Sydney vs Melbourne - Post Game

I love the culture of Australian football where we can all be mates before and after the match, sharing a beer and a friendly sing song in the same pub or on the street. We all happily do this with everyone... except with Melbourne. Its as though Melbourne's traveling fans think they are some sort football factory style 'hools' who have a respect level of zero for their fellow A-League fans or hosting cities. Seriously what is up? We have all worked so hard to drag our game from the gutter and you want to continue with this?

Sydney's fan mentality coming into this match was all about standing tall and not letting Melbourne walk over anyone and do as they please and we achieved that goal. There was no violent confrontations and the Melbourne fans moved on. From a Sydney point of view, belting the shit out of each other with scarves on our faces is not what football in Australia is about and I am proud of the way the situation was handled by all. However props to Melbourne for their numbers and support for their team.

Too bad the spectacle on the pitch wasn't as fun to watch and be a part of as the battle in the stands. I'm sick of continuously anti-Sydney, biased refereeing at home! I know week in week out it sounds like I am just a whining, biased fan but every week I leave the ground feeling hard done by. This weekend it wasn't just about the red card but a lot of little fouls and cards that were either given to Sydney or not given to Melbourne. Two examples that spring to mind is when Brosque had a foul called on him for backing into a Melbourne defender when he was clearly being pulled down or when Muscat was not booked for moving the ball on a free kick after Shields had talked to him and specifically told him to wait for the whistle until the wall and defense was set.

As for the Corica incident I suppose it could have gone either way... I am a certified referee and am a believer that especially that early in such an important and emotion filled game like this one that Shields should have given Corica a yellow then a stern talking to him and both captains, telling them that enough is enough and calm it down before just whipping out a straight red... Listening to Craig Foster on TWG yesterday (yes I know thats always a mistake) he was of the opinion that as a FIFA referee, Shields was marked on only body language and cards given. Not for how he used his charisma and talk to calm the game. Surely this should be the case in games where he is reffing non English speaking countries but in an Australian domestic club game surely common sense and a bit of a chat should be used.

As for the game, Branko changed a winning team obviously to accommodate Poppa which I don't really agree with but they actually played great football under the circumstances. Lets also just say that Melbourne are in no way the football team that they were last season and Sydney actually looked the much better side when allowed to play.

---------------------------------------------

-------------Bolton
----Rudan--Milligan--Poppa
Casey--------------------Fyfe
--------Zad--McFlynn
-------Corica--Juninho
----------Brosque

to

-------------Bolton
Rudan--Poppa--Milligan--Fyfe
--------Zad--McFlynn
---Casey----Juninho
---------Brosque

Meh....

It's not worth talking individually about a 10 man performance and I don't really feel excited enough about the game to do it but I will say that I definitely left the ground proud to be a Sydney fan. The lads fighting performance on the pitch as well as my fellow 'brothers' in the stands make it worthwhile showing up every week. Thats what football is all about to me! Can't wait to do it all again next week!

DANE