trimster wrote:

QUOTE:
... And I just heard on the radio that Wakelin claimed he faked it in order to stage for a free kick, and that Hall hardly touched him!

And to think that not long ago, the aussie rules community used to sneer at soccer players for doing that sort of thing. Now they do it themselves- seems like they are slowly catching up with the rest of the world!

This is what Hawthorn's Campbell Brown said about diving recently. I'm not sure about his claim that soccer clubs have been teaching diving at junior clinics:

GRAHAM Kennedy would be proud that Australian acting is alive and well — unfortunately, the good work is not being conducted in studios, but on our football fields. And some of the acting is worthy of Logie award nominations.

I'm referring to players diving and staging for free kicks — an alarming practice that I believe is becoming far too common.

There would scarcely be a player who hasn't over-emphasised a touch or movement at some stage to try to gain the attention of the umpire and receive a free kick. That might commonly involve exaggerated moves in a marking contest or throwing your body forward in a tackle. But what we are seeing this season is increasingly widespread staging — when players get in a push and a shove and one player dives to the ground.

Most of us would have watched soccer and seen players go to ground after the sort of contact that a child taking his first steps could withstand. Soccer people call it simulation, others use the terms embellishment or strategy and believe that if their team is awarded a free kick, all is well.

The practice became so common that clubs were teaching young players how to dive at junior clinics. The world body, FIFA, had to act and did so by bringing in a rule allowing the referee to "yellow card" any player he deemed to have exaggerated the amount of contact present in a challenge.

Well, I'm seeing this in football. It is not in the spirit of the game, it is a blight on our great game and it must be controlled.

I think these acts have become more prevalent because players and teams are trying to seek any advantage they can, whether that be physical or mental.

If this trend continues, the AFL should consider a similar response to the soccer solution and instruct umpires to award free kicks against players who they deem are blatantly staging. This will eliminate the problem before it becomes an epidemic.

As soon as the umpires' intentions are communicated and become clear, players will think before they "act" and, if penalised, disadvantage their team.

The AFL introduced fines for wrestling because of the image the behaviour was sending to the community. With the assistance of a financial deterrent, players quickly got the message that it was generally not worth it.

Staging, diving or whatever you want to call it has just as detrimental an affect. I propose that the AFL also reviews games in which it believes players have staged for a free kick and financially penalise them accordingly.

This keeps added pressure off the umpires, who don't get the luxury of seeing repeated replays and slow motion views to pick up all incidents of staging. Umpires often have just a split second to make a decision and may not even be in the best position to make the call, and would often have to give the player the benefit of the doubt.

Players that exaggerate, embellish, simulate or dive deserve to be censured. It's the only way to make our great game a fairer contest and a better spectacle

Melbourne Arab wrote:

QUOTE:

I think these acts have become more prevalent because players and teams are trying to seek any advantage they can, whether that be physical or mental.

Heh, gotta love it. When it happens in footy, it's because someone is trying to gain an advantage, but when it happened first in soccer, it was presumably out of some malice or underlying thespian or effette streak. It's refreshingly naive, Australian sport.

It's a "kick in the guts for the AFL" according to The Age.

The Herald Sun calls it "a dramatic setback for the Gold Coast franchise."

Michael Voss has knocked back a 3 year contract to coach the Gold Coast because it would effectively have been just a 1 year deal as an AFL coach following 2 years of preparation. Instead, he's accepted a 2 year deal to become an assistant coach at West Coast.

The AFL have said that there is huge interest in coaching the Gold Coast. That may be true but there is no-one to match the profile in Queensland that Voss has.

What is the deal with Michael Voss? He's being touted as a coaching messiah yet I can't recall him having any coaching experience. Are we talking Bryan (was a great player so worth a punt as a coach) Robson here? It just seems like there's an enourmous amount of hype - maybe all due to the marketability which you mention - but I would have thought getting a coach who can make the team win would be of uppermost priority for a new franchise.

Round 15
Carlton 87 St Kilda 119
Crowd 55,658

As I’ve mentioned previously, there have been a few shockers on Friday nights this season leading to suggestions that the fixture list be made more flexible – instead of the Friday game being selected before the season starts it could be done 6 weeks in advance in attempt to reflect who is actually playing well and in contention for the finals. There can’t be any complaints about this game – it was certainly the best I’ve been to all season and I suspect it’s the one Channel 7 would have wanted this weekend anyway.

