League and Rugby Union in that the playing talent comes mostly from New South Wales and sightly less so in Queensland. You are unlikely to find that many players will develop in other Australian states.

While the rugby codes are sports played nationally, they are not truly national sports in the same fashion as football. With football extensively represented Australia wide at both A-League club and more importantly the grass roots level, the capacity for growth of football as a participation and spectator sport for both men and women in Australia is enormous.

This latest attempt to rain on football’s parade has only served to highlight the newfound strength the sport has realised in the wake of recent administrative upheaval. The new Football Federation Australia administration and A-League club set up will enable Australian football to capitalise on all the benefits of this World Cup qualification and participation in the Asian Football Confederation. Meanwhile Super 12 Rugby, Aussie Rules and Rugby League remain confined chiefly to just two Australian states – and 100 years of Australian sporting history tells that it will remain this way.

* Attendance figures from The Courier-Mail

Football – Australia's Next Sporting Fixation.

2005-11-19T05:23:00.000+10:00

"We normally get this kind of traffic spike for a major disaster, so it's terrific that such a strong feel good story is uniting so many Australians." - Fairfax online managing editor, Mike van Niekerk.

Australian football’s glorious night of nights not only took centre stage in the hearts and minds of the more than 6.3 million Australians who tuned into SBS’ live match broadcast, but the enormity of public interest in the play-off tie left an indelible impression upon the Australian television, internet and print media who’ve since woken up to the massive market appeal of football in this country.

Compared with the viewing figures of 3 million for the Aussie Rules Grand Final and 2.6 million for the Melbourne Cup, the peak audience of 3.4 million during the heart stopping penalty shootout has made football this year’s premier Australian sporting event.

However this newfound influence on the Australian sporting landscape doesn’t end with magnificent television ratings or even with the impressive attendance figure of 82,698 spectators. Australian football enjoyed unprecedented levels of nationwide fanaticism the likes of which other sports in this country, despite their mainstream popularity, can only dream of mustering. This showcase of intense passion, tremendous skill and nerve-shattering drama provided a night of immense inspiration for all Australians.

Membership of the Asian Football Confederation entitles us to more than just a fairer and more meaningful World Cup qualification path. The Australian national team can now look forward to participation in the AFC Asian Cup and the tournament’s qualifying process, as well as A-League club involvement in the lucrative Asian Champions’ League. The multitude of significant Asia-wide matches involving our national team and A-League club teams will see media exposure and corporate support for Australian football grow well beyond the capacity of Cricket, Aussie Rules and Rugby.

Football will also become the vehicle with which Australia strengthens its cultural, political and business ties with Asian countries. Sponsorship of Australian football teams will provide Australian brands and products with massive exposure in a previously untapped Asian marketplace. The further breakdown of cultural barriers will see an increase in opportunities for state governments to promote tourism and other government business ventures through football.

The national euphoria surrounding Australia’s World Cup qualifying triumph is just the beginning of an exciting and prosperous future for Australian football. Under the expert leadership of Frank Lowy and John O’Neill, Football Federation Australia has established a national professional football league, secured membership to the vast riches of the Asian Football Confederation and accomplished that all important goal of World Cup qualification. Having successfully laid a solid foundation, Australian football is now equipped to forge ahead with tremendous confidence in fulfilling our almost unlimited potential.

Australia qualifies for World Cup Germany 2006 after penalty shootout victory

2005-11-17T00:23:00.000+10:00

We’ve done it. We’ve finally done it. After 32 years of intolerable heartache, the Socceroos are going to the World Cup finals. The last time we qualified for football’s showpiece event was for Germany 1974 and now at long last we’re back on the world stage, this time at Germany 2006. This was our time, this was our destiny and we’ve done it. Australia, you little beauty!

Australian football supporters have been made to wait and suffer a long time for this moment and we were made to hold our breath until the very last penalty kick after two hours of high drama in Sydney tonight. First through two regulation 90 minute play-off ties ending in a 1-1 aggregate score line, then through a goalless 30 minutes of extra-time and finally through what proved a victorious penalty shootout

When our hearts weren’t palpating violently, they were well and truly in our mouths as Alvaro Recoba whipped in what seemed like a million deadly free kicks with that wicked left boot of his, but a composed, solid and thoroughly heroic defensive performance saw Australia weather the storm time and time again, until Recoba was eventually substituted with exhaustion in the 70th minute.

