Kevin Naughton the tool

Not sure how many people read his article on the weekend (Sunday Mail pg. 60). It was basically an outright attack on soccer with nothing to back it up (he says the game is only associated with hooliganism, riots and murders).
Found this on a local soccer forum.

(It's very long...Emil it's also about soccer so i dont expect you to read it)

Skip to the last half if you get bored.

EDIT: Just found the original article: It's at the bottom of the post.

"Not too naughty , just plain stupid!"

What a pity the socceroos won their way to the world cup and we have journalists who are still able to put a negative spin to it.Naughton has done an excellent job of producing an article that derides the greatest sport in the world and of continuing the mainstream Australian media's attempted suppression of the sport in the grandest of channel 7 traditions.He should be applauded loudly by all of those who long for the halcyon days of Australian sport when our nation's predominantly white anglo sporting appetitie was satiated by olympic glories, the winning of the ashes and by interstate and intrastate football rivalries. For a time when it was enough for them to lounge back on their verandahs safe in the knowledge that they could ride on the back of protected markets, safe in the knowledge that they did not have to venture out into the global marketplace, safe in their self containment, safe in the warm and cosy bosom of the motherland.

He will however, be ridiculed by not just those of us who love the game of world football, but by all of those forward thinking Australians who can see that those halcyon days are gone forever.The win by the socceroos is simply a microcosm of the greater picture of Australia joining the global village. It is reflective of ALL of the people in this country joining as one in an ever evolving Australian culture and taking ourselves to the world

The night in Sydney was more than just a football game, it was a defining moment when at the completion of the final act, a new national sporting spirit was born.For a precious few moments sport was able to transpose us out of our day to day lives, out of our personal comfort zones to a place where it didnt matter whether we were with our mates or not, in that momentthe person next to you was your best mate regardless of race colour or creed. The hugging and embracing of complete strangers in sheer delight is something that is not afforded to us very often, maybe 2 or 3 times in ones life can one be in a position to experience such unbridled joy. The sense of unification and patriotism that the moment brought is what i will remember from the night. Knaughton is the poorer for being unable to experience such emotion, stuck in the mire of stoicism and the traditional Aussie cultural cringe.

It may distress Knaughton to hear it, but there is an Australia that extends beyond the leafy Norwood bungalows, the cucumber sandwiches at Adelaide oval and the annual post christmas expectations that the lovely boys from West Lakes will go one better this year. There is also the Australia of 2nd and third generation post war immigration ethnic groups like the Italians, the Greeks, the British, the Eastern Europeans, who have all prospered through adversity and are an integral and essential part of Australian culture. Perhaps it is the free outpouring of human emotions that these ethnic groups show so expressively that upsets the reserved natures of the polite applause brigade. It's traditionally unaustralian to show too much emotion and it is the very nature of the world game that it causes emotions to run high, thats a little scary for the Knaughtons of the world.

If he cared to venture out into the real Australia he might notice the contributions of the afforementioned ethnic groups, the new influx of african immigrants, the already established and ever growing contributions from asian immigrants to our society.I suspect that what really is eating at Knaughton is not the world game and our entry to the world cup, it's the unspoken realisation that his utopian anglophilic Australia is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. While fine upstanding traditional Australian stock are busy making careers and money instead of babies, the ethnic communties will continue to shoulder the resonsibility of population growth. The undeniable past and future contributions to Australian culture that these groups bring will be amplified through the world game. All of these ethnic groups have one thing in common, football, and not as Naughton knows it but as the world knows it.

While Knaughtons comments on the surface could be construed as simple sensationalism to keep his editors happy by producing the obligatory backlash, "anything to make them buy papers" I think it goes deeper than that. It is a sign of the old australia struggling to hold on to the past, of not wanting to peep out from under the skirts of the of the motherland and take those first few tentative steps into the world.

The whole article was laughable but in reponse to some of the more ridiculous gems of journalism... Firstly, the use of the last post to create a cheap shot in a throwaway newspaper article is downright disrepectful. As is the playing of it at AFL games. The last post should never be used outside of the military context and to do so is unforgivable.

The booing of the Uraguayan anthem was a direct response to what they did to ours. It was a statement by the footballing public that we would not be intimidated any longer, that the dirty tricks would not work this time, that we we there to make a stand, and we did. Knaughton fails to recognise the fervour with which OUR anthem was sung, something that the cultural cringe does not allow at most Australian events where it is left to Julie to sing it while everyone else mumbles it akwardly. No at this event my friend, it was belted out by one and all and to hear 80000 people of all different origins declaring that they were girt by sea was truly memorable.

I actually managed to get out of the stadium having not had to dodge a single chair, after seeing a great game decided by the last kick. Somehow Knaughton construes a penalty shootout as luck rather than the ultimate test of skill, timing and of performance under the most intense pressure that it really is. Plenty of games are decided by the last kick, shot, putt or lap of the contest. I wonder if Mr Knaughton would say that Michael Jordan was lucky for making a buzzer beater, Tiger for making that chip in on the last hole or that Mark Riciutto was lucky if he kicked a goal after the siren to win next years grand final. Whilst the boys Aloisi and Vidmar may only be given a muted media reception now (after all it was only luck wasn't it?) in years to come they will be remembered and feted as the true South Australian sporting legends that they are.

