spinDr - 22/08/08

Michael Zullo and Sasa Ogenovski have had their words completely twisted out of recognition by a trigger happy journalist during the week. What has been reported as a deep mutual hatred has actually turned out to be nothing more than affectionate banter between two friends, who will always be friends, no matter what life throws at them.

The friendship between the two Queensland players got off to a rocky start. Initially fronting up to one another during a training run, few would have expected the pair to reconcile their differences with such passion. Over time the relationship blossomed, leading Michael’s man-scaping talents to eventually convince the towering Ogmonster to get rid of his dated dreads in favour of the short crop that Michael admired on his favourite Hollywood A-Listers.

Unfortunately, perceptions with in the Roar camp would not allow such a situation to continue. Coach Frank Farina was said to be furious at the pair for their continued training disruptions. The issue eventually coming to a head after Michael’s parents made a complaint to the club about their sons recent habits. Reportedly including excessive phone usage, staying out late at night, and constantly hogging the bathroom. Much to the disdain of his many sisters.

“He’s very shy, he never tells us a thing,” said a concerned Mrs Zullo. Who often goes weeks at a time without seeing her son.

Farina was eventually forced to sever the relationship, offloading Ogenovski to Adelaide during the break. Michael was said to be devastated on hearing the news of Sasa’s departure. The distance however has yet to dampen their spirit, with the pair still maintaining an intimate knowledge of each other as evidenced by their comments this week.

“He knows how I play but I know how he plays as well.” Said the well groomed winger, winking towards a somewhat nervous journalist.

Ogenovski, who has been enjoying life since he moved to the vineyard rich city, appeared a little flushed when questioned. Whether this was from the nature of Michael’s comments or the grueling fitness session he had just completed a few minutes prior, who could say.

“Little boys say silly things when they don’t think straight,” laughed Ogenovski as he brushed off the friendly tease with a hand gesture.

“Just tell him to make sure that his hair is all nice and pretty for the cameras.”

One person not so thrilled about the meet up was Adelaide’s Scott Jamieson. Rumoured to be Sasa’s lastest fling, having helped him settle in to the City of Churches, Jamieson had a few terse words for his on and off field competitor, Zullo.

“We will see if Zullo can live up to the talk,” Gruffed Jamieson in a passive aggressive tone that revealed more than any blogger could insinuate.

“I would not want to be on the bad side of Sasa.”

Ron Manager - 27/08/08

Imagine this scenario – it’s the final minute of added on time in the first home game of the season. The score is one-all, your team conceded in the first half to a disputed penalty but equalised early in the second. They’ve since dominated the play in the second half but just haven’t managed to score the winning goal. Then we get a corner! What do you think would happen at Roots Hall? As we all know the whole crowd would rise to its feet and scream as one – ‘COME ON SOUTHEND’ – accompanied by the clapping of hands and stamping of feet as we expectantly wait for the ball to be whipped into the box.

It doesn’t work that way in Brisbane though it seems.

The above situation occurred in Sundays game against Adelaide United and there was no guttural, instinctive roar from the Suncorp Stadium faithful. No instinctive realisation that this was the final chance to get the three points they deserve from the match and kick off the home campaign with a win. No increase in decibels as a result. Don’t get me wrong, the loyal band of organised home support continued with their chanting that they’d maintained throughout the game and you knew the fans were hopeful of a last minute winner. There was just no final heartfelt plea from the stands, passionately willing it to happen.

This seemed to have a knock on effect on the players. Instead of being raised and inspired by the home support into a final herculean effort to score the winning goal they took a short corner…and most amazingly no one seemed to moan about this. Well, except me – all my years of supporting a lower league team came to the fore as I muttered ‘Oh, for f***s sake – get it in the box’. Diffecence being if I’d have been back in Blighty it would have been shouted at the top of my voice alongside a few thousand other people saying something similar.

The short corner didn’t work of course (do they ever?) and the result ended in a draw. Of course that would probably be the end result if that scenario played itself out in League One instead of the A-League but it does draw up some differences from supporting the Queensland Roar to Southend United, as I’m finding out.

