Opinion

[therealbenkatz-blog]

(Big Bada Ben)

[therealbenkatz-blog]

The toxic hypocrites of Aussie football

Australia have tumbled out of World Cup Russia 2018 registering just one point from 3 matches, falling bottom of the group.  Despite the World rankings clearly ranking Australia at 36 in the world (the highest since 2006) in comparison to Denmark 12, Peru 11 and France 7, the fickle deluded Australian fans are again whipping themselves up into an agro fervor pointing fingers at ‘who is to blame for this unacceptable failure?’ FFA apparently if the facebook feeds are anything to go by, we just love blaming those at the top don’t we, ignorantly skipping past the glaring facts.  

The one area the FFA needs to improve is investment in grassroots, the talent just isnt coming through anymore.  Daniel Arzani is one player and as exciting as his talent may be, he cant do it on his own.  We need a youth system similar to that of when the golden generation came through, NSL-like youth league, AIS development of young talent etc- The FFA Centre of Excellence was closed down in 2017 and we have not performed at any youth tournaments lately.  Fees for kids to play are astronomical while other nations in Asia, and around the world, invest in their youth molding them into stars of the future.  Future Australian prospects do not look good despite the national team and the Matildas continuing to qualify and represent Australia on the world stage. Its a waste of all the hard work and funding to not have the structure in place to capture and produce young passionate fans excited by the event which occurs only 1 month every 4 years... and there’s no guarantees we’ll qualify for the next one.

So who, if anyone, is to blame then?  Well lets be real, and not a bunch of spoiled entitled little brats who are so used to winning easy domestic sports (we invented because we were hopeless at football) we just assume this will translate to the biggest stage, and proceed throw a tantrum everytime we fail to giant-kill the top nations.  

1- Population? - we dont have it.  Top nations have the population and talent pools 

2- Grassroots investment? - no cigar

3- Passion? Football is still a 3rd tier sport whether we like it or not.  The egg-ball hand(not foot)ball codes are ingrained into our culture, and while the simulation and gamesmanship from other cultures continues, we are unlikely to win those fans over - they are all about showing how ‘tough’ they are, not diving and rolling around feigning injury to waste time.

4- Fairplay, the style of play our culture demands puts us at a disadvantage - like the English team, we will continue to get knocked out though frustrating circumstances like dives, poor refereeing decisions, favoritism, corruption and the unluckiest of deflections - a bitter pill to swallow with another massive 4 year campaign, thousands of kilometers to travel and matches to play in difficult conditions.

In todays social media information age, the most powerful voices are those from the media.  We talk about it in politics, Trump for example certainly lets his thoughts on the media be known.  Like the guy or not we all know how powerful  those media personalities and programs are, and their influence on public opinion.  In the case of Ange Postecoglou he reports his standing down from the national team is mostly due to the non stop criticisms and harassment of him and his family, despite fulfilling his mandates of - win the Asian Cup, qualify for the World Cup and regenerate the squad with a new generation of players - his attacking style was understood to be reflective of the Aussie culture and mentality, and his brave young players got the job done.  Instead of congratulating our first ever Aussie manager to achieve these feats, we tear him to shreds instead - pundits aka Craig Foster, Robbie Slater & Mark Bosnich - all who formed part of THAT 1997 squad who failed incredibly against Iran, the worst stain on our football history, are at the forefront of criticisms slagging off everything they possibly can about the manager & teams performance conveniently ignoring the massive challenges undertaken.  Now he has resigned, the likes of Craig Foster now echo his philosophies as opposed to criticizing them - ie ‘never take a step back,’... what a 2 faced kick in the guts.

Many new fans to the game dont have the insights of a purist who has played and been a fan of the game for a lifetime.  These fickle ‘fans’ are easily misguided and we have seen how quickly how a group think mentality can get out of hand with the disgraceful trolling of Robbie Kruse.  The fans should be looking in the mirror when looking for someone to blame.  We have seen the negative impact on teams like England and Argentina from unforgiving fans and pundits... and they are great footballing nations.  Australia are still minnows and our players need our support and encouragement, isn’t that was Aussie culture is supposed to be all about?  This behavior was witnessed worldwide - the fans should be ashamed, we will no undoubtedly be reminded of this disgusting behavior in the future. Congratulations - worst fans of 2018.

Craig Foster, Robbie Slater & Mark Bosnich - you are the problems not the  solution.  If you really want to make a difference.. Coach, contribute, mentor - you fence sitting hypocrites. Educate the public and promote a positive supportive culture for the fans to adopt, both to encourage grassroots participation but also provide the support our players and staff need for success on the stage of the worlds largest, and most difficult sporting tournament.

If you call yourself a proud Aussie that is...

[therealbenkatz-blog]

Craig Foster - Part of the problem, not the solution!

We have all heard the half time and full time rants of Craig Foster, disapproving of everyone and everything that has transpired since the outstanding success of our Golden Generation, first qualifying for the world cup after a 32 year hiatus from the world stage, and their fairytale journey into the knockout stage.

2006 since, SBS (and the bogan twins Bozza & Slater at Fox to be fair) has been winge after moan after sook after problem after ‘just not good enough,’ like a broken record of disapproval of everything about the Aussie game, ignorantly looking straight past the obvious realities.  

