Pride To Go Before Nsl Falls
Illawarra Mercury
Thursday April 12, 2001
The wheels have fallen off in a big way at Soccer Australia
Everything seems to have gone wrong - just when people had forgotten about the Carlton debacle, etc, etc, along came Eastern Pride.
There have been other assorted dramas over the last few months but Eastern Pride takes the cake.
To allow the club to send their youth team to Canberra to play the Cosmos on Saturday was quite amazing.
The senior players went on strike because they hadn't been paid for six weeks.
Rather than be fined for forfeiting the game, the Pride sent the kids to Canberra and they were thumped 7-1.
The club had promised to produce a sackful of money on Monday to pay players their back pay. But the money didn't appear.
It would've come as a big surprise if the money had appeared as there are only four games to be played and the Pride are certain to be dumped from the league for next season.
Soccer Australia should ensure there is no National League Soccer in Morwell next season.
It will take head office a long time to recover from what has been happening this season.
They might even have learnt something from the experience.
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Modern technology caused referee Eddie Lennie some embarrassment at WIN Stadium on Saturday night.
Lennie stopped the Wolves-Sydney Olympic game in the second half and ran to the sideline for assistance.
Big Ears tells me Lennie had a buzzer strapped to an arm to help him communicate with his assistants.
The assistants were able to press a button on their flags to activate the buzzer and attract Lennie's attention.
However, when the referee collided with a player, the buzzer caused his arm to go numb and he required physio attention.
Wonder if the bloke on the line used the buzzer to award that very strange penalty to Olympic?
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Soccer Illawarra directors have adopted a family friendly approach to their Easter fixtures.
In recent years, Premier League games have been played on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday over Easter.
This weekend, four games will be played on Friday afternoon, one on Friday night and the other on Saturday night.
That will leave Sunday and Monday free for players to spend time with their families.
Church leaders might disagree but there will be plenty of wives and girlfriends who will appreciate the new arrangement.
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Wolves striker Scott Chipperfield would have recognised the referee when the Socceroos played Tonga on Monday.
He was Harry Attison, from Vanuatu. Attison controlled two of the Wolves games during the World Club Championship qualifiers in Port Moresby.
He made many confusing decisions and mystified everyone when he sent Wolves midfielder Robbie Stanton from the field.
The ref was too busy writing down the names of goalscorers to be controversial on Monday.
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Last week, the Wolves started serious negotiations with 12 players who are coming off contract.
At the start of this week, general manager Graeme Haney said no players had come to an agreement about next season.
© 2001 Illawarra Mercury