DURING the week, I applied for a job as a ‘journalist’ with News Limited. When they asked for my qualifications, I explained that I came on the recommendation of several angry young boys and some disgruntled men from the Australian FourFourTwo forums.

When they explained that this wasn't a qualification, I mentioned my passion for ethics and transparent journalism. At this point, they threw me out onto the street. I think I made a real impression, and I'm expecting a phone call any day now.

Like I do every week, before writing this blog I went back and had a read through my previous entry to see what could have been improved. Spelling mistakes (adieu instead of ado? WTF?), a lack of clarity, poor grammar, etc. I also had a read through the comments, and believe me there were a lot of those. Ranging from constructive arguments to bogan abuse, there was a common theme that seemed to emerge - people don't like it when the A-League, or modern Australian football in general, is criticised.

Now, fair cop - football has had its knockers over the years in this country. In fact, it's had a lot of them. From the derogatory terms of wogball and 'a poof's game' (funny how many football fans get up in arms about this yet refer to Aussie rules as 'gayfl') to the outright persecution of the game by any channel that wasn't SBS, the world game copped a lot of flak in Australia. But you'd think that now we have a fully professional league and have qualified for back-to-back world cups, any insults or shit-stirring from the mainstream media would be like water off a duck's back.

OMG U SUK LOLZ!

Apparently not, judging by the reams of comments on the aforementioned soccer-bashing articles or the 'OMG!' reaction to them here on FourFourTwo. Don't we realise that by making such a fuss on those articles and proving that people read them, the newspapers are encouraged to print more? Rebecca Wilson and whoever else we'd like to hate is kept in business by the very people who she seeks to get a reaction from! But no; to borrow a line from Arcade Fire; "Oh! [We're] such a sensitive child!".

Which is unfortunate, because somewhere along the line, people with some kind of understanding or love of the game also get swept up in football fans' misplaced fury. I find no end of amusement in ill-informed football fans talking about 'idiotic' AFL personalities like Basil Zempilas without realising that Basil once hosted a weekly program on all things Perth Glory. Not on a 'two-bit channel' like SBS, either - this was the real thing on a commercial station; our old enemy Channel Seven no less! Other former 'mugs' from the AFL like Glen Jakovich give talks at state league clubs and talk about their love or knowledge of the game, often based in their European-influenced upbringing.

I get annoyed at AFL or NRL bigots who talk about how rubbish football is as much as the next man does. But it's not their game I get pissed off at; it's the dickhead making the comments who deserves my ire the most. We have dickheads of our own, too - make no mistake, there's always that one idiot at a game who wants to declare war on security because it's his right, his job, his purpose in life, to yell "YOU C*NT!" in front of young families, at the top of his voice, every five seconds.

Then you've got the guys who think football is locked in some kind of war with the other codes, and that we'll never truly be able to embrace the world game until we've reduced every other sport in Australia to something played in the backyard. Jean-Claude Van Damme is Ben Buckley. Steven Segal is Andrew Demetriou. It's a fight to the death, football vs AFL - who will win in this bloodsport? You guys and your AFL counterparts can hang around forever to find out if you like - but I'll be over here, free to like both if I so please.

Anyway, as I was saying - because of all this melodrama, genuine questions and constructive arguments over the game of football in Australia are often missed or ignored. Which is a pity, because these questions, arguments, feedback, or dare I say it - criticisms - are in the interest of the game, and yet the reaction is to either rail against them in the same way that A-League supporters declare some form of jihad on Wilson or the NSL, or to ignore them completely.

Orange-blind

One of the best questions I've seen asked recently that was along the above lines was actually in an article from the current version of the FourFourTwo mag. In it, the writer (I'd love to credit him or her, but there's no name... What's up with that, Paul?) talks about Australia's rather underwhelming U20 World Cup performance, specifically:

"...the way Dutch coach Jan Versleijen, appointed in June last year, seems to have avoided the widespread criticism Aussie coaches Ange Postecoglou and Graham Arnold received for similar results with Australian youth teams. "We tried to play a certain way and while the results indicated that we weren't successful, we improved in each of the games as a team", claimed Versleijen. That wouldn't have washed if an Aussie coach had claimed it, and it shouldn't just because one of the FFA's Dutch contingent asserted it this time round..."

I read that article and thought, "Bloody hell - he's right!". There hasn't seemed to be a whisper about it; not even snide back-chat from Craig Foster. Well, of course not - the coach is Dutch. The footballing master race, aliens come from the sky in their big drop-ships ready to share with us important football tactics and techniques from the future. One might argue his job is not to win us youth cups but to prepare future generations - but where was the same expectation for Arnold or Ange?

Not that I'm defending either of those coaches - I'm not a member of the "jobs for the boys" club that seems to exist in some Australian football circles - but I would expect a Dutchman and an Australian to be measured with the same stick, so to speak. Also, before anyone suggests it, I'm actually not a member of this ridiculously hysterical 'Sack Pim' bandwagon. I think he's done a sterling job, and unlike his countryman, his team actually wins.

Now, We Got Problems...

Think back to the National Soccer League for a moment; the competition that existed before the present one came along. How did the A-League come to be? Well, someone stood up and criticised the NSL. Then some more people did, and a discussion began. Eventually, we produced reports and reprimands, and after some passionate debate, we had a list of problems and a blueprint to address them.

Now, we didn't quite build the A-League to that blueprint - but then again, none of my software is built 100 percent to my original design either. That's not a bad thing, it's just life - shit happens, and you think of (mostly) better ways to do things as you go along. The fact remains though that somebody kicked this all off because they pointed out a problem or two (or ten). In short; there is nothing wrong with identifying how something can be improved.

That's how improvements happen in the first place. Seriously, if the A-League continued at its current level, we'd be in a lot of trouble come 10 years from now. Clubs are bleeding money with few exceptions; youth league teams are a great concept but fail to capture the most 'profitable' young talents, if talking about young kids like that makes some kind of horrific sense. The fortunes of many a game have been decided not by the players but a contentious refereeing decision. The list goes on. I love the A-League, but I'd hate to think this is where the evolution of the game in Australia stops.

The first step to improving anything is to talk about its present weaknesses. I'd like to think that constructive and intelligent discussion about the A-League is possible, and that we can talk about both its triumphs and its tragedies; for without the latter, we won't have any more of the former to look forward to.

"We hate Sydney FC..."

The "Old Bling" are coming to visit this weekend, and it seems that we've been both blessed and cursed in the week leading up to the game. On one hand, the Sky Blues' midfield general Steve Corica is missing along with teenage sensation Kofi Danning. On the other hand, Perth have a complete dearth of creativity in the middle of the park due to the absence of Victor Sikora and Wayne Srhoj, and I doubt that Dave Mitchell will give  youth star Andrija Jukic a full 90 minutes to show what he can do.

Add to this the fact that Mile Sterjovski is rumoured to have not been at training during the week, and one must wonder which team is really hurting coming into the game - especially given that the much-maligned Jamie Coyne is back in the Perth squad. Still, there's always fun to be had at Perth-Sydney games, and this one has the return of Simon Colosimo to add that extra bit of spice. Expect a harsh reception for the former Glory captain, and maybe a few testing runs early from Branko Jelic.

Glory's defence will again be the key to this match- and I don't just mean the back four. The whole team in general has a habit of switching off in the last moments of each half, and they've been punished badly for it this year. They'll need to fix that problem if they've any hope of making an impact come finals time. That said, hopefully Glory can make a start this weekend and put one over the league leaders in front of a bumper home crowd.

Anyway, I should be off as my phone is ringing - I'll bet it's Rupert Murdoch himself calling with the good news...