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AFL/NRL/Union/Cricket Bashing Thread 3

mack

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Neverbloom

Neverbloom

Posted
Posted

Fly me to the moon ... is it as far as Shanghai?

Michael Lynch

Port Adelaide and Gold Coast: it's not a moon landing.
Port Adelaide and Gold Coast: it's not a moon landing. Photo: Getty Images
Set the controls for the heart of the Sun. There will be stops at the moon, Neptune and Pluto for those passengers with an adventurous mindset.

Judging by the breathless coverage, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast might as well be heading off into outer space.

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So arduous is the portrayal of their journey to China for the first AFL game for premiership points played in Asia, it's hard to draw any other conclusion.

We have had hand-wringing concerns over the air quality in polluted Shanghai, with asthmatic players having been ruled out of contention.

We have had fears expressed over the physical strain of such a fearful long-haul flight – particularly for the Suns, who are travelling in cattle class – and the deleterious effect it will surely have on the finely toned athletes of both clubs.

We have had worries put forward over the quality and kind of food that the players may have to eat, the environment they will encounter and the reception they may get.

Come off it, please.

Either the players are such delicate flowers that their suitability to play such a robust sport as footy must be called into question, or it is yet another example of the AFL world's tendency to navel gaze, hyper ventilate and over-emphasise even the tiniest event.

Where footy is concerned, every drama, it seems, becomes a crisis.

Has it not escaped anyone in the footy bubble's attention that travel to China is not new?

The lads from the Coast and the Port are not following in the footsteps of Burke and Wills.

They're not even pathfinders where sports men are concerned.

Teams from the A-League have, for the past dozen years, routinely travelled to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand and the Middle East to play competitive matches in a much bigger tournament, the Asian Champions League.

There has been little breathless commentary on the difficulties and challenges their players face, the travails they must endure, to play for their team.

I distinctly remember covering the 2010 A-League grand final when Melbourne Victory – in a precursor to last Sunday's title decider – played out a 1-1 draw with Sydney before losing in a penalty shootout.

That game was played on a Sunday. After Victory's loss there was no time for commiserations over a season that had come up agonisingly short, no moments of reflection or wistfulness over what might have been.

Coach Ernie Merrick and his players had to go straight from the stadium, swallow their disappointment and head straight to Tullamarine, where they boarded a flight for Japan that night.

Three days later – on the following Wednesday – they had to face Kawasaki Frontale in an Asian Champions League group game.

There was little wailing or gnashing of teeth over Victory's schedule, no outrage or complaint.

They simply got on with the job.

Did the horrendous schedule affect them?

Of course it did. They lost that game 4-0 with three goals coming in the first 22 minutes. A week later they played Kawasaki in the return leg, and beat the Japanese powerhouse 1-0, but by then it was too little too late for their ACL campaign.

Were Western Sydney Wanderers cut much slack when they had a horror travel schedule during their heroic run to the final, and ultimately success, in the Asian Champions League of 2014?

They beat Saudi team Al Hilal 1-0 in Parramatta on October 25, then had to fly to Riyadh to play the Saudi side on November 1.

The weather was hot, the crowd hostile and conditions challenging – yet nowhere was that made out to be some sort of groundbreaking trip or some hitherto-unknown challenge for a bunch of sportsmen to undertake.

Yes, it's fine and well that Port and the Suns play what most of us expect to be a pretty meaningless match in a city that will be far more interested in the outcome of the Tottenham v Manchester United clash taking place a few hours later on Sunday evening than in the AFL game.

It's nice for the AFL bigwigs to enjoy a "jolly", good that they can build the sport's "brand" and make some expats happy, and it presents some decent marketing and sponsorship openings for the clubs involved. After all, it is all about the money.

