Pretty big week hey? Everyone got their moral dignity pants on and had their tuppence to say about Ross and Harvs and of course, I have to do the same.
*Yawn*
It was a lovely distraction from the real issue that we should all be up in arms about but for some strange reason are not. And no, I don't mean the great Campbell Brown shown shirtless and somewhat prostrate in a pair of handcuffs (although I don't doubt the "Browndawg" minded the distraction out west). What I felt slipped through the cracks was far more significant for the future of the game than boys being boys, and men behaving like boys.
Yet you all barely batted an eyelid.
It was in this space that recently I suggested the AFL would do well to have looked at the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) of North American sports with salary caps in order to have implemented a fairer system for the handling of the signing of Free Agents by the two new "franchises", the Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney.
I also recently posted of my pride at one of our own, one of Albury/Lavington's favourtie sons, and how he was spreading the gospel of Australian Rules Football around the world. An impossible dream? Well, it could be soon enough.
Yes, the standoff between the AFL and its Player's Association to sign terms on a new CBA and their refusal to come to an agreement seemed headed for front page news but apparently some squabble about musical chairs with coaches was far more important. Let's think about that; it was far more important than the possibility of there not being an AFL season at all in 2012. Never mind. It's no biggie.
So, many of us didn't get to read the smug Matt Finnis suggest that our game isn't a game, but rather closer to a business and as such, the players couldn't agree to guarantee us five more seasons of AFL football. This is because such contracts never, ever exist in the "business" world where what may happen in three years time is unpredictable, let alone five.
Sure, the AFLPA should be given credit for backing down from demands for a percentage of league revenue but because nobody was paying attention to that, they all missed the odious and arrogant retort from Andrew Demetriou, a man who DOES get paid dependent upon the amount of money the AFL makes. Unlike the AFLPA, he made no retraction from his stance that the AFL's offer to the players was fair and equitable. He described their rejection of the deal as "disappointing" and I imagine many of us would be disappointed that neither side could come to agreement, if only we were paying attention. Especially disappointed with your refusal to budge Mr. Demetriou. Then again, we've come to expect nothing less from you. You're always right, even when you're wrong.
The only silver lining that I can see is that players and league alike have expressed that they would not be willing to strike over their disagreements and have promised that season 2012 is not in any danger of being compromised at all. Hopefully they are being truthful because they only need look over the Pacific to see the damage a lost season can inflict upon a sport. The NHL has been down this road, a season lost due to a player strike in 2004, and are only just recovering.
Strangely enough, the situation in this case was reversed; player salaries had spiraled out of control due to the lack of a salary cap and as such, the richest clubs in the league were paying in some instances three times as much on wages than what the poorer clubs could afford. The owners of these poorer clubs, losing millions of dollars due to their inability to ice competitive teams, were dying slow deaths. Eventually, even the wealthy clubs agreed the madness had to stop; they were cutting each other's throats throwing more and more money at free agent players. So the league and the owners demanded not only a salary cap to limit the spending but to tie that salary cap to the revenues raised by gate takings and TV money that the league negotiated. Sound familiar? The players, knowing they would earn considerably less under such a system, went on strike. It was a strike that lasted well into the season proper before the brutal reality that there was not going to be a season came to fruition. And for what? The players to accept the terms outlined by the league the following season. Those Ferrari leases weren't going to pay themselves, so little Jean-Paul Canucklehead and Magnus Puckardsson decided to take the $4 million per season on offer instead of the $9 million they once earned. Boo-hoo-hoo, you're a breakin' my heart.
Except that they did break the heart of not only me but millions of Canadian ice hockey fans. Not that they needed worry about that, those that truly loved the game were always going to come back. Yet hockey is Canada's national sport and not that of the US, the nation that gives home to 25 of the 32 clubs of the NHL. So what happens to Joe in Atlanta who has never seen his hockey club play a playoff game in the history of his fair city? Well, there are many sports he can spend his money on. It was Joe, the casual fan who went from having a passing interest in his team to having none at all when he didn't get to watch them for 12 months. Only now are these type of fans returning to the game.
Can you see where this is going?
Sure, you and I will return to following the AFL (won't we?) should the inconceivable happen and we lose a season, but aside from the damage done to newly established teams and markets, who would also suffer most from the AFL locking out its players? I'll give you a little hint: they may not be so keen to practice their drop punts in Reykjavik next season.
So here is my most sincere, heartfelt plea to the powers that be on both sides of the rift: Can you please lock yourselves in a room, sit your fat-cat arses down, engage on some dialogue that is people talking to people as opposed to sniping each other through cocky, self-righteous media statements, and not emerge from said room until you have agreed to terms on the next three to five AFL seasons. Don't worry, if it takes some time we will make sure you have enough caviar and bottles of Penfolds Grange to get you through but let us make one thing clear. Crystal clear.
Should you balls this up and make the outstanding efforts of Brett Kirk spreading our game to the world redundant then I will never, ever attend an AFL match again nor buy any AFL related merchandise nor be a club member ever, EVER, again.
I, and the collective footy world, are putting our faith in you blokes. Please don't let us down lest I not be the only one who gets off the train. THAT, is what you call "disappointing" Andy and Matt; biting the hand that feeds you.
I had best leave you now as my blood pressure has probably risen high enough for one evening. Should you be attending a preliminary final this weekend I wish your club that is not Collingwood (sorry guys!) the best of luck and who knows? Should you be in Melbourne to support your club and want to tell me I'm wrong over a beer or several you can hit me up on twitter at @White_Ox and that would be great. Until then, stay well good people,
Whitey.
Showing posts with label AFL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AFL. Show all posts
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
The Cat's in the Cradle - To Boldly go Where no Man Has Gone Before...
"Hey Mate, have you seen what Kirky's been doing for a living these days?"
"Yeah dad, I follow him on Twitter. He's been traveling the world from country to country as an AFL ambassador or something. Even been to Scandinavia I think, bloody cold place to go to teach someone how to kick a drop punt!"
*Obviously Deflated* "Oh, you knew? What's a Twitter?"