Pre-match

It was beautiful shirt sleeve weather as I walked from Roma Street station to Caxton Street and the Kitty O’Sheas pub which is home to the Orange Army. It’s the sort of sunshine you dream about on the first home game of the season, a welcome chance to watch football in nice conditions before winter kicks in. The difference here is this is winter and the sun will only get fiercer and the temperatures higher as the season progresses. A point demonstrated by the roaring fire by the front bar of the pub as I walk in, it’s clear I haven’t yet acclimatised to living in a tropical climate after a week here because the locals are obviously freezing their bits off as I’m sweltering.

However because I am sweltering the pub means I can have a welcome ice cold Aussie beer for $5 AUD and I walk over to introduce myself to the few orange clad fans who are already in the pub. The culture of internet forums is strong here as in the UK and in preparation for my emigrating to Brisbane I’d signed up to a couple of the Roar sites and been talking to the guys on the net ala Shrimperzone. Now was the time to put some names to faces and I had soon been personally introduced to people who I knew only through weird and wacky usernames. The beer continued to flow – this weather doesn’t help, you drink it like water – and as the pub filled up I met more and more fans. This Orange Army who meet in this pub are the equivalent of The Blue Voice at home and dedicate themselves to generating as much colour and noise from their Bay 332 right behind the goal at the North end of the stadium. As a result almost everyone was clad in bright orange and t-shirts, hoodies and scarfs in the most luminous shade of the colour were being sold. Sight of these hoodies and scarfs confirmed further that the locals were obviously shivering in what seemed to be freezing temperatures for them……as I melted. Regardless of this I enjoyed the craic and bustling to get served at the bar wasn’t much different to being in The Spread Eagle an hour before kick-off. I was beginning to feel at home.

The ground

Soon it was time to go to the ground, the Suncorp Stadium, which is a short walk from the pub. Despite a few previous visits to Brisbane I’d never been here, basically the home of Rugby League in Queensland. It’s here where the Brisbane Broncos call home as well as the Queensland State Of Origin League team. The local Super 14 Union team, the Reds, also play here as well as Union, League and Football internationals that are played in Brisbane.

It’s an impressive stadium in more ways than one. Firstly it’s a 52,500 capacity modern all seater stadium which wouldn’t look out of place in any of the top European leagues. Also, because its main purpose is Rugby League, it’s a rectangular shape and not oval like most of the other major stadia in Oz. As a result the seats are close to the action and so it feels like a Premiership football ground. All in all a bit different to my old beloved seat in the South Upper at Roots Hall.

What impresses me most about it however are the facilities and the ease of using them. From the quick and easy trip to the ticket office and straight forward entry to the ground onwards everything was a doddle. Getting a beer in particular is fantastic, a large open concourse runs round the edge of the pitch at the top of the lower tier. You jump from your seat, glancing at the game in action as you go, and straight to the bar. Quickly pick up a pint (or a round for your mates) and turn back towards the pitch and pay at the checkout – still within sight of the pitch. You then go back to your seat and consume said pints whilst watching the match. Yes, that’s right – whilst watching the match! At the football being treated like an adult drinking beer, from the moment you step inside the stadium to the final whistle if you like. OK, it’s mid-strength but if you’ve had a few before the game it’s enough to keep you ticking over nicely at the right level of mild drunkenness until you are back in the pub afterwards for the proper stuff. All very civilised.

The match

The standard of the football was OK, certainly either team would more than hold their own at our level and possibly even challenge in League One. The emphasis is definitely on passing, possession football and played at a slower level than the hurly burly of our league. This is probably a necessity in a league that plays through the Australian summer I suppose.

I’d say that sometimes they could do with being a bit more direct though, a few more balls into the box may have led to more goal scoring chances. The Roar are particularly guilty of this, with their bright orange kit and links to a Dutch heritage at the club you do wonder if they actually think they are the Netherlands. In reality they are not playing at that level and sometimes you need to get the ball up quicker to the big lump of a centre forward (who ironically is actually Dutch himself).

The Support

So, back to where we started – the fans. For this game I sat near the official supporters group the Orange Army and they are an eye-catching, colourful bunch. They are permitted to stand pretty much all the way through the game and don’t stop singing from start to finish. This seemed to be restricted to one bay of the stadium however and the rest of the ground didn’t come close to matching the exuberance of this small section of a huge stadium.

