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Question for the Yanks & Aussies

Started by Rambling_Syd_Rumpo, June 06, 2010, 07:02:46 PM

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Rambling_Syd_Rumpo

Outside the hardcore fans(which you guys are because your on here :54:) is the guy & gal in the street in your country aware of how much a big deal the World Cup is? Do they understand the most of the cultured world will almost stop for the next month?

Lighthouse

I would guess The States is pretty unaware and that Austrailia couldn't care less.
The above IS NOT A LEGAL DOCUMENT. It is an opinion.

We may yet hear the horse talk.

I can stand my own despair but not others hope

clintclintdeuce

Any sports fans here would have to notice what is going on because of the massive ESPN advertising campaign they have launched since January. I couldnt tell you if the person next to me gave a crap or not, but my generation 32-16, definately knows what is going on, and are excited for it.
The Dude abides.


HatterDon

Most American sports fans:

1. Think that the World Cup is an irritant and gets in the way of hot news from NFL's summer camp.
2. Think that soccer is "too French" and suspects all soccer fans of being gay.
3. If they take the time to watch a match at all, usually say that scoring would increase significantly if the offside rule were eliminated. When I tell them that this would just result in a cluster of players in both goal mouths and 90% of the field empty, AND when I tell them that this would GUARANTEE nothing but 0-0 and 1-0, they don't believe me.
4. Don't give a toss about anything that the USA doesn't dominate. This includes Olympic bicycling, curling, downhill skiing, and soccer.

If the USA were to reach the quarter-finals, it would be an amazing achievement, considering our injuries, but to most Americans it would be a failure. Remember we are the nation where people who finish second in an event which begins with 80 or so athletes, are referred to as "settling for silver."

I don't care; I like being unique.
"As long as there is light, I will sing." -- Juana, la Cubana

www.facebook/dphvocalease
www.facebook/sellersandhymel

Steve_orino

It's threads like these that make me cotinue to wonder if I was 'supposed' to be born in another country.  I love my country and being an American but sometimes I just have to wonder.

Like you said, the diehards are very aware that other Countries will be taking the day off.  Wished we could participate in this as well.  But the vast majority of Yanks don't have a clue to what's going on.  They'll only ask how the squad has done and it won't be first or second so they'll lose interest.
Fulham Supporter - Est. 03/2008
"My aim is to stabilise, sustain, and have the club move forward." Shad Khan 07/2013
@Borino09

Lighthouse

We had a charity match from Old Trafford for UNICEF. Happens each year and has old pros and celebs playing. This year we had a few American Celebs. Woody from Cheers and a bloke from Heroes and Mike Myers and somebody else. Entertaining and they all take it seriosley. But clearly they didn't all know the rules of the game. Taking a corner like a throw in was greeted like a joke but clearly wasn't and quickly brushed aside.

My point is that a few fun games and a little bit more knowledge and it will be enjoyed by most of those that watch it. Like American sports I simply don't understand. I find A merican Football dull and confusing and overly long and ....have sat through the last two superbowl final thingys and began to understand a bit of what was going on and the skill and liked it etc. Baseball I haven't watched so remains a mystery. One day America WILL GET Soccer.
The above IS NOT A LEGAL DOCUMENT. It is an opinion.

We may yet hear the horse talk.

I can stand my own despair but not others hope


CorkedHat

Australians will take a passing interest in the World Cup if only because the Socceroos are participating.
Those who have come here from another country usually (but not always) cheer on their country of origin and I remember when Argentina won the World Cup a few years ago a large Argentinean flag was draped across a building site in the centre of Brisbane's CBD
The World Cup Live TV coverage is limited to Pay TV – 32 per cent penetration of all homes in Australia - and SBS TV originally an ethnic based channel with the lowest audience levels of all free-to-air stations.
The major networks will include updates, news and results in their normal news bulletins but I must say that the ordinary man in the street couldn't give a rat's bum about the World Cup.
Nobody has mentioned it in my local pub yet but if England lose to USA I'll be hearing about it okay – don't you worry about that. But they won't be watching it live – they just don't get it.
And if Australia ever ended up winning the bloody thing I'm out of here. My life would not be worth living.
What we do for others will live on. What we do for ourselves will die with us

lamby

As an Aussie who has just moved back after living in London for 4 years:

Australians are the biggest sports fans in the world, bar none. The world cup is huge here. The last world cup (where we got robbed by Italy in the round of 16) brought it to everyones attention. But it will be forgotten in a month because of all the other sporting events that are on and involve Australians. ALL games ARE all live on free to air - but being on the other side of the world they will all be on a midnight or 4am. The 4am game will probably be close to the highest rating tv program for the year.

