Talking Footy

Australians don't grasp magnitude of Asian opportunity: Sydney FC CEO
Date May 22, 2016 - 5:52PM

Sydney FC chief executive Tony Pignata has implored the club's fans to come out in full force for Wednesday's Asian Champions League round of 16 second leg against Shandong Luneng, claiming it ranks as one of the most important matches in the club's history.

While many thought victory to the Western Sydney Wanderers in 2014 would accelerate national interest in the competition, promoting the tournament to Australian fans remains a particularly tough sell in comparison with the A-League.

Sydney FC began their home ACL campaign against Guangzhou Evergrande with a crowd of 18,149 – but almost half came in support of the visiting team. The next match, against Korean side Pohang Steelers, saw only 5642 attend and despite Urawa Reds' reputation as an Asian superpower, just 8802 turned up.

Shandong Luneng have a smaller footprint in Australia and while they are expected to bring some support to Allianz Stadium, it won't be enough to swell a crowd that Pignata feels won't match the significance of the occasion.

"To be honest, I still don't think people in Australia really understand the magnitude of the Asian Champions League and just how hard it is to get this far," he said. "We've been doing it now for 10 or so years and we need to understand what a truly massive competition it is that we're a part of.

"For the first time our two biggest A-League teams are in hunt for the last eight, and, given what we managed to do against Shandong last week, it would be great to see that translate into public support."

The Sky Blues need only a win or scoreless draw to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time after drawing the first leg 1-1 in Jinan, a result set up by David Carney's first-half header.

Pignata said he'd noticed "plenty of talk" about the team's progress in the continental tournament but said such interest had failed to materialise in ticket sales.

"To be honest, ticket sales have only been OK. We're expecting about 10,000 as it stands and I can't stress the importance to all of our members, fans and the wider sporting community just how significant this match is," he said "This is a massive game for the club and to finish the season by qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League would be enormous. We need the people of Sydney to get behind this one.

"When you travel around and see how people in other countries have grasped the size of the tournament, it would be fantastic to see our sports fans here do the same here."

The Sky Blues arguably lost some of their gloss recently with an underwhelming finish to the A-League season, fading out of the title contention and then missing the finals series altogether.

"There's no hiding how disappointed we are with what happened in the A-League but success in Asia has definitely eased some of the pain," Pignata said.

"We came into a group that many people regarded as the 'group of death' and as one of the most difficult Asian football had ever seen – and we finished on top. We're proud of that, but now we've come this far, we want to go further."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/aust ... z49QWomW34

Beaussie wrote:

Yeah dude, the tv ratings on SBS2 and piss poor crowds for games played in summer tell us all just how big soccer is in Australia. But, but, but what about the junior numbers I hear ya say.

NRL&NFLweLaughATafl wrote:

Beaussie wrote:

Yeah dude, the tv ratings on SBS2 and piss poor crowds for games played in summer tell us all just how big soccer is in Australia. But, but, but what about the junior numbers I hear ya say.

Not just junior numbers. They outnumber all football codes in senior player numbers too.
In country areas soccer is nothing I agree.. But the sport in more than healthy in areas of Sydney and Melbourne.

I really don't think you realise the following the Wanders have in Western Sydney. They are fanatical.
One of the reasons Pirtek Stadium is getting rebuilt into a bigger venue.

Lack of quality games from smaller clubs like Newcastle, Wellington and Central Coast is what hurts them with ratings on SBS alot though.

NRL&NFLweLaughATafl wrote:

Is pretty obvious nobody cares too much here about matches with relatively unknown asian clubs.

If there was a match between Western Sydney Wanderes vs Manchester City or Chelsea there would be huge numbers.

As for football in general I think you AFL fans don't realise how big a sport it is here.
Has nearly 3 times the participants as AFL in Australia and would be an even bigger margin in Sydney.

Unlike the Giants you see people with Wanderes gear everywhere in Western Sydney.

Probably the main thing holding the sport back at professional levels is most of the top players end up in rich European leagues. So you never have the best of the best in the A league.

Even at a junior level it leaves every other code in the dust. Would have to be 6 soccer clubs within a 3 km radius of where I live alone.

Swans4ever wrote:

NRL&NFLweLaughATafl wrote:

Is pretty obvious nobody cares too much here about matches with relatively unknown asian clubs.

If there was a match between Western Sydney Wanderes vs Manchester City or Chelsea there would be huge numbers.

As for football in general I think you AFL fans don't realise how big a sport it is here.
Has nearly 3 times the participants as AFL in Australia and would be an even bigger margin in Sydney.

Unlike the Giants you see people with Wanderes gear everywhere in Western Sydney.

Probably the main thing holding the sport back at professional levels is most of the top players end up in rich European leagues. So you never have the best of the best in the A league.

Even at a junior level it leaves every other code in the dust. Would have to be 6 soccer clubs within a 3 km radius of where I live alone.