"Atwitter is when people are excited about something and chat incessantly about it, you taught me that when I was about five I reckon. Seriously though don't panic mate, when the world is run solely by computers I won't leave you behind you old dinosaur".
"It's pretty amazing though, isn't it? You'd think the AFL would be covering all his expenses and that of Hayley and the kids, probably pays him a decent wage for it, and all this to go see the world showing people what Aussie Rules Footy is. Not a bad gig if you can get it!"
"He'd be king of the kids wouldn't he? I wonder where he might have picked that up from..."
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The idea that there would be such a place as a "Lavington East Public School" is a bit of a laugh, twenty years ago Lavington was barley large enough to be anything more than North of North Albury let alone its own suburb. And yet, L.E.P.S. was my public school, it was the one where my father committed 25 years of his life, and it was where another little tacker a few years my senior began to grow into the man he would become. The footballer however? No so much, and not one of us could have imagined that at the time.
Not that Pete didn't think that Brett Kirk was anything but a player capable of playing at the top level. Many were the afternoons he spent watching Kirky play for North Albury after his first de-listing from the Sydney Swans. I would come back from University on the Friday night to largely do as we do to this day, talk garbage about footy and cricket and life over a few beers, and make donations to the Keno coffers. But during this time dad was like a broken record; "I can't believe Brett can't get on an AFL list Mark. You can't tell me he's not at least as good a player as some of the blokes who run around in Melbourne. He'd be no star, but he dominates the Ovens and Murray competition. Surely he could have a solid 50-100 game career, I don't understand it!".
And dad would have to have been blinkered in that respect. He had no choice. It wasn't that he had a major hand in Brett's football, the closest he ever would have got to "coaching" was taking Kirky and his Lavi East teammates to their various intra-school matches. But he had something better going, the opportunity to teach a well grounded and intelligent kid during years 5 and 6, and the opportunity to play kick to kick with the young fella who had the uncanny knack of consistently winning the footy off his classmates.
It must have worked two ways though, for you see Kirky's immediate future after leaving High School was not having his name read out at the AFL draft, but rather attending teacher's college at Charles Sturt University in Wagga. To become a primary school teacher. I can't say if it was the sessions of kick to kick, the games of T-ball, or the everyone vs Mr. White games of basketball held on the school grounds that convinced Brett that his preferred choice would to be a teacher. What I do know is where he decided to complete all his practical placements for the University; under the watchful eye of Peter White at the school they both loved so dearly. No, dad did not have a hand in shaping Brett as a footballer. He merely made the transition from mentor to mate.
I won't ever forget the day dad came home in as close to a rage as he gets. Soon after Brett got his second opportunity from the Swans via the rookie draft, someone he knew had made the mistake of suggesting to him that Kirky was overrated, not nearly up to the demands of AFL football, and would be delisted before he played his 20th game. That was an affront to my old man and it was personal; you do not talk about his mates like that. Not being one to get himself into arguments, Pete suggested to this man that perhaps he'd like to wager a carton of beer on Brett playing 100 AFL games. Stewing at home dad suggested to me he knew he'd likely lose the bet but it was the principle of the thing. "Even if Brett only manages twenty games it will be a fantastic achievement, better than anything that prick will ever do in his life!"
And although dad was right, he was also very, very wrong. I don't think I need elaborate on Captain Kirk's career as I think we all know exactly how his football career turned out. We still shake our heads in disbelief.
Although less so at what he has become today. As we all know time waits for nobody and even to us, some of his proudest supporters, it had become apparent that Captain Blood had lost a half a yard of pace, didn't quite get to as many contests as he once did and although he was hardly a liability, it was hardly a surprise to see him announce halfway through the 2010 season that it would be his last. And in 2011, his life's journey was to come full circle; he would be a teacher at last. He would spread the gospel of the AFL to parts of the world that had likely never even known of the game. He would teach them all to kick, to handball, to tackle, to look after your mates and to enjoy every minute of it. He would be the king of the kids when the chance presented itself and although the odds of the AFL ever catching on abroad are likely slim, they are no worse than the odds of Brett Kirk captaining Sydney to a premiership or representing Australia in International Rules. Others have doubted Brett Kirk before, I would hope they refrain from making the same mistake again.
If anyone can make taking footy to the world work it is Captain Kirk, boldly taking Australian Rules Football where no man has taken it before. Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Iceland (yes, bloody Iceland!), Israel, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Canada and the United States. I'd love you to have a win there Kirky, I think the AFL could handle a Kobe Bryant or LeBron James nominating for the national draft! To get the biggest sports market in the world to take to the best game in the world? That's one almighty final frontier.
So best of luck to you Brett, Hayley, Indhi and the kids from me, Pete, and the family. We hear the AFL have chosen you to present the premiership cup this year. Remarkable, maybe they're doing a lot more right than I give them credit for after all.
Enjoy these finals everyone and best of luck to your respective sides. Hopefully they'll be lucky enough to receive the cup from a truly remarkable person. We're pleased just to have been lucky enough to have known him. See you later everyone, it's time I came down from my soapbox,
Whitey.
"Yeah dad, I follow him on Twitter. He's been traveling the world from country to country as an AFL ambassador or something. Even been to Scandinavia I think, bloody cold place to go to teach someone how to kick a drop punt!"
*Obviously Deflated* "Oh, you knew? What's a Twitter?"
"Atwitter is when people are excited about something and chat incessantly about it, you taught me that when I was about five I reckon. Seriously though don't panic mate, when the world is run solely by computers I won't leave you behind you old dinosaur".
"It's pretty amazing though, isn't it? You'd think the AFL would be covering all his expenses and that of Hayley and the kids, probably pays him a decent wage for it, and all this to go see the world showing people what Aussie Rules Footy is. Not a bad gig if you can get it!"
"He'd be king of the kids wouldn't he? I wonder where he might have picked that up from..."
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The idea that there would be such a place as a "Lavington East Public School" is a bit of a laugh, twenty years ago Lavington was barley large enough to be anything more than North of North Albury let alone its own suburb. And yet, L.E.P.S. was my public school, it was the one where my father committed 25 years of his life, and it was where another little tacker a few years my senior began to grow into the man he would become. The footballer however? No so much, and not one of us could have imagined that at the time.
