No doubt the anti-football mafia thinks they've landed a few body blows over the years. Amateurs. When it comes to carving up the A-League with near surgical precision the Rebecca Wilsons of this world are playing with plastic spoons. No one does over football like those who profess to have its best interests at heart. Another controversy? Release the hounds. The football media descends with all the drooling anticipation of a team of cadaver dogs.

In fairness there's been plenty to sniff over in recent weeks: smacking the defibrillator on the Newcastle Jets, low crowd numbers, claims of incompetence, AFL ring-ins. Presumably the cacophony of complaint is based on the theory if you flog a dead horse long enough it will eventually get up and win you the cup.

That's not all football media of course, not by a long shot. But, I for one, have grown weary of the countless newspaper columns defending old mates and righting ancient wrongs. The constant professorial lecturing from sections of the print and broadcast media is wearing thin. What a nice change from the usual flagellation to read Andrew Paget's letter in one of the local broadsheets. An A-League fan from Portland, Oregon, he writes:

"I pay for cable service to watch games from England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany, as well as the domestic fare but nothing tops the A-League for the way the game should be played, free of the cynicism and predictability of its European cousins. I'd be heartbroken if it didn't make it..."

Ah Andrew - how quaint. Over here, of course, our assessment of the game is a little more - err - rigorous. If you're not frothing at the mouth over the parlous state of the game's administration then you're clearly a lightweight. Positives are rejected as self-delusion; negatives embraced as candid assessments. Tuning into The World Game is like being prepped for surgery. Sure it's necessary but there are a thousand places you'd rather be.

So is it too much to expect that those who wield the blowtorch might enjoy the warm glow of introspection? Probably. Mike Cockerill of the Sydney Morning Herald came pretty close in a recent piece The Enemy Within - no third chance if the A-League takes a dive:

"Like the NSL before it, the A-League's biggest enemy still comes from within. It should be a given that football people - players, administrators, parents, coaches, referees - would want to see the game grow. Instead way too many want to tear it down."

Nearly everyone gets a finger pointing here - except the media. In a recent article Craig Foster took another swing at the FFA and certain clubs for failing to engage the community. Then Cockerill put the boot into Pim Verbeek for trashing the A-League brand. There are more suspects lining up for this dispatch than Agatha Christie could conjure. I look forward to a vigorous prosecution of the case against Cheerios, school buses and Lady Gaga. Sadly, a mea culpa from Andrew Demetriou over his sabotage of the World Cup bid seems more likely than a moment of self-reflection by sections of the football media.

Granted, it's not the media's job to win people to football but it's disingenuous to claim that the unrelenting negativity from some influential quarters doesn't cast a pall over the entire game. Or to suggest that the general public will differentiate between the endlessly bad headlines and what's happening on the park. That having read another purging diatribe they'll think: "you know what kids, we haven't been to the football in years - let's go this weekend."

Don't get me wrong I have huge respect for the keepers of the flame. Kudos to those lone media voices who stuck with football during its darkest hours; back in the days when the 10-year television rights to the national league and Socceroos could be peddled as a job lot for a few million dollars. They deserve their moment in the sun when we finally drag ourselves to the promised land. I'm just not convinced they're the ones to guide us there. The fact is old media is sucking the joy out of new football.

So perhaps it's time fans cast a critical eye over the football media and asked how well it's served the new league post Crawford Report. How relevant and appealing is the programming, for instance?

Football has a unique fan culture with arguably the youngest demographic of any code in Australia. According to the FFA about 80% of those attending A-League matches are aged 45 or under. About 25% aged between 26 and 35, and almost 30% aged 25 or younger. Some 30% of supporters are female.

See much of that reflected in the football media? Didn't think so. TV football coverage, for a large part, mimics the other codes: a group of experts, chiefly ex-players, sitting at long desk dissecting the game's play. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but where's the irreverence, edginess, wit and sheer raw exuberance you'd expect from media addressing a young league with young fans. And why, for that matter, is the programming dominated by men in suits?

Even when football media does get it right it's usually a one-off. What I wouldn't give for a weekly riff on Santo, Sam and Ed's Cup Fever - a program that exposes the politics and foibles of football but still makes you glad it's your game. Or a program hosted by a couple of articulate fans (male and female) in front of a small live audience of fans. If it's fan culture that distinguishes the game then football media needs to ask itself - where are the fans? 

Naturally, when it's done with that thorough and painful internal examination it can return to holding the rest of us to account.