For me personally I found it a little too ‘organised’ for my style of support. That’s my personal preference however, I’ve expressed my views about The Blue Voice in a similar vein before. However both the Orange Army and Blue Voice cannot be faulted for their commitment in making noise at the football and getting behind their team – they have a number of things in common and it might not be a bad idea for the people at both organisations to get in touch with each other and swap ideas.

Next time I go I will sit with another section of the support – The Northern Element – who are a more English style of supporters. Not big on colours and organised TIFO style displays but, from what I can tell, still a very passionate supporters group. It will be interesting to compare the two.

Overall however I had a fantastic time and met some lovely people as I settle into life on the other side of the world. Nothing could ever replace Southend United for me, the club is such a huge part of my life and will remain in my heart forever but it’s nice to know I will still have days at the football to look forward to over here – even if it is so bloody hot!

Last Sunday the crowd numbers were down, the crowd atmosphere was suppressed and even the players seemed to be playing like it was a Championship decider in Adelaide.

12,761 soles got up from sunning themselves on their deckchairs and headed into Lang Park for our first game of the season. Last season’s home game drew 16,949, which turned out to be roughly our season average. Last season’s opening home game draw 33% more attendees then this seasons; and is hopefully not an indicator of a downward trend in this season’s attendences. The franchise’s fearless dictator put it down to “the third day in a row that there was a Brisbane national league side playing at home.” Perhaps. Personally I think it’s because in Brisbane Sundays are for lawn mowing.

The weather was glorious. An advertisement for Queensland Tourism attempting to lure southerners north to capture some winter sun and to escape their bitter cold. Queenslanders themselves probably had better things to be doing then attending a football game. I could have been tempted by a poolside martini if my Season Ticket did not beg me on.

It seemed the Queensland players too were thinking of poolside martinis in the opening stanza. Clogs was about half an hour late to a challenge on Christiano which earnt Adelaide their goal. Perhaps the biggest concern however was with the Roar’s bean counters - is this an indication of the average crowd the Roar will pull this season, as was the case with the opening game against Adelaide last term?

Statements from the Roar administration in the past have stated that 16,000 attendees is the breakeven point for the franchise’s books. The poor crowd might have contributed to a black hole of about $80,000 in the Roar’s books. That is assuming that the stated crowd was correct. To my view the attendance looked not many over 10,000.

The Northern Element suffered similarly. Our group was only a fraction of the size and loudness compared to the end of the last season and found it hard to get going. Renowned Saturday night party animals and Monday morning corporate slaves had better things to do then scream and yell on a Sunday afternoon - like lazing poolside while watching the game on Fox Sports. Those that did attend suffered from alcohol absence. Alcohol is like the oil for the Northern Element engine.

The Roar have another clash this Sunday, and the Roar will be hoping that the chance of seeing what an over the hill reformed drug addict looks like will increase numbers. Usually Central Coast are one of our lower drawing games, but the appearance of Bosnich may help swell numbers; the finance people at the Roar certainly will be hoping so. Queensland has four Sunday afternoon games at home this season. The Roar will certainly hope that the opening day trend changes over the course of the season and the large amount of Sunday games do not harm both their crowd averages and gate revenue.

It seems to be a case of out with the old and in with the new in terms of everything to do with football in Australia. One big part of this change is the detachment from the British roots of the game in this country with a new connection being formed with all things Dutch. The FFA’s love affair with the colour orange started initially with the hiring of Guus Hiddink for the 2006 World Cup. Since then we have seen the appointments of Johan Neeskens, Rob Baan, Henk Duut, Pim Verbeek, Jan Versleijen and Mario Van De Eende into key roles with the Australian setup.

So what can we expect with the new Dutchification of the national setup? How will it differ from the old British aligned structure? Time will tell here but I’ll at least try to explain a few key differences between the old and new guard.

Footballing Philosophy

Footballing Philosophy is what sets apart the different nations of the footballing world from the joga bonito beliefs of the Brazilian game to the catenaccio game that the Italians are renowned for. We all know that the British philosophy when it comes to football has long been about building a strong team ethic and is geared towards a more direct (read Long Ball) style of play.

