Hi folks! For those of us in Australia, it's not long until the A-League kicks off for another season, and some of the transfer talk going around lately is quite impressive. Only today I read about that horrible team on the Gold Coast chasing Pires. Interesting. Not as interesting as his former team mate Henry signing with Red Bull New York, but still interesting. If only Brisbane had some big news like that to flaunt about. I'm sure Ange's off season signings will be good, and who knows what the Football Superstar will bring to the (youth) team, but there's not been a great deal for us supporters of Brisbane Oranje to sink our teeth into of late. The closest thing we've had is the upcoming Everton tour and the bungle regarding ticket prices.
Now, after the debacle that was Brisbane's ticket pricing last season, you'd think the last thing the team would want would be for more negative press being linked to them in relation to ticket prices, but the cheapest tickets for the event when the went on sale were $50, surely not the kind of thing Brisbane would have been hoping for. Now, given that it wasn't Brisbane's doing, it's a bit unfair to blame anyone but the promoter for this poor form, but that won't stop people linking Brisbane's A-League team and high ticket prices. After a few weeks, the ticket prices have come down, with the cheapest tickets now around $20, but will it be a case of too little, too late?
Another issue that may stop people from going is the recent news that Arteta, but more importantly for Australian fans, Cahill, won't be appearing at the game in Brisbane on Saturday, as they are going to a wedding in España. Now, all advertising has mentioned that there's no certainty of any player turning up for the match, but I can certainly see quite a few people not turning up because of this.
At this stage, I haven't purchased a ticket, mostly out of disgust at the initial pricing of tickets, but it looks like I may end going to the game. I just hope that there are a few other people in Brisbane who'll also be going. Last year's game felt like an away game, as the stadium was fairly skewed towards Celtic supporters, but with Everton playing games in Sydney and Melbourne already, I certainly can't see there being a blanket of blue covering the whole stadium.
Everton is coming to town, I just hope they have some people to play in front of.
Showing posts with label brisbaneroar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brisbaneroar. Show all posts
14 July 2010
20 May 2010
My Football History
Considering most people who will be reading this have no idea who I am, I thought I'd give you a bit of an idea about how I came to follow the beautiful game that is football. I was born and raised in the lovely city of Ipswich, which is in the state of Queensland in Australia. Ipswich has a rich football tradition, but for me it revolved around two specific teams, St Helens and Coalstars.
My Godmother's son played football for St Helens, and I had friends at school who played for Coalstars, and in grade one I was really trying to get my mum to take me to a sign on day. It never happened, and I've never played football, outside of a park kick about. At the time I thought it was to do with the coaches swearing, as I'd overheard a conversation with my mother and one of her friends. It wasn't until years later that i found out it was the amount of travel that was involved with playing football in Queensland in the early 80's that ruled it out for us, and instead I had many years playing hockey (field hockey, for those of you more familiar to the ice variety) as my dad played, and was able to take me to games, which never really travelled further than an outer suburb of Ipswich.
Another teams I remember from those days was the Dinmore Bushrats, mostly because of the comical rendition of a Bushrat kicking a football that appeared on a t-shirt that many kids at my school wore, so I've got fond memories of that team as well, even though I never saw them play.
Living in Queensland, I was also quite interested in the sport of Rugby League, and followed the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the then NSWRL (the mostly national competition) and Ipswich Jets in the QRL (the Queensland competition). Over the years, and with the removal of South Sydney from the national Rugby League competition, my interest in the sport waned, and I focused more of my attention on to following football. I had decided at this stage that Arsenal would be my team in the English Premier League. I don't really have an answer as to why this would be the case, I remember seeing the logo on a jumper in primary school, and thought it looked cool, I remember playing Sensible Soccer and playing with a team featuring Denis Bergkamp who wore red shirts with white sleeves (which was probably Ajax) but then found him playing for Arsenal in the EPL, so for whatever reason, the red and white team from North London became my team.
My first World Cup exprience was staying up late to watch the games in 1994 at the US. For some reason I'd taken an interest in the Republic of Ireland, so was following them during the cup, and hoped good things were to come for them. They were eventually knocked out by the Nederlands, a team who I have also had a fascination with for many years, and one that I associate football with deeply, thanks to my uncle being of Dutch origin.
I'd taken an interest in the domestic game here through the Brisbane Strikers, but only attended one game, which was the NSL Grand Final for the 1996/1997 season against Sydney United which Brisbane duly won 2-0. I remember this was the first time I'd been to a proper football game and it didn't take me long to suss out where the fun was to be had. There was a caged area that housed the very vocal Brisbane supporters who were standing, dancing and chanting for the whole game, and I quickly made my way on the then terraced section of Lang Park towards this crazy mob. What ensued was my first real taste of active support, and I followed this up at the Australian friendly later that year when Sweden came out to play. Again, the small but vocal Australian mob were situated behind the Sweden fans, and a lot of singing and banter was had, which turned into a great night out. I can't remember the result, but I do remember being excited by seeing "Spider" Kalac on the field, i think I thought he was pretty good at the time, I also think I had some kind of ambition as a Goalkeeper, or maybe I've just got a soft spot for the position.
