We require certain skills...

...a social activity based around communication and cooperation

"Part of the reason for that was the sheer amount of effort ...[Auckland City]... were putting into being noticed, and as an amateur club with extremely limited potential as things currently stand with the game in New Zealand they were doing fantastically to connect with football fans in any way they could.

...

Whether it was by going beyond the call of duty to help me write a feature on their Japanese full-back Takuya Iwata – formerly of FC Gifu and now working as a delivery driver by day – or attempting tweets in Japanese to engage with local supporters they demonstrated that football is, for the majority, a social activity based around communication and cooperation.

...

The grounded and dedicated players at Auckland are primarily playing for playing’s sake, and thanks to their participation in the Club World Cup I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for their results from now on."

Read more here:- Sakka Nihon - Making the connection

The Godfather makes Goal.com's Best XI of the 2012 CWC

"Skipper Vicelich was a rock for his side in their play-off loss to Sanfrecce Hiroshima... and overall the New Zealand international's performance was representative of the progress the side have made since last year's CWC."

Read more here:- Goal.com's Best XI of the 2012 Fifa Club World Cup

Gavioes Da Fiel

"Each time we snatched a ball they cheered us so much.  The supporters played with us, they are like players.  I don't know where they get the energy, but when the team is running out of stamina, the supporters inject energy into us.  They really are so passionate." - Corinthians' head coach Tite following Corinthians' victory over Chelsea in the 2012 Club World Cup final.

The Pride of Sandringham: Here we go again, We're on the road again - Part Seven

The Pride of Sandringham: Here we go again, We're on the road again - Part Six

The Pride of Sandringham: Here we go again, We're on the road again - Parts Four and Five

The Pride of Sandringham: Here we go again, We're on the road again - Parts One, Two and Three

 

 

Black Scarf Movement

"In recent times, many Arsenal supporters have been feeling more and more alienated by the club they love. Whether they've been priced out of going to watch their beloved Arsenal, become fed up with the lies fed to them by the Board, or disappointed that the huge sums of money they pay in ticket prices are not reinvested into the team, it's obvious that we need to get something back."

...

"Well, any Arsenal fan who knows his/her stuff will know that the latest club crest caused a lot of controversy when it was forced upon us. Images of the new crest were paraded around Highbury before our game with Southampton in February 2002, to loud booing as well as chants of "What a load of rubbish" and "What the f**king hell is that?".  However, the Board were still inside munching on their smoked salmon canapes so wouldn't have heard the very vocal response. They did later state that they'd liaised with a supporters group in the design stages, however to this day nobody knows who was on that supposed panel.

The new crest had ditched the club's motto 'Victoria Concordia Crescit' but by far the biggest crime to most fans was turning the cannon round and facing it the other way. To the vast majority of proud Arsenal supporters this was unforgivable... it was like tearing down Big Ben and replacing it with an upside-down version. It was like reversing the colours of the Union Jack. It was something we felt should be untouchable."

...

"We’ve got to this point because the game is cleverly marketed as out-and-out entertainment; a bit like going to the theatre which is now commonly used as a comparison to football. Some of us take strong issue with that perception of the game’s culture, as we see football as a way of life, not a privilege where you have to pick and choose which games you go to."

Read more here:- Where has our Arsenal gone?

Football For Fans - Not For TV

Spanish fans protest television schedule which has games kicking off at 11pm on Monday nights (August 2012).

Bukaneros (Rayo Vallecano) - "No to Monday football"

Riazor Blues (Deportivo La Coruna) - "We hate modern football, we hate television"

 

Frente Atletico (Atletico Madrid) - "Thieves, Bastards and Sons of Bitches"

  

Palace v Cardiff

HF05 tell it like it is:

Affordable Football

Auckland City FC Season Tickets now available.

Prices are unchanged from last season:

Season Tickets - $50

Match Day ticket prices are also unchanged:

Adult - $10

Senior Citizen - $5

Children 15 & Under - free

Makes you quite proud really.  At those prices no-one is excluded from being part of this club of ours and no-one is excluded from experiencing a great day out at the football.

Read more here:- Season Ticket prices confirmed

Season Ticket application forms here:- Auckland City FC tickets

Created by Immigrants - Refugees Welcome

"Auckland City opens its pre-season preparations with its annual friendly showdown with a Refugee XI at the Croatian Cultural Club this Sunday...

City coach Ramon Tribulietx said the match promoted the club’s community profile and helped build stronger relationships with Auckland’s diverse migrant population for whom football is a passion.  "Auckland City is aware of the social situation in our community and we are very happy to give our support in a positive way," he said."

