The Beautiful Game

The last few weeks have seen the Australian football community shaken to the core. Clive Palmer's shanaigans have up until recently always been a bit of a novelty, a side-show in the wild ride known as Gold Coast United. Many fans laughed off these little acts of rebellion, such as the crowd cap and the closure of 'the beach' active supporter area, thankful that their club wasn't effected however as we all know Palmer's act soon came to effect more then the fans of Gold Coast and turned heads in the mainstream media. I'm not going to describe in detail how Clive Palmer has and plans to challenge the FFA I simply want to raise a question that has been on my mind. How will football fans be effected? Palmer's FA threatens not just the FFA's credibility but everyone else involved in the game in Australia. Should Palmer decide to launch the 'Super A-League' its players are at risk of losing FIFA recognition and the chance to play in FIFA r...

After weeks of instability on and off the field Melbourne Victory, the A-League's most entertaining team, has once again stolen the spotlight, this time with the sensational sacking of their head coach Mehmet Durakovic. The move comes as no surprise to the Australian Football community, during the six months Mehmet was in charge of the Victory, Durakovic failed to bring the club on-field success and consistency, leaving the club sitting out of the top six despite its somewhat limetless arsenal of superstars, including the likes of Carlos Hernandez, Archie Thomson and of course, Harry Kewell. The 2011-12 A-League season was meant to be the dawn of a new era for the Vics, after firing inaugural coach Ernie Merrick and a number of key personnel, the club attempted to reinvent itself on and off the field as the biggest and best club in Australia.

Lets put a side the removed team and financial issues and just enjoy the football and I'm not talking about the a-league! The a-league's lesser known little sister the 'w-league' kicked off this weekend with a grand final rematch between Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar. Thought the quality may have been less then what many of us are used to it proved to be an entertaining match and was broadcast on free to air TV. Many of us have flicked the channel to a w-league match on a lazy Saturday arvo and women's football is reaping the benefits. Though ratings have decreased due to the rise of the new digital channels the w-league continues to pull sizable tv audiences comparable to many a-league matches. However the off field success of the w-league has been surpassed by its on field success. Finally Australia has a stable women's football competition that is not only domestically competitive but at an international standard. We may not see the Martas  of tom...

The Australian sporting market is a tough one but people here love sport and are willing to support an number of teams from a number of codes. For this reason sport codes in Australia are fighting a war for spectators because as easy as it is to support a team, it is a different thing all together to get to a game. In Melbourne alone we can name 9 professional AFL teams, 2 professional football teams, a professional rugby league team, and the list goes on! Football needs to establish strong grassroots in local communities This totals over $100,000,000 in sport player salaries alone in Melbourne, not to mention the people who contribute off the field. Sport is a massive market generating billions of dollars, everyone wants a slice pf the pie As a result we are seeing codes fight in a sports war for spectators and for national dominance. AFL and Rugby League have done well to secure their respective territories but in there greatest strength lies there g...