Ever
Wondered Why So Many Australian Footballers
Play Overseas?
( Go to page 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Views
from the government funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
In the
lead up the 1998 Grand Final the ABC used the 'transvestite wogball' approach
in James O'Brian's segment
'What's
on in Sport '. A typical strategy by the organisation. Of
course he never includes football (soccer) in his programs. Then
when rugby league (packielackey) players smear human poo all over hotel walls
(Feb 1999) he says "It has nothing to do with it (packielackey game
to be played on the weekend)."
This type
of treatment by the Australian media of Australian football (soccer) is
typical. There is one rule for soccer and another for packielackey and
tiddleywinks.
Previous
comments in the ABC such as:
"Blacks
don't play cricket in South Africa because it takes three lots of co-ordination
to play cricket:
hand,
eye and foot while only two to play soccer: hand and eye. In time the
blacks will learn the
game."
ABC Radio report from a one day international NZ vs SA. ;
The
commentators all except the NZ commentator went on to agree that this was the
case.
"The
only interesting thing at the match was the gelato." ABC Radio
report of a match involving
APIA
(an Italian community supported team) Vs Hiedelberg. ;
This
team is an Australian team that has a long and distinguished
record. Many of the members of Australia's 1974 World Cup team were
members or have played for this team. John Watkis, Jimmy Rooney, Peter Wilson,
Greg Woodhouse, and George Blue to name but a few ; are typical.
But to
digress as a fan recently said;
"My
wrath was such that I did not, in fact, give the gist of (Jon) Anderson's
nonsense.
There was a photo of Maradona and Cannigia kissing after a goal I
presume.
He suggested that players 'attention often appears fixed on the
posterior
with a lot of patting and sometimes even hugging. '"
So as to
the accusations of paranoia, I cannot be so because there are others who
have the same empirical experience. Visit deja-news from this web page
for an insight into the attitudes of the packielackey media morons that
dominate in Sydney and the city of the 2000 Olympics.
This page
is about the attempt to denigrate Australian Soccer the so-called
'wogball' game. How ignorant they are!
And to
digress:
At
the grand final this year when the South Melbourne fans celebrated with wild
jubilation after winning in the last few minutes flares were lit and the police
moved in and then, the chairs were smashed, and .....
Treat
people like animals- some often behave like animals.
As one fan
said:
"But
I however do resent being called a "Hellarse" fan, "rotten
bastards"
>and
"scum of the earth" as some people on this list have referred to
>us,
to those I say ......................... UP YOURS coz WE ARE THE
>CHAMPIONS
..........."
And he
abhores violence like the rest of the body of South Melbourne fans.
Was the
Premier of Victoria threatened?- No!
He
just shook his head- not a reaction of a frightened man.
And when
thousands invaded the pitch at the AFL not a trooper in sight wielding the
truncheon anywhere!
It
appears there is a rule for one lot and not another.
Not
to mention the pitch invasions at the cricket in the Australian 1999
summer.
Why
is it that when Australia is playing cricket and the English fans or Sri Lankan
fans carry their national flags the commentators talk in glowing terms about
their national pride, but when English, Greek , Italian, Iranian, Korean,
Japanese, Swedish etc. go to the soccer they are wogs?
Or
as one football fan puts it:
Scenario
1:
You're
at a football game.
There's
lots of pissed young people about because it's played on a summer's
evening, and they've been at the pub after work, and there's also
alcohol
served at the stadium.
Some
crowd-trouble erupts, and items are thrown onto the playing surface. A
thrown bottle lands near a player from the away team, and a golf-ball
hits
him on the leg.
The
game is held up for five minutes.
The
two captains are compelled to come out on the ground together and plead
for calm.
Nine
spectator are arrested by police. Ground security and police eject a
further 66 from the ground.
The
next day, the papers are full of stories about how football should be
banned. How it's un-Australian. Why the low-scoring nature
of the game is
the root-cause of such poor behaviour of the otherwise bored
crowd. How
it's caused by all these funny woggy people who just don't understand
proper
Australian behaviour, and they never will until their game is
banned. How
mainstream Australians, watching mainstream Australian sport, provide
the
model that these football fans should adopt. Football and its fans
becomes
the subject of vitriolic attack on talk-back radio, and in the tabloid
"current affairs" TV programs. The pictures are
displayed whenever stock
footage of a football crowd is needed in subsequent programs and stories
on
football.