ACFC v Refugee XI - McLeod Road, Henderson, Sunday 30 September, 2pm

Read more here:- City start with All Refugee hit out

Alerta Network:- www.alerta-network.org

Punk is not dead

"FC United are perhaps the UK football scene’s best example of ‘punk football’, although you could argue that non-league football is becoming a burgeoning punk scene in itself. Punk music was formed as a rebellion against the commercialism of music; many football fans are now turning their back on the inflated ticket prices, expensive merchandising and the ‘modern era’ of post 1992 football and spending their hard-earned cash at their local non-league teams, where they can buy a season ticket for the price of two match tickets."

Read more here:- Anarchy in the United: 'Punk Football' and FC United

a grass-roots club dies

"...[i]ncreasingly people want success, and it will appear they'll take it at any cost.  As seen by the ‘experiment’ at Rovers, and the rebranding of Cardiff City, just the promise of success, no matter how flimsy, is enough to make many tuck their morals away in a drawer and tug their forelocks for the new lords of the manor.  I just can’t relate to that.  Of course people will say “well, that’s football”, but every time you say that a grass-roots club dies.

...

You can have success without relentlessly going on about the need for income to compete.  In the past year Worcester, Rossington and the Belles have seen crowds increase significantly, and it has come from striving to engage with the community, of encouraging their population to be part of what they’re doing.  And, as a result, I have found much greater enjoyment these past twelve months with them, and I felt a part of their triumphs much more than I felt part of Rovers’ wins.

The new season is now a month away, and for the first time in years I am finding it really hard to get excited about watching my team again.  I ceased to have any more than a passing interest in football’s top flight years ago, and now Rovers are starting to slip into the same pigeon-hole in which I’ve long placed the Premier League, of being an unrelatable by-product of a sport I still love."

Read more here:- Out of Love - On finding it hard to follow your club

Look no advertising

How great do football kits look without sponsorship splashed across the front?

Central United 50th Jubilee Jersey
$100 - available at the clubrooms (or contact me and I can put you in touch with the right person).

See more photos and read more about the kit here:- Central United Facebook Page

At the Clarendon Hotel, Dunedin 11/03/2012

Business FC

Lyall Gorman on the new FFA owned and run West Sydney franchise:

"Many fans have asked why we have taken our time in announcing the official club name, logo, colours and home venue ...[t]he major reason for that is that as with any new business, especially as one as important as this one is to everyone, the early key decisions of a business are critical for its successful future and time simply must be taken to get them right."

Read more here:- Business FC

Rescuing The World's Most Vulnerable

"The event was organised by SAFCA in association with Tear Fund, The NZ Soccer Shop, Liberty Christian Church and Auckland City FC.   All proceeds from the day were donated to Tear Fund's Choose Life, Rescue Mothers and Children Programme.

Along with former All White Harry Ngata the launch was attended by Auckland City strikers Manel Exposito and Emiliano Tade along with Auckland City's general manager Terry Kennelly who brought along the Oceania Champions League trophy for the day also.

...

"We really value the impact that Auckland City FC has had on our events to date and it is a privilege to be involved with the club.   Hopefully in the next couple of years we can see some of our top players wear the navy and white of the club's youth team and then hopefully the first team also." [SAFCA founder and Head of Football Matt Jorgensen]"

Read more here:- ACFC players help with SAFCA launch

TEAR Fund Choose LIFE - Rescue mothers and children:- Choose LIFE projects rescuing the world's most vulnerable

Callous disregard

"To take this vital piece of identity away from a team smacks of a callous disregard towards the fans.

...

A football club becomes one’s identity, being a fan is investing a small piece of yourself in that club. To have that identity stripped and marketed to make it seem more attractive in a different country is to whore the club."

"Tan should, perhaps, be reminded that whilst he has bought the limited company that owns Cardiff City, he hasn’t bought Cardiff City FC itself. The “Football Club” as an entity can be difficult to define, remaining just out of reach of those that would seek to package it up to sell it. It rests within all of the supporters, a collection of shared memories and experiences that cannot be bought or sold. It should be of considerable concern to those running the club that a new owner is behaving as if these considerations do not matter, he should be politely reminder that other avenues for his investment money do exist."

Read more here:- Red Mist Descends For The Bluebirds and here Turning From Blue To Red: Cardiff City's Backfiring Rebranding Exercise

Auckland City Football Club: Put your faith in Posa's giants

The All Whites marching on to Spain in 1982 was the greatest footballing moment of my life ...that was until a team of shop assistants, truck drivers, interior decorators, school teachers, window cleaners etc took to the field at the Club World Cup in 2009.