Not that Pete didn't think that Brett Kirk was anything but a player capable of playing at the top level. Many were the afternoons he spent watching Kirky play for North Albury after his first de-listing from the Sydney Swans. I would come back from University on the Friday night to largely do as we do to this day, talk garbage about footy and cricket and life over a few beers, and make donations to the Keno coffers. But during this time dad was like a broken record; "I can't believe Brett can't get on an AFL list Mark. You can't tell me he's not at least as good a player as some of the blokes who run around in Melbourne. He'd be no star, but he dominates the Ovens and Murray competition. Surely he could have a solid 50-100 game career, I don't understand it!".
And dad would have to have been blinkered in that respect. He had no choice. It wasn't that he had a major hand in Brett's football, the closest he ever would have got to "coaching" was taking Kirky and his Lavi East teammates to their various intra-school matches. But he had something better going, the opportunity to teach a well grounded and intelligent kid during years 5 and 6, and the opportunity to play kick to kick with the young fella who had the uncanny knack of consistently winning the footy off his classmates.
It must have worked two ways though, for you see Kirky's immediate future after leaving High School was not having his name read out at the AFL draft, but rather attending teacher's college at Charles Sturt University in Wagga. To become a primary school teacher. I can't say if it was the sessions of kick to kick, the games of T-ball, or the everyone vs Mr. White games of basketball held on the school grounds that convinced Brett that his preferred choice would to be a teacher. What I do know is where he decided to complete all his practical placements for the University; under the watchful eye of Peter White at the school they both loved so dearly. No, dad did not have a hand in shaping Brett as a footballer. He merely made the transition from mentor to mate.
I won't ever forget the day dad came home in as close to a rage as he gets. Soon after Brett got his second opportunity from the Swans via the rookie draft, someone he knew had made the mistake of suggesting to him that Kirky was overrated, not nearly up to the demands of AFL football, and would be delisted before he played his 20th game. That was an affront to my old man and it was personal; you do not talk about his mates like that. Not being one to get himself into arguments, Pete suggested to this man that perhaps he'd like to wager a carton of beer on Brett playing 100 AFL games. Stewing at home dad suggested to me he knew he'd likely lose the bet but it was the principle of the thing. "Even if Brett only manages twenty games it will be a fantastic achievement, better than anything that prick will ever do in his life!"
And although dad was right, he was also very, very wrong. I don't think I need elaborate on Captain Kirk's career as I think we all know exactly how his football career turned out. We still shake our heads in disbelief.
Although less so at what he has become today. As we all know time waits for nobody and even to us, some of his proudest supporters, it had become apparent that Captain Blood had lost a half a yard of pace, didn't quite get to as many contests as he once did and although he was hardly a liability, it was hardly a surprise to see him announce halfway through the 2010 season that it would be his last. And in 2011, his life's journey was to come full circle; he would be a teacher at last. He would spread the gospel of the AFL to parts of the world that had likely never even known of the game. He would teach them all to kick, to handball, to tackle, to look after your mates and to enjoy every minute of it. He would be the king of the kids when the chance presented itself and although the odds of the AFL ever catching on abroad are likely slim, they are no worse than the odds of Brett Kirk captaining Sydney to a premiership or representing Australia in International Rules. Others have doubted Brett Kirk before, I would hope they refrain from making the same mistake again.
If anyone can make taking footy to the world work it is Captain Kirk, boldly taking Australian Rules Football where no man has taken it before. Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Iceland (yes, bloody Iceland!), Israel, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Canada and the United States. I'd love you to have a win there Kirky, I think the AFL could handle a Kobe Bryant or LeBron James nominating for the national draft! To get the biggest sports market in the world to take to the best game in the world? That's one almighty final frontier.
So best of luck to you Brett, Hayley, Indhi and the kids from me, Pete, and the family. We hear the AFL have chosen you to present the premiership cup this year. Remarkable, maybe they're doing a lot more right than I give them credit for after all.
Enjoy these finals everyone and best of luck to your respective sides. Hopefully they'll be lucky enough to receive the cup from a truly remarkable person. We're pleased just to have been lucky enough to have known him. See you later everyone, it's time I came down from my soapbox,
Whitey.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Eight two be a fan? Hardly, it's as good as Six!
Six months ago was the time when the idea was first hatched; go to Europe during their Winter, and have one last crack at a holiday overseas before life and all its commitments contrive to keep me well occupied and well happy at home. It was something I always wanted, and was even encouraged by the management, to do. I had a grin from ear to ear. Sure it would cost a bit, but I'd never been in the financial position to make this kind of pilgrimage before. It is going to be fun.
Yet the main attraction, the big ticket on the bill has lost some of its lustre, and I'm not sure that it had to be that way.
Of course, I'm talking about football. But then, I have a healthy dichotomy of readers when it comes to football and both sets of fans may take exception to me calling either game just that. So to make it plain for those who love only one or the other I'll refer to them as "AFL", or Aussie Rules Football, and "EPL", English Premier League Football.
I'm not here this evening to generate an opinion piece, you will find plenty of those surrounding the troubles that are circling the Arsenal Football Club elsewhere at the moment. What I wish to do is to further explain to my AFL audience what a true free agency could mean to them, and to my EPL audience, show that I don't got much time for money, 'cause money can't buy me love.
Last week I suggested what may happen in the Free Agency world of the AFL. I tried my best to suggest that our loyalties as fans will be tested to the utmost as players we grow to love will jump ship at the first opportunity of greater earning power or potential for success. It will upset many, but it won't be a blip on the madness that is the multi-billion dollar world of the EPL. To demonstrate such madness, I'll use the AFL's most recent powerhouse side, Geelong FC, as my model for how the world at an EPL club can change in just six months (Disclaimer: This hypothetical is the stuff of pure AFL fantasy and in no way reflects what I believe could possibly happen to the Geelong Football Club. They've been the model club on and off the field for almost six years now and I don't see that, nor their playing list, changing. We cool Cats fans? Yeah, we cool).