No the major thing holding it back is it's as boring as bat shit!

post_hoc wrote:

Swans4ever wrote:

NRL&NFLweLaughATafl wrote:

Is pretty obvious nobody cares too much here about matches with relatively unknown asian clubs.

If there was a match between Western Sydney Wanderes vs Manchester City or Chelsea there would be huge numbers.

As for football in general I think you AFL fans don't realise how big a sport it is here.
Has nearly 3 times the participants as AFL in Australia and would be an even bigger margin in Sydney.

Unlike the Giants you see people with Wanderes gear everywhere in Western Sydney.

Probably the main thing holding the sport back at professional levels is most of the top players end up in rich European leagues. So you never have the best of the best in the A league.

Even at a junior level it leaves every other code in the dust. Would have to be 6 soccer clubs within a 3 km radius of where I live alone.

No the major thing holding it back is it's as boring as bat shit!

Funny how the majority of the world doesn't agree, but then again i guess they haven't been exposed to the great spectacle of seagulls fighting over a chip

docker24 wrote:

Got invited to last night's Sydney FC game. Boos were strong all night for that Chinese goalkeeper... Rasict? Goodes and a couple of dropkicks on here would agree.

Also. After Sydney's lose, I hopped on their Facebook page and it was flooded with rasict comments to the Chinese team. All comments deleted this morning lol

Anyway, not a huge soccer fan, but decent match last night, atmosphere was electric. That last goal was an absolute cracker. Well done on progression Chinese side.

Swans4ever wrote:

post_hoc wrote:

Swans4ever wrote:

NRL&NFLweLaughATafl wrote:

Is pretty obvious nobody cares too much here about matches with relatively unknown asian clubs.

If there was a match between Western Sydney Wanderes vs Manchester City or Chelsea there would be huge numbers.

As for football in general I think you AFL fans don't realise how big a sport it is here.
Has nearly 3 times the participants as AFL in Australia and would be an even bigger margin in Sydney.

Unlike the Giants you see people with Wanderes gear everywhere in Western Sydney.

Probably the main thing holding the sport back at professional levels is most of the top players end up in rich European leagues. So you never have the best of the best in the A league.

Even at a junior level it leaves every other code in the dust. Would have to be 6 soccer clubs within a 3 km radius of where I live alone.

No the major thing holding it back is it's as boring as bat shit!

Funny how the majority of the world doesn't agree, but then again i guess they haven't been exposed to the great spectacle of seagulls fighting over a chip

Yeah and most Germans during WW2 weren't nazi's either - if it's the only sport your exposed to you will always look at new sports with a critical eye. Just because most of the world play soccer doesn't make it exciting! It just means they haven't experienced something better and are indoctrinated not to try something new!

post_hoc wrote:

Swans4ever wrote:

post_hoc wrote:

Swans4ever wrote:

NRL&NFLweLaughATafl wrote:

Is pretty obvious nobody cares too much here about matches with relatively unknown asian clubs.

If there was a match between Western Sydney Wanderes vs Manchester City or Chelsea there would be huge numbers.

As for football in general I think you AFL fans don't realise how big a sport it is here.
Has nearly 3 times the participants as AFL in Australia and would be an even bigger margin in Sydney.

Unlike the Giants you see people with Wanderes gear everywhere in Western Sydney.

Probably the main thing holding the sport back at professional levels is most of the top players end up in rich European leagues. So you never have the best of the best in the A league.

Even at a junior level it leaves every other code in the dust. Would have to be 6 soccer clubs within a 3 km radius of where I live alone.

No the major thing holding it back is it's as boring as bat shit!

Funny how the majority of the world doesn't agree, but then again i guess they haven't been exposed to the great spectacle of seagulls fighting over a chip

Yeah and most Germans during WW2 weren't nazi's either - if it's the only sport your exposed to you will always look at new sports with a critical eye. Just because most of the world play soccer doesn't make it exciting! It just means they haven't experienced something better and are indoctrinated not to try something new!

Wow that is a pretty inane comment. "they don't think it's boring because they don't know any better" LOL, hilarious.

As far as I am aware the UK has Rugby League and Union, yet Football dominates. France has Rugby Union to some extent League, they are the current handball olympic and european champions (according to kik) I hear Cycling and motor sports might be a little popular as well.

German have ice hockey, handball, basketball etc etc.

So I think they kind of do know what other sports look like, the one sport that none of them play in any capacity is AFL, or as we like to call it, seagulls fighting over a chip

Swans4ever wrote:

post_hoc wrote:

Swans4ever wrote:

post_hoc wrote:

Swans4ever wrote:

NRL&NFLweLaughATafl wrote:

Is pretty obvious nobody cares too much here about matches with relatively unknown asian clubs.

If there was a match between Western Sydney Wanderes vs Manchester City or Chelsea there would be huge numbers.

