Frank Farina tells NRL, AFL told to grow up over Cup bid

[Coaster]

Rugby League could use this to our advantage, we should help promote the Cup bid, and we should take our chunk of season to places like New Zealand, PNG, Fiji ect promote our code in the places we never can.

This could possibly be the greatest gift we could have had, we just need to use it to our advantage.

The AFL do not have the luxury to take there game anywhere other then Melbourne, they are not used to small crowds, low gate attendances and also have need of a friggin small town to play it on.

I do not even watch soccer, but used right this will shrink the so called war chest of the southern shame, and give us in return a bounty of new stadia to play from.

We do not need to stop our season, just every team will have about 6 away games in a row, at most the teams would lose about 3 home games over the season. Not too much to if you think about the rewards.

advantages:
1. New Stadia
2. Chance to take our game to countries we could invest in
3. New markets
4. Shrink AFL war chest
5. Stab those merkins in the heart
6. Block all AFL for weeks at a time


Bring it on i say, this has the power to change the balance of power as far as sporting codes go in this country.

 

[Ulysseus]

Frank Farina can apply a liberal amount of suction to my balls.
That is all.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

reason why people would go to the games i guess is just to get drunk and make trouble

Surely you are just a troll.

 

[juanfarkall]

Here's a gift for Frank.

 

[Nuke]

according to the bookmakers we're 3rd favourites for 2018 (behind england & spain/portugal) & most "experts" reckon we have a better chance in 2022 .

Great, that gives me a tad over 12 years to save up enough money to get out of the country for a few weeks. If the NRL goes on and plays a 'Magic' weekend or two in NZ (like what the ESL does in places like Cardiff and Edinburgh, ect), then I'll probably go there.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

I would have no problem with the season being suspended or moved to suburban or international grounds, but I am concerned for State of Origin. Fix that and Ill support the bid.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

I would have no problem with the season being suspended or moved to suburban or international grounds, but I am concerned for State of Origin. Fix that and Ill support the bid.

I could live with State of Origin being played at season's end for a couple of years. Be nice after a season to see if we get a team picked on form.

 

[taipan]

Memo to Frank,learn how to drive a vehicle responsibly(hic),before lecturing to anyone else about what a code should or should not do.
Rub other codes the wrong way is great way to get people on side.
Provided the NRL are compensated more than adequately ,so that all NRL clubs survive,and the SOO series is not affected I could handle that.
Else the FFA can get well and truly knotted,shown by the arrogance shown by soccer writers(including Craig Foster and Frank 2 strikes Farina).

 

[Edwahu]

Frankys effort has nothing on this one:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/other-codes-need-to-get-real-20091212-kpik.html

 

[Green Machine]

Today, Fozzy put together a better bitch than Cranky Franky:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/other-codes-need-to-get-real-20091212-kpik.html

Other codes need to get real
CRAIG FOSTER

December 13, 2009
COUNTRIES the world over throw every available resource into the battle for an often forlorn dream of hosting the greatest sporting festival on earth. So most of them will be wondering how prosperous Australia, which professes to be a sports-loving nation, can somehow conspire to allow sports that so few actually play to obstruct grand plans to host the FIFA World Cup.
Imagine for a moment the bemusement in China or Spain, Portugal or Brazil, England or Russia, even throughout Asia, where Australia's sporting and commercial destiny lies, at the situation where codes played by a fraction of the number of Australians who play football - leaving aside for now the scale of the game internationally - may somehow in their public posturing actually lessen the chances of gaining the cup.
This is, thankfully, highly unlikely and Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy will no doubt be assuring the 24 FIFA executive members of the inconsequential nature of last week's comments emanating from inconsequential sports. Even though the brouhaha was the result of what were measured utterances, with general agreement across all codes that the World Cup will benefit the nation, the issue did serve to once again highlight the myopic view that says AFL or rugby league are in any way capable of fulfilling the international ambitions of this country.
In Australia, the world game is a rising tide that will ultimately engulf all before it, and the World Cup is a quadrennial turbine that drives tremendous energy and passion for football on a regular cycle. To use the terminology of the times, it's a ''clean'' energy consistent with our 21st-century considerations, largely free of the massive cultural and behavioural baggage of other sports. It's the perfect game at the perfect time for a country seeking to present a fresh, dynamic face to the world.
The issue around Etihad Stadium brings to mind an image of Andrew Demetriou sitting atop the ground waving an AFL flag as the football tsunami washes in from all around the country - a last stand on Etihad hill, a picture for primary school history texts.
Football fans perhaps would mind less if the global game was a minnow domestically. But with football now leading the country in participant numbers - now officially the national sport - and the passion shown by Australians in 2006 - which is bound to be magnified next year - it seems the ground has shifted around the handball codes, yet they are the last to grasp the new reality.
If it's money they want, give it to them, because the prize at stake has nothing to do with commercial revenue or one code taking on another. It's to do with making a statement to the world about who we are in the new century.
We are growing up, moving beyond the ''Mediterranean Descendant ball and divers'' navel-gazing paradigm into a world where the game is respected and understood for what it is: a mix of extraordinary skill and passion; a whole-of-life game that can be enjoyed for many years; the game played by everyone, everywhere.
Maturity means that now Australians can distinguish between the inherent beauty of the game and the disgraceful way some nations wish to interpret its rules, because through football the world's cultures are reflected: though this may surprise many in codes with no requirement for a passport, not everyone plays like us, and nor should they.
Those ''Mediterranean Descendants'' who brought the game to these shores and nurtured it through decades of oppression by media organisations infused with the ''biff and barge'' mentality are now seeing their children truly become a part of the rich fabric of Australian life. This life will increasingly be centred on playing football and supporting the Socceroos.
If Lowy wishes to contextualise the issue for FIFA's executive members, most of whom will have no clue about a game they have never seen, he could simply direct them to Wikipedia. It states that, in the absence of any meaningful internationalisation of the code, the AFL is ''the de facto world governing body''. Cue football fans breaking into uncontrollable laughter.

