How is football - and how will MVFC be - viewed at your school or workplace?

[Simon]

At my school people seem almost embarrassed to like the sport. You see people playing the sport at lunchtimes and enjoying themselves but after that it's "wogball", etc.

There's also a section who keep up the usual drivel of "boring soccer", "rioting soccer fans" etc.

How will Melbourne Victory be viewed? I don't know. What I do know though, is that a lot (probably most) people will have the view that it's just "boring Australian soccer" and they won't be able to see the light.

[M.R.M]

None will care at all. They are all Accountants and Financial Advisors that are on the other side of the hill.

[Richo]

Well when I was at school, it was called "wogball" and "soccer"

And it was known for "low scoring", "riots" and "pussy's who roll around grabbing their face after they run past the wind"... I just laughed at them.
AFL is no better and the fact that they get 6 points for a goal and 1 point if they miss the whole darned thing makes their game score more.
The jocks at my school couldn't get the fact through their head that their 6 pont goal was worth the same as our "1 point goal"

[Rob]

Soccer is played and liked by many at my school.

None will care at all. They are all Accountants and Financial Advisors that are on the other side of the hill.

The most fun people to be around :)

[Simon]

Not much has cahnged, Richo :(

[M.R.M]

Soccer is played and liked by many at my school.



The most fun people to be around :)

Rubbish. It's the ones on the front slope that are the most fun, if i do say so myself. :cool:

[Liam]

At my school people seem almost embarrassed to like the sport. You see people playing the sport at lunchtimes and enjoying themselves but after that it's "wogball", etc.

There's also a section who keep up the usual drivel of "boring soccer", "rioting soccer fans" etc.

Yeah my group has fun kicking the ball around at lunch, and I noticed a year 10 group has started too. But everyone who joins in wouldnt be able to name 5 australian players, so I'm not to sure on how they will perceive Victory.

[alastair]

The question is Simon, how do you feel about the sport? Who cares what they think.

[Simon]

The question is Simon, how do you feel about the sport? Who cares what they think.
The thing is, Alastair, what those people think does matter. Whether they take to Melbourne Victory or not will have a massive influence on whether the club survives, let alone succeeds.

How do I feel about it? I live for it.

[alastair]

Simon i was in my 30's when i converted to football from the egg ball game. Only last year i was a Melbourne member yelling my guts out. For some people it's a long journey, they'll eventualy see the light. If they don't it's their loss.

[lankks]

It kinda annoys me that people think this way, I think AFL is extremely gay, with goals that are repetitive and tackles that always happen. I'd say there would be above 15,000 goals scored in an AFL season and how many of them are exciting to watch, I'd say 500 or so. The rest are just bull****. It's like having a penulty shootout the entire freaking match with no goalkeeper, it would be extremely boring. But with Football it's always exciting, the majority of goals are exciting and the majority of plays are exciting. So saying that only 2 goals get scored during a match isn't a legit comeback.

[M.R.M]

15K - Pass the billy please.

[Simon]

It kinda annoys me that people think this way, I think AFL is extremely gay, with goals that are repetitive and tackles that always happen. I'd say there would be above 15,000 goals scored in an AFL season and how many of them are exciting to watch, I'd say 500 or so. The rest are just bull****. It's like having a penulty shootout the entire freaking match with no goalkeeper, it would be extremely boring. But with Football it's always exciting, the majority of goals are exciting and the majority of plays are exciting. So saying that only 2 goals get scored during a match isn't a legit comeback.
It's not often I say this but... GOOD POST!

As Nick Hornby says in Fever Pitch: Goals have a rarity value that points and sets and runs don't.

[Simon]

15K - Pass the billy please.
I had a giggle at that :D

If there were 15,000 goals in a AFL season, the average goals per game would be 81 :p

[Dermot]

Simon, just do what you can.
I mean whinge, moan, complain, recruit, inform and dazzle. I know I certainly never shut up how preferential treatment was given to the AFL players in terms of coaching and facilities.
My friends and I also actively recruited the athletics of the school to the beautiful game, in year 11 we managed to get the junior national 400 meter champion to switch codes, and in year 12 he nearly led us to the championship.
By year 12 the foody team struggled for numbers, while there were at least half a dozen on the bench for the 2nd XI every week.

[lankks]

15K - Pass the billy please.
Well think about it 8 games a week for the majority of the year so it's about 40 weeks, including the pre season cup. There is about 60 goals + points (combined for both teams) scored every match so thats an average of 480 shots per week. Times that by 40 and you have roughly 19200 goals scored every year. Now ask yourself how many of them are actually any good.

[M.R.M]

60 goals a match. the bulldogs wouldn't score 60 in three matches. I can't remember the last time a side notched up 30.

[lankks]

Read it again.

[Simon]

I think Lank{itis}-Varya 1 has changed his argument.

[lankks]

Nah I just edited the post so you my point becomes more clearer.

[M.R.M]

Ahh, now we are both on the same wave length.

