Football/Soccer in Sydney/Australia

OK, i have never posted here but this is getting ridiculous.
I want to watch a Euro qualifier Sunday (tomorrow) morning - Greece vs Turkey.
After all the searching i find that the only company showing the game is Setanta. They have certain 5 locations in sydney (3 greek 2 turkish) that are pay per view $25 (all of which are located near the city. What i am spewing about is fact i will have to drive over 40 mins to go watch it (and 40 back). The game kicks off at 5.30am . When i was overseas people laughed at me when i said we dont get good/any football/soccer coverage.
Am i being unreasonable ..... there are heaps of games on and Fox is showing 1 game . Ok the world cup of cricket is on but there are so many great soccer games as well . I hate the fact we have only 1 pay tv option and setanta are joining fox soon. In brief why cant anybody offer to view a game at home even if you have to pay extra for it, i am sure the technology exists - any game Soccer/NBA/NRL/NFL/anything on demand.

very true on the fact that there is very LITTLE Australian soccer coverage.. maybe you need more exposure.

jimboiitmac said:

very true on the fact that there is very LITTLE Australian soccer coverage.. maybe you need more exposure.

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i don't know if i want ace e to have more exposure.there are little kids about.and we can't have that sort of thing on here
i do agree with you ace e you would think with how big soccer is in this country especially after the world cup you would think someone else would play the game for all of us to see it.
tony

ace e said:

Am i being unreasonable

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In a word, yes...

I don't think the technology is there where you can view on demand (on a pay-per-view basis)

The other thing that counts against you, is that it is not Aus v ... sporting event, so mainstream demand isn't there for it, compared to something like the World Cup where Aus were playing, and other matches, which affect Aus's future in the tournament.

The Euro soccer qualifier has no bearing on Aus soccer, so it wouldn't be a sporting priority.

The only current way for Foxtel (Pay-TV) to cater would be to have dedicated channel to each sport (ie Cricket channel, AFL channel, basketball channel - which I'd like, etc)

Stop watching a crap sport like soccer and you won't have this problem. Problem solvered.

bargey said:

Stop watching a crap sport like soccer and you won't have this problem. Problem solvered.

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youre blunt as a spoon arent ya Bargey?

mattyj said:

youre blunt as a spoon arent ya Bargey?

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and as intelligent as one , its only the worlds most watched, played and greatest game.

Remember ace, that is only currently....

Another sport may come and knock it off it's perch. It's definitely not #1 here in Aus, nor in the US. Just really, really popular in Europe.

its been that way for years, more countries participate in it than the olympics. Its huge in Europe, Asia and Central/south america. You maybe be right in it not staying at the top but i cant see another sport coming close to it, do you?

Its not the mostplayed sport in the world, im afraid to say youre wrong there...that goes to Netball

soccer is the world game and it takes more skill and fitness than you think go holland in euro cup whoop whoop!

ace e said:

and as intelligent as one , its only the worlds most watched, played and greatest game.

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Sometimes 120 mins with no goals. Sure it's the worlds greatest game.

Dude why the hell are you even posting in this thread if you dont like football
bye bye take a hike!

mattyj said:

Its not the mostplayed sport in the world, im afraid to say youre wrong there...that goes to Netball

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You may be right because its a female dominated sport but netball is hardly the greatest sport on earth, the Soccer world cup lasts longer and is more popular than the Olympics.
Anyway its my favorite sport and i wish we had more tv coverage here in Aust - problems that europe, asia and central/south america dont have. The major problem we are facing now in Aust is that pay tv is wiping out a lot of sport from free channels and not everybody can afford 30-40 a month for tv and extra for pay per view events. Before soccer became popular it was on SBS and what happened to watching the cricket world cup cricket games on 9. Soon there will be very little free sport on tv. A great example is the A league final, soon this could happen to AFL and NRL.
If you have foxtel its not a problem but more than 50% of the population here (including me) dont and even if i did i still wouldnt get all the live sports i would like to see.

I'm with you ace on the need for more free exposure on the greatest game in the world (my opinion only). It was good to see they showed the England vs Isreal game on SBS despite the result. As for it not being popular in Australia, i'm sure i read somewhere it's the most participated sport in Australia.

