Walter Pless on Football

By Walter Pless

Daniel Allsopp and Rodrigo Vargas with Cameron Brown (Motors Manager) and FFT’s David Abela and Martin Shaw

Four of Melbourne Victory’s top players visited

Tasmania on Tuesday, 19 June 2007, to conduct junior coaching clinics.

Daniel Allsopp and Rodrigo Vargas came to

Hobart to hold clinics at Mt Stuart Primary School and St Michael’s Collegiate.

Archie Thompson and Grant Brebner were in Launceston for clinics at

Perth Primary School and Our Lady of Lourdes primary School.

All four players then attended Motors Hyundai Showrooms to promote the forthcoming pre-season cup match against fellow A-League side Adelaide United, which is scheduled for the Aurora Stadium in Launceston on Sunday, 15 July 2007, at 1pm.

The curtain-raiser to the game will be the men’s South versus North Premier League representative match.

I interviewed Allsopp and Vargas at Motors Hyundai Showroom at the corner of Barrack and

Collins Street

in

Hobart.

Melbourne-born Allsopp is 29 years old. He is a striker and previously played for Croydon, South Melbourne, Carlton,

Manchester City,

Notts County, Wrexham, Bristol Rovers and

Hull City. He is also a Socceroo.

How did the clinics go?

Allsopp: “It was fantastic to spend a bit of time with the kids at a couple of schools. They all had so much fun and it was easy.”

How do you think you’ll go against

South Melbourne tomorrow night?

Allsopp: “It’s another step in our preparation for the next A-League season, so it should be a good game, really. We’ve been getting good crowds for our friendlies. It’ll probably be even bigger this week. Obviously, we’ll be trying to win. It’s just natural. But, we’re still just sort of getting fitter for the season.”

You had 4,000 last week when you beat Oakleigh Cannons 3-2?

Allsopp: “It shows how much the club and the league have grown if you’re getting that sort of crowd for local friendly matches or practice matches. It makes it a bit more exciting to play in.”

How will Victory go against

Adelaide in Launceston?

Allsopp: “It’s going to be an interesting match to face them again. I suppose they’ll be looking to get revenge on us, starting with that game. We tried to get a lot of kids from the schools to come down and support Melbourne Victory. It’s all part of our preparation and we’ll still be hoping to try and win again.”

Vargas was also born in

Melbourne, is 29, and is a central-defender. His previous clubs were

Springvale City, Port Melbourne,

Melbourne Knights and Green Gully.

How do you think today’s clinics went?

Vargas: “It went very well. The kids were pretty excited and we enjoyed it as much as they did, so it was good for everyone involved.”

You did well against Oakleigh Cannons last week and provided the pass for Daniel’s second goal.

Vargas: “Yes, it was the second goal. I passed and Danny popped up and scored.”

You combined well. Have you only been team-mates for a year?

Vargas: “Just last season with Victory, but I played with Danny back in the junior days with the Victorian team in the under-12s and under-13s, so I’ve known Danny for a while.”

How will the team go against

Adelaide United in Launceston?

Vargas: “It’s a preparation for us. It’s another game we’ll get under our belt. Obviously, it’ll be a good quality game as it’s against another A-League team and we’ll see where we’re at, physically, and we’ll get to gel the team. It’ll give us a good indication of where we’re at.”

You’ve played in both the old NSL and the new A-League. How do they compare from your perspective?

Vargas: “Sometimes it’s hard to compare the two. It’s like two different worlds. In the old NSL you had, I think, three clubs which were full time. Now, every club in the A-League is full time and the facilities are a lot different. The standard is just a little bit better due to the fact that we train every day and we’re full-time professionals, which helps a lot. A lot of the players back in the old NSL were part time and they did a job and then they went to training. I think, definitely, full-time has taken it to another level and it’s brought the game a step up.

And the venues are better, too?

Vargas: “The venues are fantastic. I mean, we play at the Telstra Dome and all the venues are first class and the grounds and the pitches and everything is tip-top. The A-League has done very well.

Are you looking forward to the Launceston game against

Adelaide United?

