Sunday, April 04, 2010
The human zoo
Following his team’s merciless 6-1 thrashing of Pelita Jaya Arema coach Robert Alberts used the post match press conference to lash out (a great tabloid phrase) at politicians involved in football.
In his sights was the manager of one team who had said that Arema were a team without stars.
He later went on to crank up the mind games ahead of his side’s game in Papua against Persiwa. It is well known that no team ever wins in Wamena and the usual excuse given is climate, the town being way up above sea level. I mean, if the team was so good why can’t they get results on their travels? Their only three points came away to Persija when the game was cancelled at the last minute by the police and the ISL awarded them the game.
Alberts, who has prepared an itinery to Papua that maximizes players down time while minimizing the time they spend cramped on planes having muscles seize up, went on to talk about hoping his team would not have penalties awarded against them early on in the match, apparently inferring that there was a tendency for refs over there to favour the home side.
The media lapped it all up and gave him a good clap. Oh yes they thought better than the usual dull old press conference. For many present it was just old entertainment. What with Alberts earlier talking about making a cake, here was a crazy foreigner making us laugh, totally missing the point.
I’ve seen this before. Watching Steve Darby in action is a treat but you would think that he and the people asking the questions lived in parallel universes. Every one laughs at Mr Bean with a gentle scouce accent then go away and file a story blaming the ref anyway.
In fact the story they should be filing was the one delivered with humour. Because it is only them that can effect any meaningful change in their leagues, not transient foreigners.
In his sights was the manager of one team who had said that Arema were a team without stars.
He later went on to crank up the mind games ahead of his side’s game in Papua against Persiwa. It is well known that no team ever wins in Wamena and the usual excuse given is climate, the town being way up above sea level. I mean, if the team was so good why can’t they get results on their travels? Their only three points came away to Persija when the game was cancelled at the last minute by the police and the ISL awarded them the game.
Alberts, who has prepared an itinery to Papua that maximizes players down time while minimizing the time they spend cramped on planes having muscles seize up, went on to talk about hoping his team would not have penalties awarded against them early on in the match, apparently inferring that there was a tendency for refs over there to favour the home side.
The media lapped it all up and gave him a good clap. Oh yes they thought better than the usual dull old press conference. For many present it was just old entertainment. What with Alberts earlier talking about making a cake, here was a crazy foreigner making us laugh, totally missing the point.
I’ve seen this before. Watching Steve Darby in action is a treat but you would think that he and the people asking the questions lived in parallel universes. Every one laughs at Mr Bean with a gentle scouce accent then go away and file a story blaming the ref anyway.
In fact the story they should be filing was the one delivered with humour. Because it is only them that can effect any meaningful change in their leagues, not transient foreigners.
# posted by Me @ 3:45 PM 