Having said that, most people do not have a deep understanding of the game. If you ask the average Australian, they will think we have a realistic chance of winning it! We expect to win everything we enter - and are willing to invest whatever it takes to win. But most people don't realise we have a much worse team than at the last world cup where we had 9 or 10 starting players in world class teams, this time we probably only have 2 (Cahil and Schwarzer.)

HatterDon

Quote from: Lighthouse on June 07, 2010, 01:10:35 AM
We had a charity match from Old Trafford for UNICEF. Happens each year and has old pros and celebs playing. This year we had a few American Celebs. Woody from Cheers and a bloke from Heroes and Mike Myers and somebody else. Entertaining and they all take it seriosley. But clearly they didn't all know the rules of the game. Taking a corner like a throw in was greeted like a joke but clearly wasn't and quickly brushed aside.

My point is that a few fun games and a little bit more knowledge and it will be enjoyed by most of those that watch it. Like American sports I simply don't understand. I find A merican Football dull and confusing and overly long and ....have sat through the last two superbowl final thingys and began to understand a bit of what was going on and the skill and liked it etc. Baseball I haven't watched so remains a mystery. One day America WILL GET Soccer.

Sir, I think you understand American Pointy Football extremely well.  :55:

As for our "getting it" some day, I doubt it -- not because the game is complex or difficult to understand, but because it has become the way of my country to denigrate anything and everything rather than taking the time to learn about it. We're very busy congratulating ourselves in making decisions without considering alternatives, because by considering alternatives we're "giving them credence." And, ah, crap, it doesn't matter.

You may be right; I may be crazy, but I doubt I'll see soccer overcome the big 3 in my lifetime. I think it's very close to overcoming the NHL in popularity right now.

Most American sports fans don't understand the rules of hockey either, but they like the speed, and they like the fact that referees allow the players to beat the crap out of each other. It's like a combination of soccer and professional wrestling on ice.
"As long as there is light, I will sing." -- Juana, la Cubana

www.facebook/dphvocalease
www.facebook/sellersandhymel


CorkedHat

Quote from: lamby on June 07, 2010, 03:53:41 AM
As an Aussie who has just moved back after living in London for 4 years:

Australians are the biggest sports fans in the world, bar none. The world cup is huge here. The last world cup (where we got robbed by Italy in the round of 16) brought it to everyones attention. But it will be forgotten in a month because of all the other sporting events that are on and involve Australians. ALL games ARE all live on free to air - but being on the other side of the world they will all be on a midnight or 4am. The 4am game will probably be close to the highest rating tv program for the year.

Having said that, most people do not have a deep understanding of the game. If you ask the average Australian, they will think we have a realistic chance of winning it! We expect to win everything we enter - and are willing to invest whatever it takes to win. But most people don't realise we have a much worse team than at the last world cup where we had 9 or 10 starting players in world class teams, this time we probably only have 2 (Cahil and Schwarzer.)

Lamby, as someone who has been in the media for over fifty years and have made and bought TV commercials for a living, if the 4am game is going to be the highest rating program of the year I will bare my arse in Bourke Street. If you honestly think that SBS would get the rights to a program that is going to be number one in the ratings then I am very sorry but you are mistaken.
Admittedly their best ever ratings was a football match  followed by the Ashes decider in England but neither came within a bull's roar of Masterchef or Packed to the Rafters for heaven's sake.

And if you come out to the Bush you will realise that the populace have as much interest in the World Cup as they do in badminton.The World Cup may be huge with your circle of friends but it sure as hell ain't with anyone that I know, either here or in the major capital cities.
What we do for others will live on. What we do for ourselves will die with us

PaulUMD

Quote from: Lighthouse on June 07, 2010, 01:10:35 AM
We had a charity match from Old Trafford for UNICEF. Happens each year and has old pros and celebs playing. This year we had a few American Celebs. Woody from Cheers and a bloke from Heroes and Mike Myers and somebody else. Entertaining and they all take it seriosley. But clearly they didn't all know the rules of the game. Taking a corner like a throw in was greeted like a joke but clearly wasn't and quickly brushed aside.

