Anyone But Australia

Korea Republic 1 v Australia 2
(after extra time)

Stadium Australia

Saturday 31 January 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

We're all done here. My team lost. I've always had a simple rule at FIFA & Confederation Finals. I support two teams. England & whoever is putting the hosts out. Of course, at the Asian Cup, England won't win. So, it's just whoever is putting the hosts out. My Australian cousins needn't feel aggrieved. They're in good company. Germany, Brazil, France, Italy. They've all suffered at my hands.

And of course it's not Australia or the other hosts I'm against. It's the buffoons. In the future, you'll thank me. Face painted, fancy dress wearing, gurning for the tele, me me me Buffoons. They're in your woodwork. Keep them there.

In the last year or so, I've started watching a wider range of football. More international Age Group football. More Sheffield United Age Group football. UEFA Youth League. The Asian Cup was a natural extension. Objective - swerve all the usual Bollocks - hone it down to 11 v 11 with a ball.

In the main, Australia & the Asian Cup delivered. Partisan,  ex-pat crowds. Excellently refereed. Let the game flow. Tell him to get up. Some great games. Some lovely players. Beer in the ground. Beer at your seats.

No three security cordons. No body searches. No airport style x-ray security. I was never kept in a ground for my own safety. No snarling. No touts. No half n half scarves. (Although some BrownNosing ex-pat communities produced half n half shirts in their own colours & Aus Green & Gold.)

Sighs. But.

The Jibber Jabber. Big screens in the ground. "I've got with me Local Soccer Celebrity. What do you think of the tournament so far?" "Fantastic, the atmosphere has been superb....repeat..."

"Hello, you look colourful, introduce yourself" "I'm Benny, word up"

"Who do you think will win today, Benny?" "Not sure, my mates thought it'd be a great laugh to come. Who is playing?"

"Come on East side, I can't hear you, make some NOISE"

Mate, you can't hear me because I am discussing Overlapping Winghalves with my neighbour. Do one.

Sighs. But.

Dance Cam & the divvy dancing mascot Wombat. There was some cute Clean Stadium nonsense in Canberra. And cheap ticket prices bring people in. But some people who are not really that interested in being there. They've come to be seen, not to see.

Eight out of ten. Could've done better.

I loved watching Omar Abdulrahman from the UAE. All the tricks. At speed. Playing people in. Makes things happen. Probably outside the UK Work Permit rules. Maybe thought not physically strong enough for English football.

A great game in front of a 70k plus crowd. Korea will be a bit disappointed. They did equalise right at the death to send it into extra time. But a great bit of wrestling & staying on your feet by the Aus fella created the winner.

Don't begrudge them. But today I supported Anyone But Australia. ABA.

80/193

AFC Asian Cup in Canberra, the verdict

Korea Republic 2 v Iraq 0

Stadium Australia

Monday 26 January 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

My group game/Quarter Final shift in Canberra is over as the Asian Cup moves to Semi Finals. Declaring an interest, I've got friends in Canberra. As sports fans, it's a running joke between us that "nothing ever happens in Canberra". There are proper Canberra/ACT teams for Rugby League (The Raiders) & Union (The Brumbies). The Greater Western Sydney Giants AFL (Aussie Rules) team play occasional matches in Canberra. In cricket, The Australian Prime Ministers XI routinely play the touring team in a 50 over game in Canberra.

Indeed, in November 2014 Canberra hosted an ODI between Australia & South Africa. And in the coming days/months will have 3 ICC Cricket World Cup matches AND the T20 Big Bash Final - which is a very big deal.

But, the Holy Grail in my world would be a football/soccer A League franchise. There are currently "Derby" expansion teams in Western Sydney Wanderers & Melbourne City (nee Heart). And, previously, failed expansions in Gold Coast & North Queensland. Canberra has not featured in any A League expansion.

The word on the Terraces is that a successful Asian Cup set up in Canberra will help/prove/demonstrate the viability of a Canberra A League franchise.

Not having that.

It's chalk & cheese. Large & partisan ex-pat communities have been the thing. Sure, Canberrans have pitched up. But I'm not sure that gives any indication for A League. Good luck to them though.

I am going to comment on Australian spectating techniques. Canberra stadium does have a Concourse. A promenade/walkway between the lower tier & upper tier. You can bowl around that. You can queue for your beer/pies. You can chat to your mates. All in full view of the pitch.

But, one thing it makes you notice is the comings & goings. I'm a product of the English - cram the last beer in the pub/are we leaving early for a drink - school. But, you know, the game has a kick off time & (generally) lasts 90 minutes. In my experienced opinion, significant numbers of Australian fans wander in 30 minutes after kick off. Many (not necessarily the same people) start drifting off home 10 minutes into the 2nd half. And they don't half like standing in the aisles - ie IN MY WAY.

