The Game
The game was no classic. Finals rarely are. Like waiting in the dark room in pre-digital days for a print to develop, we waited for a pattern of play to be established in the opening minutes. Was Victory doing the boa constrictor on Sydney or was Sydney doing a rope-a-dope on Victory? It didn’t take long to realise that Melbourne Victory were squeezing the living crap out of the visitors. They scored in the first half and from then on controlled the rest of game like a cat pawing a cornered mouse.
The Stadium Debate
The sole reason I attended the A-League Grand Final was because it was being staged in the cosy confines of a purpose-built RECTANGULAR football stadium. I wouldn’t have bothered if it had been held at the larger AFL venue in Melbourne’s Docklands.
This is what I tweeted at half time.
Phenomenal atmosphere here at AAMI Park. 10x better than GFs played at Docklands. Bigger doesn't mean better. #ALeagueGF
— Athas Zafiris (@ArtSapphire) May 17, 2015
I have nothing else to add.
The Fuckwit Fan
Every team has a few. Unfortunately, one such Sydney FC fan decided to come down to Melbourne for the finale. He sat in the upper level of the East Stand of AAMI Park in a section set aside for the more genteel Sydney FC fans who paid extra for a better view of the game. With Victory dominating on the pitch, this section was an oasis of peace and quiet. Well…until Victory’s Besart Berisha got on the ball.
“Besart, you gypsy!”
The fuckwit fan basked in his imbecility. Embarrassed Sydney FC fans around him shuffled in their seats. Things were bad enough on the pitch. Their emotional energy was focused on the game. They ignored him.
Ten minutes later.
“Berisha! Get back in your caravan, you gypsy!”
The fuckwit fan didn’t travel 1000 kilometres for nothing. He wanted to make sure everyone around knew he was a fuckwit. And he succeeded, convincingly.
Besart Berisha scored.
In the second half, with the game slipping away, he tried to up the ante by calling Victory’s Ben Khalfallah a terrorist. It sounded half-hearted. He must have come to the realisation that his abject display was worse than the performance of the Sydney players on the pitch. Below and to the left of him, behind the goal, in the dying minutes of the game with the score at 3-0, The Cove and their fellow Sydney FC supporters stood and scarved up in an impressive final act of proud defiance.
Credit to @SydneyFC fans. This was at 3-nil down. #ALeagueGF pic.twitter.com/yGrOi1f0p2
— Neroli Meadows (@Neroli_M_FOX) May 17, 2015
The final whistle blew. Sydney FC were vanquished. I thought of the fuckwit fan and I was glad. Happy in the knowledge that he had such a shit time at the grand final.
The Spectacle of Ultras as Media Capital
“What we can’t do is endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices if those lifestyle choices are not conducive to the kind of full participation in Australian society that everyone should have”
When Prime Minister Tony Abbott made those remarks about our indigenous people living in remote communities he was roundly condemned. And rightly so.
If Mr Abbott ever needed a pointer as to what actually represents a lifestyle choice then he should look no further than at young males who wish to indulge in the practice of being a football ultra. Where supporting a football club becomes a conduit to discover that “tribal feeling of going into battle together, of loyalty, of support and shared goals.“
I got that quote, from of all things, the press release for cult film The Warriors. And regardless of how we feel about football fans who want to indulge in the so-called ultras lifestyle, the quote pretty much rings true. It is also a lifestyle choice. As a minus you get dodgy fashion and the odd bit of anti-social/criminal behaviour, as a plus you get added atmosphere at football matches.
‘The spectacle is capital accumulated to the point where it becomes image.’ Guy Debord
In the Australian media space, the spectacle of supporter groups like Victory’s North Terrace provide capital, not only in the stadium for the FFA to sell the game, but also outside the stadium for media organisations. In our relaxed and comfortable country, mass media needs a villain to sell insurance, breakfast cereals, junk food, etc. They want your clicks (News Ltd, Fairfax, etc), they want your eyeballs (Channel 7, 9 etc), they want your ears (3AW, 2GB, etc). Nothing sells better than something that is seen as a bit scary representing an “UnAustralian” culture marching down our streets. Of course, the youths (mostly drawn from fine upstanding Aussie homes) are only too happy to oblige in the spectacle. You want pyro, of course we’ll bring the pyro. You want us to look like bad guys, of course we’ll look like bad guys.
There were two groups marching along Swan Street to AAMI Park, one marching forward providing the spectacle and one marching backwards collecting the images.
A big microphone recording words that will be bleeped out when broadcast to an outraged ‘relaxed and comfortable’ Australia.
Who won the A-League Grand Final?
Who cares. We got what we came for.