You see, the Cats (Geelong) have just failed at the final hurdle again. They've lost to the biggest, most popular, and now best club in the league, Collingwood FC, in the battle for the Premiership. As Geelong are an ageing side with many players choosing to retire at season's end, Geelong's opportunity for future success is limited, and although the retirements have given them much money to spend under the salary cap, the club is not an attractive place to come to as of now. They will have to rely on youth to rebuild them to the lofty heights they once reached (sound familiar EPL fans?).
Their star midfielder is Joel Selwood, a hard tackling, fiercely competitive, outstanding user of the ball by foot and is one who contributes the odd goal. He is slated for Free Agency. He is offered an enormous salary by Geelong, but decides he wants to play for the most rejuvinated club in the competition, the West Coast Eagles. His older and younger brother whom he loves dearly both play there. Western Australia has the most beautiful winter weather in the country. The club has won a premiership as recently as 2006 and are on the precipice again. He signs for less money to play with them. Geelong are weakened further.
Another player of the age and experience level that Geelong would like to keep is Travis Varcoe. He was taken at the not unsubstantial cost of a first round draft pick, and so highly thought of was he that he was given the guernsey number 5 worn by club legends such as Polly Farmer and most famously, Gary Ablett Senior. He has precocious talents, terrorising opposition defenders when he has the ball, and capable of creating a goal for himself or his teammates out of nothing. He has yet to reach a level of consistency from game to game that will set him apart as a champion. Geelong are confident this will happen given time but offer him a contract reflective of where they see his talents and development now. Instead, he is courted by champions Collingwood with contract negotiations only scuppered when the new challengers in town, Hawthorn FC, throw a contract at him that is simply too good to refuse. Hawthorn now have an attack with a talent level that is the envy of every club in the competition; the goals will be flying in from everywhere with opposing defences being able to do scant little to stop it. Geelong must seek adequate replacements and fast.
But as they are beaten to the signings of new players one by one, and are snubbed by other players who see them as a faded force, Geelong enter the new season to one of the most embarrassing defeats in their long and proud history; how was this allowed to happen? Especially after the AFL extended the "Trade Week" and Free Agency periods right until the beginning of the season. No sporting club in their right mind the world over would allow this to happen. Would they?
Welcome to The Arsenal Football Club, the EPL team I love and am practically making the pilgrimage to Mecca for. The team that have lost two of their best, and were before that time, two of my favourite players. Although in the EPL world "lost" can be a misnomer; these players were sold for a net profit of nearly 60 million British pounds. That's not a misprint, it is what it is. Sixty. Million. Pounds. Nearly One hundred million Australian dollars.
For the AFL's Joel Selwood, the appropriate EPL analogy is Francesco "Cesc" Fabregas; Arsenal's captain and one of the greatest players in the world. For Travis Varcoe read Samir Nasri, a precocious French attacking talent who, whilst wearing the number 8 of club legends Frederik Ljungberg and the great Ian Wright, was just beginning to come into his own. Both gone due to the ineptitude of the men responsible for the management of contracts at the Arsenal Football Club, both vitally important to the success of the club, both using their not inconsiderable talents elsewhere in the prime of their careers. Six months ago I thought I was coming to watch these little magicians play and I was as excited as a little kid. Now I don't know who I'll be watching play other than that they'll wear red with white sleeves.
The real crime of the Arsenal Football Club is not for debate however. It is not the sale of these players; both wanted to leave for differing reasons and once that happens there is scant little you can do to stop it. There is a modality, however, to rectify such problems. Unlike the world of the AFL where players are traded, drafted, or as I have predicted, will soon be able to sign free agent contracts, Arsenal are allowed to buy players from other clubs to replace the ones who have departed, much like how they sold Fabregas and Nasri. And yet they have chosen not to.
I could likely accept this if the remaining players in the squad were of similar standard and quality. But nearly every Arsenal supporter, even if they disagreed exactly whether it was the manager (in AFL parlance, coach), board or owner who was to blame for not re-investing that money, nearly every supporter agreed on one thing; the remaining players were not good enough to compete for the championship. We didn't have to wait long to find out either. The only time in Arsenal's history that they have conceded eight goals in a game was in 1896. Well it was, until Sunday, against a club that used to be our nearest rivals, the Champions Manchester United. The scoreboard said it all, United 8, Arsenal 2. It didn't take long for the pun; wouldn't you eight two be an Arsenal supporter right now?
I don't hate to be an Arsenal supporter. I love my Arsenal, yes I do. An irrational love? Perhaps. I have explained my reasons as to why I do love them the first time I ever had an article posted on the web, an Arsenal FC Blog's guest post titled "How Arsenal have ensured Arsenal will host the World Cup in our Lifetime'" (Although with hindsight I may want that title back; isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?). And I'm still very, very excited about the prospect of attending a couple of home matches in North London at the magnificent Emirates stadium. There's just a tremendous amount of regret at the moment that I, like nearly every "Gooner" (Arsenal supporter) the world over, has seen their club decline; our one time stars shining elsewhere, their replacements playing for other clubs with the club unwilling or unable to pay the price to lure equally talented players to our club. Six months ago I was excited about Cesc and Nasri. Today I'm more excited about the prospect of seeing the Czech Republic and Germany.
All is not lost. As is my eccentric want, as is my taste for the romantic, Arsenal did go out and buy a player I've become a big fan of in a short period of time. This time last year, a young lad not yet out of his teenage years named Carl Jenkinson, sat in the stands of Arsenal's home ground to watch the club he loved play in a pre-season tournament called the Emirates Cup. He was a professional footballer plying his trade for Charlton Athletic, a team well below the quality of a Premier League club. Yet someone saw something special in young Carl and offered Charlton a million pounds for his services and a professional contract to play for Arsenal, the club he supported since childhood. His interview upon joining the club is quite remarkable, he is literally blinking back tears of disbelief that he has signed up to play not only for one of the biggest and best clubs in Europe, but one he has loved all his life. He's merely a wide defender and not a star striker, he's technically limited and he has a lot to learn about top level EPL football. This was evidenced in the 8-2 demolition in which his inexperience led to two poorly timed challenges that saw him receive two yellow cards and a sending off.