Scenario
2:
You're
at a one-day cricket game.......................
And there
is more...
Attacks in
the media continued with calls to stop all sponsorship of football.
As another
fan points out
"Okay,
this tosser drive time host called Steve Price went absolutely mental
on
Monday slagging off football, the supporters, the sponsors, in fact
anyone
connected to the game. He called the fans a boorish, lunatic,
hooligans
(no exceptions everyone was included), said that no sponsor
should
be involved in football, said that a South Melbourne sponsor had
been
involved in smuggling alchohol(sic) into the ground, questioned why any
government
should fund football programs."
Who would
buy that other beer anyway- where were they during Australia's build-up to the
World Cup-
conspicuous
by their absence.
Then the
publishers of Frank Farina's book - one of the first international stars in
Australian football had
withdrawn
due to the publicity. Corporation bigotry is alive and well in Australian
boadrooms.
What
on earth has this got to do with Frank Farina?
Eventually
the book was published but not without resistance. And what a
controversial book it is too. It exposes the ex-Australian coach Eddie
Thomson. Except that he was a good guy not a bad guy.
Now
when packielackie players smeared human poo all over walls in hotel rooms and
peed on cars from the balcony in February 99, the Murdoch packielackey press
reports it as 'a PR hiccup'.
The
packielackey television argued that the players' careers are not over and that
rehabilitation to the game is likely.
The
ABC said it was all 'good' PR.
Other comments such as that by the Sydney Morning Herald that rugby
league is ingrained in the 'Australian psyche' or should it read psycho?
Now
the recent exposure of genitalia to a stunned Irish woman at a hotel by one of
our illustrious ARL players in the build up to the ANZAC test and its muted
media response is another example (21st April 1999) of the rule for one lot and
not the other.
Imagine
had it been a football player i.e. soccer player.
What
would have been the response by the bigots in the media here?
And
the writers in the packielackey newsgroup claim that I am paranoid!(see
newsgroup archive posts at end of article).
It
is they that are delusional.
Imagine
calling an insignificant anal explusive game like that world class- no one
hardly plays crappy packielackey!
Where
are the calls to end packielackey sponsorship?
What
would have been the reaction if the players were footballers?
Remember the editorial barrage calling for bans of the Olyroos after
their caterpillar celebration of the goal that finally sank Canada?
A
rule for one lot and not the other.
It
appears the effective monopoly media has one rule for Murdoch's packielackey
and another for football (so-called wogball).
To
a biased press,
What
about the baton wielding, capsicum spraying troopers at the football?
Wolves
v Spirit (Feb 98)- fans riot or was it a police riot?
Here
is a report from a fan at the game:
"As
per usual the press has blown the whole incident out of proportion.
The
police also over reacted and must accept part of the blame for what
happend..
Wollongong
invited every child at the ground onto the pitch at half time to
be part of the entertainment ie chase the wolf competition.
At
this stage there were hundreds of kids runnning around on the pitch.
Needless
to say some big kids jumped the fence as well and then the action
turned to the section behind the northern goal where the Spirit
supporters
had congregated.
The
police chased the offenders around the back of the hill and at this
stage several hundred spectators moved to the top of the hill to view
the
'action'
This
went on for about 15 minutes during which time police back up arrived
(for what I don't know).
The
players returned to the pitch and the second half started yet most of
the crowd were more intent to watch the police using batons and capsicum
spray chase a few people around a grassed enbankment.
I
doubt there being 8 arrests.A few supporters were evicted from the ground
for offensive language. That is for telling the police what a bunch of
idiots thay were for the way they (the police) had reacted to the
situation.
The
morning radio suggest that soccer's image has again been tarnished and
that 2 English backpackers were arrested, charged with offensive
behaviour
and refused bail.
As
I said a total over reaction."
One
wonders if it is all orchestrated?
Sounds
familiar. Read on.
Then
there was that tiddleywinks team (Victorian rules side) that was banned from
Vietnam by the Vietnamese government because they demolished the hotel in a
drunken stupor. This seems to concur with their attitude to
foreigners. Almost total silence in the media. No uproar , just an-
oh well. QANTAS the Australian airline carrier has on numerous occasions
expressed concerns for passenger safety because of tiddleywinks and
packielackey players behaviour.
