Some time ago now, two football matches in as many weeks and a plentiful bounty of live telecasts finally afforded me a first-hand view of one of the most consistent (and stupid) arguments that abound on football forums like this one. Namely; what tier of English football does the A-League most resemble?
Threads along these lines generally disintegrate into groups of equally moronic people claiming that an A-League team could survive in the EPL, or that the A-League belongs somewhere below the Isthmian League First Division. With all this in mind, let me submit some home truths gleamed from a first hand account of English football.
The Matchday Experience
You can tell the English have been doing this sort of thing for a while. In fact, it's blatantly obvious the moment you go to a match that they've had one hundred years plus of practice. Championship high-fliers Nottingham Forest essentially take over the south of the city on matchday; pubs are swathed in red, bus drivers don their beanies, and the route to the stadium is made obvious by the 25,000+ people walking it.
Once you get there, people have set up their vans and stalls to sell Forest scarves, hats, badges, banners - you name it, it's there. Is it national-body approved? Of course not. In some cases, it has been knitted by the little old ladies in the nursing home down the road. Once you get inside the stadium, the noise is tremendous - not because these Reds fans are the most vocal in England; but because well-designed stadiums just generate that kind of atmosphere. The fact that I sat 3/4 of the way back in the very top level of the Brian Clough stand, and still felt like I was sitting right on the pitch, is a testament to how superior English stadia are to most of their Australian counterparts.
The walk to Notts County's ground, Meadow Lane, is a little bit different. Located near some industrial estates, the roads are dirty, there's not a great deal of people around, and it doesn't look a good place to walk alone in the evening. On the way to the ground I was greeted by a pathway full of crushed beer cans, fag ends, and used condoms. I started to wonder if I'd made the right choice by coming to this game against fellow League Two side Hereford. Yet once you get to the stadium, you're struck by a sense of history and heritage, as well as the same kind of unwavering fan support enjoyed by the much more popular Reds. What's even more surprising, especially given the walk to the ground, is that there is a huge emphasis on catering for local families.
I sat in the Family Stand, opposite the Kop, and I couldn't help but smirk at the ‘please refrain from using foul language in the presence of youngsters' signs posted on the fence line. Yet throughout the whole match, not once did I hear a C-bomb dropped or witness patrons being aggressive towards each other; and aren't both supposedly just ‘part of the game'? Half-time brought the MC down to the pitch to commentate on a match between two local under-8s sides. By assigning the Kop to support one team, and the Family Stand to support another, the man on the mic made sure that the crowd got into the game and the kids had the time of their lives; and what's more, it made for some cheap half-time entertainment for the club.
Throughout both games, dedications were either read out by the MC or splashed up on scoreboards at either end of the ground. "Happy birthday James in the Clough stand, from Mum and Dad", "Happy Anniversary Jan and Kev love Kate", and whatever else - they might seem like nothing, but it's actually quite a nice touch.
Police and security are impressive, too - they're polite, well-organised, and ensure that even the most spiteful and hate-filled away fans are kept in their seats and remain within the away bay. When they go too far, it's a quick and easy ejection, possibly followed by a banning order. Attendants are courteous, show you to your seat, and are eager to make sure that you have a good day out. Overall, the hospitality is a far cry from many an A-League match that I have been to.
Standard Units of Measurement
It might be due to the FFA's tight puppet strings; it might be due to the relative newness of the professional game in this country, or the fact that we don't generally grow up with the game in our blood. I don't know. But in simple things like catering, pre-match and half-time entertainment, fan paraphernalia and merchandise, the English seem to have us licked - even at a lowly League Two level.
It really does seem like the club exists to serve and please its fans; where in Australia the relationship is almost universally one-way; we are the consumer. We pay, we watch, we clap politely, we go home. That is all. Now that's not entirely true of course, but the gulf is obvious when you compare it to a ‘proper' football club. Of course, we shouldn't feel too bad; these are clubs who have had over a century to get these things right. But there are definite lessons to be learned by A-League clubs, as long as they're willing to learn - which may prove to be half the struggle, given the attitude of some clubs' owners and administrators.
Which brings us to the tricky part - the standard of play. How does one define ‘good play'? Some people I know worship a defence that cannot be penetrated; even if the team wins by a solitary goal. Others want nothing more than goalfests which end 4-3 to their own side. I suppose that you could try and measure things by the number of mistakes made each match - but mistakes happen at all levels; none more telling than the Swansea defender leaving his man unmarked at the far post to head in Forest's winner two minutes from time. The first touch of a player and the coaching strategies employed in League Two are much closer to those in the A-League than the those in the Championship; but maybe that's just because Forest can afford to buy players for millions of pounds, whereas Hereford, County, and the Glory cannot.
Even a player's individual ‘skill' rating is hard to judge. Your typical League Two footballer has had, on average, a much longer footballing education than your A-League player, and at a much higher level. Youth Academies, ex-EPL squad rejects, and a deep footballing pyramid system means that Joe Smith from Forest Green has probably had a better football upbringing than Ben Jones from Bankstown. Does it mean that ‘Smithy' is any better than Ben? Of course not. Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, and Lucas Neill all started somewhere. But it might go some way to explaining why so many ex- A-Leaguers struggle to ‘make it big' on English shores.
I can safely say that if an A-League team was thrown into League Two, they'd be struggling to avoid relegation. Now hold those angry comments - I'm not saying we couldn't win games there; it's just the fact that our squads are so small and our depth so thin that we'd never last in the long run. And it is this point that strikes at the heart of what I'm trying to say here - you simply cannot compare the A-League to England in terms of the footballing pyramid. Much like an NBL team operates on a different planet to an American College basketball team, so too does an A-League franchise and an English football club.
Apples and Oranges
I will happily admit that there are some things about our leagues which are easily comparable - any league needs to have referees (England's are better), alcoholic beverages (full strength is tasty), and weather conditions (A-League games in 30 degrees of sunshine beat muddy, rainy, miserable grey days anytime). But when you start to get into ‘Melbourne Victory could easily survive in the Championship' you are truly in the realm of stupidity. Would you compare a small business run out of a bedroom to something like Microsoft? Of course not. Would you say that a four man team of GIs could crush three hundred Chinese conscripts? Rubbish.
You can only compare like with like - and if you're comparing the A-League with anywhere in the Football League, you're simply not doing that. Could Adelaide United win League One? You may as well be asking, ‘Could that badger tie a double windsor?' Well, maybe - with the right training, resources, years of practice, brain transplants, and genetic modification. But then it would hardly be a badger any more, would it? And what are you asking the question for in the first place?
The leagues work in completely different ways, the clubs are run in a manner totally dissimilar to our franchises, and our game has existed at a fully professional level for a much shorter time. Surely there are leagues in Asia, perhaps even America, where comparisons could be made far easier than by looking at the English. Don't get me wrong - there is much we could learn off-the-field from our colonial overlords; but when you're looking on the park, forget it - it's a moot point. We are nothing but chalk and cheese, and we should be happy in accepting that.
I am first to admit that I am always pointing out ways in which the A-League could improve, could become closer to its fans and communities. I believe this is the way forward and a method that has been successful the world over, including in the mother country. But we must also keep our feet on the ground in regards to the standard of football that we enjoy. Part of this must mean ceasing these ridiculous comparisons between ourselves and the English - and frankly, I just don't get the obsession. If we can't just go to the ground and enjoy the game and atmosphere, without needing to justify it in the context of leagues thousands of miles away, then maybe we do have problems after all.