But he's one of us, a proper Gooner, and will never long for pastures greener nor take defeats as anything over than a heavy weight in his heart. It's for this reason, when I find myself at the Arsenal "Armoury" store I'll be buying myself a "Jenkinson" shirt even though there are far more star turns at the club. I'll get behind one of our own with nothing but my full support and will sing his name with gusto. After all, I'll let you AFL and EPL fans alike argue whether the song I've penned is a pun on a song written about Tony Lockett or Dennis Bergkamp...
"One Carl Jenkinson, There's only one Carl Jenkinson!"
And all is not yet lost, Arsenal still have but two days to spend on players before the so-called "transfer window" closes and have already signed a Brazilian international defender and are being heavily linked to Germany's champion central defender Per Mertesacker. Should he sign for Arsenal I may, just may, become a little more optimistic about this season. Maybe the club does care about the supporters. Maybe they do want to right the wrongs. Maybe they will spend again on an established attacking star. But you best get on with it lads, the time is ticking!
Of course, I can't help but leave you without an awful pun. You see, I'm glad there is only one Carl Jenkinson. After all, it's better than six!
Until next time guys,
Whitey
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Dream Team Spirit (Trade Out Again...)
It's prelim finals time in Dream Team and Supercoach. That means that half the teams remain (four in the major finals, four in the minors) and that those fantasy fanatics are frantically working the waiver wire to organise the perfect trade to get them over the hump and into that one day in the first week of September.
It's a precarious course. Lost are the Carlton stars to the bye; those with Judd, Murphy and Gibbs would be most concerned indeed. They would be further troubled by the ever reliable Pav finally being any less than reliable, even if it is no fault of his own. As for Col Sylvia? You've further muddied the waters mate, tuck it all in, no elbows! What's that? You did? Oh.
Quite the dilemna for a great few and yet, I can't help but think there's an opportunity for me to prosper from this. Step aside Greg, there's a new Coodabeen in town and I plan on being the champion.
Disclaimer: I sing pretty average. And I'm not suggesting you should trade Jack Riewoldt for Mzungu; that horse has bolted. But hopefully you'll enjoy this little song about the dramas that face a "supercoach" every week as much as I enjoyed making it. I give you Radiohead's "Dream Team Spirit". May your ears not bleed too badly. :)
Thursday, 18 August 2011
That'd make you Philthy, wouldn't it?
It's only ever happened once and it was reasonably distasteful. I was offered what I saw as a job offer I couldn't refuse, one that would allow me to go into business for myself and be closer to my girlfriend who had moved away. I wanted to take the job so, for the one and only time in my life, I had to tender a resignation. Only thing was, I wasn't sure how you did it.
So I tried to do the right thing. I called the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, asked what the proper protocol was and how much notice I was expected to give, and quietly prepared my letter for an amicable parting of the ways.
More fool me, or so I was to discover.
You see, the Pharmacy Guild is effectively a union for pharmacy owners to protect the interest of pharmacy owners. My $100 per year associate membership as an employee gave me access to advice on how to give proper notice. My employer's $2000 a year membership gave him access to a myriad of Guild staff only too happy to call him and tell him that Mark White intends to give notice of his resignation in the next couple of days.
The phone call I received from said employer that evening suggesting he'd have to cancel his family's skiing holiday to Canada as a result of the resignation I'd yet to give (which was absolute BULLSHIT in any case) left a very sour taste in my mouth. Fortunately this was during a time when pharmacists were in such ridiculously short supply there was no way he'd sack me; he needed those final two weeks and although I'd never take my job as a health professional as anything but serious, I may have let his staff know to watch for a dagger to be slipped into their back at any moment. It needn't have been handled this way, it could have been done amicably and maturely (and yes, I admit by the both of us although we have patched up our differences and get along much better now), but it wasn't.
Which is a lovely segue (gee I love that word) to the Phil Davis situation. I'll let @AdamCurley_Fox tell it to you as it is;
"Not sure why all the hysteria about Davis, anyone who thinks Suns didn't lock away blokes mid-season kidding themselves, deal with it #afl"
Too true, far too true. Philthy? You and me are guilty of one terrible, horrible thing. We were honest, up front and truthful with our employers. Much better we'd have remained silent, devious and waited the appropriate time to announce a contract we signed halfway through the season like the Gold Coast crew. Besides, it seems to have gotten you in the same position it got me; thanks for nothing.
It also got you something akin to a "I guess we'll have to cancel our end of season trip because we were waiting for your raffle money". Well, it did actually. It got you this from Adelaide FC's head of football operations' Stephen Harper courtesy of CEO Steven Trigg (who helped establish the rules under which the Suns and GWS operate by the way...);
"We were one of the clubs that agreed to the AFL concessions. Did we think we'd be the hardest hit of all the AFL clubs? Probably not, but as it turns out we are,"
"Our club is bloody disappointed Phil has made this decision. We understand it, but we don't like it".
And then, in reward for his honesty and for fulfilling the obligations of his professional contract he signed with Adelaide when he was drafted, young Philthy was told to empty his locker, find his own physio to rehab his busted shoulder, and I would imagine to "piss off and never come back".
Boo hoo hoo Adelaide, you're breaking my heart. That Phil Ablett really made you the hardest hit of all AFL clubs, didn't they Stevie boy?
Where to from here? Somewhere I like to play a little game of compare, and contrast.
`Bryce (Gibbs) has been a great servant of (our club) for many years and we wish him and his family the very best for the future,’’
Do you hear that ladies and gents? It's the sound of every Carlton member frantically googling "Bryce Gibbs" to ensure he has not signed with Greater Western Sydney.
And he hasn't. Exhale Blue Baggers. That is a statement released by the NRL club Wests Tigers when one of their favourite sons, a premiership player in their sensational and improbable run to the flag in 2005, signed a contract with the North Queensland Cowboys for the 2012 season and beyond. Despite the fact he will still be playing for the Tigers this year as they prepare for the finals. No ill will, no teammates turning their back on him or firing snide tweets at him, just a situation handled with great maturity and respect which largely is the norm for NRL clubs well used to these signings.