This
is the sport that claim they are he-men. Yet players are suspended for
tripping (April 1999)! Tiddleywimps might be more appropriate. Half
tackles at best!
The
effective media monopoly owns not only the free-to-air, the pay TV, the
newspapers, the magazines but also the telecommunications network .
Is
it any wonder that they also own the dodgy leagues?
Is
it any wonder they control the gambling outlets, buy the internet content
providers in Australia, buy out the rights to Australian soccer and impose a
media blackout, and make slagging attacks on the real and original code
of football in this country?
Is
it any wonder that they attack people's origin and heritage because they follow
soccer?
Is
it any wonder they ignore their own codes of ethics?
Then
look at Newcastle- where are they those corporate leaders ?
Conspicuous by their absence.
Hunter Valley wine is absent.
The ABC
blacked-out news about the Atlantan Olympic football tournament using its
monopoly radio coverage to do so.
This
situation will highly likely continue in Sydney 2000 given current their
attitudes towards
the
world's game.
Recently,
ABC television news failed to report the Australia vs. Chile, and vs.
South Korea games. ABC radio
news
failed to report the scores after the matches. Yet they managed to give
saturation coverage to local
packielackey
league news when not even in season. This saturation coverage when in season
results in only
modest
crowd sizes, but when even limited coverage is given to football equally large
crowds attend.
Not only
that, but they were ignorant to the fact of the Korea v Japan game at
Australia's very doorstep in the region. They do not report important games in
the region such as the Asian championships, Asian Club Championships and are
totally ignorant of the President's Cup. When overseas teams from Korea and
Japan play local sides - not a whisper of their presence. A case of
dejavu- the football lepers are here again.
In
the game played between the Socceroos and Croatia , June 1998 this
organisation failed to report the result except again in its very early morning
news. The build-up to the game was not existent. The loss of 7-0 is
of course no excuse- in fact it was even more newsworthy as it revealed the
difficulties experienced in the Socceroo camp. Ill preparation and lack
of incentive all contributed to another crash-landing of the team. Terry
Venables era as the coach ended on a dejavu note.
The
series of games (March 1998) involving the Olyroos (Australia's Olympic team)
and Brazil's Olympic team had all but been blacked-out by the
organization. The games were not reported on the television news and only
the scores reported by the radio network despite complaints by the public over
the lack of information.
The
ABC's flagship program Grandstand, felt that the arrival of Brazil didn't
warrant a mention even though they are the most successful countries in this
tournament. After all Brazilian are only 'ethnics' aren't they?
Then
there was the Oceania Cup played in Brisbane (Oct. 1998), the winner to
progress to the FIFA Confederation Cup in Mexico with a minimum purse
of $A1.3 million. There was a virtual media blackout of
information about the tournament. The complete lack of corporate sponsorship
indicates the esteem they hold soccer in general and the Pacific Region
in particular. Interesting for a nation that wishes to export to its
'wogball' neigbours in the Pacific Rim. Australian corporate bigotry is
alive and well.
As one fan
commented when trying to get information about the final:
"Does
anybody know what time the gates open??
The
total lack of info available is astounding..."
These
were our Pacific neighbours who because they play soccer were not worthy of
recognition by the monopoly press.
Teams such
as the multicultural Fiji, Cook Island, Tahiti, New Zealand to name a few who
were ignored by the ignorant media. The packielackey station didn't even
report any of the results including the FIFA Oceania Final.
Of
course media blackouts are easily achieved in the effective monopoly
environment which exists in Australia.
The
government's pandering to the whims of the corporate media bigots is well
known in a country where free speech is limited due to the wealthy's ability to
use torts to extract silence from dissenting voices in the community.
Politicians even use torts when the media criticice them.! The media owners,
well they own the media but if anyone dares to say anything about them they
immediately use their wealth to suppress freedom of speech.
Now the government
funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation continues to not report Australian
soccer in its radio sports news.
The game
between Sydney United and Marconi in Round Two, 1998 (and there are too many
others to mention) didn't even make the news at 9 pm (and 10 pm,...) yet other
sports received coverage with " currently playing" status. The
crowd was well in excess of the other codes with 8752 crowd, without any
prematch build-up in the news, and none of the saturation coverage given free
to the other codes.
Soccer
was again blacked out.
