Brodebec

Thanks for naming my fantasy league side. Limelight FC - I like it!

Looks like Western Sydney are taking Bridge off Sydney FC's hands. Happy to see the back of lazy fucker frankly!

Nick Drake = Royalty. Currently am a little stuck on this one. Oh and this particular clip is most amusing with its literal lyric interpretation. http://youtu.be/xN-Bo9XCwsk

I used to work in Higher Ed in Marketing and we did focus groups with business leaders about graduate attributes one year. They all rated International experience highly regardless of whether it was an internship or study exchange. I personally would go with the study thing - it's something you can really only do whilst at Uni whilst internships you could theoretically do any time (and the major risk of an internship is that you basically end up being free admin labour). As Braveheart correctly points out - you will have a lot more fun and free time doing exchange as well. I kick myself for not having done it during my undergrad studies.

The amount indexes once the debt is over 11 months old so it would definitely have been indexing regardless of whether you were earning enough to pay. BTW the indexing was happening prior to 2005 as well. http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.aspx?doc=/content/74307.htm

Just a clarification here. TAFE's are funded by state governments so it has nothing to do with Gillard. Your beef is with Ballieu and his Liberal Government. I work in the sector and have been astonished at how horrific the funding cut has been so I completely agree with your outrage. Feel free to join us in future action - there will be plenty.

5 years is outrageous but a great deal for Popa (who might be the only winner if the league folds in a year! ). I think he will be a fantastic coach, wish we could have gotten him back to Sydney FC but it is nice to have Crook back too.

Are you going off the NewSydneyClub tweets talking about the FFA registering Wanderers names? They also have registered Athletic etc so not sure how definitive that is if so. I think Wanderers will get the nod though. Stupid name for a football club - is this what they want their club to be associated with? Dictionary.com defines wander as: wan·der   [won-der] verb (used without object) 1.to ramble without a definite purpose or objective; roam,rove, or stray: to wander over the earth. 2.to go aimlessly, indirectly, or casually; meander: The riverwanders among the rocks. 3.to extend in an irregular course or direction: Foothillswandered off to the south. 4.to move, pass, or turn idly, as the hand or the eyes. 5.(of the mind, thoughts, desires, etc.) to take one directionor another without conscious intent or control: His attentionwandered as the speaker droned on. They'll always be The Unicorns. God even that is less wishy washy than Wanderers.

Speaking of Western Sydney and fear my brother played football for Granville Association for over 20 years. The number of police escorts for referees, all in brawls, whole teams being excluded for a year and life bans for players and spectators that I have seen or heard of (my Dad was a ref and part of the Association executive) is huge. Going to the football was both a lovely leisurely pursuit and living of the edge at the same time.That being said, the quality was pretty good too though!

My local. First proper local I have ever had. Open fireplace plus cute boys playing guitars makes for a lovely Thursday night.

Confirmed or 'hinted'? I do think it's likely he will be there if not first season then second. The next two years will be very interesting - as a Sydney FC girl raised 15 minutes from Parramatta Stadium I welcome the rivalry but will be feeling rather shizophrenic hating the team that the FFA is pitching as my 'local' team. Particularly if they forge ahead with this ridiculous strategy of trying to capture anything vaguely West. People from where I grew up don't consider themselves to be from Western Sydney - hilarious that the FFA held a fan forum in Castle Hill, the snobbiest part of North West Sydney where you would be quickly corrected if you referred to the locals as part of Western Sydney.

Best part of that is the commentators final comment "Archie Thompson was dropped for Australia's next match".

At this point it doesn't seem like too many of "us" are making the trip. There are a number of us who live in Melbourne though so that will bump it up a bit. I am a little bit torn about this one. Being an SFC member I obviously want SFC to get a result here as we need it for finals BUT I have become a wee bit fond of you Heart folk after attending a number of matches and really do not want it to come at your expense. If Newcastle get done this week we could finish them off for you next week (I hope). I also kinda feel like we had our grand final knocking that "other" team out of finals contention last week so fear our dash might be done. All the best - looking forward to a hopefully great game!

Still huge. Sydneys biggest crowd this year (and in a long time) was 18000 last night against MV. A derby might get 25,000. Stadium Australia seats close to 85000! Nearly double the capacity of the SFS. Would love to see a Sydney derby at Parra stadium. 20,000 capacity, sold out and in an intimate stadium. Would be amazing!

Pretty big stadium for a new franchise, SFS looks bad enough half empty. Great location though, IMHO only other options are Parramatta Stadium and Campbelltown.

