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A-league attendances 24/25

Muz said:
I was a country kid from the bush. It was as alien to me as a Oxford Street was back then for me.

Edit: But if you mean tolerant now then I don't know what to tell you.
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Ha there you go. I am similar, hence the moniker, but always followed South Coast United (and Peter Wilson) as I played centre back for a few years. Ravenous for the Monday paper back in the day to get the football reports for the local (Sydney) game and overseas, though there wasn't much more than the English League results and tables to that.
 
Muz being you grew up in regional I can see why it was uncomfortable.
Whole diff perspective.
What era if you don't mind asking when 18/19 you quoted ?
Same applies to Hillybilly55, huge anglo background areas and whole diff ball game being in city surburbia where he came from ? Gong/Bulli right ?.
I'm 1st gen born from Italians and worse a northern blond - therefore I was never picked as an obvious "wog" till I spoke back in Italian, then they went oh fuck he understands. I also could side Aussie side being blondish haha though they thought I was nordic or whatever but I was white so that was ok.
Unreal eh.
Those were the times and the struggles in this country that to this day as mentioned in some posts still lingers.
Got to move on fellas, the ol Clubs and supporter base has changed so much, still have their proud roots but they are Aussie in the end with alot of flavour/proud history as far as I'm concerned and what put Aussie football on the map no matter how some felt left out, like everything you can't please all.
Walk into any football ground to this day with a opposing shirt and your open to banter/heckling - thats part of the football experience.
Tribalism - here we expect this well mannered polite outlook - active support is frowned upon, (agree the OTT and bad/aggressive behaviour is unacceptable)......
Its been a roller coaster ride as a 1st gen Aussie supporter and it seems not much is changing unless you change, the past is the past we need to embrace today and ahead.
 
Monoethnic Social Club said:
Yeah mate and I dont understand them either :P ..

Anyway you called yourselves the new dawn of football.. "New football NOT old soccer" remember?
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Sorry to disappoint you again, I never called anything the new dawn.
I said you call me new dawnerers because I follow the A-League even though I have followed football since the 1970s.
I call it football because I lived in England for a long time.
 
Robbos said:
Sorry to disappoint you again, I never called anything the new dawn.
I said you call me new dawnerers because I follow the A-League even though I have followed football since the 1970s.
I call it football because I lived in England for a long time.
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Aaaaaarghhh you're infuriating It was part of Oneil and Lowys pitch "football but NOT as you know it" you know, a "new dawn" for Soccer in Australia... How the hell am I supposed to know where you live/lived? I call it football too, except when Im talking to New Dawners... :P
 
Monoethnic Social Club said:
That explains the avater then :)

So tell us, out of curiosity, why pick an effnik club you're not "aligned too" and not a proper Australian one more local to you?
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Got nothing to do with ethnics, I followed Parramatta power back in the NSL and went to a few games, played the game for a ethnic established club too. But when the A-League started there was no Western Sydney just SFC and i like a underdog and went to a few NZ Knightz matches and enjoyed myself and the few fans. Only reason i said your not Australian is you hate everything about professional football in Australia. I don't understand it to some extent.
 
@LFC , sorry I put you off the track, actually from the New England, Armidale. I followed South Coast because they were non Sydney in the Sydney competition. But yeah, pure anglo, one grandmother was even a War Bride out of WWI.
 
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Sutherlandbear said:
British people are hardly ethnic as such. They colonised the place , the modern Australia founders, and still have their flag on the Aussie flag
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Sutho im with ya... I mereley was addressing the juxtaposition of what is defined as "efnik" given we all migrated here per say (some not in chains however!) .... for AU football it seems the problem as stated was always what is the right kind of that category to fall into is and what is not, regarding the failed experiment of the new dawn of AU football...

Problem is, that divide just keeps growing, and football is continuing to polarize at the steady rate it always was, with both sides of that coin losing out ultimately, and why? Bc of the failed experiment to bring in ppl that continue to not want to be brought in and that wont ever change, while simultaneously excluding those that do. This sheer lack of the respect for the old and the unwarranted elitism of the new will continue to just drive more ppl away from what will never be!

My club may ultimately die off eventually or we may assimilate (whatever that entails), but given the war against it and my obvious exclusion as a second class citizen, then, as some others put so elegently in this forum, how could i ever belong in a league that never wanted me as me, but would love access to my budget alone. How could i be forsaken for cahnting hellas but be expected to stand for bagpipes, waltzing matildas or the hupocricy of taking the knee against racism only to be racially dsicriminatef against ( now thats irony!)

In my eyes the purist is he who supports grass roots football, the divide between him and the so called elite level (ha!l) is proof in the numbers... ask those that prop yp the gane and wont have a bar of the a league, the numbers dont lie!
 