It had all the ingredients – St Kilda 8th after 2 wins in a row (that’s what constitutes a hot streak these days), Carlton 9th after 3 wins in 4. The loser wouldn’t definitely be out of the finals race but it would be a big setback. Carlton are resurgent – 3 number 1 draft picks in a row, Chris Judd and more than 40,000 members. St Kilda are on the wane but have won a remarkable 10 in a row against Carlton the last defeat being August 2001.

This was St Kilda’s first game at the MCG in 2008 and my first vist there in the 10 months since the epic preliminary final between Geelong and Collingwood. The only reason the game was at the G was because Catholics had taken over Telstra Dome for the evening (crowd 30,000). A good thing as it turned out – the MCG crowd was bigger than the Dome’s capacity.

Carlton started at a furious pace and dominated the first quarter. However, their woeful kicking (2 goals, 8 behinds) left them with just a 4 point lead at quarter time. In fact, St Kilda nearly had an underserved lead – first, David Armitage ran through on an open goal and missed; then, Lenny Hayes hit the post from 25m out just before the siren which would have put St Kilda a point in front.

At the start of the second quarter, there was a major turning point. Brendan Fevola, who had a terrible night, gave away a 50m penalty when Carlton were in attack. The ball was quickly down the other end for a goal and St Kilda were in front. St Kilda ran riot for the rest of the second term kicking 7 goals and establishing a 22 point half time lead. Lenny Hayes, brilliant as always, constantly emerged from packs with the ball and Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke (Kosi)dominated in the air in the forward line. Riewoldt finished with 3 goals and 12 marks, Kosi with 2 goals and crumbing forward Steven Milne kicked 5.

The trend continued into the third quarter with St Kilda’s lead out to 93-60. A 33 point lead is an awkward one. If St Kilda are 33 points down, I will announce to my son “the game’s over. We’ve no chance.” If St Kilda are 33 points up, I will say “if they get a couple of goals they’re right back in it.”
Carlton didn’t just get a couple of goals – they got 4 in a row. After the first 2 from Eddie Betts (who, coincidentally, I brought into my supercoach team this week), the Carlton fans started getting excited. The next 2 goals, from Fevola and Waite, had the crowd in a frenzy. Judd had taken over from Hayes in winning the centre clearances and St Kilda couldn’t get out of their defensive half. Halfway through the third quarter, Carlton had scored 26 points to St Kilda’s nil. I started to feel sick.

The goal that settled the nerves, and ultimately clinched the match, was a stunner. Kosi took a mark on the boundary line at an impossible angle. He looked to give the ball off but there were no options so set himself up for a shot a goal. A behind was the best I expected. Kosi is not the most reliable of goalkickers. He was kicking right in front of the St Kilda support. When it went through posts, the place erupted. I lost my voice, grown men were hugging each other and there was much dancing in the aisles. Best moment of the season. Carlton’s heads went down, St Kilda kicked the final 3 goals of the game and the Carlton bandwagon jumpers were off home before the final siren.

St Kilda are now joint 5th with Collingwood, Adelaide and Brisbane. Collingwood play Adelaide today so we’ll obviously benefit from that. After next week’s tough game against Hawthorn, we’ve actually got a reasonable run in. With Steven Baker, Michael Gardiner, Adam Schneider and Xavier Clarke all nearly ready to return from injury, I’m almost feeling mildly optimistic.

Surely you are feeling more than a bit optimistic now, MA? Some of your players who looked out of it a few weeks ago are playing much better now- like Milne.

Most bizarre bit of AFL news I have seen in the last few days is the AFL suggestion that the new western Sydney team be called "Celtic"!! After soccer spent decades trying to remove ethnic club names from the national competition, it would be incredible if the AFL suddenly introduced one!

Even the BBC have picked up on this Sydney Celtics story which has to be the daftest idea I have ever heard. I don’t often agree with Collingwood president Eddie McGuire (who, funnily enough, is also president of the Melbourne branch of the Celtic supporters club) but he is spot on in ridiculing this nonsense. McGuire is asking if the AFL should be expanding at all in the current economic climate. Australian basketball is at death’s door and the CEO of the Australian Rugby Union recently predicted that one of the rugby codes will not survive the next few years. There’s no doubt that the NRL is in a very bad way.