The Dutch however focus less on the team as a whole but more about how each individual plays in the team. By this I mean that the Dutch work on getting the best out of each individual cog in the wheel in the hope that everyone contributes equally on the pitch. The British sense of team is all about everyone working for each other and being committed whereas the Dutch system involves each working to their own goals in the hope that the team will then benefit from each working to their own strengths. This is exemplified by the Total Football tactic that the famous Dutch team of the 70’s adopted (and which was taken from the Ajax team before them). The whole notion of Total Football was that each player had their own space to work in ie ‘own’ and they had the play to the 100% of their ability within their own space. The ideal behind this was that if all players were 100% switched on and playing their best in their space on the field the team would be strong across the whole field. If 1 player had an off day and didnt give their best the whole structure fell away. This differs to the British approach wherein any ‘passengers’ on the field were carried by another who was playing above their ability. With the Dutch focus on the individual everyone was too busy perfecting their own game rather than worrying about covering for a team mate. This approach is what cost Holland the 74 and 78 World Cups as key players went missing and this gap was not picked up by teamates who were too busy focussing on their own game.This also has lead to team conflicts as teams are chosen based on individuals rather than the best team combination and thefore results in several big ego’s in the same camp.

The British however tend to pick the best team comnbination even if this means that some big stars miss out.

Although Total Football died in Holland when Rinus Michel did the Dutch still continue to be a team of stars rather than a star team. Given that Australia individually doesnt have the same calibre of player that Holland does it will be interesting to see if the overall Dutch philosophy is translated across

Mentality

Following on from Total Football, the mentality of Dutch teams for the past 30 years is one that the performance counts more than the result. This mentality dominates Dutch Football at all levels. This again differs to the British approach whereby football is a results driven business and the quality of play comes second to getting a result.

To this end many Dutch people dont shed tears about the 74 and 78 World Cup losses as most people feel that the team played the most beautiful football in those tournaments and this is considered more important to the Dutch than winning. To win ugly is not even considered. This notion is a throwback to the many world famous artists and architects that Holland has spawned over the years. The Dutch truly believe that beauty comes first before practicality. This is also why the Dutch are absymal at penalty shootouts as they dont practice them. You see for them to even comtemplate winning a game via a shootout is in direct contrast with the mentality of trying to play beautifully. Taking a penalty is not considered to be a beautiful aspect of football.

We saw this under Hiddink whereby Australia played some of the best football it had ever done. The early signs under Verbeek dont match this Dutch mentality unfortunately.

Tactics

Australia for the main has always previously played with that most British of tactics, the 442. The Dutch however treat this tactic with distain as it focusses too much on having a big centre forward that you can hoof the ball up to all day long. The Dutch notion of beautiful football and individual creativity is best served by a 433. This tactic employs 2 wingers as part of the 3 up front whose job it is to receive the ball out wide and run at the defenders before placing the ball on a platter to the poacher who forms the other third of the strike force. The 3 midfielders are all mobile, ball winning players who can find the man with precision from either 2 yards or 20 yards away. The back 4 usually man mark which usually always leaves one man free to venture forward. The key to this tactic is to have fast, tricky wingers (ie Robben, Van Persie), a lethal finisher up front (ie Van Nistelrooy, van Basten) and a creative midfield (ie Rijkaard, Seedorf, Davids).

Again this is a tactic that I would like to see Australia deploy as we have the creativity in midfield (Culina, Cahill) the tricky wingers (Bresciano, Kewell) and the poacher up front (McDonald, Viduka)

It remains to be seen what affect this Dutch hierarchy will have on football in this country but one thing is for certain is that there is never a dull moment when it comes to the Dutch football team!

There is no more frustrating forward in the A-League then Heynaldo at times. He can miss glorious chances that seem be easier to score then to fuck up while other times produce goals of outrageous skill which very few other players could match.

The quote by the great Bill Shankly about Rodger Hunt springs to mind when thinking about Heynaldo – “Sure Rodger misses a few, but he gets in the right place to miss them”.

How often does Heynaldo score, and is it enough? To answer that question, which is at the crux of any argument involving the big man, first his position has to be understood. Many detractors will claim that Heynaldo does not score enough for a striker; which is well and good. If he was a striker. To my view however Heynaldo is a forward, not a striker.