See this is what I don't understand, I don't think anyone has ever discriminated the chanting of 'Hellas' at a football game, it's just not what I want to do at a football game in Australia, not stopping others doing it.
To compare that to taking the knee against racism especially in regards to people of colour
I'm an ethnic and copped my fair share of racism in Australia especially in the 70s, but this nothing compared to the racism the native Australians have face.
 
Robbos said:
See this is what I don't understand, I don't think anyone has ever discriminated the chanting of 'Hellas' at a football game, it's just not what I want to do at a football game in Australia, not stopping others doing it.
To compare that to taking the knee against racism especially in regards to people of colour
I'm an ethnic and copped my fair share of racism in Australia especially in the 70s, but this nothing compared to the racism the native Australians have face.
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So we imagined the forced name & logo changes? the continuous fines for ethnic chants etc never happened? Neither did the forced directive to drop only (certian) ethnic ties?? Is that on a lower end of the racism scale then? Or perhaps it isnt still wogball overall?

As for the what the "natives copped" may i add that that invoice should be sent to the queen and her mainstream subjects and it would be gladly supported by most of us migrants bc we have some idea of what the anglo empire has implemented over the years (a quick read on Cypriot history will tell you exactly what it has meant to others also)...those same subjects that the game so desperately wanted to adopt at any cost...

without sounding incencitive when did taking the knee become about only the indigenous exactly? Bc if that was the case alone i cant imagine anyone arguing against it. Not me anyway! But lets not overlook the hypocricy attached and especially from the directive drivers themselves!
 
Hellenic_blue&white said:
So we imagined the forced name & logo changes? the continuous fines for ethnic chants etc never happened? Neither did the forced directive to drop only (certian) ethnic ties?? Is that on a lower end of the racism scale then? Or perhaps it isnt still wogball overall?

As for the what the "natives copped" may i add that that invoice should be sent to the queen and her mainstream subjects and it would be gladly supported by most of us migrants bc we have some idea of what the anglo empire has implemented over the years (a quick read on Cypriot history will tell you exactly what it has meant to others also)...those same subjects that the game so desperately wanted to adopt at any cost...

without sounding incencitive when did taking the knee become about only the indigenous exactly? Bc if that was the case alone i cant imagine anyone arguing against it. Naot me anyway! But lets not overlook the hypocricy attached and especially from the directive drivers themselves!
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There was never any fines for chanting 'Hellas', if so please provide details.
As for ethnics ties yes I agree with you there and have sympathies.
As for taking the Knee, no this is not only about indigenous people, I only have you that example as it's very relevant in this country today, as well as the time of the Queen.
If you don't believe that injustice still occurs today towards people of colour far worse then that towards 'wogs' of which I'm one, then you kidding yourself.
 
Robbos said:
There was never any fines for chanting 'Hellas', if so please provide details.
As for ethnics ties yes I agree with you there and have sympathies.
As for taking the Knee, no this is not only about indigenous people, I only have you that example as it's very relevant in this country today, as well as the time of the Queen.
If you don't believe that injustice still occurs today towards people of colour far worse then that towards 'wogs' of which I'm one, then you kidding yourself.
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At what point did i say injustices dont occur?? All i said was that injustices shouldnt have a barometer attached to whats trendy and upheld by the very people that inplemented the racism to begin with!! Im sure any logical person would agree...

The ASA had been putting pressure on the clubs to undertake the “de-ethnicisation” For years culminating in the shambles that was the 1996, “National Merchandising Plan”, which demanded all clubs “remove all symbols of European "nationalism" from club logos, playing strips, club flags, stadium names and letterheads.” or were you living in a bubble and didnt notice??

Some further small proof is the following and i quote the guardian the update to previous policy "
Implemented in 2014, the policy banned clubs from choosing team names, colours or symbols with ethnic, national, political, racial or religious connotations.

The regulations led to Victorian National Premier League club Avondale FC placing black tape over an Italian flag on the back of their shirts during last year’s FFA Cup.

Another Victorian club, Melbourne Knights, were banned under the policy from having their FFA Cup shirt sponsored by Melbourne Croatia social club."

But yes it allowed chanting "hellas" and "cro_a-tzia" freely because thats just how they rolled those days.. can i ask you along with the nazi salute issue did sufc get fined for pro croatian nationalist chants or not?
 
Just a bit of further light reading to the previous point....

"If history is written by the victors, perhaps it is fitting that Middle Park was bulldozed to make way for another sporting event. From the early days, the ground had to be fought for by football people in the face of local opposition. When the state Labor government tried to enclose the ground for football in the 1950s, they were met with protests against the siphoning off of community land, despite the fact that both cricket and Australian Rules had their own enclosed grounds at Albert Park.

