Aussie footballers are nothing compared to this virtuoso performance by AC Milan keeper Dida. When are we gonna get serious about the sport in this country?
Bravo Dida, bravo.
Why Australian football has a long way to go…
October 4th, 2007 by Shaun · 21 Comments
Tags: Football
21 responses so far ↓
Bring Back CL's blog // Oct 5, 2007 at 7:41 am
sack him for the season.
He is a poor keeper so why are Milan selecting him let alone paying him
Shaun // Oct 5, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Sack him? That performance was sublime! Haven’t found the footage but one of the news programs, Dida was holding an ice pack to his head, opposite from where he was tapped on the chest.
Brilliant!
Leinad // Oct 5, 2007 at 7:27 pm
[standard soccer fan grumble] Oh look, soccer made Channel 9 news for once, and it was diving… surpise, surprise. [/standard soccer fan grumble]
Leinad // Oct 5, 2007 at 8:14 pm
On a positive note, congrats to Aussie Scott McDonald for nailing the winning goal — though the actions of two morons may see your efforts go to waste.
Shaun // Oct 5, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Leinad, I didn’t realize that there is no soccer on 9 but as I think about it, I can’t recall any real reports on the game at all.
Leinad // Oct 5, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Shaun: What football gets mentioned on most Aussie TV is pretty erratic - SBS would mention it and show the goal, ABC might if it’s a slow news day, but in general the commercial channels only show football in the news when there’s diving, hooliganism or some other scandal.
Shaun // Oct 5, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I though the ABC regularly showed football results, especially on weekends?
I’m not surprised by the commercial stations. The A-League crowds seem to be holding but it still needs to make that next step into the public consciousness outside of the World Cup.
I even could make it to a game before the year is out. Plans are afoot to meet a mate or two for one of the Gosford games.
derrida derider // Oct 5, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Well, Leinad, if FIFA rewards Dida’s club for this then Channel Nine’s treatment of the game (ie as a joke) would seem entirely justified.
Leinad // Oct 5, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I’d suggest you fast-track those plans and make it Sunday’s match with the Jets, you’ll get to see a real local derby with lots of passion, agression and fierce competition. And the teams on the field might have some too
Actually ABC has been pretty good, but will happily shove aside the A-League for it’s beloved Australian Rugby Championship, or a vicious squirrel attack on Jana Whatsername.
Leinad // Oct 5, 2007 at 9:23 pm
derrider derider, I agree, Dida deserves the exact same treatment and heavy censure that Cricket Australia showed to Shane Warne for his series of infractions… otherwise the sport is indeed a joke
O_o
Mungo Amanda // Oct 6, 2007 at 6:22 am
What Warne infractions? Other than the drug thing, for which he was banned for a year. Yeah, I’d like to see Dida get the Warne treatment.
Leinad // Oct 6, 2007 at 1:34 pm
One year, for using a masking agent and the lamest of schoolyard excuses. And there was the stufff with the bookies as well.
And yes, Dida should have the book thrown at him, though knowing FIFA they’ll declare the game 3-0 to AC Milan and spin like kids on red cordial when asked about Dida.
My point is more that every professional sport has shonky practices and shitty bureaucracies, but when it come to soccer these are apparently enough to rule the game ‘a joke’ in the eyes of some Aussies (often overrepresented in the commercial media) — does AFL get that despite changing it’s rules every season to the infuriation of coaches and fans alike? Does League, despite the much higher risks of serious injury to players from shifty tackles?
Shaun // Oct 6, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Leiand, some good points but I do have a question pertaining strictly to football and that is how do you remove diving from the game?
As I understand, if you go down clutching your knee, writhing in agony because an opposition player tapped you on your shoulder, you have to be stretchered off the field and then stay off the field for a period of time.
Of the course the other player is yellow or red carded because the ref is blind.
Can’t football use video like other sports to have a look at the foul. If it is an obvious dive then that diver gets red carded and/or banned from a game or two?
Leinad // Oct 6, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Shaun: well, not every dive gets a foul or a yellow, and the flipside of course is that some horrible tackles aren’t called at all (this is a big problem with the A-League atm). That said, yes, that could should happen — though FIFA would probably argue that it’d discriminate against poorer nations who don’t have the video-reffing infrastructure etc etc.
Bearing in mind that video-reffing isn’t perfect either, and it’d have to be at the ref’s discretion a la League — you couldn’t do it for every tackle or injury, otherwise stoppage time would run into double figures.
The aesthetic/philosophical objection would be that it interferes with the flow of the game and the ‘ref is right even when he’s wrong’* spirit of the game, wherein you’re supposed to struggle on and win anyway regardless how many of your players are red-carded and win in the last second of stoppage time anyway. Which is bollocks really, as unlike other sports, referees can do serious damage with penalties and reds (cf. Markus Merk, Graeme Poll, Luis Medina Cantelejo).
*in the immortal words of Vinnie ‘Il Neurochiurgione’ Grella
Leinad // Oct 6, 2007 at 3:23 pm
News update: AC Milan aren’t appealing for the match to be overturned (I wonder why…), FIFA still considering wether Celtic should be fined.
Shaun // Oct 6, 2007 at 9:10 pm
They could use video reffing for the major games, like the World Cup. And it could work both ways, with the video being used to check bad tackles.
That said, video reffing is causing problems for the NRL as it undermines the confidence of the refs. I was watching the rugby today on the ABC and impressed with that the ref used his judgment and used it well in determining whether a couples tries had been scored. Then again he may not have had the luxury of a video but his decisions were sound.
The same tries in NRL would have caused a 5 minute stoppage as every frame would be scrutinized.
How about a match review committee to cite players are a game and have them face a tribunal?
Leinad // Oct 7, 2007 at 1:15 am
Video reffing the World Cup would probably be a bridge too far — c’est ne pas le foot
Match review tribunal lready exists, though it failed to punish Danny Tiatto for nearly crippling Richie Alagich in round 2 — though it did suspend Robbie Middleby for stomping.
Patrick // Oct 10, 2007 at 9:59 am
No, video reffing is essential. It is the bare minimum. Anyone with any self-respect would say that diving is not football (and why the french in relation to football?).
It doesn’t usually take 5 minutes and it does provide (in Rugby Union where everyone sees the replays used) public confidence in the referees.
Also, surely it would eliminate diving in the box almost completely? Especially the egregious Rivaldo-style of diving.
Leinad // Oct 10, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Patrick, that isn’t necessarily my opinion, but I just don’t think it’ll ever happen for World Cups: c’est sensible mai c’est ne pas FIFA (why French? why FIFA, FINA etc?).
As to ‘essential’, the World Cup’s been around a while and seen its share of crazy reffing decisions and reprehensible dives, yet people are miraculously still watching. It’d be fairer and saner to have video reffing, but since when do they have anything to do with sport?
Bring Back CL's blog // Oct 11, 2007 at 8:07 am
only have the video after the game.
If players commit fouls and are not caught during the game then they will be on ‘film’.
Like cricket let us not deny that human touch to the game so vital.
it improves character to accept bad decisions when they happen. It is like players playing badly.
They don’t mean it it just happens
Leinad // Oct 12, 2007 at 11:23 am
And on that note, Zelko Kalac will get some time between the sticks as Dida has earnt a two match ban. Celtic have been fined for allowing the pitch invader on in the first place.
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