What fantastic idea will the people that run the sport come up with which to shoot themselves in the foot this time?
Past highlights include:
Rebel associations
Illegally signing players from Europe
Banning ethnic names
And of course
Centralising Grand Finals in one city
Don’t know how, but they will find a new and creative way beyond anyone’s wildest imagination.
I like to think this is a watershed moment for our game. The governing bodies have spent decades self-sabotaging the sport, and obviously gone above and beyond undermining this team in particular.
We figured they were doing everything in their power to prevent success, but maybe all along they’ve actually been waiting for a team to cultivate the mental resilience to succeed in spite of them. There’s been some long term genius at play here. taps forehead
Waiting for the APL and/or FA to ruin the good mood created by a second consecutive World Cup in 2 calendar years:
“Get ready, everybody. Danny/James is about to do something stupid.”
Complacency. They’ll look at the Matildas reaching the semi-finals or … things that I am not going to mention out of fear of tempting Jinxy McJinxface. But they’ll look at it and say “she’ll be right, mate” and either not allocate any more resources to the development of the game for either gender, or the Feds will say something very similar and refuse to give out appropriate funding that the game really needs for its development and for it to make weekend football more affordable to play.
And/or some fuckwit from Melbourne doing something massively stupid once again. Most likely a fan/fans of THEM.
I have a feeling said governing bodies will see the potential interest in the game from all the sold out stadiums and packed venues showing the Matildas games, and double-down on the destructive approaches they’ve taken over decades to further their own interests.
I’ve said it before, will say it again, and will say it further in future. There is no greater enemy to Australian football than Australian football itself.
At the very least we should have the fixtures by now for both the men’s and women’s seasons. This has to be the latest they’ve ever come out.
“Vine out us into a semi final. Come and watch her and the rest of the Sydney Women’s team at ____” would make a bit too much sense I guess.
Flip side, how do people think they should capitalise on it? Seasons are ages away for both men and womens. The only local players (Hunt and Vine) who’ve got a fair bit of game time will be in Europe by the time the seasons start.
I think people also easily assume “interest in the popular event that everyones talking about = interest in the local leagues” We know even a decent chunk of the footballing community dont get behind the A-Leagues.
Has anyone seen a figure for what kind of money we will be getting for hosting? I’m assuming we get a chunk of the gate receipts or does FIFA rake it all in?
This… the culmulative enthusiasm about this tournament is astounding but doesn’t mean it’ll translate to something bigger.
The bandwagon is alive and well but the FFA, a-leagues are going to miss their chance to get something exciting happening on the back of it but we are all struggling to state what that something needs to be.
Sadly, this is a one time event as we won’t see another world cup on the shores for a very, very long time (especially with the middle eastern money coming more and more to the fore) and with no media support, we will be relegated to a tier 2 sport with Basketball, rugby union and Netball
I don’t think attention to national teams necessarily translates to club football. And that’s unfortunate, but I also understand. I commit much more of my attention to the Diamonds winning the World Cup than I ever do Super Netball (I guess Go Swifts). If a sport isn’t my number one sport, it’s much easier to occasionally pay attention to a national team than a club comp, especially when it might clash with a comp in my preferred sport. The AFL perhaps isn’t too threatened by the women’s national team beyond the occasional player they might want to poach for the AFLW.
Edit I don’t mind non-roundball people jumping on national team bandwagons because I do the same. They represent us all. Having said that, when you have people like Peter FitzSimons doing it but always talking shit about the sport, or presuming to know its history…
But I suppose it can’t have a negative impact, right? RIGHT!?
After the Denmark game, on the number 2 event bus toward Hunters Hill and Glebe, there was a girl asking what the Matildas players did the rest of the year. Her friend informed her that they all play for clubs, using Kerr at Chelsea as an example? “What’s she doing playing all the way over there? They all play for different teams!?”
I think the rest of what you’ve said here might be true to an extent, but not this. To paraphrase Cassian Andor, power doesn’t panic (and beg Fifa for the optus rights at their stadiums). Both codes have just seen a level of national support, across the code divide, that they could never hope for.
This is a stupid name change or website thing again isn’t it?
Yeah, it might indicate to them a larger threat. But showing the game before the AFL games in Perth and Melbourne was probably a smart decision if they knew people might stay home otherwise.
Has that account ever been right on anything? Pretty sure its a joke account
The league will be broken up into groups of 4 followed by knockout rounds to capitalise on the momentum from the World Cup.
If there’s any truth to it, I bet its a “Magic Round” or some other nonsense that the league doesn’t need.
Whatever it is, it probably rules out “do nothing” as the answer to the thread’s title.
