Friday 13 January 2012, 14:05
Five back-to-back A League matches make for an interesting scheduling experience, says Aussie-based Anglo journo Paul Winslow The post-Christmas apocalypse in the UK is easier to bear for football fans...
Read more ...
Friday 09 December 2011, 17:20
When you follow a sport in a new country, eventually you have to nail your colours to the mast and start supporting a team. After all, half the fun of watching sport is that innate desire for one arbitrarily...
Read more ...
Friday 04 November 2011, 14:45
Aussie-based British journalist Paul Winslow on the latest action from down under... There's a rule in football whereby if the media spot a trend, run or record and everyone starts talking about it...
Read more ...
Tuesday 04 October 2011, 12:11
Paul Winslow looks ahead to the start of the new A-League season, and in particular the homecoming of two of Australian football's biggest stars In 2011, two crack 'soccer' players were invited...
Read more ...
Wednesday 16 March 2011, 10:40
As far as comebacks go, last weekend’s A-League Grand Final was Manchester United vs Bayern in '99, Travolta in Pulp Fiction and Lazarus popping his head out of a cave after a ‘lie down’ all rolled...
Read more ...
Friday 11 March 2011, 14:00
This weekend, Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners will battle it out for Australian football supremacy in the A-League Grand Final. Here are five big questions ahead of Sunday’s big game. Can the...
Read more ...
Tuesday 08 March 2011, 14:19
This weekend's A-League Grand Final between Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners sees two of Australia's much-maligned coaches go head-to-head. Roar's Ange Postecoglou and Mariners'...
Read more ...
Wednesday 02 February 2011, 11:15
It seems no-one does footballing heartbreak quite like the Socceroos. Following a long tradition of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Australia missed out on their first major football trophy...
Read more ...
Wednesday 05 January 2011, 12:03
If Socceroos coach Holger Osieck’s squad selection is anything to go by, then Australia will be going all out for silverware in this month’s Asian Cup. Eschewing blooding younger players in preparation...
Read more ...
Friday 03 December 2010, 16:27
For Australia, it wasn’t so much the loss but the manner of the defeat. With expectations high that the biggest sporting event in the world might finally come Down Under, Australia’s attempt to host the...
Read more ...
Thursday 18 November 2010, 15:43
Australian football fans and media took a stroll down memory lane this week as Tuesday marked the fifth anniversary of a watershed moment in the Australian game. On November 16 2005, the Socceroos’ penalty...
Read more ...
Thursday 28 October 2010, 11:32
Newcastle is the centre of the Australian footballing universe. Yeah, you heard me. While Adelaide are flying high with an undefeated start to the season and champions Syndey prop up the table with just...
Read more ...
Wednesday 13 October 2010, 15:47
After what seems like months of back-and-forth about the viability of the national league, perceived lack of leadership by the governing body and a fair bit of infighting – see the clip below, in which...
Read more ...
Friday 01 October 2010, 16:04
Following Australian football at the moment is a bit like standing in the women’s changing rooms when your girlfriend wants some advice on a dress. While you should be focusing on what’s in front of you...
Read more ...
Thursday 16 September 2010, 10:40
(With Mike Tuckerman seeking pastures new, we welcome back FourFourTwo Australia launch editor Paul Hansford as our Aussie correspondent... – Ed.) Like a pack of great whites circling a lone early-morning...
Read more ...
Friday 10 September 2010, 17:20
A-League fans can be forgiven for diverting their attention away from any action on the pitch, as Australia’s embattled domestic competition suffers through yet another tumultuous week of horrendous headlines...
Read more ...
Friday 03 September 2010, 10:16
"Football Federation Australia (FFA) today confirmed that the suspensions imposed on two Hyundai A-League players for simulation last weekend will stand," begins a terse press release doing the...
Read more ...
Tuesday 24 August 2010, 11:09
It doesn't take much to want to shove Kevin Muscat to the ground. The Melbourne Victory veteran is one of the most irritating players in the A-League, and he's been involved in numerous stoushes...
Read more ...
Friday 13 August 2010, 16:28
Graham Arnold once went AWOL. It wasn't after a big night out or even a brief stint in the army, but rather after the Australian under-23 side had been knocked out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the...
Read more ...
Thursday 05 August 2010, 10:43
They’re new, play sexy football and are a headline writer's dream. Melbourne Heart kick off season six of the A-League with a home clash against Central Coast Mariners . With the good names already...
