North, south, east or west, we're premiers over here
Monday, 18 December 06, 07:08 AM · Comments(1)
Melbourne tonight sealed top of the league with a 4-0 win over the New Zealand Knights, a performance that involved some disjointed football to begin with, but exploded with four goals in the
thirteen minutes before half time. You can read a match report here, and see video
highlights of the match here.
The most pleasing aspect of the match was the involvement of the crowd. Back at Olympic Park because of a Robbie Williams concert at Telstra Dome, the 15,000 odd fans made noise like the 50,000 that had been at the dome for the Sydney FC game last week. The fans entertained themselves during the second half as New Zealand went about damage limitation. The North, East, South and West sides of the ground doing the chanting equivalent of a Mexican wave. It was a magical moment for club football in this country, showing just how united and involved Melbourne’s fans were. It was intoxicating, and the sort of moment the club will recall fondly for years to come. However, it was also a moment that rose out of adversity last week. The main point of contention from the week was the treatment of Melbourne in the media, after a post-match incident from the Sydney FC game in which police had to use capsicum spray to disperse fans. Without having seen the incident, I can’t verify the claims of either side: bystanders to a so-called riot saying that they copped the spray and the bad attitude of police to boot despite having committed no wrongdoing, or similarly, smug police representatives claiming nobody was hurt in the incident. What I can comment on though was the treatment of this “riot” by certain sections of the media.
Before today’s game the main supporter groups at the Swan Street end of the ground (also known as the North End, who sit at the Coventry end when at Telstra Dome) linked arms and turned their backs to the field. Standing in complete silence, the entire Swan Street end was still silent even as the players walked out onto the field and exchanged handshakes. They had turned back around in time for kickoff. The protest was regarding the treatment of the Victory and football in the media during the week. Foxtel commentator Simon Hill mentioned the cause of the protest during the broadcast of the match. You can read the thread that inspired the protest here.
The centrepiece of the media controversy was this story aired last week after the Sydney FC game on National 9 News, featuring Sean Sowerby, portrayed as a simple witness to the police incident. What has raised the ire of the club and fans is that Sowerby is a radio producer for radio station 3AW. AW, a talkback station and ratings leader, is part of the Southern Cross broadcasting network, who are also the parents of SEN 1116, the network that broadcast Victory games. However, fans firmly believe that 3AW, with their heavy reliance on Australian Football for winter ratings, is anti-soccer, and Sowerby was a “plant” on the lookout for a negative spin to hurt Melbourne’s positive PR from the 50,000 crowd. How footage of the “riot” came to hand is still unknown. Some fans believe 3AW must cater to the majority of their audience and discredit soccer, because of soccer’s ties to ethnic groups in the past, and multiculturalism now (Melbourne Victory having united all of Melbourne’s ethnic groups under the harmonious tag of both Australians and Melbournians). Still, no documentation is evident to prove the conspiracy theory. Although it appears unethical to have presented Sowerby as a fan, the reality is that all the facts are not out in the open, and although some recourse (a Press Council challenge) is open the club, starting a war with two of the biggest broadcasting networks in the nation (Southern Cross and Channel 9) could be a lose-lose situation, regardless of who’s moral mountain is highest at the end. Darkening the conspiracy theory about Sowerby being a “plant” was a thread posted by “hamo” on the Melbourne Victory forum. Although it’s now been deleted, this post on the media manager’s board sums up an unsavoury incident he had with 3AW management.
Even if Sowerby was simply at the game as a fan and offered his comments with no strings attached, the Victory administration and fans are obviously unhappy about the negative TV story. While the protest today was visually impressive, a banner was erected calling 3AW, Channel 9 and newspaper the Herald Sun an ‘axis of evil’. It’s something I see as a bad move in terms of integrating Melbourne Victory and football deeper into the fabric of Australian society. Some fans have given up and said “this is war”, I disagree. Fans said exactly the same thing about the AFL and the code rivalry between Aussie Rules and Football (soccer). However a poll I started on the Melbourne Victory forum showed that from a representative sample, almost 30% of Victory members are also members of an AFL club. Even the spiritual (and I believe actual) leader of Collingwood’s cheer squad “Joffa” is somebody who has been won over by the Victory. The fans have to work their way into the good books of the media, rather than stoke the fire and create further hostility.
No flares were set off at tonight’s game, that is a great start. If people don’t go and stand outside Gate 7 to ‘welcome’ visiting fans after our next home game, it’ll be another step in the right direction. The fewer negative incidents fans create, the harder it will be for any institution to put a negative spin on the team’s achievements. Let’s be honest here, the toughest media battle the Victory will have hasn’t even started. Asian Champions League group stage games will take place in direct competition with AFL season during 2008…as far as I’m concerned this club has 15 months to win favour with every media institution so we aren’t relegated to 2nd banana when we’re playing in the continental championship.
Anyway, it’s the Christmas break in the A-League for now, and all the action will resume in about 2 weeks. Make sure you’re back on OleOle next weekend for my predictions as to how the remaining four rounds of the season will play out, and which teams will capture the vital positions in the final four, as well as any further news from the Victory.