My point is that a few fun games and a little bit more knowledge and it will be enjoyed by most of those that watch it. Like American sports I simply don't understand. I find A merican Football dull and confusing and overly long and ....have sat through the last two superbowl final thingys and began to understand a bit of what was going on and the skill and liked it etc. Baseball I haven't watched so remains a mystery. One day America WILL GET Soccer.

Two points.  

American football (especially the college variety, for me) is the greatest sport known to mankind.  The rules I'm sure are confusing to you, but it's a game that is so well done, the beauty, ferocity and pure passion of the fans can't be replicated in any other sport save football (soccer, whatever).

Secondly, the world should forever pray America does not ever "get" soccer.  Because the day we get our best athletes playing soccer is the day we begin our imminent domination of the game.  I'm not sure it will ever happen, but MLS has found itself a nice little niche, and it continues to get better and will eventually become a great second-tier feeder league to the biggies in Europe.

CorkedHat

To put it into perspective here are the viewing figures for the top rating shows in Australia since 2001 compared with the World Cup in 2006.
As you can see if Australia are involved then the figures are reasonable, but if they aren't, then forget it. Look how many viewers watched the Final.

Australian Open Men's Final 2005      4,045,000
Rugby World Cup 2003         4,016,000
Masterchef Australia 2009                   3,560,000
Commonwealth Games Opening 2006                3,560,000
AFL Grand Final 2005         3,386,000
Australian Idol – Final 2004         3,344,000
Masterchef Australia – Final   2009      3,330,000
Australian Idol – Final 2006         3,313,000
AFL Grand Final – 2006         3,145,000
The Block Final            3,115,000

WC2006 – Australia v Uruguay      2,484,000
WC2006 – Australia v Italy         2,297,000
WC2006 - Australia v Japan         2,216,000
WC2006 – Australia v Croatia      2,003,000
World Cup Football Final 2006                           728,000

What we do for others will live on. What we do for ourselves will die with us


MGBadrock

Australia:

I recall the World Cup for 2006 when Australia qualified for the first time in 32 years, all the games were played in the middle of the night.  If you stepped out into the street during the game you would be able to look up and down your street and all the lights in everyones houses would be on.
Ultimately, in Australia we love sport- we will back anything and the World Cup and football is getting bigger and bigger.  The game has made giant strides in the last 5 years or so.
In the papers you will get a two-page spread of world cup news each day.  Over the last few days the hype has been getting much bigger, but personally I think if Australia doesn't perform well a lot of people will jump off the bandwagon and upon our knocking out of the tournament it will receive much less publicity.

I believe we are starting to get a hold of how big the World Cup is...slowly....

McBridefan1

The guys at work constantly shlt on me for liking soccer, but they are all drunks and I think i'll win them over if I could ever get a couple games shown at night while we are at the bar... morning games for a nation of beer swillers isn't the best combination.  :beer:  In fact all during the week while we are working together in the summer I am getting them to come to a brazilian coffee shop down town that is showing the games they agreed to come because there will be Brazillian girls there... hey whatever lures them in.  :clap_hands: Let's go soccer  :clap_hands:

Rambling_Syd_Rumpo

here's another,will the league in your country ever become the focus of the football fans in that country?  ie will football fans in Aussie and the US look at their leagues FIRST, rather than the Euro/South American leagues?


CorkedHat

Quote from: Rambling_Syd_Rumpo on June 07, 2010, 03:42:02 PM
here's another,will the league in your country ever become the focus of the football fans in that country?  ie will football fans in Aussie and the US look at their leagues FIRST, rather than the Euro/South American leagues?

I never go to our A League matches - 600 mile round trip is a bit too much for me these days but Gold Coast White is a regular. Having said that I never went to see Brisbane Roar play either and they were a 25 minute bus ride away. I just don't think that the standard of play warrants me shelling out my hard earned to watch them.
At the moment you see more European Team shirts being worn than A League shirts, but when I went to see Fulham play Melbourne Victory I was quite impressed with the number of home supporters wearing Victory shirts.
But GCW is the man to ask about this.
What we do for others will live on. What we do for ourselves will die with us

jarv

In the pub last night at my darts match. One of my team mates asked.....