Re bolded bit 1 - I was not willing to comment on Melbourne as my knowledge of what happened here when the A-League took over is very limited. All I am saying is that this has been a significant issue in Sydney which I believe was given a lot of weight when determining the direction the A-League would take with the Sydney team. Re bolded bit 2 - A lot of fans of the NSL do attend A-League matches in Sydney as well, a lot refuse to have anything to do with Sydney FC and a number of those people will probably come on board with a Western Sydney side. I should probably have been clearer in framing where my posts come from - I believe the approach taken in Sydney was more focused on engaging those people who had an interest in Football but who weren't engaged with the NSL. It was frequently spoken of in the press at the time as their strategy for growing the game. This is one reason why a number of NSW based NSL fans resent the A-League (and again, I am only not commenting on Melbourne here because Sydney is where my experience lay) - they feel that Sydney FC made it clear that they didn't care about them or want them involved. This focus on attracting the "unengaged" is where the issues I pointed out in my previous post become part of my case - a lot of these families weren't engaging with the NSL because they didn't feel like it was for "people like them" and even had concerns about safety at matches. I personally think this weighed heavily on the direction SFC took. Please don't think that I agree nor disagree with the approach taken with Sydney FC. I am just putting into the mix what I think was the rationale behind any decisions either way. It would have been way more convenient for me at the time if the team was based at Parramatta Stadium as I lived 15 minutes up the road! My only strong personal opinion on this whole matter is this - they had their chance to get a Western Sydney side up and running when the league started. To do so anytime soon would be a massive blow to a struggling Sydney FC. Oh and just wanted to say thanks for a well reasoned, non inflammatory conversation. So rare on football boards!

Apologies for the essay length response (slow day at work!) Unfortunately (as a result of personal experience) I have to disagree that all of the supporters of the major NSL teams were willing to move on and be united under the Western Sydney banner, there was (and probably still is) a lot of bitterness towards the A-League from significant portions of the fan base of such clubs. This might have been the case in Melbourne (I honestly couldn't offer an opinion on the Melbourne market either way) but it certainly wasn't the case in Sydney. Whether a stated aim or not, it was clear to most in NSW that the FFA considered it important in Sydney to ensure that the Sydney franchise steered clear of being associated with the better known Sydney clubs of the NSL - the likes of Olympic, United, APIA etc. I am not willing to get into too thorough analysis on the reasons why all this happened because it really does, in my opinion, border on racial stereotyping. All I am willing to say is that in the Sydney football landscape as the A-League there was a strong perception from a lot of the "football community" that Club A was for people from certain backgrounds, Club B for those of another and so on. In fact, in my local association (Granville and Districts Soccer Football Association) there was a push from a couple of clubs located in the far reaches of the association (the very conservative bible belt suburbs) to be released from Granville and placed into the Gladesville Association with some "interesting" justifications provided. Not a pleasant concept to think about in what is supposed to be a multicultural city I know, but unfortunately Football in NSW struggled (possibly still does) to escape this sticky issue and make attending the football appeal to a wider audience in the city. Without overlooking Lowy’s previous involvement with Sydney City, I also don’t believe this is the reason Sydney is located where it is. Whilst the Moore Park sporting precinct is on the border of the Eastern Suburbs it is considered by the citizens of Sydney to be a city location. In locating Sydney FC in the city of Sydney it helped people to feel like this was a club for the whole city. I don’t disagree with the notion that a full stadium in the west would be better than the current half empty stadium that Sydney FC plays in front of now, I am just outlining what I believe to be the reasons why this happened the way it did. I also still believe that the introduction of a Western Sydney franchise in the near future would not be a good thing for Sydney FC. That’s just my opinion though, and it seems likely I will get to see it tested in the near future. If so, as a Sydney FC member, I hope I am wrong!

No, I grew up in Sydney and hated the Bulldogs in the NRL. Blue and white team colours always irk me as a result.

Danke. The blue and white stripes of Northcote were a bit of a turn off as well.

Ok new to town, tossing up between Northcote City and Richmond. I like the sound of Richmond's German heritage. Anyone got any hints that will tip me either way?

I am Sydney FC fan living in Melbourne. I attend Heart games to get my football fix and must admit I am developing a soft spot for your boys (save me, I even leapt out of my chair when you scored against CCM the other week, although that could just be because I hate CCM). I have previously been a lurker on your forum but had to weigh in here as the FFA push for a Western Sydney team is a personal bugbear of mine. As a long time Sydney FC member I think a rush to institute a Western Sydney side will be a terrible move. Sydney FC crowds are not great. No one will argue against that point. Having grown up in Western Sydney and having lived there on and off for 30 years I am very confident in stating that a significant proportion of Sydney FC fans reside in Western Sydney. Will these people stick with Sydney FC or will they relocate their loyalties to a team playing just "up the road"? As a lot of them are families I am pretty confident that the convenience factor is likely to win... If the FFA wanted a Western Sydney team so badly they should have based Sydney FC out of Parramatta Stadium or the Olympic Stadium (it is far too big), but we know the focus on moving away from the NSL would have made this impossible. I don't have an issue with where Sydney FC are currently based - it makes it a team for the whole city and the wide spread of active fans (ie game attendees) attests to this. To try and put a second team into the city anytime soon would just be a disaster for Sydney FC and anyone who argues that a struggling Sydney FC is good for the league is just deluding themselves really. I would have like to seen the A-League start out with Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle instead of Sydney, CCM and Newcastle. With the current spread of NSW teams you have 3 teams within 2.5 hours of each other. As a Sydney FC fan it's been fantastic because the train/bus trips to CCM and Newcastle are great but the Central Coast is far too close to both Sydney and Newcastle and a high proportion of football people living in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney are actually CCM fans instead of Sydney. When I hear talk of a Wollongong franchise now I have to laugh as it is quite likely that they would draw people from the Southern Suburbs of Sydney as well for reasons of proximity and convenience. For mine, the only option within the boundaries of the NSW border is not even in NSW - Canberra!