Devonport Strikers beat South Hobart 2-1 at South Hobart Oval on Saturday to place a stranglehold on the 2022 NPL Tasmania title.
The Strikers now hold an 8-point lead over second-placed Glenorchy Knights and third-ranked Kingborough Lions United and a massive 13-point advantage over fourth-placed South Hobart., who have a game in hand.
Devonport are on course for the title and it must all be a bit boring for the Strikers now, with 9 games remaining. They will welcome the distraction of the Australia Cup game against A-League side Wellington Phoenix.
If yesterday’s game at South Hobart Oval was an advertisement for the NPL Tasmania competition, it fell well short of what is required to entice people to the sport.
The attendance was poor - probably something to do with the live-streaming of matches - and the atmosphere was lacking.
It was a far cry from only two or three seasons ago when this fixture would have had the stands full and the crowd in full voice.
Any noise that there was came probably from the half a dozen or so former South Hobart players behind the goal at the canteen (former canteen) end enjoying a beer.
They gave it to the Devonport goalkeeper when he was at that end, but to their credit, at the final whistle, they gave him his due by yelling out: “Well done, keeper!” They were generous in defeat, which showed that their jibes during the game were only in jest.
What has happened to the game at the top level in Tasmania? Neither team could string together more than three passes and the physical aspects of the contest predominated over any skill. There must have been at least eight yellow cards dished out by Mr Plomaritis, who also bore the brunt of some of the remarks dished out by the group behind the goal.
Devonport had the better defence and this proved decisive in the end. The South Hobart rear-guard conceded two very soft goals, which cost them the game.
South Hobart’s attack was off target mostly, and were thwarted also by stout defending and safe goalkeeping.
South Hobart did hit the woodwork, while some other shots flew narrowly wide.
Devonport were without ace marksman Roberto Fernandez Garrido, who is suspended for three games, and midfielder Charles Bidwell was absent. Joel Stone was on bench but came on midway through the second half.
Which leads me to a comment about the ridiculous new law about substitutes being allowed to leave the field of play anywhere on the perimeter of the pitch. They no longer have to leave via the centre-line and between the two dugouts. It is disrespectful. Josh Divin played his heart out for South Hobart and when he was substituted he left the field on the far side, opposite the main stand, and cut a forlorn figure as he walked around the pitch and back to the bench. I could imagine a situation where a substitute forced to take this walk would be berated mercilessly by the visiting supporters. It didn’t happen in this instance as there weren’t many visiting fans, and those that there were, tended not to be on the boundary of the pitch. Sad, though, to see the young four-goal hero of a few weeks ago, forced to walk that long path alone back to his bench.
Devonport’s opener came just before half-time after some weak defencing by South Hobart, which enabled Ali Dulleh to gain possession and score between the keeper’s legs from the corner of the 6-yard box.
It was 2-0 around the hour mark, again because of poor defensive play by South. A free-kick from deep on the left saw a defender duck his head and allow the ball to be chested home by Devonport fullback Toby Barton.
South’s consolation goal came from poor defending by Devonport and a close-in and gentle finish by South centre-back Luke Bighin as everyone stood and watched.
South had enough chances to snatch a draw, or even to win, but without a crowd to urge them on it was like watching a silent movie. As I said earlier, a few years ago their fans would have been lifting the roof off the stand as they urged their team on, and the team would have responded.
Glenorchy Knights moved back into second spot with a 1-0 away win over fifth-placed Launceston City.
The goal came after just 3 minutes and it was a case of weathering the storm for the remaining 97 minutes after that.
Kingborough Lions United had briefly held second spot when they downed second-last Olympia Warriors 3-1 away on Friday night.
It was an improved display by the Warriors, but you can’t concede soft goals early goals if you want to stay in with a chance of earning a point or three.
An own goal after just 2 minutes put Olympia on the back foot and a second, from a header after a mere 6 minutes determined their fate.
Kobe Kemp’s header 9 minutes after the resumption made it 3-0 for the visitors and Alex Holmes’s header just after the hour-mark was only a consolation goal.
It rained goals at Launceston’s Windsor Park as the visiting Clarence Zebras thrashed bottom-side Riverside Olympic 11-2.