Vargas: “The boys enjoy going interstate and coming out of

Melbourne and playing. We had the best away record last season. We don’t mind playing away from home at all. And, it’s good to come away and spend time together away from home and gel and spread the game to all parts of

Australia. It’s an awesome thing and we’re looking forward to a good day and a big crowd, hopefully.”

Daniel Allsopp and Rodrigo Vargas with Cameron Brown, manager Motors Hyundai Hobart

 

 

By Walter Pless 

Hobart Zebras’ Division 2 team has been withdrawn from the competition after unacceptable behaviour by the side during the past three seasons.

The straw that broke the camel’s back  -  some would say the zebra’s back  -  occurred on 5 May in the game against University.

Zebras had three players sent off and, when another two players walked off, the referee had no option but to abandon the match because a team must have a minimum of seven players for a game to continue.

Football Federation Tasmania (FFT) CEO, Martin Shaw, said:  “Two of the three players who were sent off have been referred to the tribunal for their actions.

“While the referee’s safety was not in danger during this match, the actions of the players showed a total disregard for the position of the referee and we hope that the tribunal will apply a stiff penalty.”

Zebras president, Michael Pace, said his club had voluntarily withdrawn the team from the competition because there had been a lot of trouble over the past three seasons.

“Off the field, the players are a great bunch of blokes, but on the field there are some hot heads and there has been some unacceptable behaviour and to protect the good name of our club we have withdrawn the team from the competition,” Pace said.

Shaw said the matter would have been referred to the tribunal if Zebras had not withdrawn the team and the recommendation would have been to expel the team from the league.

There have been several other unsavoury incidents in recent weeks that FFT is also dealing with.

At a northern Premier League match on 14 April between Prospect Knights and Northern Rangers, a referee’s coach was allegedly manhandled by a supporter of one of the clubs in the referees’ change rooms after the game.

The supporter was then escorted away by others in attendance and the matter is now before the courts.

Shaw said that FFT will await the decision of the court before deciding on any further action and that the supporter’s club was fined $500.

“In support of the club’s committee, they have been very constructive in their actions since the incident and have not tried to pass the buck or attempt to play down the severity of the incident,” Shaw said.

“They realise that they have a problem and are trying to do something about it.”

In another incident in the south, a player, who is also a referee, was sent off in a lower-league match.

After being shown a second yellow card, the player pushed the referee before leaving the field.

“The referee stated that he didn’t fear for his safety as it wasn’t a violent or aggressive push, but the matter was referred to the tribunal as touching the referee in any way is unacceptable,” Shaw said.

“The tribunal gave the player a 12-week suspension from playing or refereeing.”

FFT is also investigating incidents at last Friday’s Glenorchy Knights versus Taroona Premier League match at

KGV

Park when a bottle was allegedly thrown onto the pitch from behind one of the goals.

“I am aware of incidents that occurred at the Knights game at KGV on Friday night and am compiling reports from those who were there,” said Shaw.

“We will then look at the appropriate action to take once the reports have been examined.”

By Walter Pless

The diminutive Hobart Olympic striker, Michael Bulis, is the Premier League’s top scorer after two rounds with 5 goals from his two games.

Not that you would know it.

Here it is, Wednesday, and Football Federation Tasmania’s website doesn’t even list Bulis on its scoring list. In fact, it only lists three of last weekend’s five Premier League results.

Bulis scored a hat-trick in Olympic’s opening game against New Town Eagles. That results is recorded, but only the name of the Eagles scorer is given. The Olympic scorers are not listed.

The incompleteness of the results section on the website is why Bulis’s name does not appear on the scoring chart, and it’s also why the ladder is incorrect, with four teams shown as having played only one game each instead of two.

Now I know what FFT will say. They will blame the clubs for not having submitted the required information.

But, it behoves FFT to get those results and ensure that the results, ladders and scorers are up to date, even if clubs have not submitted electronic returns. If you are going to have a computer system and a website, then it must be up to date.

By all means fine the clubs for not providing the information, but ensure that details on the website are up to date and accurate, especially if you argue, as FFT does, that that’s where people can find all the information they need.

FFT has argued that they don’t need to advertise games in the press, nor circulate printed rosters because people can look for all information on their website.