Knaughton also manages to dengigrate our footballers for plying their trade overseas and that as a consequence we are not able to see them, sorry for taking on the world Kevin!Excuse me but when was the last time Cathy ran around Adelaide oval or Grant or Ian swam at the aqautic centre? Was that Adam Scott or Stuart Appleby I saw at Kooyonga last year? perhaps it was neither.Sure Leyton comes home once a year to Adelaide but how often does he play in Brisbane or Perth? Why can't i go and see Leyton playing at Memorial Drive on any given saturday afternoon Kevin? Of course we are only going to see our world stars on limited occasions. The obvious travel, financial and fixture considerations apply to all of our WORLD class sporting figures, to single out the football players is simply ridiculous.Yes Kevin , you can go and witness our Cricketers and AFL and Rugby players in the flesh and all power to them but they are irrelavant outside the confines of the commonweleath. If thats enough for you, then all power to you, me, i like my sport bigger thanks very much.

The world game is well and truly part of the sporting fabirc of this country. To say that a sport with the participation rate of world football is not a part of Australian sporting fabric is one of the more absurd comments that i have ever read. It may not get the blanket coverage of AFL and Rugby but in time it will.You just can't see it Kevin, shrouded as you are by the mist of antiquated white australia. The suppression of the world game in this country will be forced to end by the powers of international marketing and public and corporate opinion. The fabric has always been there, we just never had anyone to stitch all the patches together, that is, until now. In John Oneil and his team we have found truly world class sporting administrators to go with a truly world game.

Perhaps you may want to venture down to Manton street Kevin.Yesterday i saw a game at Hindmarsh Stadium, a game in which a boy from Whyalla scored a goal for South Australia's team after a flick on header by a chinese. In the same game TV viewers in Japan saw a Japanese score a great goal brilliantly set up by a West Indian much to the delight of their German coach.(and although greeted by silence, thouroughly enjoyed and appreciated by the home crowd) Ultimately a fantastic winning goal was scored for Adelaide by a Brazilian to the delight of all. What a great day out!Beware though Kevin, some supporters actually showed emotion and passion at the final whistle, it coud all be too much for you.

The future for the game and for Australia looks bright Kevin, it may take 20 years, maybe 30 years but don't worry too much, it won't take over in your journalistic lifetime. Your job is safe for the time being, you still have the scope to write the suppression rubbish for a few years yet , but the clock is ticking .........

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World Game needs a little respect to win us over. by Kevin Naughton

What a pity the Socceroos won their way into the World Cup. Australia, delightfully free of the nationalistic and ugly fervour associated with the so-called world game, will now ride a wave of enthusiasm which will carry on until we're booted out of the 32 country tournament in July next year.

How sad it was to sit down in an Aussie lounge room and listen to fans at Sydney's Telstra Stadium, dressed in the green and gold, whistle and boo during the Uruguayan national anthem.

Fans justified their reprehensible behaviour by saying the Uruguayans did it to us during our anthem over there. How typical it is that soccer, the game of hooliganism, riots and murders, should be associated again with such crass behaviour. In a stunning display of how the game handles such problems, Sepp Blatter, the head of worldwide governing body FIFA, suggested it might be time to do away with anthems at games. He also suggested big games could be played on neutral grounds.

He's right on that score. Play it on the moon - on the dark side, where it belongs.

It also might be better to do away with the concept of one nation taking on another in a game where there's a fair chance no one will score for ages and it comes down to a few pot shots at the end. Compare it with rugby union in which Australians rejoice in the sight and sound of a New Zealand haka and the Kiwis stand strong and silent as they respect our national anthem.

Then there's AFL. Despite a hundred thousand fans being in one stadium, there's stunning silence for the Last Post on Anzac Day. During a cricket match at Adelaide Oval, we applaud the batting brilliance of opposing West Indies player Brian Lara. But no such niceties happen at the soccer, when national hatred is a trademark and respect is reserved for the nearest chair-throwing thug. Let's be honest here - the Socceroos are a bunch of expatriates mixed in with a few locals who get us excited every four years or so. They rarely play here. International soccer is not part of the Australian sporting fabric.

How many times had the oddly titled national side played in Adelaide in the last decade - at full strength? The scourge that is soccer has been kept at bay in Australia because it just doesn't fit into the Aussie attitude.

Its failure to make a mark at local level was because of its ridiculous fascination with old ethnic loyalties which made no sense in the southern hemisphere. If the team had lost to Uruguay in that penalty shootout, we would have been spared for another four years. And be fair - winning in a a penalty shootout is more about luck than anything else. Bring on July 2006, when it is all over and we can return to watching sport where national anthems are reserved as a moment of importance, not stupidity.

WHAT A WANKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!