PR fail #1 Holger Osieck

Holger Osieck’s comment is not the kind of attitude that makes me want to support the Socceroos. It was fantastic to see the team win 4-0 against Jordan last night but this comment from the national soccer coach is a real downer. In a phone call this morning with the FFA’s Media and Public Relations Manager, Mark Jensen, I asked him what the FFA’s reaction was to the comment; whether Osieck had brought the game into disrepute, under the terms of the FFA’s Code of Conduct; and what effect the FFA thought the comment would have on families considering letting their daughters play the sport. In March, the FFA proudly promoted itself as the Harmony Game. At the time, FFA chief executive David Gallop stated: “As Australia’s most inclusive and accessible sport, with 1.7 million participants, football bridges gender, age, linguistic, ethnic and religious divides”. But comments such as Osieck’s do nothing to promote inclusiveness, nor do they give hope that age-old attitudes are disappearing. Jensen said the association was still formulating a response to Osieck’s comment. It will be interesting to hear what the FFA says but you could argue that all people need to do is go to YouTube and see what happened for themselves, and then make up their own minds.

And here’s an update on this story (updated 1.42pm). Here is Osieck’s statement.

Dipping a toe in the Twitter stream

On Friday night, I launched myself into the Twittersphere at #AFLBombersBlues for the Essendon (Go Bombers!) and Carlton blockbuster at the MCG. When you’re watching the game from your couch, one thing missing, obviously, is stadium atmosphere. The banter of an AFL crowd is an integral part of the show, I reckon, and raucous supporters only add to the spectacle. Not the jeers of bad sports or racist idiots who really shouldn’t be allowed out in public: to be enjoyable, the comments have to be basically good-natured. From the first bounce, the tweets flew thick and fast, back and forth, everything from Mick’s navy Wiggle skivvy to the Blues’ knack of dashing hopes in the final moments to where the hell was Hirdy to what was really in the Bombers’ oranges at half-time. It was a fun, extra dimension to the game and pretty easy to keep up with tweet action and that on the field. I really liked the feeling of community too: that even though I wasn’t even in Melbourne or at the G, I was still with my tribe.