[semja]

Getting back to the subject, my school is AFL dominant (being from AFL mad Geelong) and at lunchtimes we play good ol fashioned kick to kick. I myself play out of school for a club

There is a few of us that play football but we're labelled as soft****s etc for playing, oh and apparently the game is boring

Even the ones who play soccer dont have much of a clue about Melbourne Victory, and the ones who do think the A-League is a joke with 21 rounds, 20 to a team etc

[colmane't]

At our school De La Salle Boys College, the only people who play soccer or "wogball" are ethnics, and when the aussie boys play they mock the sport and start putting on ethnic accents and using ethnic slang eg. 'you le' 're'. I think that it is going to be hard to involve these type of people who would just mock and criticise the game instead of appreciating it and admiring it. I say that we shouldnt waste our time trying to involve these biased AFL supporters
CIAO

[lankks]

It's because the skips have no talent. They feel like they have to put the game down. Makes them feel good.

[TheDutchman]

There are a lot of AFL supporters out there who also love soccer. My brother is a huge Essendon fan in AFL and loves going to watch 'wogball'. A few of his friends are the same. My older cousin's in there 30's who have always been involved with cricket and AFL clubs are talking about and excited by the A-League. You will still get the bigot's and idiots saying sh_t about wogball, but there are alot who actually follow Australian Football(soccer) to. AFL players go down too, like a tonne of bricks trying to win free kicks, and faking, so they can't talk about acting.

And heaps of these people say wogball is boring. These are the same people who watch cricket to, where you can play one match(which goes for 5 days) and still end up being a draw. And remember cricket matches at the MCG haven't been without their own crowd troubles. Other teams have threatened to walk off cos of bottles, and golf balls been thrown, etc, and to go along with over 30 arrests per game. These problems always seem to get swept under a rug on the news pretty quickly. And then you get 4 guys having a fight in the carpark after a soccer match and its straight into the papers under soccer violence.

[STampSY]

Soccer is the only thing we play at lunch time. And people certainly rnt embrassed by the sport. Wot school do u go to Simon

[semja]

Who's head of sport at your school?.....Les Murray?

[Simon]

Soccer is the only thing we play at lunch time. And people certainly rnt embrassed by the sport. Wot school do u go to Simon
De La Salle, Malvern.

[STampSY]

Why is there such a negatve attitude towards football at ur school? Im not saying its the favourite sport at my school. But they dont dislike it as much as u r saying they do at ur school.

[Simon]

Why is there such a negatve attitude towards football at ur school? Im not saying its the favourite sport at my school. But they dont dislike it as much as u r saying they do at ur school.
Because it's "for wogs", it's "boring", it involves rioting (Bay 13 at the cricket is overlooked).

[Liam]

Im a De La boy too, people dont take to the game because generally in my opinion the western europeans dont exactly welcome people with open arms into their groups. Therefore, people are detered from taking a liking to the sport because some people give it the wrong image.

[united fan]

in south australia soccer is becoming a subject in school!!!!
also AFL is for the sufferers of a short attention span, which i admit is me at times, go the crows

[STampSY]

Well i wanna go to that school.

[Simon]

in south australia soccer is becoming a subject in school!!!!
also AFL is for the sufferers of a short attention span, which i admit is me at times, go the crows
Awesome!

What's on the curriculum? History? Skills? Tactics?

[Richo]

(Bay 13 at the cricket is overlooked).
That isn't overlooked by the jocks at my school.
If something happens in Bay 13 it is cool.
If there is a riot outside or inside a football match, it is "those crazy ****ers"

Lol, I remember a couple of times we would be playing at school and the jocks would join in and then they wouldn't play by the rules and continuosly try to take people out... so I stuck up for my mates (because Im the stronger one) and started doing the same to them, doing some awesome slide tackles followed by a good chop to their shins :D
One guy was bleeding :D
But then the teacher came over and ruined our fun.

[Kieran]

in south australia soccer is becoming a subject in school!!!!
also AFL is for the sufferers of a short attention span, which i admit is me at times, go the crows
Harsh statement.
I don't agree at all.
Gridiron is the ultimate sport for people with short attention spans.

[Popos]

Harsh statement.
I don't agree at all.
Gridiron is the ultimate sport for people with short attention spans.

Not disagreeing with you but why is AFL different? Just struggling to get my head around the game as I was once a fan.

[Kieran]

Not disagreeing with you but why is AFL different? Just struggling to get my head around the game as I was once a fan.
You have to have a decent attention span to watch some of the teams styles of play (ie. Sydney) :p
Being serious, its a continual on-going match with excitement fairly often.
Gridiron is BANG, 2 second play, now for a 3 minute break while we sing God Bless America.
Get my drift?

[Popos]

You have to have a decent attention span to watch some of the teams styles of play (ie. Sydney) :p
Being serious, its a continual on-going match with excitement fairly often.
Gridiron is BANG, 2 second play, now for a 3 minute break while we sing God Bless America.
Get my drift?
I see your point, but for me both sports are a bit stop-start. Mark, kick, mark, kick etc....

[Richo]

Gridiron is not that bad, it is a stop start game though.

[lankks]

You can't compare Gridiron to AFL. Gridiron is slower, but it is more of a brain game. As AFL is not.

[Kieran]

I see your point, but for me both sports are a bit stop-start. Mark, kick, mark, kick etc....
Just for arguments sake, you could say soccer becomes a little "stop start" if teams start continually hoofing the ball.
Basically, all I want to say is that the orginal statement, "that AFL is for people with short attention spans", is not true IMO.