Adelaide Football Club has been held up for two decades as a model AFL club. Suddenly, they are being shown up as petty, immature and plain nasty in their handling of a similar signing to that which occurs in the NRL on a weekly basis from season to season. The NRL. The league that spawns Todd Carney. I tell you what, when the NRL can take the moral high ground over you, perhaps you need a little rethink about how you are handling your football club. The Crows would do well to listen and learn.
That said, there are issues within the system that allow the Suns and GWS to sign players that I am not comfortable with. And as per usual, there is a media personality who can articulate my thoughts far better than I. I give you the brilliant Emma Quayle (@emmsq);
"The Phil Davis GWS news is disgusting. Sickening that clubs weren't protected against losing players coming out of their first contract."
And that is where the collective rage of the footy world is, or should be, directed. Adelaide had just invested 3 years in Davis; is a first round pick in a tainted draft fair compensation? And my goodness, let us please not go anywhere near the Tom Scully situation at Melbourne. Whatever you think of the Demon's tanking tactics they do not deserve to lose that player before he has given them fair service. It is galling and from that point of view you can understand the club's and fans' anger.
There is a solution of course. The AFL could have chosen to look at other leagues with salary caps and how they handle their "first contract" players if you will. I'm a huge fan of NHL ice hockey and in that league such newly drafted players sign "entry level contracts", the completion of which occurs after 3 seasons of 10 games or more, and after that time they are considered "Restricted Free Agents". Restricted in that until halfway through the off-season, only their clubs may negotiate a new contract with them and even after that time limit has passed, other clubs may only tender an "offer sheet" of a contract to the player which the club who holds the Restricted player's rights may still choose to match. They hold the final decision as to whether they wish to keep the player or not. Adelaide should have been afforded this choice.
You would think the obvious flaw in this system is the opportunity for a club to throw a ridiculously overpriced contract at a restricted free agent. Not so, because the NHL has the foresight to deal with this problem as well. The NHL has drafted a policy whereby the higher the salary is offered to the free agent, the more draft picks must be given up by that club in compensation. Offer sheets are rare in the NHL world. Quality young players will give their club several good seasons.
If we were to use this analogy for the purposes of our AFL situation, should the Greater Western Sydney Franchise choose to offer Tom Scully a contract to the value of a million dollars per season, they would be forced by the league to give up three first round draft picks; their highest first round picks in drafts 2011, 2012, and 2013. There is no guarantee GWS will be successful in their first three seasons, all of these draft picks could be top 3 picks. Ask yourself two things; would the GWS still go after Scully so hard if this was the case? And should they do so, would Melbourne supporters be truly upset when they would be getting so much in return? I think we all know the answers to those questions.
Of course, anybody who follows the NHL knows there is a kicker; the spectre of Unrestricted Free Agency. The notion that after 7 years of continuous service with your club, or reaching the age of 26, you may sign with ANY other club in the league if you are out of contract with NO compensation to your previous club.
This is what makes Adelaide's reaction even more childish and disrespectful. The AFLPA and Matt Finnis want this kind of free agency. Do you think they won't get what they want? I doubt it. They may not get the percentage of league revenues as wages like they want in the current labour war, but they'll get a massive increase in pay. They may not get free agency exactly matching that of the NHL, but they will get a form of it. It is coming.
And when that happens, your Joel Selwoods, your Cyril Riolis, your Dustin Martins, and your Scott Pendleburys may see out their period of restricted free agency before signing for the highest bidder. Or, if their club has started to struggle and stagnate outside of the final 8, sign for the club that gives them a high chance of a premiership.
Fast forward five years. With their rebuilding of youth in full swing, could that club be Adelaide? Could they benefit from the system that is "bloody disappointing"? You bet they could.
I'm sorry to say it but the fabric of AFL football as we know it is going to change. The kind of loyalty we built our league upon is slowly being torn down, soon to be unrecognisable to us fans. One club players will become less the norm, more the rarity. It will take some getting used to by fans. Obviously it will, because the clubs can't get their head around it either. Adelaide don't seem to have the first idea as to why they have no right to be filthy with Phil.
But hold your head up Philthy, you've done nothing wrong. Nothing that others won't be doing now and beyond. Tip of the iceberg stuff. And no matter what happens, be proud that you are "Philthy" Phil Davis, honest as the day is long.
Of course, being filthy rich will likely soften the blow too. Greater We$tern $ydney? You bet. Stay classy everyone!
Whitey
So I tried to do the right thing. I called the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, asked what the proper protocol was and how much notice I was expected to give, and quietly prepared my letter for an amicable parting of the ways.
More fool me, or so I was to discover.
You see, the Pharmacy Guild is effectively a union for pharmacy owners to protect the interest of pharmacy owners. My $100 per year associate membership as an employee gave me access to advice on how to give proper notice. My employer's $2000 a year membership gave him access to a myriad of Guild staff only too happy to call him and tell him that Mark White intends to give notice of his resignation in the next couple of days.
The phone call I received from said employer that evening suggesting he'd have to cancel his family's skiing holiday to Canada as a result of the resignation I'd yet to give (which was absolute BULLSHIT in any case) left a very sour taste in my mouth. Fortunately this was during a time when pharmacists were in such ridiculously short supply there was no way he'd sack me; he needed those final two weeks and although I'd never take my job as a health professional as anything but serious, I may have let his staff know to watch for a dagger to be slipped into their back at any moment. It needn't have been handled this way, it could have been done amicably and maturely (and yes, I admit by the both of us although we have patched up our differences and get along much better now), but it wasn't.
Which is a lovely segue (gee I love that word) to the Phil Davis situation. I'll let @AdamCurley_Fox tell it to you as it is;
"Not sure why all the hysteria about Davis, anyone who thinks Suns didn't lock away blokes mid-season kidding themselves, deal with it #afl"
Too true, far too true. Philthy? You and me are guilty of one terrible, horrible thing. We were honest, up front and truthful with our employers. Much better we'd have remained silent, devious and waited the appropriate time to announce a contract we signed halfway through the season like the Gold Coast crew. Besides, it seems to have gotten you in the same position it got me; thanks for nothing.