Allez the truck drivers!  Come on the interior decorators!  Forza window cleaners!  Viva shop assistants!  Haway the school teachers! 

Auckland City Football Club - The People's Club

"Remember, real football comes from the heart. The heart will always defeat money."

In 2005 Red Bull took control of SV Austria Salzburg and renamed the club Red Bull Salzburg.  Red Bull also changed the club's colours from its traditional violet (Violette) to red and white.  Then Red Bull infamously said that this was a new club with no history and no records.

In response the supporters set up their own club using the original name SV Austria Salzburg, original crest and original colours.

"People have their choices, we offer heart and passion.  Red Bull offers an event, how can that compete in football?  Look around and all you see are people who love football.  We all love football and that is why we could never give up.  We care only about this club, not Red Bull.  This is football right here.  We'll tell our kids and grandkids that there was once a team formed in 1933 for the people of Salzburg.  That team is still here for the people of Salzburg, playing in violet and white.  We don't have plastic fans.  We are the true Salzburg club."

Read more here:- SV Austria Salzburg: Heart defeats money

"It is to do with corporate whims."

"...I think I would leave, and the comparison between Henry Norris in 1910 and Mr Very-Rich now is instructive.  What Norris did was rescue a failing club [Woolwich Arsenal].  He determined that moving to north London was fundamental to the long term survival of the club, and so he delivered on that.  But the changing of colours, as in the case of Cardiff, and the changing of the name as with SV Austria Salzburg, is nothing to do with the good of the club.  It is to do with corporate whims.  That’s the difference.

But there is more.  There is the question: what happens if Mr Very-Rich gets up and goes away?  Or worse, turns out to be a crook.  That then is the problem.  Rangers, let us not forget, were incredibly successful in Scotland, winning the league nine times in a row, among other things.  Portsmouth won the FA Cup in England.  And now both are… well, in a mess."

Read more here:- If trophies were on offer where do you draw the line?  Move ground?  New colours?  New name?

"with a view to exploiting and maximising its brand and commercial revenues..."

"I think the club will be even more popular in Malaysia if it is rebranded Kuala Lumpur FC and plays its home games there. If that's the price Blue Birds' fans must pay for premier league football, then it is surely a price worth paying." - BBC online commentator

Read more here:- Cardiff City confirm re-branding

Brothers in Arms: SV Austria Salzburg fans tell it like it is.

C.A.P Ciudad de Murcia: Rising from the ashes and reclaiming football

"Twelve hours after the final whistle had gone in El Classico, we were waking up to go to an honest football match.  Forget the 90,000 in the Camp Nou and the hundreds of millions watching from every corner of the world, we're bored of that.  It's tedious.  It's overblown.  It's football at a consumer level, with participants so self indulged they've turned it into a soap opera.

...

After the match it was time for lunch, where there was a grill going in the rudimentary canteen, dishing out the baguettes.  You don't get that at the Bernabeu.  As everyone hung around in the glorious sunshine, you could feel the sense of community that just doesn't appear to exist at the highest level any more.  The club doesn't even employ any match day staff; the fans themselves work the canteen, clean the stand after the match, and sell the merchandise."

Read more here:- Siemprefootball.com - Part One: The History and Siemprefootball.com - Part Two: The Match

Turkey Twizzler FC aka Blackburn Rovers

"For Blackburn in the North, substitute Portsmouth in the South, throw in Rangers in Scotland, an administration here, an administration there.

Welcome to the world of Football the business.  Football the sport died 20 years ago.

So long as fans continue to be seen by businessmen as a never ending "milking of the cow", the game will continue to go down its ruinous route." - BBC Sport online commentator

From our Canadian correspondent

"From being in trusted hands associated with the great local businessman and benefactor whose finances helped Blackburn win the Premier League in 1995, relegation comes under the stewardship of absentee owners with both a geographical and philosophical disconnection from supporters."

Read more here:- Blackburn Face Uncertain Future

From our Scottish correspondent

On a garage wall in Crown Hill

The Pride of Mt Albert...

...the famous City boys

Auckland City FC, 2012 O League Champions.

On a wall in East Belfast

Stop the press

I'm also reliably informed that joining Mr Cook and Mr and Mrs van Nistelrooy at the high table (see Wednesday, May 9, 2012 "Colin fae Manurewa (via Dundee and Arbroath)" post below) was Maria Moratti, actress and daughter of Angelo Moratti.

Ah, wee Colin

The casuals tried to do you in when you were at school, but they're all listening now.  They're sitting round with their bairns and they're sweeping up in Burger King.  And they'll be thinking, "Jesus!  That's Colin Cook from Arbroath!"  And Colin is sitting there, cool as a cat with Mr and Mrs van Nistelrooy.  Still, Monday morning and it's back to FAL for you, boy.