But please, if it happens again, don't make out that it's like a journey to the centre of the earth. It's just not.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/fly-me-to-the-moon--is-it-as-far-as-shanghai-20170510-gw1bu3.html

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luisenrique

luisenrique

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, GoatyMcGoatFace said:

that is funny as hell, something i find funny about this is afl fans claiming that football(well they call it soccer) cant even get a crowd over there, are they serious?

Apparently they 'understood' that it was going to be shown, but it isn't. Hilarious. So literally the only people in that country of billions who will see it are the ones at the ground.

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SBW

SBW

Posted
Posted

I had to laugh reading this article :lol:

It's no FIFA, but Evolution at least gets AFL gaming off the ground

Like a lot of kids in this country, David Connolly has the soccer bug. And like a lot of them, he caught it from playing video games.

FIFA is a behemoth of the sports simulation gaming scene, a super-realistic imitation of a variety of world football leagues that throughout its various editions has racked up sales of more than 100 million.

David has spent countless hours honing his FIFA skills on PlayStation 4. That's given him a more-than-handy working knowledge of the teams and stars playing the world game. Which, in turn, has led to his own junior soccer career. Along with a studied indifference to AFL football.

David is also my 15-year-old son. So when he proudly parades that indifference to a dad who spends half his life watching AFL, it's done with the sort of sadistic relish only parents of adolescent children can appreciate.

How do I get my boy back? It's a question that Australian football has been pondering, too, on a much broader level. And now it hopes it has the answer.

Last Friday, the AFL officially released its attempt to win over some of those "gamers" flocking towards simulation of the round ball variety, "AFL Evolution".

The AFL has dabbled in video games before with little success. This attempt, designed by "Wicked Witch Software" for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, features more than 80 teams from not only the AFL, but VFL, TAC Cup, the under-18 championships and International Cup, as well as bonus teams such as the Indigenous All Stars. The AFLW also gets a guernsey.

Besides the gameplay, also available online, AFL Evolution allows players to manage lists via the draft and trade table, with a salary cap. It features a career mode, which allows for player development, from the under 18s through to AFL level.

David's agreed to take it for a test drive. It soon becomes apparent he's going to be harder to impress than his dad. My 17-year-old stepson Sam doesn't even get that far. He wanders in for a look, observes that "it looks like FIFA with 2008 graphics", then wanders off again. Kids.

After a cursory practice session, David launches straight into gameplay with a big MCG clash between Essendon and Collingwood. He sets the difficulty level to medium, but soon realises he might have been a little ambitious.

With the greater variables of an AFL as opposed to a soccer game, there's a lot more controller commands to master. Marking proves continually elusive. And when he does grab one, his FIFA instincts and an urge to play on kick in, seeing him frequently tackled and mowed down from behind.

"This is frustrating. I can't mark for ****," he laments. After Essendon's Dyson Heppell is caught in possession, he bemoans the fact he can't have Chelsea speedster N'Golo Kante instead. The reality of AFL Evolution is impressive, though, especially when Collingwood's Alex Fasolo continues to miss easy shots at goal.

In his first 10-minute game, the Magpies emerge convincing winners, though commentators Dennis Cometti and Matthew Richardson don't seem overly impressed. "This game was over before it began," Cometti says.

Indeed, the commentary is interesting, to say the least, Cometti at one stage referring to the Pies using the "Tokyo subway play". Yep, still trying to work that one out.

Richo prefers the motivational quip, such as "the best athletes in the world are willing to push harder than anyone else". Which makes more sense than one disinterested rejoinder to Cometti. "Sorry, Den, I've got more important things to think about. I've got a yoghurt to finish, and the expiry date is today." Umm … OK.

David sticks at it for more than an hour, which produces some interesting results, an inaccurate Carlton nonetheless thrashing GWS 6.14 to one solitary point. And no, John Nicholls and Alex Jesaulenko weren't roped in to play for the Blues.

