I've got used to the media's vendetta against football in Australia,
but what doesn't quite sit right is when the FFA comes out to join in
with the media circus. After the rather spiteful 2009 grand final Ben
Buckley himself came out to say that he wants passion but not booing.
Why is this comment so much more cringe worthy than anything to have
come out of the media so recently? Because he should be supporting
football? Well, that's part of it, but it's even worse than that.
Let's take a look at the comment:

"Obviously
passions run high but that can't excuse it. We want to see passion but
there can sometimes spill over in a negative way.
"I don't want to see that again in the future. Adelaide should have been applauded for the way they played."

The
unfortunate thing is, this season, the FFA has done everything they can
to try and destroy passion in the A-League. Football fans have got used
to the draconian security and riot police that stare hatefully at the
crowd and verbally abuse and forcefully remove them from the stadium
for doing nothing more than shouting too loud, but when the FFA
themselves introduced new ticketing rules this season that meant at the
ends of the pitch-where the main supporters group stand-were numbered
seats, they struck a big blow for games getting a decent atmosphere.
The numbered seats meant that the areas behind the goal were
fragmented, and the size of the supporters groups was drastically
downsized. Not only that, but your average general attendance ticket
buyer could not sit down there and that meant that the stragglers that
could join in with the main supporters group which cut down their
numbers even further.

Apart from that this is Australia, and
not Europe. It'd nice to have most of the crowd singing the team's
songs during a trophy presentation but you have to be realistic. Four
years and you expect a whole stadium to be able to sing, which is a new
concept to most people there? The best way for the whole crowd to unite
as one is through far more simple things-like reactions to something
that the whole stadium feels, and in this case it was disgust at the
behavior of Adelaide United on the pitch, and 50,000 people all feeling
the same thing, and expressing it vocally, is almost as good as 50,000
people singing.

So please, Buckley, complain all you want about passion, but don't act like you actually want it in any way or form.
Of
course it's all a little ironic too. The same media that has reacted
with disgust and condemnation to a real sporting rivalry are exactly
the same media who have called it a "plastic league" with no real
feeling or rivalries. But that's to be expected. You're damned if you
boo and you're damned if you don't. If you follow football, that is.

Not
only that, but of all the teams in the A-League I can't think of one
that actually has more respect for each other, both by the fans and the
players. Respect is not a simple matter of clapping politely and
applauding when the team you're against scores; it goes much deeper
than that. Think of the people you are most polite to? It's probably
not the people you respected; most likely it was the people that you
are most uninhibited with that you truly respected.

Melbourne
Victory respects Adelaide United and vice versa. Unlike the rivalry
with Sydney F.C. which lasted a couple of seasons before they simply
became too much of a joke of a club to respect or care about and so the
rivalry dissolved into a minor feeling of distaste. The same is true in
other leagues too. But rivalries are a very complex thing. Take a look
at Manchester United and Manchester City or Liverpool they've had years
to instill a true rivalry so even if there is little respect on the
pitch the rivalry does not suffer. But they have had time and we have
not. However, despite the disgust with Chelsea's money-spending ways,
and there not being such a strong history of rivalry between the two,
when United and Chelsea play, the fans pay attention and watch, because
for that game at least, they're playing against a rival that they can
respect and that they know will try and win at all costs. Even if
Chelsea will just try and win by 1.

The
same is true with Victory and United. Whenever they play they know that
both teams will do absolutely everything they can to win, legal or not,
questionable or not. And that is where the respect is earned. Sure,
professional sportsmen and fans respect sportsmanship, but above all,
they respect an absolute dedication for the team they're playing for,
and a will to win for them. And on both sides of the pitch when Victory
play United that willingness is there, and so is the respect.

In
fact, during the semi-final which was around the time of the bush fires
the Adelaide fans had a banner of condolence for the Victory fans. As
much has been made of Adelaide's pathetic attendance to the semi-final
against Queensland, for the Adelaide fans that actually do care about
the club, I think they definitely have our respect, and that is why we
are willing to abuse their players for every dirty little tackle and
complaint to the ref that they make, yet at the end of the day we can
still accept their condolences after a tragedy. Surely that is real
respect?