What is the difference between a forward and a striker? To give an example Mark Viduka’s role for Australia is as a forward; a target man, alone up front being raped by three defenders while attempting to win headers and hold up the ball and bring others into play. A striker is someone like Scott McDonald; who takes opportunities given to him, sits on the last man and finishes off opportunities created by the rest of the team.

Often the best striking partnerships contain both a forward and a target man. Melbourne swept all before them when their forward Danny Allsopp and their striker Archie Thompson worked together in a formidable partnership in A-League season 2. Heynaldo was viewed at the beginning of season 3 to work with Simon Lynch in a similar striking partnership. Cranky Frankie tried this for the first seven rounds to little success. The Scotsman failing to make the promised goal scoring impact and forced Farina into changing his formation to a 451 with attacking wingers. With Zullo and Kruse attacking the wings one of the forwards was required to make way. Frankie went with Heynaldo as the loan forward, leaving Lynch as a bit part player for the remainder of the season. If a striker does nothing for 90 minutes except score the match winning goal, then he is doing his job; Lynch quite simply didn’t; hence the formation change.

Playing the lone role up front for any team is a challenging task. The 4 backs have 1 man to mark. Extra defensive attention is ensured and it’s a tough ask for one player to fill two roles. Take Viduka for example. In his club career he has mostly been partnered up front with a second forward and his club goal scoring record stands as something like 180 goals in 370 games (0.43 goals a game); a remarkable record for a forward (as opposed to a striker) no doubt. When Dukes is employed as a lone forward with Australia his goal scoring record is a more modest 11 goals in 43 games (0.25 goals a game). This highlights the difference in expected goal returns from a lone forward as opposed to a duel forward partnership.

The role Viduka plays for Australia is similar to that asked of Heynaldo for the Roar. Heynaldo’s record stands at 15 goals in 47 games (0.32 goals a game); a slightly better, but comparable statistic to that achieved by Dukes in his Australian solo forward role. Another comparative forward Danny Allsopp’s goal scoring record is 21 goals in 61 games for Melbourne (0.34 goals per game); which is almost identical to Heynaldo’s 0.32 goals per game statistic.

So it could be argued that Heynaldo is scoring the amount of goals expected of a forward (as opposed to a striker). It seems it is the lack of a genuine goal scoring striker was the problem for the Roar, more than Heynaldo’s record. For that look at Simon Lynch, not the big Brazilian front men.

The loan frontman’s job is more than scoring goals. Its occupying and holding off defenders, winning headers and bringing others into play. The defenders Heynaldo draws gave the space for our speedy wingers to exploit. His skill at challenging multiple defenders for long balls out of our defence helps relieve opposition attacking pressure.

The success of Zullo and Kruse in their first season could be partly attributed to both their natural skill and Heynaldo’s hard work in occupying the opposition’s defenders. Take a look at a game from last season and notice how many defenders are raping Heynaldo every time the ball approaches him.

Heynaldo allowed Frank to play a formation that without the Heynaldo type of target man, just would not have been possible. Queensland almost won the league, made the Grand Final and qualified for Asia. While near enough doesn’t quite cut it; the improvement in the Queensland results from round 7 onwards can be attributed to a large degree to the formation that Heynaldo allowed Queensland to play.

It is his misses in great positions and shots that sail up into row Z which fans notice and remember, not the tireless work he does so that the team in general can benefit. His goal scoring record is pillared, despite being comparable with other sole forwards, but it should be better, and it has improved as the young man has matured. Towards the end of last season Heynaldo was starting to knock in more goals and his wonder goal led to his lucrative (by A-League standards) transfer to Korean team Buscan I’Park; even if I do wonder if they only ever did see his audacious wonder goal against Sydney in the semi-final at Lang Park.

So this season, with more competent forward partners I am hoping Heynaldo will do more of what fans remember – score goals. So come on big man, I’ve done my bit to talk you up, do your bit and prove my belief in you correct.