The fact that it's one of, if not the most popular sport on the planet is just testiment to the fact that there are a lot of idiots on this planet. I rest my case.

bargey said:

The fact that it's one of, if not the most popular sport on the planet is just testiment to the fact that there are a lot of idiots on this planet. I rest my case.

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great argument
so with you resting your case that means you wont post on this thread again.

bargey said:

Sometimes 120 mins with no goals. Sure it's the worlds greatest game.

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When i was into basketball alot, i thought the same too... i was young, i was a noob and i was sarcastic... no offense to you bargey LOL.

When i started watching the football (soccer).. soccer brings excitement and tensions to the game... but once i play soccer, i know how hard to score a single goal on even 120 minutes, and you will appreciate how they score a single goal on the pitch.. how they cross...... u have limited amount of substitutes, detailed knowledge of opponents and executive decisions on picking the team....

NBA is great, coz basketball gives u multiple atheletism in air.. NBA breaks tensions, if someone's fed up or foul troubled, coach will rest the player.. give him some bench time, let him get some air.. soccer games display tensions, pressure and team work.. that brings you more excitement... one decision could cost alot.... that's the fun part of the game...

And Australian people are more into soccer nowadays, because some of the people here know how good Australian soccer players are... i myself is not an Australian, but I appreciate alot of Australian Soccer players.. they are brilliant on pitch and they are treated like kings in British football and Italian football....Harry Kewell earns mediocre 60,000 pounds a week...at liverpool..half of what Michael Ballack currently earns for a week...just for playing at the club. (and i believe he's got like 5 endorsement deals)..even thought he's been battling with injuries for past 2 years.. and Australia is always not considered well in soccer, Oceania did not have auto qualifications, FIFA considers Australia, not enough focus on the game.. so, Australia never gets auto qualifications, and now if they group in Asia qualification round, it will get worse...as Japan, Korea and middle east countries have very talented players nowadays.. i think it's mainly because lack of interest in soccer....like in thailand, if u have a cable, u can watch 7 premier league games, 4 series A, 4 championship league live and 2 replays, one bundesliga league and 2 la liga league.. for each week.... that's 18 games usually every week... in peak season.. here, Ace_E has to drive 40 minutes to watch national games... usually national games are shown free on TVs.. in most countries...

Let's take a look at Shane Heal and Andrew Gaze in NBA.. they didn't even get to play night in night out.. and we all know how good they are.. especially, when they play exhibition game...Australia vs Dream team 3, 1996.. it's where NBA people got so scared of Shane Heal.. if i am not mistaken, Shane Heal made 4 points play with the foul of Barkley (being double teamed)... and what did NBA do? signed him after the Atlanta games, bench him for ave 1.7ppg for the season.. to the person who can score from basically anywhere... same goes to Andrew Gaze...Only Andrew Bogut gets to play in this century as a full time starter.. and still he doesn't get an offensive role.. sorry, a bit off-topic..

Well, thanks to kobe's father moving back to states, otherwise, kobe would have been probably playing at AC. Milan or Inter Milan...


So, my suggestion is try to enjoy a few other sports if u want to kill some time.. it's fun once u know it.... it is just a matter of understanding the nature of the game... at least, try women volleyball of Italy or Netherland national teams...

nandalinnaung said:

like in thailand, if u have a cable, u can watch 7 premier league games, 4 series A, 4 championship league live and 2 replays, one bundesliga league and 2 la liga league.. for each week.... that's 18 games usually every week... in peak season.. here, Ace_E has to drive 40 minutes to watch national games... usually national games are shown free on TVs.. in most countries...

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Nanda,

He had to drive to watch a Euro qualifier between Greece & Turkey, not a national Aus v ... game.

Would they even show that match in Thailand???

Clarkey - The Aust vs China game wasnt even shown on free to air (it was on fox), my whole point was free to air sport is disappearing and pay tv only covers a tiny portion. Dont be surprised if they did show it in asia as they are keen football fans and even support other countries (like footy teams) as was evident in the Japan/Korea 2002 world cup.