June 25, 2007
Welcome to the Soapbox
This is the place you can have your say on anything that doesn’t fit under the current discussion topics.
Enjoy, but be kind and understanding to each other….yeah, right!!! 
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What no comments??? - Bit like vent your spleen on ABC radio — my gripe is the round when the A league is on not being cancelled / re scheduled (thats all I’ve got at the moment - nobodies talking about the knights anymore?????)
Comment by bpullen — June 25, 2007 @ 8:08 pm
This post should get big!
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Brett - the FFA will either just cancel or re-schedule the games. At some time. Their own time. And inform us all ten weeks later.
Premier League games have already been rescheduled. Zebras/Olympic game to be played on the Saturday (14th). Eagles and Lions game to be played on the Sunday before (8.7.07). BJ
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My own minor beef - why do players have to pay to get into grounds to entertain the assembled masses?
Many of the clubs already have a ‘mutual agreement’ - players and officials don’t pay.
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BJ - any way of posts on threads like this being inverted (the latest at the top)?
BJ
You want the latest posts first?? Easy, turn your monitor upside down!!! LOL
Comment by tasblue — June 25, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
bp - it may be that the saturday games on 14th July are part of the soccer pools and moving them isnt so easy.
Comment by sj — June 25, 2007 @ 9:17 pm
tasblue
http://reader.google.com or any other atom, rss reader thingy will do what you want. Firefox has numerous plugins that do it, email clients do these days, heck there’s a whole host of them, get one and subscribe to Blackjack comments on the left of the front page.
Comment by Tommy — June 26, 2007 @ 8:30 am
I’m on the Green & Gold Army mailing list and today there was a mailout with the official ‘live sites’ for the Singapore game (this Saturday) and Asian Cup games. There weren’t any sites listed in Tassie. For all of us Austar-deprived people, Is there a preferred venue where people will be meeting up to watch the games?
Comment by Chuq — June 26, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
I noticed that for the upcoming U/20 World Cup Australia has no team? But i also noticed that New Zealand are in it? obviously this is because we are in the asian region now but what i was wondering is why aren’t the qualifications the same as in senior world cups?
Obviously New Zealand U/20 would not be better than the 5th place south americans? Does anyone have any decent knowledge on this as obviously this means by going into asia australia are infact going backwards in these age groups world cup wise?
I stand to be corrected here and there would certainly be others who would know better than I but…Ange Postacoglau was coach of the Australian team and resigned after his team failed to qualify. Australia because we were the new kids on the block did not have a ranking and were thrown in with the No.1 ranked team in Asia (Korea). There aren’t as many teams contesting qualification at underage competitions so there isn’t the same qualification requirements. Hence Oceania have a direct quailification…and if you suggest we revert to the hopeless situation of being the big fish in Oceania I’m going to hunt you down!!!
BJ
Comment by Corey Smith — June 27, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
no no i get it now…. i didnt realise that was the case? so in future we should be ranked and have a decent chance of qualification in the younger age groups?
Comment by Corey Smith — June 27, 2007 @ 7:41 pm
Corey you only get ranked if you perform , my understanding is that our 17 team never made it past the first hurdle 9 THE QUALIFYING ROUNDS !! the 20’s at least made the first group stage but failed to get to final rounds !
The difference is that whilst we kidded ourselves as being this great country who produced superstar footballers and as the big fish in Oceania got near automatic qualification to world youth cups , we are now participating in a confederation that puts real dollars and time into youth development , not the pittance aust does..and for this plus the lack of quality coaches at the 10-13 age group we are miles behind many asian countries.= no qualification…
Comment by Oncesackedcoach — June 27, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
I have been reliably informed that if you thought week one Premier League highlights on Aurora was top class then you should tune in tonight (28th June). So tune in 7.30pm Aurora (AUSTAR 183)…if you’re not at training!! If you are you can tape it or wait until Monday when it will be available on Blackjack’s Blog.