Read more ...
Tuesday 11 May 2010, 11:14
"Thirty plus one is 31," was one of the first things Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek revealed to the gathered media as Australia named their preliminary World Cup squad, and to the misfortune of...
Read more ...
Wednesday 28 April 2010, 11:59
When your off-season is twice as long as everywhere else, transfer sagas tend to drag on a bit. One of the A-League’s longest has finally concluded, with Robbie Fowler set to call Perth Glory home next...
Read more ...
Tuesday 20 April 2010, 15:00
Kevin Muscat doesn’t like Asia. Not the sprawling region which is so culturally, linguistically and ethnically diverse it’s difficult to pin down where it begins and ends, but rather the AFC Champions...
Read more ...
Wednesday 07 April 2010, 12:18
If England coach Fabio Capello ever tires of London, I’m sure Football Federation Australia can rustle him up a penthouse suite in Sydney quick smart. It may be considered a footballing backwater, but...
Read more ...
Thursday 01 April 2010, 17:30
It’s a cut-throat caper, this football business. One minute you’re coaching the A-League’s highest profile player, and the next minute he’s angling for your job. To suggest that there’s no love lost between...
Read more ...
Tuesday 23 March 2010, 16:05
It just had to be Kevin Muscat. Trust the A-League’s most reliable penalty taker to miss from 12 yards in a shootout and cost his side the championship. Forget the fact that Shannon Cole and Marvin Angulo...
Read more ...
Tuesday 16 March 2010, 17:04
Nobody died and any fire damage to castles was minimal, but it’s been a bit of an annus horribilis for the A-League. At the start of the season officials talked it up as a possible break-out year for the...
Read more ...
Monday 08 March 2010, 14:00
Forget the fact that Melbourne Victory are the first side through to the Grand Final – much of the talk around the A-League surrounds the future of North Queensland Fury . The first bombshell was dropped...
Read more ...
Wednesday 24 February 2010, 12:30
FINALS SERIES Semi-finals Wk1: Sat Feb 20 Gold Coast United 0-0 Newcastle Jets (Newcastle win 6-5 on penalties) Sun Feb 21 Wellington Phoenix 1-1 Perth Glory (Wellington win 4-2 on penalties) The thing...
Read more ...
Friday 19 February 2010, 11:45
If a week is a long time in politics, then it must be an eternity in the A-League. No sooner had Sydney FC wrapped up the Premiership plate than their world came crashing down with the news that playmaker...
Read more ...
Friday 12 February 2010, 20:00
Imagine Manchester United borrowing Jermain Defoe to replace the injured Wayne Rooney in a last-day title decider against Chelsea. As Mike Tuckerman explains, a similar thing has happened in the climaxing...
Read more ...
Friday 05 February 2010, 14:30
If North Queensland Fury officials had a sense of humour, they’d have been blasting that most annoying of Clash songs Should I Stay Or Should I Go? over the tannoy as Robbie Fowler’s side ran out for their...
Read more ...
Friday 22 January 2010, 15:00
“Melbourne Victory against Perth Glory, the game that very nearly didn’t happen. All the pre-match talk about the state of the surface, and let’s be brutally honest, the surface is a state.” Fox Sports...
Read more ...
Friday 15 January 2010, 16:00
The midweek A-League action provided a goal worthy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when James Brown curled a neat finish past Neil Young. The ‘Godfather of Soul’ might have passed away some years ago...
Read more ...
Saturday 09 January 2010, 08:00
When your FourFourTwo.com editor asked The dirt from Down Under to come up with an A-League team of the decade, the blog’s first response was “sure thing, although the league has only been around for five...
Read more ...
Thursday 31 December 2009, 13:00
Like the creepy uncle who keeps coming back to hog the PlayStation after Christmas lunch, The dirt from Down Under returns from a brief exile to point out that all is not well in the world of Australian...
Read more ...
Thursday 17 December 2009, 12:00
After weeks of gloomy headlines, there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel for embattled A-League fans. On December 19, the two biggest clubs in the land go head-to-head at Etihad Stadium in a fascinating...
Read more ...
Thursday 10 December 2009, 12:30
There’s a real danger that ‘football’ could destroy the fabic of Australian society. If we don’t act now, this alien sport could tear the country apart! Don’t laugh – that’s the sentiment dredged up by...
Read more ...
