Totally Football

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

Belated Christmas from me and time for an update. I am feeling quite smug at the moment and i am revelling in it while it lasts. sydney is currently sitting in 4th spot and if they perform like they did on saturday again against Adelaide hopefully we can hang in there.

I am not entirley sure what is going on with my team, one minute we are playing against LA Galaxy and thrashing them, the next we have Perth Glory flogging us...what is going on? not to mention home crowds are at an all time low and we are barley making a crowd of 10,000.

i thought the Galaxy game was suppose to bring more awareness to us...but then again, the media only really flashed Beckham's 1...count them 1 goal and then quicklysaidwescored5goalsandone BUT ZOMG BECKHAM SCORED 1 GOAL! bah i don't know who to blame but it dosen't help when our strikers arn't doing their jobs.

new coach has done wonders but he can't play the game for the team, he is only there as a guide, to give direction. i think i will scream if we keep Zdrilic on next season, the man is useless! i am also quite sad we will be losing milligan who is superb in the back and giving us strength as well as losing the zad who may be...pretty yet somewhat useless however for now he is providing a link between midfield and defence and just giving a bit of movement and space to our game

in closing we still need to pull our heads in, and congratulations to Baby Biddle for scoring his first goal, i think he is the cutest, but please, stop taking hair advice from the zad..the bleach is...no.

Kayannie #004

2007-12-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

I admire the FFA for having the balls to put in a salary cap for the A-league and i understand that they are just trying to do what they think is best for the game but it is hurting our league. It needs to go, and soon.

The FFA are trying to make sure that none of their shiny new toys go into debt and have to fold. Yeah that is fantastic but how can a team exist on less than $2 mil? I mean they can, sure. But it isn't pretty. It is Perth, who look like fish out of water every time they step foot on the pitch. It is Melbourne, who lost their best player because the couldn't afford to pay him what he wanted (and what he deserved really). And it is Queensland, who know it wont be long before somebody, who can offer more than we ever could, comes knocking on their door for Michael Zullo. It isn't good enough.

Now i love football. I love this sport and i love spending all weekend watching all the A-League games but sometimes it is painful. I want to see beautiful football. That is why i fell in love with this sport and that is why i continue watching it. And at the moment i am just not getting what i need. If the clubs were able to pay for better player would the quality of the league improve? Absolutely. You only get what you pay for.

If the salary cap is gotten rid of then what then? Maybe one club will end up winning the league 5 years in a row because they have the most money available? Well if they do then good for them. As a fan i am more concerned about the quality of the players and the league than who comes away with silverware. I do not want to be in pain every time i turn on my tv. I want to see quality. Quality players and a quality league. We will never have the best league in the world and it would be ridiculous to think that we could but we can do better than this.

There are different ways to deal with clubs going bankrupt. Implement a new set of rules FFA, because this just isn't working.

Sarah #005

2007-11-09T02:56:00.000-08:00

Another one bites the dust!!!! Bye bye ron smith, it was only a matter of time before you were shown the door. i am suprised it took perth a season and a half, maybe they are just too passive in their actions, unlike the wankers who run sydney fc.but they just won a game, finally, so yay to them!and sydney is doing well, definatley suprised by mr budgie smuggler kosmina.

next rant: every week, my fellow blogger Kayannie is getting so pissed off with our commentators for these games. guys its QueensLAND not QueensLEND

next rant: i was appauled at some behaviour last weekend at the Newcastle away game. not only by a certain mate of mine who kept drinking and the newcastle stadium beer people KEPT LETTING HIM BUY IT but also at the fans, throwing stuff at players, onto field. thats just absolute crap sportsmanship, i am glad that this time there wern't flares and they moved the supports bays apart/blocked off 2 bays of balcony seating so things wern't air dropped on our heads.

this brings me to my next point: melbourne victory fans, who are whinging and going "WE WON'T SING" because the club has said no standing on the 3rd level. which you know, for those of us who arn't melbourne, understand there is a level of OH&S to adhere to and its not just the club but the patrons? of Telstra dome who are making these rules. that said there was a meeting or something to discuss this with the club, so when i know whats happening with that there will be a rant forthcoming

also i wish my boys all the best for tomorrow night, and also i wish the olyroos goodluck for training camp next week and the game that both kayannie and i shall be attending, a special goodluck to Leigh Broxham, maybe this time Super coach arnold will put you on instead of benching you and still making you warm up.

Sarah #004

2007-10-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

Walking out of the Stadium on Saturday, my mate Nathan looked around and said "you know what is sad? there is this whole generation of supporters and new supporter who have never seen us win"

with this in mind, i would like to Welcome you to Revolving Door FC. This is absolute bullshit.

I love Sydney FC, I love this league but please someone tell me whats going on. Does anyone have any answers to stop clubs from going down the drain? i mean besides sacking coaches. This is the leagues 3rd season and Sydney FC are onto their 4th! coach! 2 have been sacked and 1 didn't take a pay cut for a new contract.