The
complete blackout has continued with regard to information about Australia's
game with the USA played Nov 1998. Of course the belief is
that only 'wogs' play soccer in the USA by the media monopoly here. This is
despite the fact that it is played all over the USA by Americans of all
backgrounds. There is little mention in the newspapers or electronic
media.
The
government funded Grandstand sports program again totally ignored the Socceroo
game against the USA. They appear to agree with the tiddleywinks'
newsgroup view that Australian soccer players such as Viduka and our
olympians are third -rate presumably 'wogs'.
It
is they that are third rate.
This
attempt to denigrate our Socceroos is typical of this organisation and the
media in general. The packielackey stations are the worst offenders and
completely blackout any information about Australian soccer.
Mark
Viduka by himself is worth more than the entire tiddleywinks/packielackey
competitions.
As
a fan reported on the Oz soccer newsgroup who saw the game the rest of
Australia was denied:
Location
: San Jose, USA
Result : USA 0 Australia 0
Referee : Mike Siefert
Attendance : 15,074
Temperature : 49F
Mud/Pitch Ratio : 10%
USA Snickers Player of the Match : Clint Mathis
Aust Snickers Player of the Match : Mark Viduka
Line-Ups :
[USA]
#1Zach Thornton
#23Eddie Pope
#18Carlos Llamosa #12Jeff Agoos
#13Cobi Jones#21Richie Williams#15Clint Mathis#6Eddie Lewis#9JoeMax
Moore
#20Brian McBride #10Roy Lassiter
[Australia]
#11 Damian
Mori #9Mark
Viduka
#10Josip Skoko
#2Brett Emerton #7Kasey Wehrman #8Lucas Neill
#12Simon Colosimo
#4Hayden Foxe
#5Alex Tobin #6Tony Popovic
#1Jason Petkovic
They
are totally ignorant of the fact that there are no friendlies in football.
As
the fan reports:
"Simon
Colosimo was raped by a mad tackle from Carlos Llamosa in the 90th
minute. Carlos' two legged challenge got himself all of Simon's
right leg
and knee, and a red card to go on top. Raphael Bove came on as the
Colosimo
went off on the stretcher."
That
was the friendly!
Both
the USA and Socceroos fielded strong experimental sides in what promised
to be a match of the future. Young gifted players were given the chance
to impress while the known experienced players continued with their
professional commitments in top league sides throughout the world.
The
blackout continued because of the anti-competitive practises of the ignorant
monopoly media. Yet they give saturation coverage to packielackey teams
that tour for months at a time due to the lack of other teams to play.
Then
rights have been bought to Socceroo games by the Seven Network (a tiddleywinks'
station) and they are not televised. This is the height of
anti-competitive practice.
While
on the subject of USA v Socceroos, this media ignorance extended not only to
Viduka but also playing for Australia was Kasey Wehrman the promising talent
from Brisbane. Damian Mori is Australia's top goal scorer.
He too was ignored. This ignorance extended further to Colosomo
and the list goes on....
The
ignorance continued with the media blackout of the Matildas (Australian
Women's Football ( Soccer )Team who played Italy and Canada as well as the
blackout of the South Korean Olympic team in the 1998/99 summer international
season.
These
people in the Australia media are intent only on stopping the public of
Australia from watching the Socceroos. They are content only when
attacking the game of football.
Why
wasn't the game given to SBS to broadcast it nationally when Channel Seven had
the pictures and then refused to play them to the Australian public?
This
network is the monopoly holder to the Olympic coverage together with the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation whose history of abuse of Australian soccer
is equally abominable.
They
blacked-out football from Atlanta and will do so again.
Is
it an attempt to buy the competition and close it down?
But
hey!
Soccer
has managed to survive these bigoted attacks before!
And it is the only football code of any integrity in this country.
When
South Africa were liberated from the oppression of the whites, the Mandella Cup
was played between the Socceroos and South Africa. The media blackout was
all but complete. The media totally ignored the South Africans but the
crowd turned up. Soccer in Australia has proven its popularity many times.
Did
the crappy packielackey media report the result?
No!
They
failed to report on the match.
Does
the crappy packielackey media continue the attempt to denigrate the sport of
football?
Of
course.
Soccer
holds the crowd records for all the grounds on which the Socceroos have played.
This
has been despite the crappy packielackey media.
Northen
Spirit are also ignored in the media . No previews about the game- yet
the crowds arrives.