Perhaps the Gold Coast franchise will work (at least it’s got a fighting chance) but I think western Sydney will be a disaster. Even those sections of the Melbourne media who fall over themselves to cheerlead everything that comes out of AFL House can see no merit in this. There was a story in The Age a few days ago saying that there are only 8 junior Aussie Rules teams in Sydney’s west and they have to combine age groups to field a team. The attendances at the Swans’ games at ANZ Stadium this year have been dramatically down on last year (and it’s only a few months ago that the AFL were using ANZ Stadium crowds as proof of the large potential supporter base in the west) and Sydney’s membership in Sydney is at its lowest for years. Sydney now have the lowest membership in the AFL in terms of home town support, several thousand behind Brisbane. If it wasn’t for Sydney’s large, and growing, membership in Melbourne, the Swans simply would not be viable.

81% of footy fans in a recent Herald Sun survey believe Tasmania should get a team before western Sydney. I’m amazed it’s not 100%.

Sydney Celtics! That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. I couldn't agree more that an AFL state like Tassie should have a team ahead of West Sydney.

There's a short list of 5 nicknames for the new Gold Coast team with the final choice to be announced in September:

Ironmen
Guards
Marlins
Rays
Stingrays

Sharks was ruled out to avoid confusion with Southport, Cronulla and Greg Norman.

I assume Bindi Irwin won't be the patron if they choose Stingrays?

In related news the WA teams have both announced name changes.

The West Coast Eagles will now be called The Pathetic Surrending Bastards while the Fremantle Dockers will be known as the Fucking Useless Bunch of Fucking Fuckwits.

I forgot to comment on the 'Eddie McGuire head of Celtic supporters club in Melbourne' story in your long post MA. I never imagined in a million years that he would have an afinity for soccer. Perhaps it's just because he's so pro-Collingwood that I think that.

Wasn't Eddie's father a Scottish migrant?

Eddie McGuire's father is, indeed, Scottish and a lifelong Celtic fan.

Despite the rivalry of the codes, there are quite a few prominent AFL types who love the round ball game and there's a fair amount of exchanging of ideas takes place between Melbourne Victory and the AFL clubs.

Collingwood and Melbourne Victory train practically side by side and the clubs seem to have built up a close working relationship. Ernie Merrick and his coaching staff have run coaching sessions for Collingwood as well as for St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs (there may be others I'm not aware of). The Bulldogs reciprocated a couple of seasons ago when Rodney Eade and Brad Johnson took a Victory session.

When Melbourne Victory reached the finals 2 seasons ago, both Collingwood's Nathan Buckley and Essendon's James Hird gave talks to the Victory players on how to cope with playing finals. Both players made a dash for the changing rooms immediately after Melbourne beat Adelaide 2-1. Hird, in fact, was a soccer player in his youth in Canberra - he didn't even play Aussie Rules until his early teens which might explain why he went at such a low draft pick before becoming one of the all time greats.

Ernie Merrick is a mate of Adelaide coach Neil Craig and both undertook that strange "second pre-season" experiment in 06/07. Many believe ramping up the training load near the end of the 2006 season cost Adelaide a flag. Was it just coincidence that they had so many injuries straight after? Melbourne Victory had a late season slump in form after they did the extra training.

Other AFL soccer fans:

Matthew Lloyd (Essendon) – grew up in Scotland, supports Aberdeen and is regularly seen at Melbourne Victory games.

David Schwarz (ex Melbourne) – now commentates for SEN and Seven. Is a Melbourne Victory member.

Brendan Fevola (Carlton) – my boss' son plays in the same indoor 5 a side team as Fev. He reckons Fev is the best player in the competition but he's "a bit physical" – I think a lot of opposition players are intimidated by his size and strength.

Fevola, of course, is only one of many AFL players with Greek or Italian heritage. Obviously, you can't assume they're all lovers of the round ball game but I know that St Kilda pair Leigh Montagna and Nick Dal Santo definitely are.

... And fitness coaches from Aussie Rules backgrounds may have contributed to Adelaide United's huge injury list last season, according to some...!

But you are right... the contempt and antagonism that kept the two codes miles apart in the old days is no longer there amongst the participants- despite the attitudes of some fans of both codes.

Gavin Wanganeen, now retired from AFL, plays amateur league soccer in Adelaide- and is really good, as you would expect (I always thought he looked and moved more like a soccer player than an aussie rules player.) Even in my playing days, I knew guys who swapped around from code to code, and were equally good at both.