Comment by Blackjack — June 28, 2007 @ 11:28 am
I was going to do a bit of a review on the various club websites, found through links on here and the FFT website. I decided it wasn’t worth the effort though, with many in very poor shape, some not updated since the start of the season (or before), but here’s some thoughts anyway..
I found Taroona’s probably the best of the lot, for accessibility, features, updated information etc. They get my vote for the best site of all the Southern teams, particularly impressive when obviously you’ve only been in the SPL this year, so have either got it all done since then, or put in a good effort whilst in a lesser league.
Kingborough’s isn’t bad either, nothing spectacular, but consistent. Although I’ve noticed on weekly visits to most sites that it can go without updating sometimes, but compared to most, it’s one of the best in that regard… although that’s not saying much.
Clarence United’s seems similar to Kingborough, in that it has regular (yet not consistent) updates. Although it’s a bit of a ‘dog’s breakfast’ to look at and move around, with some of it’s most frequently updated areas likely to go unnoticed by 90% of viewers, due to no clear linking or promoting of certain areas. It probably is the best in regards to amount of photos shown, but I bet most people would miss the links to them due to the design.
Hobart United gets a special mention for having weekly podcasts, although not that impressive in quality on their own (the podcasts), it’s good to see them moving with the times. Not much depth to the rest of the site though, and a few broken links around.
Hobart Olympic has potential, but is lacking updates, highlighted by the player profiles section featuring players who haven’t been at the club for some time.
University’s page seems to be limited by their TUU connection, I’m not sure, either way it’s not a good site to look at or move around, but it does seem to have some news on there from time to time, not enough to rely on though.
New Town Eagles have a very basic effort, some signs of life, but not much..
South Hobart have a very basic page, that doesn’t look like it gets touched much, it seems more of an idea for a page, than an actual page, maybe one day they’ll get around to it one day..
Hobart Zebras is woeful having not been updated since the start of the season… no need to put in any more effort on theirs, when they can’t themselves…
That’s about it…. so in these times you’d think there would be some better club websites around, sadly not, but congratulations to those few who put in some effort!
Comment by Ril — June 28, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
Quotable Quotes
In the business of Coaching ,failures are our best teacher.
How can we hope to improve our game if forget our past strategies.
Re SHSC web page undergoing a major overhaul .
Should change for the better soon . Its alla question of time and the right people acquiring the appropriate expertise.
Comment by Brian Roberts — June 29, 2007 @ 11:41 am
Just had a quick look at the 2007 underage State Squads on the FFT website. Haven’t had a look at the squads for a year or two but generally the South/North ratios of players from each area are roughly equal over the long term. Each region usually has somewhere between 40% and 60% of a squad of 16 players on average. Obviously some years there might be an imbalance of players due to a good group coming through from a region.
The State Under 15 Girls squad has 11 from the South and 5 from the North while, in the Under 17 there are 8 from the South and 8 from the North. All of those figures are fair enough and in line with my earlier comments.
The query I have, though, is with the composition of the State Boys squads. The Under 14s consist of 13 from the South and only 3 from the North, all from the Riverside club. But in the Under 15 boys it gets worse. 16 out of 16 from the South !!!. Nobody can convince me that the South would have every top player in that age group so why isn’t the North of the State represented ??? Even in a strong Southern year there would be usually be 5 or 6 from the North and vice versa in strong Northern years.
Apart from the 3 Riverside players, there are no others from the North or North West in either of the two squads.
There must potentially be a few talented juniors missing out on State teams and, consequently, resulting in weaker State teams.
There may be good reasons for these 2007 figures ?
Perhaps someone can enlighten me ?
Comment by exprez — June 29, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
exprez, you will find that each year has a selection of players, who for various reasons, can’t or don’t wish to be involved. Finance is one of the major factors. Many of the kids and their parents can’t afford the significant financial commitment to be involved for one or more years. It’s even more taxing now as a lot of the programmes commence 1-2 years prior to state programmes.