Well, if the results, ladders and scorers on the website are anything to go by, people can’t have too much confidence about the accuracy or timeliness of other things on the website.

While on the subject of goalscorers, South Hobart’s fourth goal against Kingborough Lions United last Saturday was a gem.

It involved a series of 12 passes, starting from deep in South’s right-back position, and then moving diagonally to the left and culminating in Jonathon Lo cutting inside the last defender and scoring.

That’s the sort of football people like to see and full marks to South Hobart for producing it.

* * * * *

What can one make of the season so far?

Tilford Zebras sit on top of the ladder and, counting the Summer Cup tournament, which they won, have won all seven of their competitive games to date.

That’s a remarkable turnaround to last season.

Their rookie coach, Nick Lapolla, tells me it’s because this season the players really want to play for the club.

It seems there was a lack of motivation last season and discontent, which has been rectified.

The Zebras can only get better, and they’re the only side that has yet to concede a goal.

With goalkeeper Frank Mainella in outstanding form and with James Symmons still to come back, things are looking good for the Zebras.

Hobart Olympic and South Hobart are locked together in second place with the same points, same goal-difference and same ‘goals for’ and ‘goals against’ statistics.

The introduction of David Cooper to the South Hobart line-up has been positive. Not only does he score goals and take the pressure off Daniel Brown, he is versatile. He finished last weekend’s game against Kingborough playing in the centre of the defence after starting as a striker and scoring two goals.

Olympic have won their two games, but this has, arguably, been against two of the weakest sides. Things are going to get more difficult, but hey, six points are six points and that’s a great start.

Clarence United are fourth on goal-difference and are one of four teams on six points, having won both their games to date.

Coach Andrew Brown has his players believing in themselves and they have men and boys who know how to score. What more could one ask for?

University surprised everyone by winning their opening game, but they came back to earth last Sunday when they lost 2-1 at home to reigning champions Glenorchy Knights.

Colin Shepherd is still a force in midfield, while Alexis Bull covers a huge amount of territory in a game and is always dangerous.

Once Ashley Winter settles down in goal and reaches an understanding with his defenders, they will be difficult to beat.

The Knights made an embarrassing start to the league season when missed chances cost them the game against Clarence. They could have won 8-4 but lost 4-2.

They missed chances galore against University, too, but two quick counter-attacks initiated by Janko Begovic and finished clinically against a hesitant defence by Lincoln Conquest and Tom Huigsloot earned the three points.

New Town Eagles have problems and coach Ian Parker is despondent at a lack of commitment and poor on-field performances.

The return from Melbourne of goalkeeper Nathan Pitchford may be a morale-booster and Eagles can be expected to turn things around soon.

Kingborough Lions United have been disappointing, especially given that they finished second for the past two seasons.

Part of the problem is that young striker Chris Sanita has not yet found his form of last season.

He is not to blame. It’s asking a lot of a 17-year-old to carry an attack on his own based on his reputation.

Kingborough are also missing some easy chances. Once they learn to finish those, they’ll be up there again.

The inclusion of Garry Upston in defence is a huge plus, but his injury against South Hobart was an ominous sign in regard to his fitness.

Taroona are, as expected, second last. It’s hard for a side to move up a league as the game is faster and players are fitter.

They have yet to score a goal. Martyn Wells is certainly fast, but he is often a lone striker and it’s much more difficult to score against Premier League defences.

I suspect that the acquisition of goalkeeper Michael McKenna has prevented Taroona from being even further in deficit when it comes to goal-difference.

Metro-Claremont are last and looking shaky. The club has ambition and, to their credit, are doing good things.

They carried the flag for the south by participating in the northern pre-season Steve Hudson Cup competition, something that more prominent southern clubs, such as Glenorchy Knights and Tilford Zebras, did in the past.

And, they even reached the final.

But, they are finding the going tough and it’s going to be a long, hard season for them.

By Walter Pless

Football Federation Tasmania (FFT) has released a discussion paper concerning a review of the southern competition structure.

Clubs have until the end of the month to comment.

The paper presents a number of options in regard to how many teams each club should have (the tier system), and also about the number of clubs in each competition.

Under the present arrangements, the 10 Premier League sides must have seniors, reserves and under-19s, while the nine Division One sides must have seniors and reserves.

