looking fr a decent barney on the telly tomorrow? BT sport at 0945 has the Sydney derby.

The quality may not be top league standard, but there will be no doubting the passion of this one, fueled by comments like this from the Sydney captain

 

“We go out there, and I’ve told the boys previously in games, we hate every single one of them."

 

yaaas....heid first

On 14/12/2024 at 22:03, Jute said:

Being played in 30,000 capacity stadium but stadium isn’t even a third full. Any atmosphere being generated by fans is just lost. 

Problem is these games are being played in Rugby League stadiums. The NRL attracts decent crowds. Despite football being huge at junior level in Australia and NZ, the A League still struggles with attendances. I don't know the answer to it, and suspect Auckland attendances will fall away to around 10k once their crazy run ends 

On 16/12/2024 at 18:57, Reekie_Red said:

Problem is these games are being played in Rugby League stadiums. The NRL attracts decent crowds. Despite football being huge at junior level in Australia and NZ, the A League still struggles with attendances. I don't know the answer to it, and suspect Auckland attendances will fall away to around 10k once their crazy run ends 

I mean a lot of folk are euro snobs and look down on the league. The only thing that seems to attract them are big name players, which cost the league more and don’t actually bring much. It’s a very congested market, that’s for sure. They need to up their fan engagement though.

EPL and Champions League are rammed down our throats by the Aussie and Kiwi media, particularly the EPL. Here in NZ, sports headlines regularly get dominated by Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and whoever Chris Woods is playing for at the time. 

Go to any A-League game and, whilst you'll see a LOT of home tops, you will also see a wide sprinkling of tops from across Europe ... I wore my scotland top to the last Auckland FC game as it's the only blue sports top I own. 

But what I'm eventually getting at is football is "liked" over here. It's not loved like it is back home, and that's reflected in the crowds. It is still a pro sport in its infancy here, there's no "my father's father was a season ticket holder" situations yet, and whilst there is an element of die-hard fans who love going for a good ol sing-song, the majority "like football" and go along to games when it's fashionable to do so. 

2 hours ago, Reekie_Red said:

EPL and Champions League are rammed down our throats by the Aussie and Kiwi media, particularly the EPL. Here in NZ, sports headlines regularly get dominated by Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and whoever Chris Woods is playing for at the time. 

Go to any A-League game and, whilst you'll see a LOT of home tops, you will also see a wide sprinkling of tops from across Europe ... I wore my scotland top to the last Auckland FC game as it's the only blue sports top I own. 

But what I'm eventually getting at is football is "liked" over here. It's not loved like it is back home, and that's reflected in the crowds. It is still a pro sport in its infancy here, there's no "my father's father was a season ticket holder" situations yet, and whilst there is an element of die-hard fans who love going for a good ol sing-song, the majority "like football" and go along to games when it's fashionable to do so. 

You should start up the Auckland soccer causals and start kicking fuck out of people in the name of passion. 

Scratching ASC on walls all over the place. Ah great days!

Sydney v Melbourne Victory been decent despite the red card. Sydney not putting game away until towards the end. Better crowd and atmosphere today. 

On 28/12/2024 at 23:42, Jute said:

Sydney v Melbourne Victory been decent despite the red card. Sydney not putting game away until towards the end. Better crowd and atmosphere today. 

The “big blue” as it’s known (they love their derbies in the a league) usually delivers. 
 

Need victory to start stepping up though, there is a real danger that Auckland are going to win at the first time of asking 😭🤮

Melbourne City making hard work of beating bottom of the league Brisbane. 
 

Just as I type this they go 1-0 up. 

1 hour ago, Jute said:

Melbourne City making hard work of beating bottom of the league Brisbane. 
 

Just as I type this they go 1-0 up. 

City have been savaged by injuries of late, but have a very good youth setup (as you would expect from the city group). 

Nix have made sure they’ve continued their shite form and luck this season. 