As for football in general I think you AFL fans don't realise how big a sport it is here.
Has nearly 3 times the participants as AFL in Australia and would be an even bigger margin in Sydney.

Unlike the Giants you see people with Wanderes gear everywhere in Western Sydney.

Probably the main thing holding the sport back at professional levels is most of the top players end up in rich European leagues. So you never have the best of the best in the A league.

Even at a junior level it leaves every other code in the dust. Would have to be 6 soccer clubs within a 3 km radius of where I live alone.

No the major thing holding it back is it's as boring as bat shit!

Funny how the majority of the world doesn't agree, but then again i guess they haven't been exposed to the great spectacle of seagulls fighting over a chip

Yeah and most Germans during WW2 weren't nazi's either - if it's the only sport your exposed to you will always look at new sports with a critical eye. Just because most of the world play soccer doesn't make it exciting! It just means they haven't experienced something better and are indoctrinated not to try something new!

Wow that is a pretty inane comment. "they don't think it's boring because they don't know any better" LOL, hilarious.

As far as I am aware the UK has Rugby League and Union, yet Football dominates. France has Rugby Union to some extent League, they are the current handball olympic and european champions (according to kik) I hear Cycling and motor sports might be a little popular as well.

German have ice hockey, handball, basketball etc etc.

So I think they kind of do know what other sports look like, the one sport that none of them play in any capacity is AFL, or as we like to call it, seagulls fighting over a chip

I don't know what your trying to say - the fact some European countries have RL, RU it therefore makes soccer exciting??? Well those places also have AF competitions that weren't there 20 yrs ago - so that really proves my point - the immigrants in West Sydney on the whole ARENT coming from those countries they are coming from countries that have only soccer - (not too many soccer rinks in the Middle East or Africa or Asia). But nice try changing the goal posts - just because most of the world play a game doesn't make that game any more exciting or the skill to play it superior to other codes - and describing AF as you do only shows you to be ignorant of the game, I have played soccer and watched at the ground and on tv some games can be exciting - e.g. Victory v Adelaide GF 5-0 but when you get a nil all draw or 1-0 or even 1- 1 where for 80 mins it is nothing but pass backwards it is boring for people who don't follow it closely hence boring as batshit!

post_hoc wrote:

Swans4ever wrote:

post_hoc wrote:

Swans4ever wrote:

post_hoc wrote:

Swans4ever wrote:

NRL&NFLweLaughATafl wrote:

Is pretty obvious nobody cares too much here about matches with relatively unknown asian clubs.

If there was a match between Western Sydney Wanderes vs Manchester City or Chelsea there would be huge numbers.

As for football in general I think you AFL fans don't realise how big a sport it is here.
Has nearly 3 times the participants as AFL in Australia and would be an even bigger margin in Sydney.

Unlike the Giants you see people with Wanderes gear everywhere in Western Sydney.

Probably the main thing holding the sport back at professional levels is most of the top players end up in rich European leagues. So you never have the best of the best in the A league.

Even at a junior level it leaves every other code in the dust. Would have to be 6 soccer clubs within a 3 km radius of where I live alone.

No the major thing holding it back is it's as boring as bat shit!

Funny how the majority of the world doesn't agree, but then again i guess they haven't been exposed to the great spectacle of seagulls fighting over a chip

Yeah and most Germans during WW2 weren't nazi's either - if it's the only sport your exposed to you will always look at new sports with a critical eye. Just because most of the world play soccer doesn't make it exciting! It just means they haven't experienced something better and are indoctrinated not to try something new!

Wow that is a pretty inane comment. "they don't think it's boring because they don't know any better" LOL, hilarious.

As far as I am aware the UK has Rugby League and Union, yet Football dominates. France has Rugby Union to some extent League, they are the current handball olympic and european champions (according to kik) I hear Cycling and motor sports might be a little popular as well.

German have ice hockey, handball, basketball etc etc.

So I think they kind of do know what other sports look like, the one sport that none of them play in any capacity is AFL, or as we like to call it, seagulls fighting over a chip

I don't know what your trying to say - the fact some European countries have RL, RU it therefore makes soccer exciting??? Well those places also have AF competitions that weren't there 20 yrs ago - so that really proves my point - the immigrants in West Sydney on the whole ARENT coming from those countries they are coming from countries that have only soccer - (not too many soccer rinks in the Middle East or Africa or Asia). But nice try changing the goal posts - just because most of the world play a game doesn't make that game any more exciting or the skill to play it superior to other codes - and describing AF as you do only shows you to be ignorant of the game, I have played soccer and watched at the ground and on tv some games can be exciting - e.g. Victory v Adelaide GF 5-0 but when you get a nil all draw or 1-0 or even 1- 1 where for 80 mins it is nothing but pass backwards it is boring for people who don't follow it closely hence boring as batshit!

A 5-0 game exciting? You really have no understanding of football. no wonder you like AFL if you think goals is the most exciting bit in a game