Olympic only trailed 3-1 at the interval, but the deluge began in earnest in the second half as the visitors piled on 8 more goals at regular intervals.
I hope Clarence Zebras savoured the occasion as drought conditions should resume soon.
NPL Tasmania Standings (As at 2 July 2022)
|
TEAM |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
|
Devonport Strikers |
12 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
42 |
6 |
33 |
|
Glenorchy Knights |
12 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
29 |
9 |
25 |
|
Kingborough Lions |
12 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
34 |
21 |
25 |
|
South Hobart |
11 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
35 |
9 |
20 |
|
Launceston City |
11 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
21 |
23 |
16 |
|
Clarence Zebras |
12 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
21 |
29 |
11 |
|
Olympia Warriors |
12 |
2 |
0 |
10 |
14 |
47 |
6 |
|
Riverside Olympic |
12 |
0 |
1 |
11 |
6 |
59 |
1 |
33 comments:
Clearly you are as frustrated and dismayed at the competition as the few spectators that are left are Walter. I think you spoke for all of us but unfortunately there is no light at the end of the tunnel here in Tasmania. Yeah let’s advocate for an A League Team ,,haha haha
Goodie...here's a chance for a good, old-fashioned FFT pile-on. It's their fault and you know it is! Let's go; but please be careful people and make sure you don't at any point blame the clubs for the demise in the standard and the entertainment value that the game used to provide. It's got to be entirely FFT's fault...
What do people expect. Walter do you expect a Liverpool and man city type of performance. Many games across many leagues involving top sides are reduced to physical contests. Yesterday's game on a poor surface was entertaining. Take the nostalgia glasses off
Agree Walter. Unfortunately the standard has slipped significantly compared to 30 years ago. There were many great players in that era. There are still currently some good players but too few. Many reasons why. Agree with above that FT have a lot to answer for. Devonport are a big team that can’t play football. Yet they are on top. Doesn’t say a lot about the standard. At least south play some good football. Just can match the Devonport physical rugby. yet dev are first to dive and complain when things don’t go there way
And if you thought 30 years ago was better, try 50.
Would happily take the nostalgia spectacles off, if there was good enough reason to.
Sounds like the guys behind the goal at Darcy St might have had their beer goggles on... perhaps that's the answer these days.
I agree with Walter. It is hard to find enthusiasm with this comp. Devonport have it won, the Zebras and Olympia are struggling and Riverside are a joke. It is not surprising crowds are down. It would be nice for once to see a competition with an open race for the title and all sides competitive.
The good old days where back passes were making the game so boring, slow and predictable or any player with attacking threat could be butchered from behind and reduced to playing with fear of a broken leg. The game is faster now yes that means less technique maybe we should play 8v8 on a full size pitch for the nostalgia crew. The game needs to engage young people clearly the oldies are fed up. Shame perhaps supporting what supported them
Last season's comp literally went down to the last 5 minutes of the season the cup final was the same. We wine and moan a fair bit down here.
Phew...I thought for a moment you were straying into the territory of saying the game was better now. A ridiculous notion. Everyone knows that every single sport in the world is so much better now than it was back then...except soccer in Tasmania...and long may it stay that way.
The issue you raise seems to be a related to a lack of support at grounds, Walt?
Seeing SH v Port was a top of the table clash (preceded by a really good standard WSL game) you would've thought that FFT could promote the game a lot better. The financial situation looks quite healthy at Grove Rd so why not put some that cash back into the local game?
What could've been done last weekend? I reckon there was barely 100 at the game:
1. Advertise the game (and other seniors comps games) in the local newspapers.
2. Open the gates and allow free entry (subsidise SHSC for their loss) to encourage more supporters to attend. Advertise that too.
3. Provide incentives for the local press to attend to report on the game.
4. Get back to previewing the southern games on a Saturday morning on 106.5FM
5. Provide a member of FFT staff to be present at the ground so they can engage with the clubs and get some feedback.
6. Free BBQ for supporters and players. Who doesn't like a hamburger with onion on a cold winters afternoon? I noticed Olympia doing something similar.
At least try something. The current supporter situation is dire but the standard isn't that bad.
Unable to see an NPL game recently except via the live feed, this doesn't help, seems to make the match more like tennis with the ball moving back & forth across the screen.