Once again the tactical genius of Dutch master Guus Hiddink was the deciding factor as he took the bold decision to substitute defender Tony Poppovic for Liverpool’s attacking midfielder Harry Kewell in the 30th minute, when it became apparent that Uruguay had settled for a more defensive formation to see out the entire match. And within just a few minutes it was Kewell’s inspiration that led to Marco Bresciano’s superb finish to see Australia take a 1-0 lead on the night and equalise 1-1 on aggregate.

In a game that Australia needed to win by two clear goals to claim a place in Germany, 82,698 spectators filled Sydney’s Telstra Stadium only to see the score on the night remain 1-0 after 90 minutes and stay that way after a further 30 minutes of extra time. The ensuing penalty shootout saw Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer pull off two magnificent saves to allow John Aloisi to fire home the winning spot kick and send the entire nation in raptures.

In just four short months and with only four weeks of actual player interaction, Guus Hiddink has transformed a team in tactical disarray into a supremely organised and collectively robust unit not only good enough to qualify for the World Cup, but one, that with the same expert preparation on and off the pitch over the coming months, could well make quite a significant impact on the tournament itself.

This one is for all of the those players and coaches, past and present, who contributed tirelessly and without reward, so much to Australia’s epic 32 year World Cup journey and of course for the supporters who campaign after soul destroying campaign supported what seemed like the unattainable goal of World Cup qualification, without ever giving up hope. And finally this is for the single truest believer in Australian football, who is sadly no longer with us, the man who “told us so”, on so many occasions, that we all just kept on believing.

Johnny Warren “told us so” and so it was.

God Bless you Johnny Warren and God Bless SBS!

Australian football stands on the brink of history.

2005-11-14T17:59:00.000+10:00

Australia has arrived in Sydney for the second leg of the World Cup qualifying play-off with Uruguay full of confidence after their brave and commanding display in Montevideo, despite losing the match 1-0. Not even Brasil or Argentina has won a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay away from home, so it wasn’t realistic for us to expect to come away with a victory. However a very committed and tactically astute performance in such a hostile atmosphere sees our lads brimming with confidence for the return match that requires us to win by two clear goals.

Guus Hiddink has Australia playing the finest football our national team has ever produced. It’s a far cry from the tactically inept debacles of our previous campaigns under the inexperienced Frank Farina and incompetent Terry Venebles. With our players clearly thriving under the technical and tactical organisation skills of Hiddink and a home crowd of 85,000 supporters willing our team on in Sydney, this Wednesday night could turn out to one of the greatest nights in Australian sporting history.

Australian football finally has its house in order. We have a governing body committed solely to the cause of Australian football and a national football league that all Australian football supporters feel they can support. Australian football has never been better prepared to be a part of the world’s largest sporting event and to capitalise locally on the benefits of qualification.

We’ve learnt our lessons, we’ve paid our dues, this is our time; its time to end 32 years of hurt, Australia.

C’mon Aussie.

Guardian Unlimited Football interview with Mark Viduka

2005-11-12T14:37:00.000+10:00

In the lead up to Australian football's date with destiny, The Guardian has an interview with Australian captain Mark Viduka.

Viduka is bent on revenge in battle of the River Plate

"Walk off?" inquired Viduka, stunned and dismayed to learn of O'Neill's statement. "No. We are ready to go. They can throw whatever they want at us. They can throw the kitchen sink, if it makes them happy."

That's the spirit. C'mon Aussie!

Australian A-League football coverage on soccernet.com

2005-11-10T07:24:00.000+10:00

Soccernet now has coverage of Australian A-League football listed under the Global selection tab. Soccernet A-League link

This is great recognition for the A-League. Hopefully our continued support for A-League football in Australia will encourage more media outlets to take an even greater interest.

There is also not one, but three feature articles on Soccernet’s front page. The first is by ESPN’s Derek Rae who is in Buenos Aires watching our lads train for the match against Uruguay. The second is a match preview by Steve Wilson who is also has in interview with Kevin Muscat.

We'll meat again... by Derek Rae
If you know your history by Steve Wilson
Know thy enemy, Kevin Muscat interview by Steve Wilson

Australian A-League football average attendances comparison

2005-11-09T12:53:00.000+10:00

Average attendances in the Australian A-League against comparable football competitions around the world this season (excludes top-tier leagues of England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain)

18,585 JAPAN
17,124 ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP
15,108 UNITED STATES
11,352 SOUTH KOREA
11,198 AUSTRALIA
9607 BELGIUM
9768 PORTUGAL
9487 NORWAY

from The Age newspaper in Melbourne