It also got you something akin to a "I guess we'll have to cancel our end of season trip because we were waiting for your raffle money". Well, it did actually. It got you this from Adelaide FC's head of football operations' Stephen Harper courtesy of CEO Steven Trigg (who helped establish the rules under which the Suns and GWS operate by the way...);
"We were one of the clubs that agreed to the AFL concessions. Did we think we'd be the hardest hit of all the AFL clubs? Probably not, but as it turns out we are,"
"Our club is bloody disappointed Phil has made this decision. We understand it, but we don't like it".
And then, in reward for his honesty and for fulfilling the obligations of his professional contract he signed with Adelaide when he was drafted, young Philthy was told to empty his locker, find his own physio to rehab his busted shoulder, and I would imagine to "piss off and never come back".
Boo hoo hoo Adelaide, you're breaking my heart. That Phil Ablett really made you the hardest hit of all AFL clubs, didn't they Stevie boy?
Where to from here? Somewhere I like to play a little game of compare, and contrast.
`Bryce (Gibbs) has been a great servant of (our club) for many years and we wish him and his family the very best for the future,’’
Do you hear that ladies and gents? It's the sound of every Carlton member frantically googling "Bryce Gibbs" to ensure he has not signed with Greater Western Sydney.
And he hasn't. Exhale Blue Baggers. That is a statement released by the NRL club Wests Tigers when one of their favourite sons, a premiership player in their sensational and improbable run to the flag in 2005, signed a contract with the North Queensland Cowboys for the 2012 season and beyond. Despite the fact he will still be playing for the Tigers this year as they prepare for the finals. No ill will, no teammates turning their back on him or firing snide tweets at him, just a situation handled with great maturity and respect which largely is the norm for NRL clubs well used to these signings.
Adelaide Football Club has been held up for two decades as a model AFL club. Suddenly, they are being shown up as petty, immature and plain nasty in their handling of a similar signing to that which occurs in the NRL on a weekly basis from season to season. The NRL. The league that spawns Todd Carney. I tell you what, when the NRL can take the moral high ground over you, perhaps you need a little rethink about how you are handling your football club. The Crows would do well to listen and learn.
That said, there are issues within the system that allow the Suns and GWS to sign players that I am not comfortable with. And as per usual, there is a media personality who can articulate my thoughts far better than I. I give you the brilliant Emma Quayle (@emmsq);
"The Phil Davis GWS news is disgusting. Sickening that clubs weren't protected against losing players coming out of their first contract."
And that is where the collective rage of the footy world is, or should be, directed. Adelaide had just invested 3 years in Davis; is a first round pick in a tainted draft fair compensation? And my goodness, let us please not go anywhere near the Tom Scully situation at Melbourne. Whatever you think of the Demon's tanking tactics they do not deserve to lose that player before he has given them fair service. It is galling and from that point of view you can understand the club's and fans' anger.
There is a solution of course. The AFL could have chosen to look at other leagues with salary caps and how they handle their "first contract" players if you will. I'm a huge fan of NHL ice hockey and in that league such newly drafted players sign "entry level contracts", the completion of which occurs after 3 seasons of 10 games or more, and after that time they are considered "Restricted Free Agents". Restricted in that until halfway through the off-season, only their clubs may negotiate a new contract with them and even after that time limit has passed, other clubs may only tender an "offer sheet" of a contract to the player which the club who holds the Restricted player's rights may still choose to match. They hold the final decision as to whether they wish to keep the player or not. Adelaide should have been afforded this choice.
You would think the obvious flaw in this system is the opportunity for a club to throw a ridiculously overpriced contract at a restricted free agent. Not so, because the NHL has the foresight to deal with this problem as well. The NHL has drafted a policy whereby the higher the salary is offered to the free agent, the more draft picks must be given up by that club in compensation. Offer sheets are rare in the NHL world. Quality young players will give their club several good seasons.
If we were to use this analogy for the purposes of our AFL situation, should the Greater Western Sydney Franchise choose to offer Tom Scully a contract to the value of a million dollars per season, they would be forced by the league to give up three first round draft picks; their highest first round picks in drafts 2011, 2012, and 2013. There is no guarantee GWS will be successful in their first three seasons, all of these draft picks could be top 3 picks. Ask yourself two things; would the GWS still go after Scully so hard if this was the case? And should they do so, would Melbourne supporters be truly upset when they would be getting so much in return? I think we all know the answers to those questions.
Of course, anybody who follows the NHL knows there is a kicker; the spectre of Unrestricted Free Agency. The notion that after 7 years of continuous service with your club, or reaching the age of 26, you may sign with ANY other club in the league if you are out of contract with NO compensation to your previous club.
This is what makes Adelaide's reaction even more childish and disrespectful. The AFLPA and Matt Finnis want this kind of free agency. Do you think they won't get what they want? I doubt it. They may not get the percentage of league revenues as wages like they want in the current labour war, but they'll get a massive increase in pay. They may not get free agency exactly matching that of the NHL, but they will get a form of it. It is coming.
And when that happens, your Joel Selwoods, your Cyril Riolis, your Dustin Martins, and your Scott Pendleburys may see out their period of restricted free agency before signing for the highest bidder. Or, if their club has started to struggle and stagnate outside of the final 8, sign for the club that gives them a high chance of a premiership.
Fast forward five years. With their rebuilding of youth in full swing, could that club be Adelaide? Could they benefit from the system that is "bloody disappointing"? You bet they could.
I'm sorry to say it but the fabric of AFL football as we know it is going to change. The kind of loyalty we built our league upon is slowly being torn down, soon to be unrecognisable to us fans. One club players will become less the norm, more the rarity. It will take some getting used to by fans. Obviously it will, because the clubs can't get their head around it either. Adelaide don't seem to have the first idea as to why they have no right to be filthy with Phil.
But hold your head up Philthy, you've done nothing wrong. Nothing that others won't be doing now and beyond. Tip of the iceberg stuff. And no matter what happens, be proud that you are "Philthy" Phil Davis, honest as the day is long.