But by the end of a higher-standard Western Bulldogs-Port Adelaide clash, the kid is starting to get the hang of it. Mastering the wide range of tactical and skill options will prove an accomplishment in itself, and at least he's learning a bit about some of the AFL's best as well as the two constants of his sporting existence, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

His final assessment? "I found it a bit clunky and I had to keep looking at the settings for help," he says. "But it would be more fun playing it with friends online." Does it whet his AFL appetite at all? "Well, I learned about the players, positioning and strategy from FIFA, so I think you could do the same with this game."

That's my boy. So we can have a game against each other now, right? "Sorry, I have to bid for Romelu Lukaku. My FIFA team's missing a marquee striker."

Oh well, can't win them all.

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/its-no-fifa-but-evolution-at-least-gets-afl-gaming-off-the-ground-20170510-gw1xmf.html

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Prydzopolis

Prydzopolis

Posted
Posted
On 11/05/2017 at 9:27 AM, SBW said:

I had to laugh reading this article :lol:

It's no FIFA, but Evolution at least gets AFL gaming off the ground

 

David's agreed to take it for a test drive. It soon becomes apparent he's going to be harder to impress than his dad. My 17-year-old stepson Sam doesn't even get that far. He wanders in for a look, observes that "it looks like FIFA with 2008 graphics", then wanders off again. Kids.

 

That's my boy. So we can have a game against each other now, right? "Sorry, I have to bid for Romelu Lukaku. My FIFA team's missing a marquee striker."

Oh well, can't win them all.

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/its-no-fifa-but-evolution-at-least-gets-afl-gaming-off-the-ground-20170510-gw1xmf.html

:rofl:

Says it all for me, that was a fantastic quote for me :lol: Kids just say it how it is sometimes :rofl: 

May take a while but it just shows that the tide is turning, through video games of all things :lol:

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theguyyouwishyouwere

theguyyouwishyouwere

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Prydzopolis said:

:rofl:

Says it all for me, that was a fantastic quote for me :lol: Kids just say it how it is sometimes :rofl: 

May take a while but it just shows that the tide is turning, through video games of all things :lol:

Rohan is pretty level-headed and a fan of the round ball game too. Not your typical AFL journo.

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Neverbloom

Neverbloom

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Prydzopolis said:

:rofl:

Says it all for me, that was a fantastic quote for me :lol: Kids just say it how it is sometimes :rofl: 

May take a while but it just shows that the tide is turning, through video games of all things :lol:

the funniest part of the entire thing for me was actually this line

 

Richo prefers the motivational quip, such as "the best athletes in the world are willing to push harder than anyone else". Which makes more sense than one disinterested rejoinder to Cometti. "Sorry, Den, I've got more important things to think about. I've got a yoghurt to finish, and the expiry date is today." Umm … OK

 

kinda would be my reaction also :P

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FCWanderers

FCWanderers

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 11/05/2017 at 2:19 AM, Carns said:

And they're pretty much all expats anyway.

Farcical.

But perhaps the most surprising aspect of the game is that Port's own supporters have got behind it and used the match as a reason to visit China.

At least 5000 fans have made the trip from Adelaide ensuring the 11,600 seat stadium is a sell-out. The other seats will be filled by expatriates living around greater China, while more than 3000 hospitality tickets have been sold to companies including Rio Tinto, investment bank Moelis & Company and airline Cathy Pacific.

http://www.afr.com/business/sport/port-adelaides-crazy-idea-of-bringing-afl-to-china-pays-off-20170510-gw1phv

Mostly fans traveling from Australia, expats living in China and people attending the match, invited to attend with sponsors tickets.
 

Edited by FCWanderers
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dodson

dodson

Posted
Posted

American NBA prospect Terrance Ferguson decided to play pro basketball for Adelaide last season in the NBL rather than go through the US college system. He was asked about going to an AFL game. His response was hilarious. Couldn't figure out what the were trying to do and couldn't wait to leave

http://www.espn.com.au/video/clip?id=19369136&ex_cid=espnTW_ANZL

 

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