How did we go from League champions to the league chumps!? we have had so much drama and crap thrown around from salary cap issues, wanker coaches, players coming and going, injury and disputes between players and coaches, when will we work through this shit and start winning and being on form.

dosen't help that the FFA are complete and utter tossbags! I am really frustrated and really pissed off and i really want someone to find a better long term solution instead of a temporary bandaid.

Kayannie #003

2007-10-19T04:45:00.000-07:00

Craig Moore? I dont rate him.

Say what you like about him but really i don't want him on my team. I don't want him to be captain, to wear that armband, to order my boys around. He plays like he is dead. As though he has no feeling, as though he just really, honest to god doesn't care.

So maybe one day he was good. Maybe he had a good career in the UK and people loved him there. They thought he was good, we thought he was good. (Because obviously Frank Farina does, i haven't quite worked out why though.)

The biggest thing i remember from his first game was the fact that he was stupid enough to get sent off. Sitting in the stands i didn't see the incident that followed but when i got home and watched the highlights i saw the most horrifying thing. The captain, my captain taking off his armband and throwing it to the ground. Now i don't give two shits about whether he thought the dismissal was unfair, the ref was having a laugh, Frank Farina was a moron, the sky was green but what i do care about is that one action. Taking of that armband like it meant nothing, like the team mean meant nothing, like the fans meant nothing - it is just not on.

Then there was last night. He plays like this team is nothing more than his pay-check. And really, im sure it is but just pretend Moore. Cant you just pretend you care?

Sarah #003

2007-10-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

FFA you tossers! how can you not give us an international break then demand and take away first team players for each club? and oh to rub salt to the for shits and kicks you ban him Zadkovich from playing in a club match. He got his 4th the card during the Melbourne game.

FIFA rules state that a player must be released 4 days before an international duty (that was on Sunday 14th). The next game Zadkid was supposed to be available for was against Perth Glory game (Friday 12, 2 days before he needed to be released.)

Therefore he SHOULD have served his suspension during the Perth Glory game.Sydney FC did the FFA a favour and released players EARLIER THAN NEEDED to be in camp a week earlier then they needed to. So the geniuses on a power trip over in FFA are punishing Sydney and Zadkid by having what is effectively a second weeks suspension.

why the fuck didn't you bring this into light before the season started so that it would be clear for everyone, not a bloody day before the game he is supposed to now be suspended for?!

Sarah #002

2007-10-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

Before I start let me just comment on Kayannie’s post. I completely agree with her about capping the kiddies. Fat!Dukes is ambivalent about playing for his country anymore, Timmy Cahill was also surrounded by rumours that he too would concentrate more on Everton then Australia, and as for Harry Kewell well who knows what Hazza is up to these day, not to mention John Aloisi is now a club-less bum. I say we let the kids have a go, at least ‘snag em’ before another country poaches them. Matty Spiranovic has already had Croatia trying to woo him, so why didn’t we just put him on for the last two minutes of the Uruguay friendly? He was practically sitting in Australia’s palm, yet my favourite organisation in the world didn’t think “I know, we shall cap him and then we can really stick it to Croatia”, the mind boggles. So we know what the problem is, but the question is do they have the balls* to do something about it.

Now let me get onto what I really want to bitch about, The FFA, again and I do excuse myself for not making this sound logical or as eloquent as it sounds in my head. I feel like they are running in circles, getting slightly paranoid and I am not far from likening them to Pol Pot and his happy followers, but give me a few more weeks and I will get there. Okay, so they are going a little over the top with being cautious about players doing the wrong thing. For example I am just going to use Terry McFlynn, I don’t even remember him doing anything wrong on game day, I don’t even remember now what he did. yet he was put on trial and I can’t even remember the other players that were summoned before a Spanish inquisition and only after round one!

I know Danny Tiatto has been slammed a few times for tackles that the FFA aren’t liking and last week a Central Coast player was redded just like Corica when he made a tackle on Matt McKay. I know that if studs are up and contact is made it’s a red and if studs are up in tackles but no contact is made with the other player then it’s a yellow. He didn’t make contact, and was redded for putting the ball out of play after winning it! Every little tackle and foul, seems to be coming under scrutiny and I think it is putting players off trying anything, and I do mean anything even scoring! I don't understand how they can pull up video evidence to go on power trips and line everyone in front of a firing squad yet the FFA won't allow a review for red cards (which every league in the world allows).

If daddy Culina can’t get away with saying this, I shall do it for him, REFEREES YOU SUCK, they are doormats and the FFA are OBVIOUSLY incompetant tools. I agree that if a referee needs protecting from the crowd, especially in the a-league, something was not right. His red on Corica was a little too quickly shown maybe a rash decision, I know Victory fans won’t agree with me but let’s say it was Pantaledis who got the red? Corica was in the area, and turned, Pantaledis just happened to cop a graze off Steve’s boot, he didn’t maliciously dig it in and I don’t think he thought “Yes, I shall get Pantaledis”. I really can’t express what I think of that situation, it makes me mad.

At the moment, every time a player goes into a tackle, whether it’s my team or another team, I am worried that the ref will be a lap dog to the FFA and book them, and in a lot of cases might book them unjustly. That said, if a player decides that smacking a ref assistant in the groin is necessary* it’s okay, the FFA don’t care, they turn a blind eye and let the club deal with it not to mention the fact that if you hit a ref/linesman while playing in a local comp, you'll most likely be banned for a year. This is becoming too much, and I am not touching diving with a 10 foot pole because that’s just out of my league*.

