Blackjack\’s Blog

The FFT league restructuring discussion paper has now been available since March. I’ll make the assumption most people will have read it and also a response from former Soccer Tas chairman Brian Roberts. Both papers are available for review.

The discussion period is about to close and clubs will be required to make their final recommendations.

I too have formed my own opinions but I urge you to come forward to discuss your ideas and concerns. I would hope their might be some solid input from the clubs. 

Warning: Adult only content. Some material may be offensive to some people.

Ok, there’s been a bit of rivalry between EPL & local fans so rather than dampen all the good humour and opportunity to slag each other off, we might as well use it to have a good laugh.

Send in your funny jokes that lampoon your favourite club - the one you hate more than anything (except the mother in law). The bright ones will adapt these to fit the local scene & that should be worth a smile or two and help to put things in perspective.

If you don’t have a sense of humour I think ‘Home & Away’ has just stared and maybe you should watch that instead.

The Southern Tasmania Womens’ Premier League is in complete disarray.

The last two weeks has seen Nelson smash their opponents by a score more appropriate to a rugby scoreline (13-0). Even New Town Eagles is not just destroying most opposition but actually humiliating them. Eventually this must become boring for both teams. Will this not encourage lazy behaviour and the developing of bad habits?

This cannot be healthy for the womens’ game. One can only imagine most young lasses playing in squads like Clarence, Tilford Zebras, Glenorchy Knights and to a lesser extent, South Hobart and University must be very disillusioned at the prospect of fronting up to a match they know (barring miracles or natural disaster) they are going to get thumped. It’s any wonder most clubs don’t want to enter teams in the Premier League.

Recruiting and maintaining enthusiasm and motivation must be an absolute nightmare for club coaches and clubs in general.

So what is to be done? Who needs to act to create a level playing field or at least an environment that will allow a reasonable level of competition.

I’m not going to answer this but rather throw it open to the public.

Should Nelson be forced to turn away new recruits (players not developed by Nelson)? Should New Town Eagles receive a penalty to even things up?

NB. This topic WILL NOT descend into a session that bags the women’s game or women playing sport in general. They have as much right to play ALL sports as any male competitor. Any posts even suggesting the women’s game being a lesser standard or generally derogatory toward their game will not see the light of day on this blog.

Wednesday 25th April

Taroona FC 5 d Hobart United 2 (FT 2:2)

Devonport City 4 d Ulverstone 0

Northern Ranger 2 d Metro FC 0

Hobart Olympic 2 v Riverside Olympic 1

Nelson Eastern Suburbs 4 d DOSA Northern Suburbs 1

Manchester United 3 d A.C. Milan 2

Ronaldo 6′ Kaka 2 22′ 37′

Rooney 2 59′ 91′

Chelsea F.C. 1 v Liverpool F.C. 0

J. Cole 29′

• Warning to Walter Pless - don’t read the above scores before watching the match!!

Van der Sar

G. Neville Ferdinand Vidic Evra

Ronaldo Scholes Gerrard Giggs

Drogba Berbatov

This is the PFA English Premier League team of the year. Do you agree with the selections? If not, who would you substitute. While you’re there, select a team captain (for interests sake)

Kelly parts company with Glenorchy Knights -It seems the rumour that Eamonn Kelly is no longer senior coach at Glenorchy Knights has been confirmed by various sources. Blackjack has been informed that Eamonn’s departure is not because of Knight’s only winning one match from the first three games of the season but more a case of difference in opinions on how the senior team should interact and assist other teams at the club.

In other news, Jayden Wiggins is understood to have trained with DOSA on Monday night.

You can all put your other gossip on here too!! Damn women’s weekly & Daily Soap subscribers!!!

Warning: If I detect any person who is posting as any player, coach, trainer or personality in Tasmanian football who isn’t in fact that person, then they’re going to find themselves with a LIFETIME BAN from this blog. I don’t care if the person is trying to have a joke or just trying to be funny. The ban will stand. There are just too many possibilities that could go wrong and cause offense or damage a persons reputation to tolerate such behavior. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

A replay of the 2006 A-League, Version 2 Grand Final between Melbourne Victory & Adelaide United will be played at Aurora Stadium, Launceston on Sunday 15th July.This will the second meeting between the clubs in Tasmania and will allow Victory’s considerable Tassie support squad to witness their team in action. Having said that, I’m sure Adelaide also has a fair support base here too.

Group A
1. Adelaide United FC

2. Melbourne Victory FC

3. Perth Glory FC

4. Newcastle Jets FC

Group B
1. Central Coast Mariners FC

2. Wellington Phoenix FC

3. Queensland Roar FC

4. Sydney FC

Complete preseason fixture list inside.

FULL A-LEAGUE ROSTER

The Matildas have done well to avoid the big guns of female world football when they drew Norway, Canada & Ghana in Group C of the up coming World Cup in China. Avoiding World Cup holders German, No.1 ranked USA & hosts China was the goal of the Aussie team.

Full story

What chances do the Matildas have in this World Cup?

Can we progress to the knock out rounds? Further maybe?

Ok, this has triggered something in me when I read the ABC no longer has footage of some of the historical matches at South Hobart, but rather than reinvent the wheel I will put it to the general public & to FFT (come on guys you have to start giving some feedback on the more legitimate topics and I believe this is one such a topic), does anyone (private or commercial) have any historical footage of any games pre 1970’s - 1980’s??

I firmly believe if there is any footage there should be some concerted effort to obtain or copy this film so that it can be preserved and not just be lost for all time.

Is it feasible to approach the ABC and/or commercial stations to enquire just what type of footage they do have??

Maybe you have some old ‘private’ footage at home taken with one of the older methods. It could all prove to be invaluable…

What are people’s thoughts?