Furthermore, the plan by South Melbourne Hellas and Hakoah to erect a grandstand was criticised by a 1961 report into the management of the park. “All kinds of exotic exercises have been introduced into Victoria, and few have flourished to the same extent as cricket and Australian Rules football”, wrote Oliver James Gillard, QC, the author of the report, who noted that football “is comparatively novel to our country … because of the influence of persons from overseas.”

Although Middle Park had been home to football since the 1880s, the great Australian chauvinism towards the game and its participants remained prevalent. “Nothing can draw them [immigrants] from their national games,” read an article in the Argus newspaper in 1954. “What they do has no effect upon Australian Rules. What does matter, however, is what their children do.”

In Victoria at least, assimilation meant speaking English, finding a job, and dropping soccer for Australian Rules football. During the 1960s anti-soccer slogans were daubed at Middle Park, the grandstand was set on fire and the goalposts were chopped down.

In this context, the fight for Middle Park was important not only for the co-tenants Hakoah and South Melbourne, but for soccer in Victoria. “There must be a united front from all Australian football clubs to halt the soccer movement,” commented Harold Snook, the secretary of the Victorian Football Association, in 1954. “After all, the grounds and their amenities were built by the pioneers of the Australian game, yet soccer is just stepping in and taking it all away.” As other soccer clubs, often backed by immigrants, were bullied by Australian Rules football into marginal areas of outer Melbourne, Middle Park remained soccer’s refuge in the heart of the city. If Albert Park is “the lungs of Melbourne”, then Middle Park provided the crucial oxygen for the world game."

Would that be classified ongoing systemic racism??
 
Hellenic_blue&white said:
Respected, and i wont argue against your "lived truth" as you described.. mine ( and most old football supporters) is one of multiple nationalities supporting my club albeit with a greek majority!

Your exact reasonings however is exactly why i will never support a failed franchise driven, souless mass, without an ounce of underlying history or culture to entice anyone for longevity.. and (happily from my end) the above is further being proven in the fickle numbers that continue to dwindle away despite the pipe dream you continue to try sell of de-efnikation...

why marconi and not morwell if you were looking for belonging? Lastly do the scotish undertones of MV not ring "efnik" enough for u or is the the right kind of "efnik"? Just random thoughts!
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What Poppycock!

“without an ounce of underlying history or culture to entice anyone for longevity“ - 20 years of history and counting actually.

The irony is that it’s a similar argument to anti-immigrant racism in society, I’ve been here longer than you so I’m more entitled/Australian etc etc and you’re the children of immigrants (as am I).

People in Europe could argue that NSL/NPL clubs’ 50 year history is “nothing”.

Get over yourselves. We get that NSL clubs were excluded 20 years ago, and we get that it’s great to have a club and community of similar ethnicity to your family heritage/ancestors, but you all need to get over your Flight of the Concords-esque “hurt feelings”.

Even MacArthur and Western United’s shitty crowds of around 4000 are the same or better than many of the NSL clubs crowds were back in the NSL’s heyday, and better than South Melbourne Hellas’s crowds were recently in the Australia Cup.
 
Kitwally said:
What Poppycock!

“without an ounce of underlying history or culture to entice anyone for longevity“ - 20 years of history and counting actually.

The irony is that it’s a similar argument to anti-immigrant racism in society, I’ve been here longer than you so I’m more entitled/Australian etc etc and you’re the children of immigrants (as am I).

People in Europe could argue that NSL/NPL clubs’ 50 year history is “nothing”.

Get over yourselves. We get that NSL clubs were excluded 20 years ago, and we get that it’s great to have a club and community of similar ethnicity to your family heritage/ancestors, but you all need to get over your Flight of the Concords-esque “hurt feelings”.

Even MacArthur and Western United’s shitty crowds of around 4000 are the same or better than many of the NSL clubs crowds were back in the NSL’s heyday, and better than South Melbourne Hellas’s crowds were recently in the Australia Cup.
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Well, that put me.in my place!! Never a truer word spoken or an argument so immaculately.....far from reality!

"20 years of history and counting actually." Hahaha bc we all.know football for the masses started 20 years ago and has been champagne and roses ever since! There you go we all learn something every day! We shouldnt let reality get in the way of a good story!

"People in Europe could argue that NSL/NPL clubs’ 50 year history is “nothing”... your not in Europe mate, we are referring to AU football history...

If you actually read it you would see its the epitomy of racism across australian society in a few paragraphs, not similar but the whole truth for most migrants via their interaction with only one part of their lives, sport!

Entitled is he who remains in a closed league excluding others but points the finger... which one of us is that again??

As for macarthur etc and their gate sales i suggest you take a closer look at the numbers and beyond that how many are paid tickets exactly??
 
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