Thursday 03 December 2009, 12:25
Travel writer Bill Bryson got it right when describing Australia’s capital city. “Canberra: Gateway to everywhere else!” chirps Bryson, summing up the indifference with which most Australians treat their...
Read more ...
Thursday 26 November 2009, 17:06
At a point unknown to the rest of us, Football Federation Australia seem to have quietly hired infamous Torquay hotelier Basil Fawlty to conduct its operations. Media liaisons are now conducted with summary...
Read more ...
Thursday 19 November 2009, 10:00
When the various World Team of the Year awards go out, don’t expect New Zealand to top too many lists. The Kiwi side may have qualified for their first World Cup finals since 1982, but their status as...
Read more ...
Friday 13 November 2009, 09:00
What’s short, redundant and willing to stretch the laws of mathematical probability? If you answered Jean Tigana, you’re not wrong. However, in this instance the blog refers not to the man who once paid...
Read more ...
Thursday 05 November 2009, 16:00
As a football fan, it’s not easy living in a place where the round-ball code is not the No.1 game in town. Transfer deadlines come and go with little understanding of their earth-shattering significance...
Read more ...
Saturday 31 October 2009, 12:00
He came, he saw, he took quite a while to get started. However, eventually Wellington Phoenix striker Paul Ifill did what many assumed he would do at least once this season: run riot against a stunned...
Read more ...
Thursday 22 October 2009, 16:30
If you were to believe the media headlines following the latest round of A-League action, simmering disharmony appears to be the new teamwork. From the spat between Perth Glory skipper Jacob Burns and...
Read more ...
Thursday 15 October 2009, 14:00
There are football clubs that are run as models of efficiency, with directors overseeing business affairs, highly-paid coaches poring over tactics and a flotilla of support staff all employed to ensure...
Read more ...
Monday 12 October 2009, 08:00
The dirt from Down Under is in an English kind of mood, and it's not just because the blog is desperate to make The Guardian 's online "favourite things this week" shortlist. Michael...
Read more ...
Monday 05 October 2009, 14:00
Football Federation Australia has claimed there’s “no cause for panic.” The keyboard warrior brigade are calling for calm. Meanwhile, the naysayers are labelling it proof that the A-League is doomed. But...
Read more ...
Monday 21 September 2009, 11:53
In an adventurous pre-game promo, Football Federation Australia billed it is as “football’s biggest rivalry.” Forget the Premier League or the World Cup finals – apparently Adelaide United versus Melbourne...
Read more ...
Wednesday 16 September 2009, 11:30
It was billed as “God” vs Aloisi – and there was one clear winner in Sydney FC’s clash with North Queensland Fury. Robbie Fowler scored his fourth goal of season with an impudent lob, while John Aloisi...
Read more ...
Thursday 10 September 2009, 16:00
It was supposed to be a match made in heaven. Like a beachside wedding in Home And Away , Australia’s switch to the Asian Football Confederation was expected to herald a prosperous and life-changing union...
Read more ...
Tuesday 08 September 2009, 12:00
Travelling to the Gold Coast by train is a bit like watching cricket. It’s slow, boring and slightly pointless. I say this because I caught the train down from Brisbane to watch my former home-town team...
Read more ...
Wednesday 02 September 2009, 08:00
They’re not quite Ronaldo, Kaka, Alonso & Co. But the schadenfreude flowed freely when the galacticos of Gold Coast United crashed to a first-ever defeat. Those proclaiming the Gold Coast to be Australia...
Read more ...
Wednesday 26 August 2009, 14:00
Speak to some Australian fans about the standard of the A-League, and they’ll insist it’s the equivalent of The Championship. Never mind that in 2008's two-legged Asian Champions League final, J.League...
Read more ...
Tuesday 18 August 2009, 15:00
If the A-League is boring, maybe it’s time to take up chess. After an uninspiring Round 1 sent critics into a spin, Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar proved there’s life in the new league yet by producing...
Read more ...
Saturday 15 August 2009, 12:00
“Worst title defence ever!” It was a phrase popularised by Sydney FC supporter group The Cove during the 2007-08 A-League campaign, when Sydney fans gleefully unfurled a banner reminding Melbourne Victory...
Read more ...
Monday 10 August 2009, 12:00
There’s a popular seaside foreshore in Townsville known as The Strand. With no word yet on any attempts from Robbie Fowler to add it to his vast property portfolio, it’s entirely plausible that the man...
Read more ...