Diamond_Jim

Another little bit of colour as I get ready for my 3k walk to the stadium for the 5pm kick off... Germany v South Korea. The official beer of the World Cup is Budweiser Non Alcoholic Beer... yep that's right. And what's more they charge the same price for that beer as for the normal budwesier ... A$7 per cup ... but the cup does have flashing lights on it ?

I see that North have made a $5M over five years offer for De Goey. Hopefully it hurts the Pies to match it. https://au.sports.yahoo.com/north-makes-giant-afl-offer-young-pie-065430493--spt.html Also Gubby Allen has taken a job at North... will be interesting to see how Eddie reacts to his mate targeting one of their key players

Seating at the World Cup is fascinating in the sense that FIFA's categorisation of premium seats changes to suit themselves. In the round of 16 for example almost the whole stadium is recategorised to the highest price..category 1 so our seats are up top (second level) this time whereas for the group matches they were around 10 rows from the pitch. The logistics of ticket purchasing, travel and accommodation for a follower of a particular team in the knock out stages is mind boggling. If Colombia make the next stage I'm not sure how their 20k plus travelling supporter group will manage. From the game the other day most had to go back to Moscow and then travel to Samara which is a very hard destination with few links and virtually zero accomodation. If Colombia wins in Samara they don't know where the play next until the group standings are finalised. There are either a lot of rich Colombians or as I suspect they are borrowing big to follow their team.

Well .. that Iceland Croatia Argentina Nigeria group was certainly close. Memories of '87. So our round of 16 in Kazan will be France v Argentina ... my son is very happy as he gets to see Messi. It seems that Germany v Korea which is our game tomorrow has not exactly filled the bars ... he may have to talk to his old man !!

One could feel the result coming on. Let's hope that there is some 18 year old wonder kid striker coming through. IIRC the Asian championships are in Qatar which will provide a good test. Now onto the serious end of the tournament as distinct from the emotional....who to follow from here... I would kind of like England to progress so as to watch some final agony

The group games really are the luck of the draw including the order in which the teams play. There was always a big chance that France would play its second stringers in the last match if they had already qualified. So many combinations possible and most do not suit the Aussies. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/13/1982-world-cup-algeria Incredible story in the link above of why group matches are now played simultaneously.It includes these two gems: "When German fans gathered at the team hotel to protest, the players responded by throwing water bombs at them from their balconies." Even less bothered was the head of the Austrian delegation, Hans Tschak, who made these extraordinary comments: "Naturally today's game was played tactically. But if 10,000 'sons of the desert' here in the stadium want to trigger a scandal because of this it just goes to show that they have too few schools. Some sheikh comes out of an oasis, is allowed to get a sniff of World Cup air after 300 years and thinks he's entitled to open his gob." Did you see the stat for the Iran v Spain game .... Iran had 49 passes in the first half... the lowest in World Cup history for many years with the record being held... you guessed it by Iran with 46. Not sure I'd like to follow a team like that.

Warming up here... 30 degrees at 8am. A 5pm start for the Aussies will be very warm. Hoping to find a nice bar to watch in the aircon. The Colombian match was a wipeout from a spectating viewpoint. Think of yourself in the middle of a Collingwood cheer squad 30,000 strong all on their feet for 80% of the game. I suppose I should be thankful that they left their vuvuzelas at home. As an aside the TV coverage is always showing the pretty young ladies in the stands. In reality the crowds are 80% male if not higher. The VAR is starting to dominate games. Cannot think of many sports where scoring is so hard which makes for real tension when the ref goes off to watch the TV. Wonder why soccer doesn't try more onfield referees. A relatively stationary ref at either goal plus the roving ref springs to mind.

Out of interest does anyone have any idea of the revenues of the various AFL social clubs putting poker machine revenue to one side. Many pubs struggle these days and running an establishment based on match days at the MCG (10-13 a year?) doesn't jump to mind as a great return on fixed costs. That being said I confess to having no idea as to whether social clubs are profitable when you take return on establishment costs into account. Of course many are built on free land which helps.

I assume the club has a back up plan as I can only see this plan working if there are massive compromises. The days of building ovals in CBD parklands are pretty well gone. Assuming this doesn't fly what do people think of other venues. Would the Port oval with some form of sharing with Port be a possibility. It's centrally located and there is office space potential nearby. Don't know but I suspect the VFL clubs train late in the day as the players have work commitment so there would be no clash. Not sure if it is used for cricket.

It's 6:15 and just getting myself together to head for the stadium for the 9pm Poland v Colombia clash. It has been a very hot day here and the temperature is still around 31 and shows little sign of decreasing. The Colombian fans are here in force.My son verily informs me from his many late night bar outings that there are lots of Colombians at the university here. Vuvuzelas galore I suspect The Polish border is a long way from Kazan so I am not sure how many Poles will turn up. As well as the usual items that are banned from the stadiums they also clearly list selfie sticks and vuvuzelas as banned items. I was silly enough to think that no one would break the rules in a society that is so absolutely rule driven as Russia (they are like Singapore and pedestrians wait for lights). Not to be and I will have my ear plugs ready if it becomes unbearable. Not many round 2matches to go now and the various possibilities are in many instances clearer. We have Germany v South Korea next match which will be like that day at the Whitten Oval back in '87 for the German fans.