Come on mate. It's a grid system. Rows are letters. Seats are numbers. Surely you can find it. And to be honest, staring at the seat while blocking my view - well it's not magically gonna change from Row P Seat 15 to whatever it says on your ticket.

A few Aussie fans, unable to find their seat, have quizzically shown me their ticket. Gleefully, on one occasion, I pointed to the ticket & said - "it's right there, 17:30 kick off, where've you been".

Whhhhooooossshhhh

No big deal. The come & go as you please irrespective of kick off time & game duration style is uniquely Australian I feel. I think it shows the admirable cheap ticket prices attracting intrigued, novelty value, once in a lifetime, spectators. Be careful in assuming they'll turn up for A League.

But, the Canberra Asian Cup experience has been great. Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. But that's history now.

A simple & efficient display by South Korea here in Stadium Australia in Sydney. Iraq never really got going. South Korea stayed strong in the tackle, were difficult to shift off the ball & took their chances. They've yet to concede a goal in the tournament.

79/188

Female Fans Welcome. ...

Iraq beat Iran 7-6 on Penalties
3-3 after extra time

Canberra Stadium

Friday 23 January 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

Same opening gambit for 3 Blogs in a row. Come on, for a football fan from Europe, that's a game featuring two teams I never expected to see. Basically, that game has had everything.

A sending off.
One team being a goal down, then 2-1 & 3-2 up.
An everybody out, benches cleared mêlée. Lengthy injury to one of the keepers.
Bookings galore.
Penalty shoot-out.
The lot.

A great atmosphere. But not really anything I've experienced before. Noisy. Partisan. But not hostile. In a way, this Terrace connoisseur was slightly disappointed it wasn't more mental. The noise was incessant. Bongos we'd call 'em in the West. The Iraqi mob did a lap around the concourse before the off. That stirred things up a bit. But mainly booing & thumbs down.

To me, the Iraqi lot looked gloriously chaotic & improvised - I warmed to 'em. There were far more Iranians. They had a handful of fellas in fluorescent orange orchestrating the chants. Sinister if you ask me. Oy Mate, maybe you were making sure only the regime approved ditties got an airing.

But, great to see thousands of my Iranian Sisters there. They wouldn't be allowed into games "back home" of course.

The Iranians were a bit "sing when you're drawing". Fairly quiet when the Iraqis were winning.

The sending off. What happened there? In real time I've seen it as.....

Iraq keeper comes out to dive & smother ball running away from Iranian forward.

Iranian clatters into Iraqi keeper.

Keeper not happy, gets up & gives the Iranian a "face shove".

Iranian goes down as if poleaxed. Ref is right there.

.... take it all in, he's clattered him, but he's raised his arms & made contact, but then he's play acting. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Yellow Card to the writhing, cheating Iranian get. Ooohhh. Correct & brave that from the Australian ref. Loved the way the A League was reffed from the first kick I saw. This is just a continuation.

Uproar, gestures. Free-kick to the keeper. Ref backtracks towards halfway. Bit of discussion. RED CARD - He's done. I was guessing now. Already booked? Some verbals? No idea.

Hindsight. He had already been booked. 2nd Yellow offence for keeper clattering, not diving & writhing. Needed an Iraqi player to remind the ref he'd had him twice......Maybe.

Two teams bang at it. In front of tribally partisan fans. With the female fans (including Mrs Ball Sup) unwittingly sending out a political message to The Rulers. That was some game.

I had an Aus Beer Tick in the pub. A.B.C. 8 Days Lager. My 322nd Aus beer. A nice, crisp, no nonsense Pilsner style.

78/185

The Best, The Minnows & The Rest

Iraq 2 v Palestine 0

Canberra Stadium

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

Same opening gambit as the last Blog. Come on, for a football fan from Europe, that's a game featuring two teams I never expected to see.

I'll have a go at explaining qualification for the Asian Cup. So, we'll see how Palestine ended up here. It's the hosts, the best, the minnows & the rest.

The hosts (Australia) & the top three from the previous 2011 tournament qualify. That was Japan, Australia & South Korea. So, Australia "qualified twice".

As well as "the best", two qualification spots are held for "minnows".  The AFC Vision Asia programme is/was a plan to raise the standards of football in Asia. Central to that is the AFC Challenge Cup. An international football competition for AFC member countries categorized as "emerging countries". The AFC Challenge Cup gives "the minnows" experience of  playing a continental competition with an AFC trophy at the end of it. AFC Challenge Cup 2012 (North Korea) & 2014 (Palestine) winners qualified for the main AFC Asian Cup.