The presence of two Premier League teams - effectively those clubs’ thirds - in the Division One competition is also problematic in terms of promotion to the top flight as they are ineligible for the Premier League if they come first, while if the leading Division One club comes, say, third, it would be a farce for it to challenge for promotion.

The option the FFT Board favours is:

• An 8-team Premier League

• A Championship League restricted to non-Premier League teams

• A two-tier system comprising seniors and under-21s

• An under-18 league open to all clubs wishing to enter

• Promotion and relegation based on the current system

I think the first sensible move would be to simply name the top-tier competition the First Division and the next one down the Second Division and so on.

Why copy the idiotic system used in England’s professional set-up, where you have the Premier League (first division), the Championship League (second division), and then League One (third division) and League Two (fourth division), when everyone knows they’re divisions one to four?

It’s a useless PR exercise and certainly doesn’t improve standards, and it’s about time a spade was called a spade.

The local Premier League should remain at 10 teams as that gives 18 home-and-away matches, which is the absolute minimum if a league is to have any credibility at all.

An 8-team competition would be a farce with just 14 games and would require three rounds for a total of 21 games.

Some teams would thus lose home advantage in a three-round contest, which destroys the argument for having home grounds.

Division One (surely they must be joking by calling it the Championship League!) could comprise 8 or 10 teams, as long as a team genuinely capable of challenging for promotion emerges.

If it’s an 8-team Division One league, one could have 14 rounds, which is not ideal, but one could throw in a Division One round-robin cup competition to increase the number of games for these teams.

The safety-valve in any competition is the promotion/relegation play-off, which worked well last season.

It would be foolish to do away with the reserves in favour of an under-21 side as this would simply reduce the playing options for some over-age players.

I am against arbitrary age limits above a certain mark. It’s okay up to under-19s, but above that it goes against the principle of natural selection. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.

Remember the ridiculous international under-23 tournaments UEFA and FIFA used to run parallel with senior internationals? They reduced that to under-21s, which makes a little more sense. But at club level here, it’s unnecessary.

Seniors, reserves and then possibly under-18s is the way to go and every player at a club should fit into one of those categories. If you want a third ‘senior’ side for Premier League clubs, then let’s have a league below Division One to cater for those teams.

It will be interesting to see which options the clubs favour now that FFT’s idea of a summer State League has been shelved and that all eyes are turned towards the aim of getting a team in the Victorian V-League (what else would it be called!).

* * * * *

South Hobart’s under-12 side competed in the Johs Amundsen under-13 competition in Merimbula, NSW, over the Easter period and finished a creditable fifth after losing 1-0 to Griffith in the play-offs.

South drew with Wagga Wagga 2-2, the goals coming from Alexandro Young and Oliver Maxwell, beat SW Slopes 2-0 through goals by Henry Wiggins and Connor Tatnell, beat Far South Coast 5-2 (Young 2, Maxwell, Wiggins, Max Clarke) and lost 5-0 to Woden Valley.

By Walter Pless

How disappointing it was, especially given the excellent weather, that there were no matches scheduled for the Easter period.

I had several phone calls asking me whether there were any games on, so people were certainly keen to watch the local game, even though there was more than enough available on Fox Sports.

I have been watching the local game for half a century and have been writing about it for 28 years in the local and interstate press and it’s the first time I can recall that there have been no matches over Easter.

It used to be that the Summer Cup semi-finals were played on Easter Saturday and the final on Easter Monday.

Now, alas, we don’t even have semi-finals in the top flight section of the competition, with the winners of the two groups going straight into the final.

There is no time, we are told, and yet there was the Easter break with at least two match days available, and perfect weather to boot.

A Football Federation Tasmania official, in response to my enquiry, told me there had not been any games last year either and that the clubs didn’t want any. When the clubs didn’t complain this time, FFT thought they’d stick with the no games policy.

How short the corporate memory is! Last season, we at least had four games in the preliminary round of the State-wide Cup over Easter. And, my information is that not all the clubs wanted a break over Easter.

Some people do, of course, go away over Easter, but that is scarcely an argument to have no games.