As Korea bows out this evening along with the already departed Iran and Saudi Arabia (and probably Japan to join soon) one wonders whether Ange was right or is simply getting here a result in itself. In soccer terms there is nothing wrong with being mid table as the money etc is well stacked in the various leagues in favour of the powerful and wealthy few. Not so sure the Australian ethos will accept it going forward. Have an English friend who supports Manchester City. Will not accept that like others they have purchased their way to somewhere near the top.

The last Australian game is played in Sochi..the site of the Winter Olympics. The city is on the Black Sea and is a major tourist resort. Predicted weather for kickoff is 30 degrees. Bad luck we are not playing one of the European teams as I suspect the Peru team is used to the warm. Could however be a tough day at the office. Nearly 30 degrees here in Kazan and boy is the sun warm. Had Russian dumplings for lunch...they are called khinkalis and if well made are absolutely delicious. Also had my first borscht... very good ?

he would have perhaps given us more than Juric in those last ten minutes... who is almost Pedersenesque.... great at VFL but in the big league .. doesn't quite have it Mclaren perhaps ?

My Kingdom for a Striker !!!

Always thought Yarra Park was controlled by Melbourne City Council. I remember several years back there was a stoush between the Council and the MCG over the food vans outside the ground.They are on Council land and the MCG doesn't get a take on the licence fees etc for the food vans.

Iran V Span was our match last night. Cannot say I loved it...there were the Iranian tactics and then there was the noise. Having airhorns going off constantly (and I mean constantly) together with people leaping to their feet at the slightest touch by Iran didn't make for the ideal viewing experience. And what is it about people and phone cameras... yeah take a few as I do but a few hundred. Perhaps there is truth in the sayng that "It never happened unless they have a photo and it's on facebook !!" Enough of my rant...today is our big match from an Australian perspective. It's 3pm local Russian time and the weather today is very pleasant. Go the Socceroos

One of the things that needs to be done is for all the stadium deals to be made public. All of the stadiums are built and maintained substantially on taxpayer money. There is no real need to keep them secret as their is no natural competitor that could make use of the information such as might be the case for the Australian Open and the tennis centre. The deal offered to clubs should be identical and I have no objection to clubs getting bigger revenue if their crowds are higher. At Docklands they really need to do something to resolve the Medallion club impasse. Absolutely ridiculous for the best seats to be left empty for so many matches.

Just saw the news report that SBS will show all the remaining group games live and that the Optus streaming service for the remaining games will be free. Plus a refund for anyone who paid. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/20/optus-world-cup-sbs-to-broadcast-all-group-stage-games Hopefully they get it right by the next WC as this is the future. In Russia the local network streams all the games as well as showing them on TV. Our apartment has an internet speed of 70 down and 80 up which makes for a reasonable product but it does have the occasional freeze frame. Must try the optus stream later as the Russian commentary is not that helpful. Mind you the half time shows are definitely different !!

I'm starting to like the Alice game but the 7k capacity together with hotel and flight limits doesn't bode well for a long term strategy. The only saver would be some serious national TV coverage. Not sure how to do it but perhaps we could play the highest ranking interstate team from the previous year and thus make it into a must see match. Ticketing would be balloted etc and it would become a"hot" event.

The Blue Samurai win their first ever World Cup game in Europe. It will be a wild old night in Saransk. Our match in Kazan this Sunday is Poland V Colombia .... another crunch match perhaps

the business case for the Council would presumably run along the lines that with reduced car park revenue the Council will need to replace that money in order to maintain the park etc etc. So we would rent the oval for an agreed amount. The development over the rail lines will stand or fall in the first instance as to whether trains need to be re-scheduled for building works. Then there is the acquisition cost issue that the Government will need to subsidize or forego.Finally there is the additional build cost by such a site. A bridge too far or a a mountain too tall spring to mind but let's see.

One has to try but it's not a good time to be asking. Look at the complaints State governments are getting regarding stadium developments in Melbourne and Sydney. To make these schemes work you need to take a complex that has a cost to Council and say we will maintain it in return for using it for x hours and then it is public space for the remainder. Yarra Park doesn't meet the criteria. Gosch's paddock on the other does albeit that it is not a great site. Another example is the Magpies with the old greyhound track.

In your dreams... The annexation of public parkland (sure we call it a car park) for an elite sporting code... Even over in Royal Park there was enormous pushback to the hospital expansion. Good ambit claim

Not sure if I have mentioned my two flights on Aeroflot. Athens to Moscow and Moscow to Kazan. Great full service airline but what is the standout are the flight attendants. Think Pan Am outfits of the sixties complete with white gloves and hat plus stilettos to complete the uniform !!

Korea.. another victim of VAR... ok the penalty was arguably there. what I couldn't understand is that I thought they kept playing until the next break of play. Korea were streaming forward and then the ref stops play. Not sure I thrill to this system when it comes to making decisions on penalties