Then the 20 remaining teams fight it out for 11 slots. To make 16 qualifiers.

It's an interesting approach. Teams at your major continental tournament are NOT all there on merit. Two are there for "the greater good of the game". There'd be hell on if UEFA tried that at the EUROs. But, of course, we accept that at the FIFA World Cup. Some poorer teams are there as regional representatives.

There now follows a cynical view. India are poor in footballing terms. But giants in terms of population, market, TV rights & revenue generation. The AFC Challenge Cup for minnows is a way of getting the Indians into the Big Show. But they keep stuffing up by not winning it. The Mugs.

In 2012. Played 3. Won 0. Drawn 0. Lost 3. Goals for 0. Goals against 8.

In 2014, they didn't even reach the Challenge Cup for minnows finals. Myanmar knocked them out in qualifying.

Mugs.

India did however previously qualify for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup (in Qatar) after winning the 2008 Challenge Cup (for minnows).

That was a great atmosphere in Canberra tonight. First time in my experience that the fella leading a football firm on a march to confront their rivals has carried a MAP above his head. A map showing (I assume) what he felt constituted Palestine.

All a great advert for Multicultural Australia. And no one in sight screaming SPEAK ENGLISH.

77/182

China v North Korea

China 2 v Democratic People's Republic of Korea 1

Canberra Stadium

Sunday 18 January 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

Come on, for a football fan from Europe, that's a game featuring two teams I never expected to see. I was born in the 50s. I remember the World Cup in England in 1966. I remember the North Koreans. They were 3-0 up against Portugal. But ended up losing 5-3.

But, here is something I only realised this week. All the FIFA countries in Africa & Asia had just ONE qualifying slot to aim for. Not one for Africa, one for Asia. Just one.

Yet. All bar two African & Asian countries dropped out of qualifying for various economic & political reasons. Leaving just North Korea & Australia competing for the single Finals slot. And, of course, in those Finals it was an African (Eusebio) who put the Koreans out.

Another early, inside the first minute, goal (for China) set the tone of the game. In the first half, it was mainly China stroking the ball around at will. All very pedestrian though. But, the North Koreans gave it a real go in the second half.

They had a great chance to equalise, but matey has put the header over. A long range shot has cannoned back off the bar, & they might have put the rebound away. A few more muffed headers & a good save down to the keeper's left.

Lots of comedians in today. General gist being "he's missed that so the Chinese will keep the gas taps on", etc. A few buffoons dressed as the Korean leader & military escort in "look at me" mode.

Otherwise, a large, mainly China supporting, partisan crowd. Someone had been handing out Red T Shirts with some slogan on. There was a guy with a megaphone organising Ultra style call & response chanting.

Canberra Stadium is part of the complex housing the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). Before the game, I was given a lovely private tour of some of the facilities by a friend who works there. AIS Canberra is not quite hallowed ground for me. The Australian Cricket Academy (part of the AIS family) "produced" many of the star names of Australian cricket. The Academy was in Adelaide rather than Canberra. But, Canberra still feels like a nerve centre for all that stuff.

Currently, the Australian U17 football programme is hosted at the AIS. The delightfully named Joeys (young Kangaroo).

A rare privilege for me to have a quick look around.

76/180

Halfway Howl

Bahrain 1 v UAE 2

Canberra Stadium

Thursday 15 January 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

Fairly uneventful mid-group game. It ain't a 38 game season. It ain't an immediate knock out cup game. It was made more eventful by UAE scoring after 15 seconds. But even then, it just plodded along. UAE had won their first group game. So, it becomes a case of they hang on, they're probably through.

It spices up near the end as UAE need to hang on & Bahrain need to nick an equaliser. Histrionics. Writhing. Pointing & shouting. You know the drill.

Canberra Stadium is used by two major sports teams. The Rugby League Raiders & the Rugby Union Brumbies. It's mainly open air, only parts of the two main stands under cover (from the rain & sun). You can walk all the way around on a mid-stand promenade level. Main issue there is trying to keep tabs on how many Aus football fans are NOT wearing Barcelona shirts. They love a replica shirt here in Canberra. The rule is a) Barca b) anyone else c) definitely NOT the actual teams on the pitch.

Great to see the fans though. Although the poor weather hasn't helped. Nice mix of locals & ex-pats from the competing nations. Cheap ticket prices (starting at maybe 8 quid). Some free transport to the games from different points of the compass.