I got a good laugh too Fozzy. Soccer, not only the national sport, but the carbon neutral sport. Smells like methane to me Fozzy

 

[Kiki]

soccer is the most boring thing in the entire world. it makes rugby union look exciting.

 

[beave]

"In Australia, the world game is a rising tide that will ultimately engulf all before it, and the World Cup is a quadrennial turbine that drives tremendous energy and passion for football on a regular cycle. To use the terminology of the times, it's a ''clean'' energy consistent with our 21st-century considerations, largely free of the massive cultural and behavioural baggage of other sports."

Whatever drug Foster is on, give me some please.

 

[$$Poor Boy Blues$$]

Today, Fozzy put together a better bitch than Cranky Franky:

I got a good laugh too Fozzy. Soccer, not only the national sport, but the carbon neutral sport. Smells like methane to me Fozzy

You got a good laugh, eh.

He's right. You see, on so many levels, he nails it. I think he was being metaphorical where you were being literal. He's conveyed a powerful message.

Move over, worm.

And more power to them. We exist in a world of many powers and colours.

I am not going to go on about soccer on a rugby league forum, as many seem to do to the negative, but suffice to say there is a reason why its the world game - and thats not
because they don't know about rugby league yet.

Deep down everyone is trying to help without being engulfed its just that the media is beating it up.

There's a few more stories in this one yet; and indeed so should we move over.

Oh sh*t, forgot to add "with all due respect" for each and every one of you sooks out there reading this.

Its a many faceted world, and there are bigger fish than us. Nows not the time to hunt. Its time to smile politely, believe in our game and support it as I see we are doing at NRL HQ. And enjoy soccer for what it is.

 

[Danish]

Not in Australia mate

Australias 4 world cup games out rated any nrl or afl game ever on tv, and they were mostly on in the wee hours of the morning.

At club level soccer is a minnow in oz. At international level it wipes the floor of both league and afl in australia

 

[$$Poor Boy Blues$$]

"In Australia, the world game is a rising tide that will ultimately engulf all before it, and the World Cup is a quadrennial turbine that drives tremendous energy and passion for football on a regular cycle. To use the terminology of the times, it's a ''clean'' energy consistent with our 21st-century considerations, largely free of the massive cultural and behavioural baggage of other sports."

Whatever drug Foster is on, give me some please.

I did not include a comment on this in the above post because its an opinion - but with a caveat.

Look at how the world cup took everyone last time round. It was our first time, yes. But thats the thing - what a comp.

God help us all if soccer ever reaches a better level here at home (limited to a degree as we all know it is due to economics). Because I think you will find more internationals will become bigger here. And soccer has more momentum than Union ever will to capture peoples imaginations.

Its a real sport with MAJOR WIDESPREAD appeal.

Thats what foster is talking about. Are you people so thick? [you're not]

People stayed up watching us take on Japan, etc, we got up early to watch uraguy flog us 4 years earlier, and most big internationalss flog league and afl ratings hands down. We hung on every pass and attempted shot. League and Union never does that. And IMHO, a huge league supporter not xenophobic or insecure, I have never felt as heat-stopped as watching big soccer matches. Even more than Origin. I'm no traitor - I just don't hold down my emotions and I ride them, not suppress them. Life's too short to taste one kind of food.

Sure, ones a marriage, and the other is a hot f**k, but you get it. Soccer is great and should not be down trodden just because we are insecure about previously leaching rugby league clubs who have not stepped up to the plate for so long.

 

[Loudstrat]

Australias 4 world cup games out rated any nrl or afl game ever on tv, and they were mostly on in the wee hours of the morning.

At club level soccer is a minnow in oz. At international level it wipes the floor of both league and afl in australia

Yeah? Soccer is bigger at the international level than AFL? Really? Gee thanx Einstein.

BTW - fishing is bigger than both of them. Maybe we should bid for the fishing world cup final.

 

[Perth Red]

just watched "highlights" from yesterdays A league games. No wonder no one goes to watch it. One guy shot a ball 20 yards over the cross bar from 10 yards out!

 

[MsStorm]

I will definitely be watching the Socceroos during the WC...there's no denying they appeal to many Australians, but as far as their domestic comp. is concerned, its standard is fairly poor.
Their biggest problem is retaining good quality players here in Australia cos of the big $$$$'s offered overseas.

 

[Brutus]

Socceroos during the World Cup is interesting. Apart from that though, soccer is a complete bore as can be seen by the pitiful ratings it gets on tv and the poor crowds on a weekly basis in Australia.

Craig Foster is an extremist tool who does his code no favours whatsoever. He certainly knows how to make people laugh though.

 

[Danish]

Yeah? Soccer is bigger at the international level than AFL? Really? Gee thanx Einstein.

I was responding to a direct assertion that the AFL (and NRL) is bigger than the soccer world cup, even in this country.

Its simply not true, and is laughable to even suggest that either sport can even approach it.

BTW - fishing is bigger than both of them. Maybe we should bid for the fishing world cup final.

Really?

Is there a fishing world cup watched by billions around the world? I had no idea...