A crowd of 18 thousand gets no recognition from the media and no
previews. Now that's a crappy packielackey media!
Is it because the teams
involved have followers of "ethnic" origin (who btw also pay tax)?
Northern
Spirit? Look at the names of the players!
This
is how the dottering dodder of a dodge league behaves with its complete control
of the media and the telecommunications network. And what is their
interest in gambling outlets?
The ABC
has exclusive radio rights to the Olympics in Australia. Based on the
history of its
blackout
of news about football and its current practice of blacking-out of football
news, it is reasonable to
predict
that it will use its monopoly power over the Olympic radio broadcasting
rights to again stop information
about
Olympic football from reaching the Australian public. Are they are
after-all the nursery for packielackey?
As a
further example, the result of the Olyroos v Brazil match where the Olyroos won
2-1 in Perth was reported at
4.00
am in the ABC of ignorance news but not in later morning bulletins. Then
the following night all the scores
from
rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules were reported ( none of which
are fully national games) in
the 10
p.m. news and the national football results were not reported. The media
and particularly the ABC has
reach
new lows in the extremes of ignorance.
Prediction:
The upcoming games between the Olyroos v China to be played
Wednesday Nov. 25th 1998 at Marconi Stadium and Friday Nov. 27th at
Wollongong will not be televised by the monopoly rights holders and there will
be a general blackout of news about the tournament in the media.
Monday
night 23 Nov just before the game and I can't see it mentioned anywhere.
Should I be surprised at this?
In
an amazing turn-around the ABC radio news reported the result of the first
game! Almost twenty-five words.
Olyroos
0 v China 1
Olyroos 3 v China 3
Another
piece of empirical evidence.
Now
on the Friday of the game with China what can be found in the major newspapers
: nothing!
Not
one word about the Olyroos v China in the papers.
Now
is this surprising?
On
the weekend before the games there is a general blackout.
Information about the Olyroos v China was completely lacking in
the media.
China
is a major trading partner and was treated like lepers!
But then that is normal, isn't it?
Will
Fosters an Official Sponsor of the Sydney 2000 and other Australian
corporations currently exporting and importing from China again be conspicuous
by their absence?
Of
course!
Corporate
bigotry rules in Australia.
Will
Olyroos receive the usual media treatment?
Well,
that has been documented already. A case of- not again!
The
appalling and scandalous thing is that the IOC have granted monopoly media rights
to the organisations that actively promote these views.
Stoke's
Joke aka Channel Seven had a complete blackout of the national league
competition results. Despite over 18 000 attending the soccer to watch
Perth Glory go top of the league there wasn't even a report of the
result on the 'bigot space' i.e. Channel Seven the Olympic monopoly holders
(except in Western Australia).
Then
there are others with different views such as:
"The
only reason that channel 7 bought the rights to the NSL coverage is
so that they could show none, thereby allowing Optus to have a jump on
the
market for Australian soccer coverage. The reason for this is that the
seven network owns a very large number of Optus shares. This whole move
is
purely business oriented, because the seven network couldn't give
(two-hoots)
about Soccer Australia. And selling the ABC the rights to show the small
amount that they do is only a further insult to the football watching
public."
This
is unlikely because by restricting access to the very few, the public audience
has been limited to a narrow geographical base. It has been rumored that Seven
will sell its share in Optus, but then who owns the rights?
Is
it a case that Stoke's joke is to avoid competition ?
Otherwise
the rational thing to do would be to show the games on the national
free-to-air. They already own the pictures. They do not however use
them. Why not?
Fortunately
there is an ABC coverage, but since SBS have been pushed out of the commercial
sphere, the Australian public has had very limited information about the
Olyroos and Socceroos.
Never before in the history of Australian
media has there been such a complete black-out of the Australian national
teams.
Now that is anti-competitive.
How
will they treat the footballers when the Olympics arrive?
Well
now that's well documented isn't it.
Will
it be a case of a bigoted end to the millennium in Sydney 2000?
Unfortunately
it appears so.
Or
as a fan commented
"..But
it's not only Channel 7 that's the culprit here. What about the
coverage the papers are giving us. Especially the Herald Sun.. It's
pathetic really.."
There is
an ongoing blackout of match results in Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(ABC) news bulletins from the National Football Competition. Their official
policy is that football is 'not newsworthy' presumably because it is played by
people of all origins and backgrounds.