Pompously, there is a little bit of Halfway Howl. A sort of giggly high pitched whine every time a team brings the ball over the halfway line. Tell tale sign of new fans not really understanding the passage of play. No worries, everyone starts somewhere.

Despite that a nice set up and experience.

73/177

Grubby Stadium

Kuwait 0 v Korea Republic 1

Canberra Stadium

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

It is official. There is now no Duct/Gaffer/Masking Tape left in Canberra. Most stadiums at Football Confederation tournaments have to be clean. That is, they have to be devoid of all advertisements & logos. So, that the multinational Sponsors get all the exposure.

Canberra Stadium is not so much clean as grubby. Let's have it right. Someone has gone around looking for names & logos & taped 'em over.

I've never put photos on the Ball-Sup Blog before. So, now is a good chance to experiment.

We have....

1. The wrong sort of Beer.
2. The wrong sort of Sign.
3. The wrong sort of Bank.
4. The wrong sort of Ice Cream.
5. The wrong sort of Soft Drink logo on the Straws.
6. The wrong sort of Espresso Machine

71/175

The Wrong Beer

UAE 4 v Qatar 1

Canberra Stadium

Sunday 11 January 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

Ponderous but not particularly boring. Lots of fast feet flicking the ball to little purpose. Goalkeeping errors cost Qatar. Missed punches. Spills. Missing cross shots. Concentrating on players not the ball. Poor.

UAE thoroughly deserved that win.

Slowly, slowly, drip, drip drip. My Australian cousins are having to get with the programme. Today, the logos on the beer taps had been taped over to hide the brand name.

Kirin is the beer sponsor on the advertising boards around the perimeter. The double nonsense is that (my understanding) the nameless beer we were served was actually a beer from the Kirin "stable".

I'll read that again. It appears Kirin (or someone) objected to a Kirin brand being served, because Kirin, not the Kirin brand, are the sponsors. And the Beat goes on.

69/173

I can't see for the flags...

Korea Republic 1 v Oman 0

Saturday 10 January 2015

Canberra Stadium

Twitter @ball_sup

The first game of my AFC Asian Cup campaign. To the uninitiated, the Asian Cup is where the top 16 Asian Nations get together in one country every 4 years. Like the EUROs I say to my English friends. One step down from the World Cup.

This time around Australia are the hosts. There are games in Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle & Sydney (where the Final will be held). And, games in Canberra - where I'll be based for much of the tournament.

This will be my 3rd Confederation tournament. I've done every UEFA EURO that England have qualified for from 1988 (Germany) onwards. And I did a double header, two games back to back, in the 2002 Oceania Nations Cup at North Harbour stadium outside Auckland,  New Zealand.

Apologies in advance all round. I'm worried some of my Blogs from the Asian Cup will come across as European Centric xenophobia. That's not my intention. Funny names. Funny clothes. Lovely little fellas. I'm gonna try & steer clear of all that palaver. 

My first time at Canberra Stadium. There was, I'm pleased to say, a great Football Will Eat Itself moment. I'm guessing there's an AFC Regulation about what flags need to be displayed, in what order & how prominently. The missive seems to include "slung under the roof of the stand opposite the cameras". In my humble opinion, a fair number of despotic dictatorships on offer at this tournament. There's nothing more a despot likes than seeing his/her flag on the gogglebox.

Oh. But. The bowl & rake of the stand means that, at Canberra Stadium the myriad flags blot out the view for the prime, undercover, halfway line seats. And, they're some of the few undercover seats & we were subjected to a truly tropical downpour.

Over 12,000 there. A lot of Korean fans. The game was OK. But nothing special. Cagey, first game in a group of four. Oman put their bodies in the way. Blocked a fair few shots. I felt as the game went on that Oman might end up with chances to nick a draw. And they did. One fella missed a great chance in the 6 yard box. The Korea keeper pushed a header onto the bar.

But, all told, Korea deserved their win.

I feel pompous but vindicated. I'm pleased to say there was little of the bollocks that pervades World Cups & EUROs. No security lock downs. No seething mass of uninterested Corporate Sponsors. Loads of families. Loads of football fans.

11 fellas. Out there. Proud to play for their country. No one bit anybody. Maybe the quality of football doesn't match FIFA/UEFA. The hype certainly doesn't. But the fan experience does.

This is Ball Sup. So I need to add some detail. Hahns Super Dry & VB keg on sale in the ground. You can drink that in your seat. You can drink that watching the game. You can watch the game as you queue for your beer. The barstaff know how to pull a beer. You can get it before, during & after the game. You can enjoy yourself. Provided you can see past The Flags.

68/172