I tried to keep up with the NSL on the various television channels that it appeared on after that season, but it became increasingly difficult, and not knowing anyone going to games I eventually lost touch with the domestic game and focussed back on the EPL which was easily accesible on SBS at the time. I'd been following the domestic game whenever I could through any form of media, and in 2003, after the Crawford Report had ended Soccer Australia and the National Soccer League, from the ashes rose Football Federation Australia (FFA) and in 2005, the brand new Hyundai A-League kicked off, and I've been following the ridiculously named Brisbane (previously Queensland) Roar ever since.
I haven't missed an Australian national team (aka Socceroos) match in Brisbane since this time either, and ran a brief radio show on community radio.
This was a really long post, but hopefully it gives you a bit of an idea as to where I'm coming from, and why I'm doing this blog.
Thanks for reading, and you can follow me on Twitter @leaveforthecup
My Godmother's son played football for St Helens, and I had friends at school who played for Coalstars, and in grade one I was really trying to get my mum to take me to a sign on day. It never happened, and I've never played football, outside of a park kick about. At the time I thought it was to do with the coaches swearing, as I'd overheard a conversation with my mother and one of her friends. It wasn't until years later that i found out it was the amount of travel that was involved with playing football in Queensland in the early 80's that ruled it out for us, and instead I had many years playing hockey (field hockey, for those of you more familiar to the ice variety) as my dad played, and was able to take me to games, which never really travelled further than an outer suburb of Ipswich.
Another teams I remember from those days was the Dinmore Bushrats, mostly because of the comical rendition of a Bushrat kicking a football that appeared on a t-shirt that many kids at my school wore, so I've got fond memories of that team as well, even though I never saw them play.
Living in Queensland, I was also quite interested in the sport of Rugby League, and followed the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the then NSWRL (the mostly national competition) and Ipswich Jets in the QRL (the Queensland competition). Over the years, and with the removal of South Sydney from the national Rugby League competition, my interest in the sport waned, and I focused more of my attention on to following football. I had decided at this stage that Arsenal would be my team in the English Premier League. I don't really have an answer as to why this would be the case, I remember seeing the logo on a jumper in primary school, and thought it looked cool, I remember playing Sensible Soccer and playing with a team featuring Denis Bergkamp who wore red shirts with white sleeves (which was probably Ajax) but then found him playing for Arsenal in the EPL, so for whatever reason, the red and white team from North London became my team.
My first World Cup exprience was staying up late to watch the games in 1994 at the US. For some reason I'd taken an interest in the Republic of Ireland, so was following them during the cup, and hoped good things were to come for them. They were eventually knocked out by the Nederlands, a team who I have also had a fascination with for many years, and one that I associate football with deeply, thanks to my uncle being of Dutch origin.
I'd taken an interest in the domestic game here through the Brisbane Strikers, but only attended one game, which was the NSL Grand Final for the 1996/1997 season against Sydney United which Brisbane duly won 2-0. I remember this was the first time I'd been to a proper football game and it didn't take me long to suss out where the fun was to be had. There was a caged area that housed the very vocal Brisbane supporters who were standing, dancing and chanting for the whole game, and I quickly made my way on the then terraced section of Lang Park towards this crazy mob. What ensued was my first real taste of active support, and I followed this up at the Australian friendly later that year when Sweden came out to play. Again, the small but vocal Australian mob were situated behind the Sweden fans, and a lot of singing and banter was had, which turned into a great night out. I can't remember the result, but I do remember being excited by seeing "Spider" Kalac on the field, i think I thought he was pretty good at the time, I also think I had some kind of ambition as a Goalkeeper, or maybe I've just got a soft spot for the position.
I tried to keep up with the NSL on the various television channels that it appeared on after that season, but it became increasingly difficult, and not knowing anyone going to games I eventually lost touch with the domestic game and focussed back on the EPL which was easily accesible on SBS at the time. I'd been following the domestic game whenever I could through any form of media, and in 2003, after the Crawford Report had ended Soccer Australia and the National Soccer League, from the ashes rose Football Federation Australia (FFA) and in 2005, the brand new Hyundai A-League kicked off, and I've been following the ridiculously named Brisbane (previously Queensland) Roar ever since.
I haven't missed an Australian national team (aka Socceroos) match in Brisbane since this time either, and ran a brief radio show on community radio.
This was a really long post, but hopefully it gives you a bit of an idea as to where I'm coming from, and why I'm doing this blog.
Thanks for reading, and you can follow me on Twitter @leaveforthecup
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