vs NZK

Tonight the New Zealand Knights come to town to play Sydney and I like many others find myself thinking “why am I going to watch a rubbish team bring their rubbish football to town?”

The usual mate I go with has bailed on me (he kind of has a real excuse though J) so I have to find another friend to go with. With my season pass I got 2 free general admission tickets so I thought I could give those out and get a bit of a group going. Everyone I asked was up for comeing until they realised they were going to see New Zealand and that right there is seeing first hand why wherever New Zealand go to play the crowds are down.

The hapless team from across the Tasman, which is actually made up of 90% old poms or the reject Aussie players such as Jonti Richter, actually only have 3 Kiwis on their books to start with! For 2 seasons now these League 2 “superstar” poms have failed to not only win but play any sort of attractive football. Surely a younger team made up of Kiwi player picked up from both the New Zealand national league as well as a few signings of the various Kiwis scattered across the Aussie A-League teams would be 10 times more competitive and satisfying for a crowd to come and watch even if they are still losing!

I laughed to myself when I was watching the A-League highlights show the other night and they interviewed Paul Nevin after the win against Queensland. He said “We are an honest team, we know we can’t play the football that they can. I think it was about stifling them and making them play the long ball.” In other words, he is saying we are shit, our whole playing philosophy is to play shit football and then try to make the other team play even shitter than us. No wonder no one is interested in watching them play!

I just hope for the whole leagues sake that the FFA does something about the Knights. They have had 2 seasons to show that they are serious and that they want to get their act together but the lack of support from the New Zealand FA, the lack of Kiwis on the books and the care factor of zero shown from the New Zealand public will surely see the FFA say enough is enough and it cant come any sooner for me!

DANE