In my final conclusion, whose decision was it to let Kevin Muscat play with a plaster cast on his arm? On field, Muscat is a very physical and very angry player, so why would you let a physically angry player on field with a weapon attached to him? Ladies and Gentlemen, this question alone is reason to think “are the FFA brainless morons?!”

Sarah

*no pun intended
*no pun intended.
* i don't condone the castration of referee assistants (just the organisation of which they are apart)

Kayannie #002

2007-10-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

What I don’t understand is why Australia has not tried a little bit harder to tie down the youngsters who will be the future of Australian football. I understand that Graham Arnold was hardly the ideal person to be in charge of an under 8’s team let alone our National team but I cant even pass this off as him being a complete and utter moron.

Player drain to other countries has always been a problem for Australian football and unless we make more of an effort to retain our players this will only get worse. Yes the quality of our football has increased and we made only our second World Cup ever in 2006 but if England or Germany or Croatia or Serbia came calling would you say no? To countries that make the World Cup and Euro tournaments regularly? I think not.

Bruce Djité is the A-league’s leading goal scorer and a phenomenal talent. Sure he has said that he only wants to play for Australia but how long is it going to be before we give him his first cap so that he no longer has the option of the United States, Togo and Ivory Coast? Maybe this sounds a little greedy but these boys are our future. Danny Vukovic, Tando Velaphi, Tarek Elrich, Matt Spiranovic, Nikita Rukavytsya, Spase Dilevski, Ersan Gülüm and Dario Vidosic are all young, talented players and are all eligible to play for other national teams.

Then take a look at the players who have left us. Anthony Šerić made three World Cup squads for Croatia including their 3rd place in 1998, Josip Šimunić made two and Joey Didulica one… Tony Dorigo came fourth with England in 1990 and Saša Ilić who has represented Serbia. And then there was Labinot Haliti who I was very much looking forward to seeing don the green and gold who has said Albania is the only one for him. Clearly there is a problem.

So does someone within the coaching structure for the national team keep track of these kids we have? Do they look to the future and see that these boys are our future? Do they see that if we don’t take an interest in these players somebody else will? I don’t think they do. But they should. The games we play need to give these kids their first caps because we don’t want to lose them. We can’t afford to.

Kayannie

Kayannie #001

2007-10-18T04:24:00.001-07:00

Hey hey hello!

Sarah has just done a little introduction post so i've decided that it is time for me to do one too.

My name is Kayannie, like Sarah i am a huge football fan. I support the Roar, Palermo and Manchester United. There is nothing i hate more than people telling me they know why i support the teams i do. You don't know. Don't assume you do.

I love football. I love watching it, i love reading about it, talking about it, writing about it. I love putting my boots on and going out into the yard to kick a ball around, I love travelling around the country-side to watch the football, I love spending every cent of my hard earned wage on tickets and flights and jerseys. Football is my life.

The A-League and Australia's men's and women's teams will obviously be my main focus in this blog but i am also very much interested in the developments in my home state of Queensland. Football Queensland is moving along in leaps and bounds and I am looking forward to discussing these developments.

Kayannie

Shiny New Blog

2007-10-18T03:51:00.000-07:00

This blog was created out of the anger Total Football stirred. It made me realise how fed up I am with the amount of tossers and absolute morons who are constantly talking in what might as well be another langauge. They bore me as they sit behind their empty desk bar a glass of water and some notes against a plain back drop and show no expression.

Yes, i do realise Football is predominatley played by males but people have to realise it isn't just males who follow the game. I am sick of the males running the Football world while my views and ideas pushed onto the sidelines. I intend to revolutionise the way you percieve this sport and make you see it my way.

Straight up i am going to say yes this is going to be extremly biased on my behalf, it's my opinion after all.

I am not too fond of how the FFA are running the show, they are morons, in fact i would love to call them something else that isn't too socially acceptable, so i shall leave it at morons for now.
The A-league is shit because they make it so, sure some teams don't do well as others, some players are lacking skill, talent and alot are past their best before date, but think about it, The FFA suck and arn't exactly going out of their way to make it crawl the ladder of success.

I am Australian so naturally i will favour the Australian National Team (Male or Female). I don't have an overseas league team because i can't connect with it, maybe that will change one day, maybe it won't, don't badger me on it. I follow Sydney FC in the A-league and definatley straight up i am bias towards them, no hidden agendas folks, I am laying this on the table straight up as i see it.

That said i am capable of reviewing a team based on performance rather then what team they are. same goes for players, well except some and well depending on my mood.

I am anti- flare, anti diving, anti-hooliganism, anti-racism, anti-cheating, anti-ffa, anti- Graham Arnold, anti- Anthony Crea. there will be more anti-isms in time.

There will be occassional swooning and occassional shirtless footballer pictures. deal with it.

I will update this blog when i get a chance. there is more ranting to come. this is far from over.

cheers,
Sarah