The
National News Editor's policy is "... consideration must be given to the
newsworthiness of various news items." Interestingly full houses at the
soccer are not reported but 4 000 at the packielackey receive saturation
coverage. News of packielackey and tiddleywinks make the news after the
game but football not till 12 midnight.
The ABC
has also made unfounded and unproved attacks on football players, coaches and
administrators in
Australia.
This went to the extent of attacks in Parliament based on the dubious and
erroneous information
claimed
by the organization. No evidence was found to support the allegations by
the ABC network. This
resulted
in huge financial losses to Australian football and individual administrators,
coaches and players falsely
accused.
Losses that Soccer Australia still have not recovered from, and which were in
part responsible for the lack of a suitable build-up to the Iran qualifiers.
These
included attacks on:
*
the National Coach, Eddie Thomson at the time (now in Japan) and his supporting
team;
It was
Eddie Thomson who laid the groundwork for Australian players in their endeavour
to escape the bigoted
attitudes
of the media here to make a reasonable living in European competitions.
It was shown that he oversaw
the
contracts so that the players received fair remuneration and no evidence was
found of any pecuniary
interests
by him. A media witch hunt motivated by prejudice eventually
resulted in Eddie Thomson seeking to
apply
his trade as a coach in Japan. But then of course that is where Royal
Arsenal got its coach.
Frank
Farina in his book 'My World is Round' says of Eddie Thomson,
"This
episode showed me that that the players were more than just two feet and a head
to Eddie. He tried to look after players and advise them outside of
football which, for me, is part of what made him such a special coach".
Eddie
also had many notable victories:
As
a fan commented:
"I
know the Socceroos played good football under Venables, but they also
played good football under Eddie Thomson when he had charge of his best
side.
Everyone
seems to forget how well the roos played against NZ in 1993 in
Melbourne (3-0), how we should have beaten Canada 10-1 instead of on
penalties that same year. What about the Olyroos beating Canada 5-0 at
the
SFS to qualify for Atlanta. And what about the 1-1 draw v Argentina at
the
SFS in the WC Cup qualifier. Facts are that when we had our
overseas stars,
Thomson invariably produced the good. I'll concede he had some
limitations
with the local-based players though he also had some good results there v
Ghana, Japan, Sweden (the roos beat them twice from memory when Svensson
was in charge)."
That
of course is also not to mention his excellent record with Sydney City.
Hardly
your packielackie/tiddleywinks account.
*
the administrators of the game were attacked without evidence, one of whom was
an original founder of the National League and head of arguably the most
successful football club in the country; Marconi. What was his
crime? His crime was attempting to promote Australian soccer and giving
players opportunity to play in the best leagues of the world.
Is
it surprising that these cowardly packielackey/tiddleywinks attacks
reached the highest levels of parliament?
(And
in Australia- there is no free speech, people are sued out of existence, by way
of legal fees by the bigoted media barons. In Australia, Clinton could
have sued to a fortune - common practice by our politicians.)<
Not to
mention the other 180 odd nationalities who follow soccer in Australia. Or is
it simply because the team is Marconi- a team they tried to stop having
an antenna and a boomerang as its symbol of a Nobel Prize winner and Australia
because of its 'ethnicity'. They argue in the press that they are racists
because they have a gathering of people of common descent. No mention of
St Patrick's Day! A drivelling Australian sports media.
The ABC’s
axing of the National Football League without notice from television coverage
when football adopted
QUIT
Smoking as a sponsor while retaining coverage of rugby league with cigarette
advertising. (Rugby league
supporters
have been noted as attacking followers of football as ‘wogs’ in their attempt
to stop the progress of
football
in Australia. This is despite the fact that football is Australia’s
oldest code.) There has always been this close link between the broadcast
content and personnel of these organisations.
It has
recently acquired the rights to the national soccer league. Will they
provide a proper coverage or use this power to limit the game's exposure?
Time will tell. And it has. No coverage on free to air. See page 2
for
why it has nothing to do with the popularity of football but is merely because
of the bigots in the Australian media. The ABC now have coverageof
football, but without sponsorship deals allowed.
When one
asks, why the ABC only report soccer results between midnight and 7 am and then
only partially and
sporadically?