The most pleasing aspect of the match was the involvement of the crowd. Back at Olympic Park because of a Robbie Williams concert at Telstra Dome, the 15,000 odd fans made noise like the 50,000 that had been at the dome for the Sydney FC game last week. The fans entertained themselves during the second half as New Zealand went about damage limitation. The North, East, South and West sides of the ground doing the chanting equivalent of a Mexican wave. It was a magical moment for club football in this country, showing just how united and involved Melbourne’s fans were. It was intoxicating, and the sort of moment the club will recall fondly for years to come. However, it was also a moment that rose out of adversity last week. The main point of contention from the week was the treatment of Melbourne in the media, after a post-match incident from the Sydney FC game in which police had to use capsicum spray to disperse fans. Without having seen the incident, I can’t verify the claims of either side: bystanders to a so-called riot saying that they copped the spray and the bad attitude of police to boot despite having committed no wrongdoing, or similarly, smug police representatives claiming nobody was hurt in the incident. What I can comment on though was the treatment of this “riot” by certain sections of the media.
Before today’s game the main supporter groups at the Swan Street end of the ground (also known as the North End, who sit at the Coventry end when at Telstra Dome) linked arms and turned their backs to the field. Standing in complete silence, the entire Swan Street end was still silent even as the players walked out onto the field and exchanged handshakes. They had turned back around in time for kickoff. The protest was regarding the treatment of the Victory and football in the media during the week. Foxtel commentator Simon Hill mentioned the cause of the protest during the broadcast of the match. You can read the thread that inspired the protest here.
The centrepiece of the media controversy was this story aired last week after the Sydney FC game on National 9 News, featuring Sean Sowerby, portrayed as a simple witness to the police incident. What has raised the ire of the club and fans is that Sowerby is a radio producer for radio station 3AW. AW, a talkback station and ratings leader, is part of the Southern Cross broadcasting network, who are also the parents of SEN 1116, the network that broadcast Victory games. However, fans firmly believe that 3AW, with their heavy reliance on Australian Football for winter ratings, is anti-soccer, and Sowerby was a “plant” on the lookout for a negative spin to hurt Melbourne’s positive PR from the 50,000 crowd. How footage of the “riot” came to hand is still unknown. Some fans believe 3AW must cater to the majority of their audience and discredit soccer, because of soccer’s ties to ethnic groups in the past, and multiculturalism now (Melbourne Victory having united all of Melbourne’s ethnic groups under the harmonious tag of both Australians and Melbournians). Still, no documentation is evident to prove the conspiracy theory. Although it appears unethical to have presented Sowerby as a fan, the reality is that all the facts are not out in the open, and although some recourse (a Press Council challenge) is open the club, starting a war with two of the biggest broadcasting networks in the nation (Southern Cross and Channel 9) could be a lose-lose situation, regardless of who’s moral mountain is highest at the end. Darkening the conspiracy theory about Sowerby being a “plant” was a thread posted by “hamo” on the Melbourne Victory forum. Although it’s now been deleted, this post on the media manager’s board sums up an unsavoury incident he had with 3AW management.
Even if Sowerby was simply at the game as a fan and offered his comments with no strings attached, the Victory administration and fans are obviously unhappy about the negative TV story. While the protest today was visually impressive, a banner was erected calling 3AW, Channel 9 and newspaper the Herald Sun an ‘axis of evil’. It’s something I see as a bad move in terms of integrating Melbourne Victory and football deeper into the fabric of Australian society. Some fans have given up and said “this is war”, I disagree. Fans said exactly the same thing about the AFL and the code rivalry between Aussie Rules and Football (soccer). However a poll I started on the Melbourne Victory forum showed that from a representative sample, almost 30% of Victory members are also members of an AFL club. Even the spiritual (and I believe actual) leader of Collingwood’s cheer squad “Joffa” is somebody who has been won over by the Victory. The fans have to work their way into the good books of the media, rather than stoke the fire and create further hostility.
No flares were set off at tonight’s game, that is a great start. If people don’t go and stand outside Gate 7 to ‘welcome’ visiting fans after our next home game, it’ll be another step in the right direction. The fewer negative incidents fans create, the harder it will be for any institution to put a negative spin on the team’s achievements. Let’s be honest here, the toughest media battle the Victory will have hasn’t even started. Asian Champions League group stage games will take place in direct competition with AFL season during 2008…as far as I’m concerned this club has 15 months to win favour with every media institution so we aren’t relegated to 2nd banana when we’re playing in the continental championship.
Anyway, it’s the Christmas break in the A-League for now, and all the action will resume in about 2 weeks. Make sure you’re back on OleOle next weekend for my predictions as to how the remaining four rounds of the season will play out, and which teams will capture the vital positions in the final four, as well as any further news from the Victory.
Like this blog? Help spread the word: 
0
-
AusTeo
Melbourne, AU
This is the regular column for the Melbourne Victory of Australia. The Victory is currently defending the A-League title and will play Asian Champions League at the end of the domestic campaign. There will also be the odd comment about the fortunes of the Australian national team.
1 Comments · Add yours
congrats teo. well done to your boys.