"CAN'T WAIT FOR THE WC TO START.....IS BECKHAM PLAYING FOR ENGLAND OR THE US?"

That is about the level of knowledge of a newcomer to "soccer".


HatterDon

Quote from: Rambling_Syd_Rumpo on June 07, 2010, 03:42:02 PM
here's another,will the league in your country ever become the focus of the football fans in that country?  ie will football fans in Aussie and the US look at their leagues FIRST, rather than the Euro/South American leagues?

A great question. I watch two leagues, The Prem and MLS. Because I've had so many years watching 2nd, 3rd, and 4th division football, plus some in the old [pre-Conference] Southern League and Ithsmian Leagues, I appreciate that while there are drops in overall quality in lower divisions, there's still something worthwhile to watch there.

Unfortunately, many American fans only watching experience of European football has been on television. They contrast The Prem, SerieA, and La Liga with the MLS and one of two things happens:

1. In an effort to boost the sport over here, they kid themselves that the MLS is a competitive league. They seize on the results of mid-season MLS exhibitions v. European pre-season squads as proof of parity. They absolutely HATE the premise that a player has to go overseas to establish himself as a top pro.

2. In an effort to prove that their football knowledge is supreme, many fans denigrate everything about the MLS and refer to anyone who actively supports the MLS or an individual MLS side as "ignorant fan boys." To them, the MLS is only a rest home for overseas has-beens. To this crowd, David Beckham ceased being a world class player BY ACTUALLY SIGNING WITH THE MLS.

Both groups are delusional in large part.

Fans of the Prem will look at the MLS and say "man, the pace is so slow here. No wonder Angel and Beckham eat the league alive." To that, I say, Yep. It's slow. But if Prem teams tried to play mid-summer games in Dallas and Kansas City at their usual pace, there'd be three players left on the pitch after 60 minutes. It's the same reason why the pace is Spain and Portugal is slower.

MLS football is fun to watch because there's very little disparity in possession. Action is goalmouth to goalmouth. Because there's no relegation, teams are more likely to go for the win on the road rather than to get an early goal and park the bus. Contrast the way a Prem team plays in a league match and how it plays in the 2nd round of the Carling Cup. Go for the win; there's no points involved.

Premiership football is superior to the MLS and always will be. That doesn't mean that the MLS is crap. But, no, I don't think that there will come a time when Premiership or Champions League broadcasts outdraw MLS matches on the same network. I do, however, believe there'll be a time when MLS matches outdraw regular season NHL games -- if they don't do so already.
"As long as there is light, I will sing." -- Juana, la Cubana

www.facebook/dphvocalease
www.facebook/sellersandhymel


jarv

Mr Hatterdon,

good points.

I watched new england v new york on tv recently. It was surprisingly good (about div. 2 level in england, ok championship if I must use that name).   In fact, it made me decide to actually go to a few games this season (I used to go 4 ot 5 times a season).

I think (and hope) the standard is improving but two things still hold it back.

The large (empty) stadiums still in use and those bloody football lines towards the autumn. I absolutely refuse to watch a game with the field markings on them. I don't like watching Wigan either for the same reason....rugby markings.


michaelread

it is pretty big amongst my age group in Australia.

I come from a fairly small "city/town" and there is an estimated 1500 people turning up at 4am on monday to watch australias first group match on a big screen, in the middle of winter, near the water, in the cold city.

Thats a pretty big commitment.

It is getting about 3 or 4 pages in the newspaper, but it still is behind rugby league.

In the Sydney papers, it has jumped ahead of AFL and Rugby in Importance.

If Australia make the round of 16 or better, and qualify again for 2014, I could see football being on par with Rugby League in NSW, in terms of sponsorship and ratings etc.

But at the end of the day, some of these League clubs have been around for over a hundred years. The A - League clubs? 5. Not really comparable yet.

The important thing to know is, me and my mates are all over the world cup. I got a Ghana shirt with Pantsil on the back just in case they go through and Aus dont.

Football fans, and sports fans, will watch the world cup intently. It is only a matter of time before the former number rises dramatically, and the Socceroos performances are a big part of that.