The reply is " Coverage is given to the national soccer league events, but
consideration must be
given
to the newsworthiness of various news items..." from the National News
Editor-Radio. This is despite
saturation
coverage of an already duplicated packielackey/tiddleywinks coverage on another
commercial network.
This is a
grandstanding of ignorance.
The TV
Duopoly's views:
The
monopoly granted to the Seven Network in Australia by the IOC has resulted in
a:
*
blackout of Olympic Football news by the monopoly;
Virtually
the entire tournament was black-out.
*
failure to cover the games involving Australia during Atlanta;
Football
fans around the country organized themselves to watch the advertised match
involving the Olyroos and
were
greeted with 3 minutes of action from the game. Football fans in
Australia need to be tough minded as this
is a
typical ploy by the media in its attempt to frustrate football supporters in
this country.
Another
example is the packielackey station where they advertised a game and then put some
ridiculous show about the end of the world in its place. They practice
the technique of complete blackout of information about football. Is this
surprising out a company that owns packielackey and gambling in
Australia?
*
blackout of other games in the tournament;
This
network also:
*
failed to report the result Grand Final of the National Football Competition
despite a record sell-out crowd in
1996;
and
*
gives saturation coverage of negative aspects of the game.
This is
because it as one of the two suppliers of television spends large sums on
Australian Rules and is
prepared
to pay to get the rights to football so as to blackout the coverage of the game
to avoid competition with
its
code.
It is this
organization that has extensive financial interests in the Docklands Stadium
that was originally
mooted
as the site for Olympic Football, then withdrawn without notice by the
government under pressure from
the
consortium. This caused a last minute need to reorganize the location of
football tournament for Sydney
2000.
It is another clear example of how the media operates in Australia with regards
football.
Recently
this organization entered an agreement with Soccer Australia to buy exclusive
monopoly rights to Olyroo and Socceroo matches. Hopefully, it won't use
its monopoly power to limit exposure of the game. Time will tell.
And it has. No coverage! Why? See page 2.
As a fan
recently commented:
"We were
promised the total package & the most
comprehensive
coverage of the NSL ever. I always liked SBS but I wouldn't
care
who showed it as long as we get coverage of the game. I am really
annoyed
we have now got virtually nothing. Channel 7 & the ABC have the
rights
now, not SBS any more, so where is NSL coverage ? short of getting
cable,
how do I get to see highlights of Perth Glory v Adelaide or Northern
Spirit
v Syd Olympic ? And I am not talking about 15 second items in the
7pm
news.
So someone
is not doing their job, or we have been lied to."
Or as
another fan observed:
"The
only down side was that ABC (and TV in general) continue to
stuff
up the audio. Why is it they can make a crappy Rugby league crowd of
about 2,000
sound like Wembley and yet muffle 17,000 crowds at the soccer so
that
you'd swear there were only a dozen people. That's two weekends in a
row,
both involving the Spirit."
It is
becoming apparent that the rights to Australian soccer have been bought to stop
coverage and to limit its exposure to the public. It is these same
organisations that hold the exclusive rights to the olympic coverage. All
indications are that there is to be another blackout of football news at the
next olympics in Sydney 2000. This may be last gasp attempt to stop
football in the old millennium to which these types of media organisation
belong.
We have
the World Cup in Asia in the new millennium. Hopefully technology in the
new millennium will make football information available to all Australians and
reduce the monopoly control and anti-competitive practices of the Australian
media.
Of course
the Seven Network who own the Olympic rights to 2000 games have used their
ownership to not show Australian soccer games on its free-to-air network.
The
buy-out of Australian soccer rights to the free-to-air networks has been used
to avoid competition by not showing games on free-to-air television. The ABC
coverage though quite good does not allow commercial sponsorship and so football
cannot compete on an equal footing as the right to do so has been bought by
Seven and not used. Why would they do that? To avoid competition?
Further,
the government in Sydney then saw fit to ignore the football fraternity in its
organization and appointed
packielackey
administrators to ensure that football at the Olympics is not properly
promoted! These appointees
have
no knowledge nor desire to promote football. In fact the board is full
of packielackeys! There organisational skills -non-existent and attitude
to people of other nations (wogball followers) is well known. Now they
come from an organisation whose vested interest is to stop football.
The same
thing then happened in Brisbane, another location of the football tournament.