Not seen a Wellington game so far. Sydney v Central Coast on in back ground just now. 1-1 and can see why both teams are mid table. Perth v Auckland is on later and might watch that as -3 outside just now. 

10 hours ago, Jute said:

Not seen a Wellington game so far. Sydney v Central Coast on in back ground just now. 1-1 and can see why both teams are mid table. Perth v Auckland is on later and might watch that as -3 outside just now. 

Thank fuck the long distance still paid dividends and gave Perth a victory. A few ex nix boys amongst their ranks too. 
 

you’re not missing anything by not watching us this season Jute 😂 will be heading to our midweek game against Sydney. Return of our former coach to Wellington, his first time I believe since he took over there. Not looking forward to it, savaged by injuries, poorer players than the previous season and tactics that don’t suit those we have.

Decent game between Adelaide and Melbourne Victory. Currently 3-2 with 15 minutes left. 

Auckland 3-0 winners against Melbourne. Brilliant strike by May to open the scoring! Top o the league again for a couple of hours at least 

Caught the highlights of the reds vs. Jafas 😉 what an ending. You'd have fancied Adelaide to hold out but not sure where they got the extra 2.5/ 3 mins from?

Some game between Sydney and Western Sydney Wanders. WSW were 3-1 up with 3 minutes left and Sydney manged to draw 3-3. 

Aye, was a cracker of a derby. Sydney managed by ex nix manager, thought he'd do better than he has tbh. 

Auckland likely to win the league at the first time of asking. Fucksake.

Melbourne City's draw means it could be a home title win for Auckland next week against Perth. What a maiden season!!

6 hours ago, Reekie_Red said:

Melbourne City's draw means it could be a home title win for Auckland next week against Perth. What a maiden season!!

I absolutely respect what they’ve managed to achieve this season. Just not happy about it. Least of all how much nix have made it so easy for them this season by being the exact opposite to last season.

You reckon they'll keep Giancarlo, or has he taken Phoenix as far as he can?

14 minutes ago, Reekie_Red said:

You reckon they'll keep Giancarlo, or has he taken Phoenix as far as he can?

I really like him, but part of me thinks he’s too obsessed with superstition and how he / the club have handled certain players this season has been wild. It’s genuinely been insipid stuff to watch too. I think (have heard murmurings) that the board will stick as he’s cheap, which I’d be ok with as long as they invest in the team in the off season. That was the biggest fuck up and own goal I’ve ever seen. Almost as bad as when we voted to keep the league voting system the same in Scotland.

Me and a bunch of mates are heading to the Auckland vs Perth game next Sunday. Likely to be the day Auckland wins the league. I've watched most of their games on the tele so far, and have gone to half a dozen games. Still not committed as a proper fan yet - I mean I follow them cos I live in Auckland. If I moved to Wellington, I'd probably switch to The Phoenix. Whereas I'll only ever follow Aberdeen regardless of where I am in the world.

What gets me is they don't look fantastic. This is a team who have got to where they are from team-work (no superstars) and an incredible rub of the green. 

Next season will be interesting assuming the law of averages in the "rub of the green" luck isn't so screwed in their favour. 

Sakai, Pauline and Gillion have been standouts all season, but the rest fall in and out of games regularly ... fortunately not all at the same time. 

Milanovic playing for Western Sydney against Melbourne Victory just now with game on TNT 4 for those of us in U.K. Been decent game so far. Currently 1-1. 

Western Sydney lost 2-1. Milanovic didn’t do much in the game but with his current club’s season now officially over wonder if we will officially announce the signing. 

Nix followed on from Sydney by beating Wrexham in the third of their down under friendly games. A largely academy based team beat them 1-0, be interesting to see how the next raft of nix youth develop and where they end up. Wrexham just signed arguably my favourite kiwi left back (also a nix graduate), who’s been plying his trade with empoli. Unfortunately it was too close to this game so he couldn’t make an appearance at his home stadium. I’d have loved us to sign him before we’d signed mcgarry but oh well, he’s now well and truly out of our reach.