Of course, being filthy rich will likely soften the blow too. Greater We$tern $ydney? You bet. Stay classy everyone!
Whitey
Friday, 12 August 2011
And the Cat's in the Cradle - Prelude
I heard there was a bit of a furore lately when some journalist used her morning TV segment to decry this bloke who had just won some sort of bike race as something less than a hero. I'll let you guys decide what you think of that.
Heroes come in all guises of course. They inspire us to do great things and to be better people. So if you're going to have one, it's probably a really, really good thing when they are close to you and you can speak to them often.
My hero captained his cricket club to 5 premierships. He played in a plethora of representative football teams. He was charismatic, friendly and kind, and if he saw injustice he'd actively try to do something about it. He was the primary school teacher who the kids genuinely wanted to have teach them; although it may have helped that he had them outside for P.E. sport 3 hours a day!
He taught me how to hold the bat, how to kick the footy, what the capital of Ecuador was and most importantly, had a stern word for when I'd erred and a way of reigning me in when I was starting to think I was more important than I really was. He became a figure of utmost respect... "You know I'm gonna be like him yeah, you know I'm gonna be like him..."
But I've learnt that your dad shouldn't be your hero. And as much as you might want to be just like him, it's your differences that define how you stack up against each other, not your similarities (and believe me, we are nigh on identical!).
So for that reason, I'm bloody glad dad isn't my hero anymore. It's much better that he's one of my best mates.
I never did manage to play the booming pull shot off the lightening quick bowlers that was dad's trademark, try as he might to teach me. Sadly he was working with inferior clay. However the lesson never should be about how well you play, rather developing a love for the game, respect for your opposition and commitment to your teammates. He taught me these things well as, after all, he has taught me everything I know about sport.
And this is what makes Friday nights so special to me. For as long as I can remember (and have been legal), Friday has been a trip to the club to put on the footy tips, a $20 donation to the coffers of Club Keno, and a discussion about how to right all the wrongs in the world. Not just the ills of the AFL and its clubs or the Australian Cricket team and its captains, but also how to fix all that is wrong with the world. Right the wrongs of the previous inept governments be they ALP or Coalition. Concoct the ideas that would purge the world of hunger and disease. Fix the education (dad) and healthcare (me) system's problems that are so glaringly obvious and so easily rectified that Australia could really be on solid footing again. This is what we do every Friday night; if only we were in charge we'd have this ship sailing smoothly in no time.
So this will be the new, weekly Friday night blog post; "The Cat's in the Cradle". We'll have our father-son quality time to opine on the good and bad, prognosticate on future happenings like whether or not Jack Watts will fulfil his potential or Phil Hughes will ever learn to play the short ball, and it will be posted here in austerity for us to self congratulate ourselves for being correct 100% of the time.
Except of course when we are not, and I expect my readership to remind me at every opportunity too. It's your duty as fellow "know-it-alls" to tell us just how wrong we are. Although I am sure of one thing with great certainty; if every father cared enough to take their son for a couple of beers and a round of Keno each week, the world would be a far better place for it.
And I'm a much better person for it. I don't even have to be a hero.
Stay well good people,
Whitey
Heroes come in all guises of course. They inspire us to do great things and to be better people. So if you're going to have one, it's probably a really, really good thing when they are close to you and you can speak to them often.
My hero captained his cricket club to 5 premierships. He played in a plethora of representative football teams. He was charismatic, friendly and kind, and if he saw injustice he'd actively try to do something about it. He was the primary school teacher who the kids genuinely wanted to have teach them; although it may have helped that he had them outside for P.E. sport 3 hours a day!
He taught me how to hold the bat, how to kick the footy, what the capital of Ecuador was and most importantly, had a stern word for when I'd erred and a way of reigning me in when I was starting to think I was more important than I really was. He became a figure of utmost respect... "You know I'm gonna be like him yeah, you know I'm gonna be like him..."
But I've learnt that your dad shouldn't be your hero. And as much as you might want to be just like him, it's your differences that define how you stack up against each other, not your similarities (and believe me, we are nigh on identical!).
So for that reason, I'm bloody glad dad isn't my hero anymore. It's much better that he's one of my best mates.
 |
| Front Page of the Border Mail, 1983. The Old Man has just led Lavington CC to their third consecutive premiership. The only 3 they'd ever won. Three year old me is suitably chuffed. |
I never did manage to play the booming pull shot off the lightening quick bowlers that was dad's trademark, try as he might to teach me. Sadly he was working with inferior clay. However the lesson never should be about how well you play, rather developing a love for the game, respect for your opposition and commitment to your teammates. He taught me these things well as, after all, he has taught me everything I know about sport.
And this is what makes Friday nights so special to me. For as long as I can remember (and have been legal), Friday has been a trip to the club to put on the footy tips, a $20 donation to the coffers of Club Keno, and a discussion about how to right all the wrongs in the world. Not just the ills of the AFL and its clubs or the Australian Cricket team and its captains, but also how to fix all that is wrong with the world. Right the wrongs of the previous inept governments be they ALP or Coalition. Concoct the ideas that would purge the world of hunger and disease. Fix the education (dad) and healthcare (me) system's problems that are so glaringly obvious and so easily rectified that Australia could really be on solid footing again. This is what we do every Friday night; if only we were in charge we'd have this ship sailing smoothly in no time.
So this will be the new, weekly Friday night blog post; "The Cat's in the Cradle". We'll have our father-son quality time to opine on the good and bad, prognosticate on future happenings like whether or not Jack Watts will fulfil his potential or Phil Hughes will ever learn to play the short ball, and it will be posted here in austerity for us to self congratulate ourselves for being correct 100% of the time.
Except of course when we are not, and I expect my readership to remind me at every opportunity too. It's your duty as fellow "know-it-alls" to tell us just how wrong we are. Although I am sure of one thing with great certainty; if every father cared enough to take their son for a couple of beers and a round of Keno each week, the world would be a far better place for it.
And I'm a much better person for it. I don't even have to be a hero.
Stay well good people,
Whitey
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