The administrator is from The packielackey code and whose interest is in not
promoting football at all. In fact , they have moved the
stadium
away from the football stadium to the packielackey stadium. In a pecular
burst of realisation there has been a move to the IOC but the essentials of the
argument still hold. All the benefit of the stadium upgrade will
go to
the other codes, and football will miss out on the use of the stadium after the
Olympics. This leaves football without a stadium of world class quality
anywhere in Australia despite millions spent on upgrades to stadiums as
a
result of the Olympics.
The
stadium situation for soccer is so bad in Australia that Soccer Australia's
newest club Northern Spirit cannot get decent facilities and are obstructed
from improving the crowd comfort which have been around the 16 thousand
mark. The playing pitch is treacherous with a cricket pitch in the
middle. On all accounts it is also a treacherous wicket. This
situation will also exist after the Olympics.
Attempts
were also made to stop the football finals from being played in the main
Olympic Stadium. It was
argued
they would interfere with the closing ceremony-but the real reason was to stop
access of football. There
was
even discussion of playing packielackey before the Olympics to open the stadium
in the ultimate insult tothe
Olympic
movement. The packielackey code has a history of attacking players of
football as 'wogs'- hardly the
Olympic
ideal.
Now that
the members of the Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee in charge of the
football
tournament are from the packielackey stable and have free access to FIFA
marketing
expertise
which has been denied to Australian soccer, it is now intended to
open the Olympic
Stadium
not with football but with rugby league.
The
expertise in marketing brought by FIFA is still lost to soccer. The stadiums
are still lost to soccer. Footballers will again be forced to
played on sub-standard pitches while all the benefits of these stadiums are to
go to other codes and sports. The use of the Olympic Stadium by football
will be limited to when other codes are not using it. Packielackey for
instance requires only thick lush grass and a soft surface and it is unlikely
that an even bounce and level surface will remain a feature of the
stadium. This is the experience from the other 'multi-pupose'
grounds where the ground surfaces resemble crater fields with multiple
markings rather than football fields.
The
defilement of the Sydney 2000 stadium is to be complete, with the packielackey
(rugby league) opening and its attitude to international sports people is well
known- wogs playing wogball (footballers playing football). But then one
only needs to look at the composition of the board to realise their attitude.
In
an amazing turn-around it now appears that soccer will actually open the
stadium with a FIFA approved World XI v Socceroos match. It appears
that at least somewhere the Olympic spirit lives and fair play seems to have
triumphed.
How
wrong it is to even contemplate such a thing!
The
opening game will be packielackey and no wonder given the members of the
board. A full house is expected for the double-header of packielackey at
discount prices. Then the used multi-lined, divoted surface of a stadium
gets a second-hand opening with FIFA World XI v Socceroos at ticket prices in
excess of $A140 played on the defiled turf! Compare that to the under $10
tickets for the packielackey opening with most tickets at $A5.
An organised and premeditated attempt to further down-grade football by
the packielackey administrators- you can bet on it!
The
Prime Minister of Australia in typical weak-kneed fashioned oversaw the end of
the last semblance of any olympic spirit for the millennium ending Sydney 2000
games as the packielackey teams emerged on March 7, 1999 into the Stadium
Australia. The packielackey defilement of the Sydney 2000 Olympics is now
complete with almost a full house in attendance. With continuous use of
the Stadium by packielackey up to the games the result is an old stadium for an
old century with old multi-marked lines, an old soddy surface and an old
bigoted board. The media shouts world record crowd! Bull, there were two
games on not one!
The
board of packielackey cronies want desperately not to play football at
the ground during the Olympics. Why is that mate?
Prediction:
a total media blackout of the second-hand opening event- football in Sydney by
the packielackey media. How will the players be treated? A predictable "Oh
no, here are all those wogs."
The
result is a second-hand stadium for the Olympic Opening Ceremony by the group
that has used
the 'wogball' attack to justify its own sport. Not only that; this
sport has only just started to test for
drug use of its players. And guess what? Rife throughout the
game. Now this is a great
advertisement for the Olympic movement and Olympic spirit here in
Sydney.
And
in all this, there is not one Australian soccer stadium that can be used in
local or international competitions
from the considerable building projects without hard cricket pitches in the
middle of playing
surfaces or without the heavily sodded, long grass , soft surfaces typical of
rugby league grounds that
increase the risk of leg injuries to the mobile players of football in
this country.
edmundoe@my-dejanews.com