- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The best scenes in Australian football this weekend took place in the largest city of another country, with the Kiwi Derby already starting to rival the Sydney Derby for intensity.
Auckland FC’s 2-1 win over Wellington Phoenix in front of 26,253 fans at restlessly sold-out Mount Smart Stadium was the new club’s sixth win in succession.
The black-and-blues lead the league on 18 points and broke former NSL club Preston Makedonia’s 38-year-old record for the longest time without conceding a goal to start a new season, in what was already their second win of the campaign over the Phoenix.
Steve Corica’s men ultimately did concede when Kiwi international Kosta Barbarouses thrashed home with eight minutes remaining, but not before an own goal from Isaac Hughes and a header from Nando Pijnaker had handed them a precious two-goal lead.
And after recording his second New Zealand Derby win on the trot, Corica couldn’t resist having a crack at Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano after the game.
“I’m a little bit disappointed, to be honest with you, with Chief,” Corica said in the post-game press conference.
“He mentioned a couple of things in the media which were a little bit disrespectful to our team, that ‘they were there for the taking’ and that we’d been lucky,” he continued.
“We’ve won all six. You don’t get lucky by doing that.”
Corica was responding to Italiano’s pre-game comment that Auckland FC had been “lucky” with their scheduling so far this season.
But here’s the thing: Chiefy is right, because the Australian Professional Leagues continue to engineer the fixture list to favour specific clubs and fixtures.
We’ve now had two Sydney Derbies, two New Zealand Derbies and a Melbourne Derby – with a second to come in two weeks – within the opening third of the campaign.
Which makes sense when you’re desperate for media attention and trying to encourage stay-away fans to return to A-League grounds.
But you have to wonder what the back half of the season will look like when the APL has already burned through two of their three highlight fixtures for many clubs.
Auckland FC players celebrate (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)
Melbourne Victory have so far played five of their seven games this season at AAMI Park, will host Melbourne City at the same venue in their next clash, and have only had one genuine away fixture this season – a trip to Gosford in Round 1.
It’s the sort of fixture list that makes it impossible to build up any kind of match-going rhythm for fans – who are routinely faced with blocks of back-to-back home games.
Not that supporters are blameless when it comes to the thousands of empty seats at most games.
I saw one online comment from a Victory supporter who complained the APL had given them “Melbourne City’s Sunday afternoon slot” – as though fans have the right to dictate which day their club plays on!
But Newcastle coach Robbie Stanton was right to lament the lack of care-factor when he ripped into his players in the wake of the Jets’ latest 1-0 defeat to Adelaide United.
That came after Brazilian import Wellissol tamely conceded possession from Newcastle’s final attack of the game, prompting an irate Eli Adams to give him a gobful at full-time.
“You know what? I hope they have more altercations,” Stanton said in an extraordinary post-game press conference.
“I hope they start letting each other know, because that’s probably half the problem.
“They’re too nice to each other.”
Stanton was only just getting started – blaming his young workforce for the team’s poor start to the season.
“I’m sorry, it’s a generational problem where we are right now.”
“They don’t have to work,” he thundered about his players – but only after suggesting he should bring in some boxing gloves and let them “punch on”.
It’s a common complaint from a competition that remains consequence-free for pretty much everyone but the head coaches.
At least they generated a few talking points over the weekend.
Here’s hoping they can do so again next weekend when there are no highlight fixtures to rely on.