Is any sport as obsessed with crowds as Football in Australia?
Is it just us or does it get a bit tiring every week to hear the players, coaches, commentators, and the FFA harp on about the crowds? Surely it is the football that counts. What other league in the world is so obsessed with the crowds? In fact what other sport is so obsessed?
Every team in the country will understandably say their fans are superb and the best, so if you are not going to get a new comment, why ask the question? Surely after seven years of A League football the players no longer have to pay homage in every interview to the fans. The crowds, as the FFA keep telling us, are up as too are the viewing figures, so let’s focus on the game, the thing everyone comes to see, and that everyone wants to talk about, the skill, the goals, the saves, the incidents, and yes on occasion, the referees.
It was embarrassing to watch on the news Melbourne Victory’s Archie Thompson interviewed about his late, late winner against Melbourne Heart a few weeks ago and two of the questions in the short interview were about the crowd! This was only the Victory’s second win over the Heart and it came in dramatic circumstances, surely there was more to talk about than the crowd? Next they will be asking about the hot dogs!
There is no doubt the players would rather talk about the game and be asked insightful questions by people who understand the ebb and flow of it as well as the subtleties that influence a game.
After seven seasons surely there is no longer a need to talk about crowds, it is time to educate those great fans who come through the turnstiles each week and give them more of what they want, information that is game related. It would also be paying the players, who entertain us all each week, a great deal more respect.