The new FFT development model also has it’s detractors (I am one of those) and some kids do not wish to be involved for various reasons (want to play with friends, club, etc.). On face value the commitment for kids from the north west may very well be higher as they have more time and distance in which to travel.
The fact remains you will never get the best players every year to make up a state squad.
Comment by Blackjack — June 29, 2007 @ 9:54 pm
You also have to take into account that the State squads are southern based ie play or train in Hobart 2-3 nights a week , they enter into a comp as a state team south players get up , 10-20 min travel to game play go home - North get up travel 2-3- hours play go home a full day each weekend.
On top of that is the associated cost to travel back and forth that the Southern kids don’t have , in most cases too hard - too expensive and it is always hard when coaches play favourites !!!
North - North West kids are without doubt victamised by the current set up it is South bias with south coaches and south competition baseand will only get worse with institute based in Hobart!!
Comment by sent off — June 29, 2007 @ 10:49 pm
“get worse with institute based in Hobart”. So you think that none of the other states have their institutes hours away from other parts of their state?” Institute has to be based somewhere. Ours does have satellite training centres catering for north AND north-west participants - seems pretty reasonable approach to me!
Comment by Steve Pitchford — June 29, 2007 @ 11:28 pm
BJ, I take your comments on board and realise that you will never get the best 16 players in the State actually represent the State in their particular age group. You will always have parents who can’t be bothered , or can’t afford to take their kids to State training, or kids with talent who don’t have the motivation to put in the months of extra effort, but that still doesn’t explain the regional imbalance in the State boys teams.
Over the years I have known quite a few parents from the North and North-West who have been happy to take their kids to State training, usually in Hobart, over a period of many months but, obviously, the training/selection system must have changed in the last couple of years.
In those days, some kids made the final squad, some didn’t. That’s the way it was but the current figures seem to indicate that we are not getting a reasonable number of the best kids to represent the State. If that’s the case then the current system need to change ?
Comment by exprez — June 30, 2007 @ 12:18 am
Whatever ’system’ is in place for the training and selecting of State teams, the aim should always be to ensure that each kid with the talent and ambition to make the State teams should have a roughly equal opportunity to do so regardless of whether they live at Hobart, Launceston or Smithton !
Nobody would disagree with that would they ?
And don’t forget Steve that Tassie has a much more decentralised population than any other State where the large majority of their populations actually reside in or near their capital cities. Not so in Tasmania ! Logic may suggest that any such “institute” should perhaps be based in Launceston ?
By the way, what is the “institute” that is being referred to in the above posts. Is there much/any info about it on the FFT website ?
Comment by exprez — June 30, 2007 @ 9:00 am
“get worse with institute based in Hobart”. The basis for this comment is that players based in Hobart will be part of full time programs with the FFT institute appointed coaches , players outside Hobart will partake in a satellite program , overseen by the head coaches - this will lack the intensity of the full time program, just because it sounds great on paper doesn’t mean it will work. think you will find that experiences in other states indicate this to be the case .
Just for the record went onto the web to find out about other institutes they are all Federation capital based with little or no satellite programs , maybe you can provide information on your other state programs ..guess time will tell !
Comment by sent off — June 30, 2007 @ 9:08 am
There have been comments that Launceston are in crisis also somewhere that Huon Valley were receiving a hammering every week .
Whose shoes would you rather be in ?. Huon Valley , why Well they have a lower league or leagues into which they may be relegated . There they will either rest permanently or recover and mount a fresh challenge in years to come .
However Launceston have no such luxury, the league into which they may descend is comparable to Southern Social leagues . Due to amalgamations , desertions or just getting to tired the Northern League is a mirror image of AFL competitions where one is tied to the comp for ever and a day with no where to rest . What do we do , I don’t know.
At least the Southern Premier sides when relegated have a comp of sorts where they can rest and recover assuming they retain their player base .