However, I have seen SPL and Reserves. The standard at least at this level is far above the the comparable league of earlier years, and I am thinking back to pre State League 2013. Observed young players with good ball skills but you wonder what will happen to them in the future? Maybe on the local scene there is no incentive to improve.
Have to agree with Anonymous @ 3.36pm on a number of fronts.
Go to the Mercury website and try and find a story on the NPL or WSL in the lead-up or after a weekend's round. Absolutely nothing. There wasn't even a word published on the Lako Cup final, arguably the most important game on the Tassie Football calendar.
I know something appears in the print edition, but print is a quickly dying medium and every newsroom preaches a digital first approach to its stories. So if the State's so-called biggest newspaper can't get a word up online about the worlds biggest sport being played in its own backyard, yet somehow can go to the trouble of putting up some photos of an independent schools kids cross country carnival, then Mr Bulkeley should be getting on the phone to the editor and asking what the hell is going on and what FT can do to help, especially considering the vastly superior coverage given by the Examiner and Advocate to their local teams.
Five years ago the coverage in the press and on tv news was almost something on a daily basis. It’s completely evaporated since then. Surely it’s not too late to recover that ground.
Interesting comments. Firstly I wonder how a mid table team and the top team become a top of the table clash? Please explain. Secondly if you take the time to review attendances you will find that they barley fluctuate and the numbers have stayed very close over the years.
Thirdly the aim of an NPL team is to win nothing more nothing less. They are not playing to entertain they are playing to win. Devonport do this very well. The streaming of the games is a good initiative and can only help attendances in the long run. Devonport will win everything again this year. The other 7 teams win exactly the same as Riverside. This is the way football works. If you are the first loser or the 7th loser you still lose. There are no degrees of losing. Stop whining and get better. Devonport play hard for each other and do what it takes to win. Good luck to Port going forward.
Finally a sensible comment ( hand clap)
Port get the rub of the green nearly every big game it's undeniable particularly with referees
July 5, 2022 at 2:46 AM:
1. Both teams were positioned towards the top of the league table. Pretty simple.
2. You obviously can not count. Crowd numbers at NPL games have dropped dramatically in the last few seasons for a variety of reasons. This is especially so in the South perhaps not so much so in the North or NW.
3. Devonport have a winning mentality, good depth and the best keeper I can recall playing in Tas for sometime (Pitchford was very decent too). That creates a good chance of success.
4. How on earth will live streaming help long term attendances? People who enjoy watching the game from the comfort of their living room are not going to start coming out to sit in a freezing, dilapidated grandstand.
5. Finishing second or third has far more merit attached to it than finishing last or second last. You clearly haven't played in a team that is progressing and building for success. Your mentality is all wrong.
The problem is a combination of population, structure and FFT Ineptitude. Our population prevents us from having a pool of players large enough for promotion and relegation to work. All that would happen is that fringe players would move between clubs, as they do now. If a northern club is relegated and replaced by a southern club how do we sustain pathways for talented youth in the north, especially those unable to relocate. The structural problem, as I see it. A statewide seniors and reserves (or u/23 with over-age allowance for example) makes the northern competition unviable, but would work for the southern clubs. The southern NPL clubs are forced to effectivly field three senior teams to compete in the Champ and Champ1 competitions. This actually impedes the development of talented youth in the south as they are the majority of the players in the NPL champ and champ1 comps. Playing against “grown men” who make up the majority of non NPL senior and reserves sides does them no good on the whole as the older players just kick the living suitcase out of them if they can’t compete on a skill basis. Learning to compete and be physical is a skill that is a must to be learned, but not in this way, in my opinion. Finally, in the south, FFT rostering ineptitude makes the current structure unviable as it stretches the resources of the southern NPL clubs to breaking point, even for the clubs with many volunteer resources.
If it wasn't for some Volunteer site's such as this and a couple of other's, The game would be in serious trouble the carry the media and do it well .
Respect Phil for making comments under your own name.
The problem is that the gulf between the NPL/WSL and the next tier is huge so relegation/promotion will not work as Phil said relying on recycled players.
