Posts Tagged: Association Football

NFL American Football — Comments Off
11
Dec 09

The AFL Frowns Upon Your World Cup Shenanigans

FOOTY! WHAT!?God, I love Australia. Nowhere else in the world will you find so many football codes constantly warring with each other for the hearts and minds of the people. How many epic pub brawls have started over rugby league fans calling Aussie rules a girl’s game, or vice versa? The world may never know, and more’s the pity.

The latest battle in the Aussie Football Wars, however, won’t be fought over beers. Lost amidst the massive English and American bids for the 2018 World Cup is the fact that Australia would like to host FIFA’s big show, too, because soccer is growing down under, too.

And guess what? The AFL and NRL aren’t giving up their stadiums for your girl’s game. Oh, no.

See, unlike England and America, Australia has not one, but two major pro football leagues in season in June and July, and those leagues aren’t too keen on giving up some of their stadiums in the middle of the season. Sure, the World Cup might be the biggest sporting event on the planet and might bring unprecedented tourism dollars to Australia. That won’t stop the AFL and NRL from looking at it as a not only a huge shot in the arm to the competition, but a massive pain in the ass.

Perhaps if Football Federation Australia really wants to follow through on its darkhorse bid, it should start considering some new construction. Melbourne Cricket Ground can fit 100,000 people, but for a soccer game, they’ll all be about half a mile away from the action. Imagine paying the GDP of Slovenia for front row seats to the World Cup Final, only to find your view is partially obstructed by that bench 20 yards in front of you.

As much as I’d love to see the World Cup return to the States, I’m now hoping Australia does get it soon, if only to see just how ugly and bitter the Aussie Football Wars can get. I can’t wait to see the AFL devise ways to lure packs of Brazilians and Ivorians down to Docklands. “We’ll show ya some real footy, mates!” The resulting confusion alone might make for great television.

(Spotted on Pitch Invasion.)

NFL American Football — Comments Off
8
Dec 09

USL Declares These Bitches Better Have Its Money

The news last week that the Rochester Rhinos had decided to join the breakaway North American Soccer League had most of us believing that this new league might stand a decent chance of happening. A USL stalwart like Rochester wouldn’t leave unless it felt league certification from the US Soccer Federation was in the bag, right?

Not if those bitter old bastards at NuRock have anything to say about it, apparently.

According to Canadian soccer blog The 24th Minute, the USSF held meetings with representatives from the USL and NASL, and the USL continued to insist that several NASL clubs were contractually obligated to play in the USL in 2010. One source claimed that the USL was “threatening to sue everyone at the table” if the NASL was certified.

In essence, a USL representative walked into the room and shouted, “BITCH BETTA HAVE MY MONEY!”

This should give you some idea of how much USL actually cares about soccer in America. It doesn’t. The people in charge of this show only want to get paid, and anyone who has any funny ideas of creating a league where club owners have some say in how the league works should be forced out of business for insubordination. These people would rather destroy second-division soccer in America than let any of these clubs be free to decide how they want their league to operate. That might give you some idea of how much money the USL was raking in from this “business model” of theirs.

This is bad news for several of the NASL’s breakaway clubs — especially Carolina, Miami and Minnesota, who led this charge in the first place. If the USSF decides not to certify the NASL, that would force several clubs reportedly under contract to play the 2010 USL-1 season. Several more would end up sitting out 2010 all together, either by choice or by USL lockout. That would undo all the good work the Carolina Railhawks did in putting a good team together last season, and it might force the Minnesota Thunder to shut its doors for good.

On the other hand, all this might do is delay the inevitable. Any clubs forced back into USL for 2010 would be certain to avoid any contractual obligations to USL in 2011. That might give the NASL the time it needs to ramp up properly and build a worthwhile league.

But would that be too late? This is a World Cup year, after all, which means more attention on soccer in America. What happens when potential fans look at what’s going on below MLS and find out just how much of a joke it really is?

USL isn’t thinking about what’s good for the game. It’s thinking about what’s good for its bank account, and we’re all starting to realize it always has. Enjoy that CREAM, fellas, and thanks for nothing.

UDPATE (12/09): USL has filed its first lawsuit, claiming the Rhinos, Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore are in breach of contract. Clearly, they don’t care what anybody thinks of them anymore.

General / NFL American Football — Comments Off
4
Dec 09

Your 2010 FIFA World Cup Draw

GROUP A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

GROUP B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

GROUP C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

GROUP D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

GROUP E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

GROUP F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

GROUP G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

GROUP H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

My initial thoughts:

  • I was fully expecting the USA to get the Group of Death after drawing England early, but it’s actually not bad. Slovenia will be tougher than we think — they did knock off Russia to get here, after all — but advancing to the knockout round does seem a little more possible than it did a few weeks ago.
  • Group G is the Group of Death this year. Brazil, Ivory Coast & Portugal in one group? It’s enough to make you want to see Cristiano Ronaldo cry. Again. (Note from Brian Phillips of The Run of Play: “I really want to know how Group G is going to be written up in the North Korean state media.”)
  • If Argentina fails to advance from Group B, the Church of Maradona will get torched. By its followers.
  • Spain and Italy are stone cold locks to advance, and France will probably get through in spite of itself.

So there it is. We have six months to talk about this before it actually happens. What do you blog readers think of this?

General / NFL American Football — Comments Off
4
Dec 09

World Cup Mascot Zakumi Has a Message For Us

Zakumi is packing heat.

NFL American Football — Comments Off
1
Dec 09

Spot Kicks: Youth Football Looks Awesome

Meet Nyrel Sevilla. He’s six years old, and he’s here to knock your sorry ass into next week, bitch. And unlike Ben Roethlisberger, he’ll never have any trouble playing with a concussion.

Here’s a quick glance at some other stories worth reading:

  • The Saskatchewan Roughriders lost the Grey Cup when Montreal’s missed field goal was negated by Calgary having too many men on the field. Montreal made their second field goal attempt, and the quest is on to scapegoat the 13th man. [Canada.com]
  • Hines Ward’s comments on concussions makes the Steelers look far worse than they’ve looked on the field lately. [The Sporting Blog]
  • Merrill Hoge has a slightly different take on concussions. [NFL FanHouse]
  • Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore wants to kick your filthy pirate ass off the Internet for using Justin.TV to watch Stoke v. Burnley. Don’t expect him to offer a legal alternative anytime soon. [Techdirt]
  • Can legal gambling and football co-exist in the wake of match-fixing scandals? [Pitch Invasion]
  • Grahame Jones lays into the FIFA executive committee, calls them “rogues and villains,” tells us nothing we didn’t already know and can’t really change. [L.A. Times]
  • Lionel Messi wins the Ballon d’Or. Predicting the sunrise was tougher than predicting that. [The Offside]
  • MLS will give commissioner Don Garber a sweet contract extension on one condition: he gets the new collective bargaining agreement done during the offseason. Any more grenades y’all wanna toss on that powderkeg, MLS owners? [WVHooligan]
  • The Rochester Rhinos have bolted USL for the new NASL. This is rather big, and I will write more about it very soon. [Triangle Offense]

And since this site still has extensive links that cover football’s origins and evolution, here are a couple of interesting pieces about that.

  • Aston Villa pays tribute to William McGregor, the Scotsman who came up with the idea of a “football league” back in 1886. I’d say that idea was a success. [BBC]
  • Here’s another look back at the gridiron game a century ago, when nobody wore any padding and players were killed regularly. Hines Ward would have loved it. [Every Day Should Be Saturday]
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