Me, as a fan and viewer, am sick to the teeth of it.  So much in fact Fozz has become a part of the problem, not the voice of some kind of football prophet he clearly sees himself as.  The constant negativity and disapproval has an effect on viewers, including many new fans to the game (after the 2006 triumph)  who don’t have that long term deep understanding of the game.  Constant bemoaning is echoed by fans of other codes and there we go, football is once again tarnished with an unwanted stigma, and ‘coincidentally’ crowd numbers drop, TV viewership drops and we’re all wondering what the hell happened.  Bloody negative media muppets happened thats what!  

We are seeing an increase of delusional expectations and criticisms of our top players as a result, punditry bordering on cringeworthy whinging like that seen in the UK... and as we see time and time again, British fans behaving badly, embarrassing their nation, and top players getting booed off the field.  Its no wonder many don’t even want to represent their nation, and/or are afraid to go anywhere near social media.  Instead of building them up with national pride, the British fans tear them down crushing their pride and self confidence .. its no wonder they haven’t succeeded at a World tournament since 1966, despite arguably hosting the worlds top league. Why on earth we want to be like them god only knows.  What happened to great Aussie spirit, encouragement, support, getting behind our players etc etc  

I’ve listened to Fozz on countless occasions waffling on about our sporting culture and translating that into the great game... whats good for the goose clearly is not good for the gander on SBS these days.. or maybe its the pent up frustration of never having qualified for the World Cup himself.  An ambassador for THAT game against Iran, and the silly excuses over a serial pest streaker. Whats more Aussie than a streaker at a World Cup qualifier?  You sir are not one to be criticizing this young squad who worked harder, and travelled farther than any other nation to qualify for this Cup in Russia.  They didn’t lose concentration at the final hurdle, like you and your mates Bosnich and Slater. They battled, persevered and ultimately triumphed in the end.  

You still seem to believe the world cup is a football academy and ramble on about development - NO the World Cup IS the pinnacle, the highlight for generations following to aspire to - we play our best team, put allour eggs in one basket, leave it all on the pitch, old or young, irrespective of what happens after - we play to win, leave our stamp on the world stage, full stop!

I recall Bosnich being labelled a terrible professional by Alex Ferguson, testing positive for cocaine at Chelsea, and refusing to represent the Green & Gold when called upon... has anyone else in any other sporting code in Australia turned their back on representing their nation? A real example for the rest of us to follow hey Bozza,  Every single player in this current 2018 squad is a greater professional, example and success story than these 3 stooges... and I for one am a fan.  A supporter... to the true meaning of the word - not a critic.

The late great Les Murray was loved by all, for his passion, while managing to remain impartial.  He understood his responsibility and impact on the football public with his commentary and remarks... the current ‘football analysts’ as they love to call themselves, do not.  They are like the fathers that never made it, who are living through the lives of their children, barking and carrying on like sideline lunatics at everyone along the way.

The current generation of Socceroos should be admired, and held in high esteem. They have elected to travel the tough road as Ange once said, and deserve that respect.  Any one of them could have easily achieved domestic success in another code. But their drive and passion for the world game have taken them on the hardest road there is, to the distant corners of the planet, scorching conditions in the middle east, ice and snow, hostile nations, war torn countries... you name it!  Only footballers endure these kinds of hardships when playing away, trying to qualify.  It seems only Ange Postecoglou understood this.  

Despite the controversial back 3, Ange lead a brave young squad, birthed a new, younger generation, auditioned them on the world stage enabling many signings to bigger clubs and leagues, and implemented (not just waffled on about it) a football strategy reflective of our sporting culture. He has built the foundation to a squad that will be peaking 2022, and in Qatar we may see the boys reach the heights of 2006. His mandates - win the Asian cup, qualify for the World Cup.. tick, tick!  And the first Aussie manager to do it!  All the way under stinging criticism from Fozz & his croneys, their sentiments being echoed through the football fraternities, into living rooms, schools, football clubs etc etc  Armed with new juicy criticisms straight from King Troll himself, cue the online social media troll onslaught, attacking our best young players for not being as good as Messi - despite their outstanding achievements.  

And then what happens after qualifying?... leaving us all gobsmacked...  Ange steps down just months before the Cup, blaming the unrelenting attacks on him and the effect of it on his family... leaving us in this bloody mess, and again the ranting and raving of football philosophies and blah blah blah from our lovely ‘analysts.’ 

Bloody good job you muppets - Fozz, Bozz and Slater you twats need to take a good old look in the mirror if you are looking for someone to blame.  “Ange needs a stronger back bone I hear you say,”... maybe, but he clearly doesn’t, and now here we are!  Would we have lost 4-1 to Norway with Ange? I doubt it. 

Fact: The boys are not all playing week in week out in the EPL, Serie A, Eredivisie & La Liga like the 2006 squad, get real!  We need to encourage, support our talent, and help to build the game at home, like our great Aussie sporting culture is world renowned for.

And Fozz, mate, coach, do something about it, if you are the expert of all things football! Or go back to reading the cricket and AFL scores on the 6 o’clock news, grease your own pocket & keep your criticisms between you and your posse of failed World Cup campaigners - we are sick of your hypocritical bloody whinging and moaning!..especially at 3am tired AF after sweet FA sleep!