Be weary of the Beckham Hype

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True fans stick around for the football,
regardless of the hype. Nothing is a gaurantee
Beckham to  is tantamount to a sugar high and we all know what follows after a sugar high.


Francis Awaritef's tweet summarises my suspicions about the A-League's recent hype.


The knee-jerk reaction of the Australian sporting community has felt more like a small earthquake.

Facebook feeds have been flooded with Beckham news, the A-League has taken out top spot on top news sites such as the ABC and the AAP and A-League is trending on twitter... not bad for a Friday afternoon!

But as with all bandwagons, the ride must eventually come to an end and it appears highly probable that we will all wake up on Monday morning wondering if this was all a crazy dream and get on with our lives.

Yes, I know it may be hard to settle with just Del Piero in our league and it is easy to get sucked into the hype, Lord knows I have, but as supporters of Australia's 3rd biggest sport we should be accustomed to disappointment by now and need to be realistic about this.

So here are the facts:

  • Beckham's contract expires at the end of the MLS season
  • Beckham doesn't think Australia is the worst place in the World
  • Beckham is likely to want to give back to the game that gave so much to him
Beckham would be a marvellous capture for an already buzzing league, his influence (believe it or not) will dwarf Del Piero's.

To put it simply, David Beckham is the one of the most marketable footballer in the world and unfortunately, chances are he won't be playing in the A-League.

Season 8 has been a huge year for growth with TV ratings and match day crowds noticeably higher than previous seasons but did you know season three had higher attendance figures than this year, without any marquees!?

The A-League has shown promise before only to be let down by poor decision making.

So, I cannot stress this enough:

Don't get sucked into the hype.

Don't get comfortable.

We as football fans need to stay grounded and be realistic about where this can go, and should the A-League be blessed with the once in a generation marketing gift of David Beckham we must savour it.

Football's future will be decided by not who is interested when the circus comes to town, but by who stays to clean up.

Be excited by all means, but never forget what the A-League is truly about.

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