It’s inviting to support a big team. You can get vicarious enjoyment from some team on the other side of the world. Their kits are a fuckload better then the Datsun-League’s homogeneous offerings, their fans are more vocal and colourful and their players are world clarsh (© Fozzie). Plus the teams can string more than a couple of passes together before finding either the sideline or an opposition midfielder. But what connection do they have to a fan in Brisbane?

Why would a proclaimed Chelsea/ManU/Liverpool/Barca/Inter/et al fan living in Brisbane want to support Queensland Roar Pty Ltd over these far more glamourous and more skilled foreign teams? Who wants to support a franchise, buy crappy Reebok merchandise in fluro orange and join in supporting a team with a stupid fucking name and a home end that resembles a star trek convention?

Quite simply you should support Brisbane Queensland Roar because they are your local team. It’s time to ditch your Liverpools, Manchester Uniteds and Milans from far flung places you have most likely never visited and get with your local team; if only because you have one.

And if you think some European team are your local team because you were born there then good for you; but don’t call yourself a football fan if you have not once been to cheer on your current local club. The excuses that are often given by these misplaced European migrants often are along the lines of ‘Shit team – no fans’. I don’t buy the shit team thing for a second. The quality of the football in Europe is not always all that it’s cracked up to be, just watch a game involving teams outside the top four for proof of that. As for the lack of atmosphere at the Datsun-League games compared to Yoorup; isn’t that up to us fans to generate? Or are these fans the ones who’d rather eat prawn sandwiches while soaking up the Old Trafford atmosphere created by others?

If you have decided to make Brisbane your home, stop dreaming about what you once had and start living in the present. Come to the games, stand up and sing loud.

The orange clad team with a stupid moniker are not meant to replace your original love, and at the beginning attendance might not be as more than an interested observer – it’s hard to become a ‘right proper’ fan with a club less than four years old overnight. But your Liverpool or Milan were once only a toddler club of four years of age. Just like the affection for the team grew on your great grandfathers; your affections will grow for the quaint little franchise from colonial Brisbane. Football is more than the 22 men kicking the ball. It’s the shared experiences and the bonding with your fellow football tragics. At some point in the future, with some effort on your behalf they will become your team.

We in Brisbane have a blank canvas on which to paint our football culture and traditions. Noone has come before to paint it for us. We are here, and now. Not in Europe in the past. It’s not possible to get the bus to Anfield and stand on the Kop; but it is possible to buy your ticket to the Southern End of Lang Park and still physically yell and sing as loudly as you could in Liverpool.

In three seasons the derogatory banter with Sydney and the pre-match watering holes on the Caxton Street have been established. Sure our team is still shit when compared to those big, glamourous clubs in Yoorup – but so what? Since when has being shit stopped fans from supporting their team; true fans that is. The ones there for the bad times to tell the tales of 3rd Division survival to those bandwagoners who join in just for the cup finals. Do you, sitting on your lounge chair really feel the joy of winning the European Cup? Does that club really represent you, where you live?

How can someone who’s never been to Barcelona (or Manchester or London) really call themselves a Barcelona supporter? Would you be embarrassed to tell a scouser that you are a Liverpool supporter if you had absolutely no connection to the city of Liverpool at all? The Mancs probably feel the same too and get completely fucked off with blow-ins who aren’t from Manchester taking their tickets.

There is no reason not to adopt sympathy for a foreign club. Many Aussies have becomes fans of Leeds, Aston Villa, Liverpool and other clubs because of Australian players who have earnt their wages at these clubs. There’s no shame in wanting to see Barcelona win because you enjoy watching Messi play, but the fact remains football is far better experienced in person than on the telly. Why not get your arse down to Lang Park to watch the local lads run about in the hope of one day getting a proper job in Europe?

If you can drag yourself out of bed at some god-forsaken time of the morning to watch one of the ‘big4’ play in the BarclayCard Premier League ™ and buy the overpriced new strip made in a Chinese sweat shop why can’t you get on a bus and support your local Datsun-League club?

Go to watch some football, yell and scream, have a drink with mates and cause some shenanigans in the process. Your great-grand kids will thank you for creating the football culture and traditions that they will adopt.

Someone has to create the time honoured traditions of those football clubs so envied they are supported by those from the other side of the world. That someone is you. See you at the Southern End, or even better on Caxton Street before the game. Drink up!