{"id":18594,"date":"2015-11-22T12:17:43","date_gmt":"2015-11-22T02:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=18594"},"modified":"2015-11-29T12:22:37","modified_gmt":"2015-11-29T02:22:37","slug":"a-league-201516-round-7-a-new-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=18594","title":{"rendered":"A-League 2015\/16 Round 7 &#8211; A New Low"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tagfootball.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5928\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tagfootball.jpg\" alt=\"tagfootball\" width=\"600\" height=\"75\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tagfootball.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tagfootball-300x37.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/telegraphbanned.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18595\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/telegraphbanned.jpg\" alt=\"telegraphbanned\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/telegraphbanned.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/telegraphbanned-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MELBOURNE VICTORY 2 CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>BRISBANE ROAR 1 MELBOURNE CITY 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS 2 WELLINGTON PHOENIX 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>PERTH GLORY 0\u00a0SYDNEY FC 0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>ADELAIDE UNITED 0 NEWCASTLE JETS 0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Jamie Young Reminds Us Of The Early Jamie Young Days<\/strong><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">How&#8217;s your Monday? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ALeague?src=hash\">#ALeague<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xShvIL6o2u\">pic.twitter.com\/xShvIL6o2u<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Hyundai A-League (@ALeague) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ALeague\/status\/668625785662533633\">November 23, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Brisbane Roar&#8217;s run of clean sheets ended at 3 games as they drew 1-1 at home against an inconsistent Melbourne City side. \u00a0The game will largely be remembered for two gaffes from Roar keeper Jamie Young, the second of which directly resulted in the goal for City. Young had a horror start to his A-League career last season when a long term injury put first choice keeper Michael Theo out of action and thrust Young into the limelight. \u00a0He appeared visibly nervous, had a handful of howlers and famously got into an onfield arguement with team mate Shane Stefanutto after a loss to Wellington Phoenix. But over time, Young improved tenfold and cemented his place in the side. \u00a0He has already played a valuable hand this season but all of a sudden, the Jamie Young of old reared his head in this game. In the first half, Young had the ball in his hands and was ready for a clearance when he somehow slipped over and released the ball between his legs straight into the path of the Melbourne City players. \u00a0Fortunately for the Roar they scuffed the opportunity. \u00a0In the opening minutes of the second half Young drilled a goal kick straight into the back of defender Daniel Bowles and this time City made them pay with Novillo firing it into the back of the net from close range. The Roar salvaged a point when &#8211; who else? &#8211; Henrique came on and fulfilled his super sub duties, netting an equalizer ten minutes before the final whistle. After the game, coach John Aloisi bemoaned his former club&#8217;s &#8216;anti-football&#8217; tactics. \u00a0While the penalty count wasn&#8217;t outrageously high, it was notable that all five yellow cards that City picked up were for fouls on Brisbane Roar play maker Thomas Broich. \u00a0&#8216;If you can&#8217;t beat them, kick them in the shins&#8217; appears to be the Melbourne City philosophy. For City fans the result probably prolongs an ongoing frustration the club has with coach John vant Schip. \u00a0He doesn&#8217;t seem to be able to drive the club to any position better than midtable mediocrity but he always does seemingly just enough to stave off getting the axe.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News and Notes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>News Ltd launches an attack on Australian football<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_18597\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/alanjonesterrorist.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18597\" class=\"wp-image-18597 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/alanjonesterrorist.jpg\" alt=\"alanjonesterrorist\" width=\"730\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/alanjonesterrorist.jpg 730w, http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/alanjonesterrorist-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-18597\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screenshot of a Guardian article this week on radio host Alan Jones speculating whether football violence in Australia is comparable to the Paris terror attacks<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Australia is sometimes known as &#8216;the Lucky Country&#8217; and has a lot of positive qualities that make it the envy of many other nations. \u00a0The natural resources rich landscape has meant that the country has enjoyed an economic boom period for nearly two decades and the social fabric of modern Australia is an attractive multicultural mix of people from all walks of life and backgrounds, the majority of whom enjoy a comfortable\u00a0standard of living.<\/p>\n<p>As with any country however, there is also an ugly side. \u00a0There are people who aren&#8217;t so welcoming and whose attitudes have given Australia a reputation for being small minded racists who are unable and unwilling to adapt to the modern society\u00a0as it is today. \u00a0The 20% who clung to supporting former Prime Minister Tony Abbott when everyone else tired of his divisive, fear-mongering rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p>Most of these people are of an older generation who are shrinking in numbers and influence. \u00a0Even so, they are engaged in a culture war in Australia and this week, once again, football was lined up as a target.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative news media in Australia fears football as an alien, ethnic and &#8216;unAustralian&#8217; activity on a level that is almost impossible to appreciate until you&#8217;ve lived in the country and witnessed it first hand. \u00a0Over the weekend,\u00a0Rupert Murdoch&#8217;s <em>Sunday Telegraph<\/em> published a headline article titled &#8216;<em>BANNED &#8211; The 198 Louts Banned From Every Soccer Ground In This Country<\/em>&#8216;.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\"><p>\nKept this gem from last year.. Where are the Hooliganz really at? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BiasedMedia?src=hash\">#BiasedMedia<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WeAreFootball?src=hash\">#WeAreFootball<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Vm8dKHPbZc\">pic.twitter.com\/Vm8dKHPbZc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dan (@SFC_Danny) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SFC_Danny\/status\/668216196454420481\">November 21, 2015<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For as long as I can remember, during the football season, articles are written at length in the Murdoch press about hooliganism in the stands as if it were like the Eighties in England. \u00a0It&#8217;s an absurd dichotomy when compared with other Australian sporting codes like AFL which in recent seasons have had entire teams incriminated over drug use, a female spectator punched in the throat during a game and an Aboriginal player who was racially vilfied and booed so severely he quit the game. \u00a0In each of these instances, the press has leapt to the defence of AFL saying these incidents are &#8216;not representative of the game&#8217; and yet when it comes to football, the same journalists paint the A-League as a competition that is rife with\u00a0hooliganism. \u00a0For anyone who has attended a game, they would know it is laughably at odds with the actual atmosphere at the grounds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0The &#8216;BANNED&#8217; article from the Sunday Telegraph raised all sorts of alarm bells. \u00a0The article lists 198 people it has identified as hooligans with a photo and their full name printed beneath it. \u00a0The problem is, it is riddled with errors and written without context. \u00a0There are names mismatched with photos. \u00a0The FFA also\u00a0<em>doesn&#8217;t have an appeals process<\/em> so none of the 198 have had an opportunity to prove their innocence. \u00a0So they have effectively been charged and identified in one of the most widely read newspapers in Australia without any recourse. \u00a0There are people under 18 years old on that list. \u00a0There are people who have had their reputations tarnished and risk of losing their jobs who may have done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The worrying thing that we still don&#8217;t have the answer to is who leaked the list. \u00a0The FFA appear to have failed spectacularly in their responsibility to safeguard the personal details of any A-League season member (of which I am one of) and their response to the article attacking the integrity of football fans has been toothless, inept and completely unsatisfactory.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Silent <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ALeague\">@ALeague<\/a> protest by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MelbourneCity\">@MelbourneCity<\/a> fans at AAMI Park ahead of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MCYvPER?src=hash\">#MCYvPER<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GursGdEuJV\">pic.twitter.com\/GursGdEuJV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Brown (@BrownMatthewA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrownMatthewA\/status\/670160301438832640\">November 27, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The writer of the article Rebecca Wilson has been unmoved and unapologetic for what she has written. \u00a0Midweek she went onto conservative shock-jock Alan Jones&#8217; radio show where the two discussed the matter and Jones postulated that the lack of leadership by the FFA in tackling the matter <em>was comparable to the terror attacks in Paris<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0To be honest, most football fans aren&#8217;t\u00a0<em>that<\/em> concerned with the likes of Wilson and Jones. \u00a0As I wrote at the start of this article, they are a part of Australian society that has a loud voice but little influence. \u00a0Like a lot of other countries, print media is dying a rapid death in Australia and with it, the voices of shrill Murdoch goons. \u00a0But on the other hand, fans are reaching a breaking point with the FFA and their failure to support the people who are the very lifeblood of the A-League.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The existence of a domestic football league in Australia is not a guarantee. \u00a0The A-League is only eleven years old because the former competition &#8211; the NSL &#8211; collapsed due to administrative incompetence which lead to indifference from fans who abandoned the league. \u00a0There is a huge market for football in Australia. \u00a0The sport recently overtook netball and swimming as the most popular game for young girls in Australia. \u00a0It is one of the participated sports amongst adults with nearly 2 million regular players. \u00a0But there is a limit to the fan&#8217;s patience and in the last few years, the FFA has tested it close to breaking point. \u00a0Their unsatisfactory response to the Sunday Telegraph article might be a breaking point for some. \u00a0There is talk amongst some of the biggest supporter groups in the code boycotting matches in protest. \u00a0Attendance figures this season are already down and disillusionment with the game is at a high. \u00a0How will the custodians of the game &#8211; Steven Lowy, David Gallop and Damien de Bohun &#8211; respond?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dear <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FFA\">@FFA<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ALeague\">@ALeague<\/a> &#8211; why would we give you our details if you clearly can&#39;t protect them? Confidentiality gone. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/L6AWz1olPa\">pic.twitter.com\/L6AWz1olPa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ben Clark (@scouse_roar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/scouse_roar\/status\/668241521649410048\">November 22, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">How do confidential Police &amp; FFA files get leaked without the Police &amp; FFA cooperation. Im perplexed&#10;&#10;No accountability or natural justice<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; clr Steven Issa (@steven_issa) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/steven_issa\/status\/668205242014498816\">November 21, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It was relevent then and its relevent now <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FFA\">@FFA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nswpolice\">@nswpolice<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dailytelegraph\">@dailytelegraph<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/7NewsSydney\">@7NewsSydney<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WestSydney\">@WestSydney<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3TUd33eHsb\">pic.twitter.com\/3TUd33eHsb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; RBB Official (@RBB_net) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RBB_net\/status\/668253004584189953\">November 22, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">3 thoughts on today&#39;s front page Sunday Tele: 1 Still can&#39;t understand why no appeal process. Every court of law has an appeals process, no?<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam Peacock (@adampeacock3) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adampeacock3\/status\/668267166500655105\">November 22, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian media pundits draw direct comparisons between Australian football fans and terrorists in Paris<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[218,1237,111,2343,73,2342],"class_list":["post-18594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-a-league","tag-ffa","tag-football","tag-melbourne-city","tag-paris","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18594"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18613,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18594\/revisions\/18613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}