Take Uni in the Womens comp. Bottom of WSL in 2020 and decided not to re enter in 2021 when the new licenses were issued.. Since then have not lost a game and totally dominating the Southerns Womens Championship. However this year could not beat Taroona in a cup game so imagine their results against the other top teams (excluding Olympia who have just been decimated with player departures and cant field a second tier team but that is another story)..
Again the same with the Mens Comp both Olympia beating New Town and Northern Rangers in the same comp both these sides are top in their respective comps so the standard is better in the statewide leagues..
I think the secret for any club who wants to be admitted to the top tier in Tassie is to recruit a side that would be competitive in the WSL/NPL and prove they have a squad capable of competing at the top level, how this is done Im not sure however it is about selling a message of where the club wants to be! Take for example Glenorchy who rumour has it are keen to enter WSL, what they need to do is recruit a team too win and dominate Southern Championship and when a license becomes available pounce they did this with their mens team only a few years ago, the same for New Town Eagles in the mens if this is what they want..
A bit of a ramble I know but is is not as simple as relegation promotion. Other issues do include top tier teams and where their second tier teams sit, spread across the state on game days and then how all this fits in with the northern comp etc
Important to note that when Glenorchy Knights came back up it was via promotion which was in place for that one season. Without it they might still be second tier.
The league situations are a mess.
Go back to the regional leagues and regroup.
Anon 11.59am
You are probably right but it won't happen
Others ??? This is the only media site I know of. There's a Facebook page but that's not media and no good if you don't have the social platform.
Walter, totally agree re lack of atmosphere at last weeks game. The last 15 was indeed painfully silent. Mr 246:am says the stats say nothing has changed... um..well anyone at Darcy st during an Olympia game five years ago or a zebras ten particularly, would find that comment laughable.. to be polite. I had friends then in forest rd west Hobart who could tell me the score before I told them! On Saturday you could have walked up Washington st and be excused for not knowing there was a game on behind the palings .
Now, mea partially culpa. After aforementioned games I would not get my voice back til about Wednesday but the last time that happened was the laka cup final of 2019 a 2:0 win to south over Devonport. FF to 2020 and there were all those same 'south' players back on the pitch , seven of the starting eleven .. some in red and white some in blue and white.. even Loic Feral in an Olympia strip..this was a bridge to far for me and I fell silent .
But I did reset and just watched on my phone ..22 'entertainers' and ..at the end in a quiet ceremony I awarded the laka cup to Alex Bellini, for his sheer invention and style.
There is pro football and local tribal football ..mixing them, to paraphrase my father on scotch and water, ruins two good things..but that's where we are.
Bringing players from outside is certainly positive but the annual cannibalizing of local clubs has left me silent and I think I am not alone.
Mind you, Loic is back.. (so that tear in the fabric of the universe has been repaired) and the young players that filled the vacuum seem to be sticking together and certainly outplayed port last week in my objective opinion ..so.. go south!
Ps : It would be remiss of me not to mention the sadly solo but still very solid 90 put in by Richard B last week in letting west Hobart know there was a game being played in South Hobart.
The problem is the CEO would have know idea what a mess it is of course when you attended two games a year how can you ........ PARTICAPATION THE GOOD OLD GO TO LINE IS WHAT WE WILL GET !
Tomorrow is a classic example of my “ineptitude” point. Clarence play Olympia in Champ & Champ 1 at WWP then South Hobart at WWP in the NPL. South are away to Taroona in Champ and Champ 1. Olympia are away to Glenorchy knights in the NPL. Knights play University in Champ and Champ 1.
So on a weekend when we have 4 southern clubs playing against one another in the NPL the away teams have their champ teams strewn all over Hobart at times making it impossible for them to adequately support their senior program.
Is it ineptitude that they can’t make the fixture for a 12 team Championship league where the teams play each other twice line up with an 8 team NPL where they play 3 times though? Logic says that the best that can be done is to have two of the three rounds of NPL line up with Championship fixtures…
Spot on Phil
Hey Phil give it up mate. You are flogging a dead horse. Cheers.
If you feel that strong Phil put your hand up and
do something to improve the situation.
If it’s as easy as you suggest go for it.
Phil, what you are saying can only be fixed if leagues have same number of teams on same rotation.
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