 

Colin fae Manurewa (via Dundee and Arbroath)

Who needs a house in the ferry when you can join Mr and Mrs van Nisterooy for a spot of fine dining.

Auckland City FC representative Colin Cook accepts the Oceania Club of the Decade award at the IFFHS World Football Gala 2012 in Barcelona, Spain.

People forget about non-league football...

...and they forget about it at their peril because that is football.



A film by legendary director Paul Kelly (Finisterre; What have you done today, Mervyn Day?; Lawrence of Belgravia etc).   Narrated by former Earl Brutus front man Nick Sanderson.

"...and it's more beautiful than what we had before"

On a van in Ravensbourne

 

"The result doesn't matter: we came here to cheer you on"

"anyone who hasn't been here before will find out what this place is like. There's a soul here. There's something about this place: every second something happens, from the first minute to the 93rd. Thousands of throats carry us, like the wind. It never stops; they never stop. More than afición [supporters], we're talking about hinchada [fans]. They have done all they can to make tomorrow special: hopefully everything will go well and everyone will enjoy it, win or lose – that's the priority. You should see them: they have been preparing this for days."

Read more here:- "love Rayo, hate racism"

Embarrassing

Clive Palmer, billionaire owner of Gold Coast United:

"I don't even like the game.  I think it's a hopeless game.  Rugby league's a much better game."

It seems the FFA don't care who they get their money from... Russian consortiums, Indonesian investors, crooked property developers and, as it turns out, even people who hate the game.

The A League model exemplifies everything that is wrong with the sport IMHO.  I maintain that you need football people owning and running football clubs.

Coasters!

See Thursday, November 5, 2009 "Biscuit tin" post below.

Rolling in the neighbourhood

"Club bosses are now working with Greater Manchester Police, the council and other bodies to create a ‘good neighbours’ scheme.

Their volunteers will visit an older person who may be struggling with day to day tasks. They can visit once a week to help out with whatever is required, such as visits to the shops or the post office, DIY or just to come around for a brew and a
chat."

Read more here:- FC United good neighbours scheme

Love is like a butterfly

“The Auckland City club is cognisant of the challenges faced by Oceania’s developing nations in infrastructure and education and we see this unique link with the Butterfly Trust as a natural step toward giving something back to our Oceania community.” - Gordon Glen Watson, Auckland City FC

ACFC proud to be part of Oceania.

Read more here:- Butterfly Trust partnership formed

Gers

"As a footballing institution Rangers, like so many clubs today, sold their soul when Murray took it over purely as a business. There's too much money in the game today and that fact alone is why there are so many unsavoury characters involved, both on and off the pitch." - Daily Mail commentator

The Hi Hi

Spanish City

C.A.P Ciudad de Murcia's tshirt for the October 2011 FARE Action Week.

Taken from FARE Network's flickr page:- FARE Network

One Findlay Shannon

(Great choice of kit!)

The Blue Brazil

“...I remember working in Burntisland and it was a cup game with Morton and there were no buses running so I walked nearly 8 miles and it had been snowing to get to see Cowdenbeath play Morton and the sad part about it was that Cowdenbeath lost 1 nothing but that didn’t matter it was the anticipation walking from Burntisland to Central Park and seeing Cowdenbeath.” - Ross Birrell



Thanks to Ali Reggae for putting me on to this.

It's one member one vote

"And whilst I was sitting in my overpriced seat, in virtual silence, I also became aware that I was watching players paid so much that, each season, they threatened the very existence of my club. I’m not so naïve as to believe there was ever a golden age of benign chairmen running the game with a strict utopian, Socialist doctrine. But, if the game was to evolve and progress, spiralling levels of greed that ruthlessly exploited the tribal loyalty of fans, was not something I wanted to be part of.

The Premiership marketing goons had turned me and thousands of other supporters into customers, just as if we were visitors to a multiplex cinema. The experience was controlled and choreographed to the point where even my bloody pies were themed. And so I responded, not like a fan who’s heart belonged to my club, but like the customer that modern football had sought to make me. And, in 2006, I chose to stop going."

Read more here:- Why I swapped Bolton Wanderers for FC United of Manchester

"At Union it's all about heart and soul"

"The club has been selling 10,000 shares in the Alte Försterei (Old Forester's House) stadium in the east Berlin district of Köpenick, allowing fans to have a say in how the ground develops in the future. The shares cannot be bought en masse by an oil-rich sheikh or an American family looking for a neat way to juggle billions of dollars of debts."

Read more here:- Berlin football club sells its soul - but only to fans