At a time when Football Federation Tasmania (FFT) has at least five full-time paid employees, and when it prides itself on the so-called professional manner in which it runs the game, this is just not good enough.

With most other sports in full swing, it was a great opportunity missed to promote the game and allow players to play.

* * * * *

FFT has appointed Robert Freke as its new referee development manager and he takes up his appointment in early May.

Freke refereed in Brisbane until 2003, when he moved into the coaching and development area of refereeing.

Kelly Cross, the national coaching education manager, paid a quick visit to Hobart recently to talk to coaches about the technical and tactical aspects of the 2006 World Cup.

The coaching positions for the northern and southern senior men’s and women’s representative teams have been advertised and applications close this coming Friday.

The home-and-away intrastate series, which proved so successful after being revived last year, will be played in Hobart on 15 September and in Launceston a week later.

* * * * *

The preliminary qualifying round of the State-wide Cup will be played next Saturday and features Barnstoneworth United against Nelson Eastern Suburbs, and DOSA-Northern Suburbs versus Beachside.

The next qualifying round is scheduled for Anzac Day, with Northern Rangers hosting Metro-Claremont, Ulverstone at home to Devonport City, Hobart Olympic taking on Riverside Olympic, Hobart United entertaining Taroona, and the winners of next Saturday’s game meeting each other to complete the round.

Again, I have had numerous phone calls from people young and old asking about rosters and, unless one has a computer and can access the FFT website, it’s difficult to find out which games are on when.

Surely FFT can find a sponsor and print fold-up pocket-size rosters.

Some may say these are just small things, but unless you get the small things right, what hope is there for the big things?

And, I don’t think they are small things. Unless you advertise the games and let people, including kids, know when and where the games are, how can you hope to improve attendances?

By Walter Pless

Tim Goddard has become the new director on the Board of Football Federation Tasmania (FFT) following the resignation of Chris MacGeorge.

Goddard, who once played for Rapid and was most recently the CEO of Moorilla, is self employed as a consultant in the wine, events, tourism and hospitality industries.

“Tim’s general experience and, in particular, his marketing, media and sponsorship skills, will augment the Board nicely,” said FFT president, Steve Gasparinatos.

Sponsorship is an area that needs to be looked at closely by FFT if the game is to achieve its potential.

I wonder if anyone has thought of approaching a large international company based in southern Tasmania which is expanding into China and which was a major sponsor of Tasmanian soccer for many years in the past?

China represents an enormous market and, with Australia now a part of Asia in the football world, there must be opportunities for sponsorship.

It would be wonderful, for example, if arrangements could be made for several Chinese guest players to play in Tasmania and to be sponsored by this company.

This would create great interest about Tasmania in China and would benefit the company and Tasmanian football, thus creating a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Perhaps the company just needs to be approached with a proposal that would surely benefit their expansion into China and which would, at the same time, benefit the local game.

Flicking through the archives of The Mercury, it’s amazing to see the initiatives that were associated with the local game back in the 1950s.

The Tasmanian governor was actually a patron of the Tasmanian Soccer Association and he was at South Hobart to physically kick-off the first match of the season. His picture is there in the pages of The Mercury doing just that.

The federal defence minister of that era, who was a Tasmanian, was also a patron.

Have people of such high profile nowadays even been asked to be patrons?

The ABC used to telecast matches live from South Hobart in the 1960s, but they rarely, if ever, even mention the local game nowadays and they should be approached for coverage.

These are all areas that the FFT Board should examine as football has raised its profile enormously in this country since last year’s trifecta - qualification for the World Cup, entry into Asia, and the success of the A-League.

FFT is, by the way, examining the possibility of entering a team in the V-League in Victoria.

This is now the preferred strategy for growing the game rather than the formation of a summer State League competition, which had been mooted last year.

* * * * *

There must be many people out there who have spent countless hours playing table soccer in pubs and clubs around the country.

Alejandro Finisterre, a Spanish editor and poet who died at the age of 86 in Spain this week, invented the game in 1936 but was not given manufacturing rights until 1952.

In France, the game is known as baby-foot, while in Argentian it is metegol, in Italy calcetto, in Chile taca-taca, in Germany Kicker and in the Balkan countries karambol.