One more comment . Huon Valley , Nelson , Christian Utd, Kingston Cannons gained entry to Div 1 South by application not by merit, Cannons presence is to recent to track their record however apart from Christian’s brief brush with fame the other three have usually been cellar dwellers .
I believe this proves the shortcomings of artificially created competitions .
The clubs are not to blame but the administrators of years gone by who condoned the practice .
Instead of trying to make the best better we should be seeking to improve the underbelly of our competitions.
Comment by Brian Roberts — July 1, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
I take it nobody disagrees too much with my most recent comments ???. Does anyone actually read this section other than the people who have posted comments ? Let me know if you do.
And nobody has given me any reason why all 16 players in the State Under 15 boys squad come from the South. Not one from the North or North West. Didn’t anyone from up this way try out for the squad ?
Is the “institute” referred to actually the TIS which is administered from Lonny anyway ?
Exprez, I can’t give you any definitive answers to your questions as to why there are only Southern based players in the u/15 state squad. I would suggest the answer lies in one of the suggestions that has already been put forward (finance. commitment, travel, etc.) or any combination of all of these. FFT can’t/won’t post here so you may need to ring David Abela at FFT and ask.
I am lead to believe the TIS is Hobart based but not exclusive to Hobart. Satellites have been established in the North & North-West too. BJ
Comment by exprez — July 2, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
exprez - i understand the TIS admin is in Lton but the soccer program is based in Hobart utilising facilities at, amongst others, Bellerive.
Checkout my comment under Video Highlights week 2 for another possible explanation for lack of north/northwest players.
Comment by sj — July 2, 2007 @ 11:20 pm
sj,
I did notice your possible ‘explanation” under the Video Highlights section but didn’t bother with a reply. Many of the comments in the subsequent posts probably summed up my thoughts.
Rather than people taking simplistic ’shots’ at Northern football perhaps of more importance to the development of football in the whole State may be that the ‘authorities’, be it FFT or the ‘institute’ coaches, take note of the huge regional imbalance in this years junior boys State squads and have a look at the reasons for the marked change in recent years ? And, hopefully, take steps to rectify it for the coming years.
Exprez, what would you like to see happen?? How should it be evened up?? BJ
Comment by exprez — July 3, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
exprez
I might suggest it has something to do with the fact that FFT have been responsible for junior / youth development in the south whereas the north / north west have resisted assistance for so many years. I understand that that position is now changing. In future years you may find more north / north west players in state boys squads.
Comment by sj — July 3, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
exprez
mine are not simplistic shots - they are serious comments.
Comment by sj — July 3, 2007 @ 11:07 pm
Bj,
I don’t have the answers to the ‘imbalance’ in the junior boys squads. My comments and questions were posted after I had a look at the composition of both the boys and girls 2007 State squads. I have no direct involvement with juniors or junior bodies. The people who should be discussing these issues are FFT administration and State coaching personnel. You will notice that I have never suggested that the regional numbers should be “evened up” and I pointed out in my original posts why that doesn’t usually happen. I was surprised, and still am, by the lack of northern boys reps in the State squads.
Sj,
I hope you are right. The bottom line should always be to get the best possible squads from the available players. I will point out however that many junior State players have come through the ranks of the NTJSA and the North West junior bodies over the last 5 - 10 years and that the top northern clubs at the moment have many players who have been through that system over that period.
Ril,
You may not consider it a “simplistic shot” but I still can’t figure out how you can extrapolate watching a few minutes of a hard fought Northern Premier League match between two traditionally hard at it sides into a reason why ( and I quote your words ) “Well I would think that might explain the current shortage of North/North west participants in the state youth squads.” Pretty long bow to draw ?
Ah well, back to the pipe and slippers.
Give the pipe away. Shortens your life and makes you smell really bad!!!
Comment by exprez — July 4, 2007 @ 11:17 pm