Homeless African soccer team, why City is pinching SA talent, Reds’ testing FFA Cup follow-up, how NPL pitches measure up
A soccer team of African-Australians needs an Adelaide home to realise its ambitions, while an A-League captain explains his club’s SA talent raids and the Reds aim to avoid FFA Cup history repeating, all in our 90 Minutes column.
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Arok Akoi Arok’s dream of creating the greatest community soccer club for Australians with African heritage is becoming increasingly frustrated by government bureaucracy in the search for a home base.
Arok says he is trying to set-up meetings with the City of Playford, City of Salisbury and the City of Port Adelaide Enfield councils as his brainchild Nile United takes the next step in becoming an incorporated club, applying to play its first season in the SA amateur soccer league next year.
“I think the problem is I call the customer service people and I never really get onto anyone, we need a facility with dressing rooms and good pitches,’’ Arok said.
“I’ve got a possibility for a location and I’m waiting on a club to get back to me.
“We’ve got a lot of players that we need to accommodate.
“We’ve got now about 34 responses for people that want to play for Nile United in the amateur league.
“We just need somewhere to play our home games.”
WHY CLUB LURES BEST TEENS
Melbourne City captain Scott Jamieson says his club’s ability to lure the best teenagers in Australia, including a plethora of South Australians, isn’t an accident.
City built a $15 million training facility in 2015 which has made the club an attractive proposition for talent.
“It’s critical we have to invest in our own brand and help the kids like a 15-year-old coming into Melbourne City’s facility is seeing this can only wet their mouths and they’ll say I want to be a first team player, people underestimate that,’’ Jamieson said.
“I’m a big believer the young players have to have that vision of being on the first team’s pitch and the first team’s gym and they’re connected to it.
“In England as a youngster that was the biggest thing for me, apart from wanting to play I wanted to sit in the first team’s dressing room, I wanted to be a first team player.
“I think in the past our first team had a few ex-South Australian boys now I don’t see a problem with it.
“We’ve brought in (from SA) Joe Gauci, Kerrin Stokes, Yaya Dukuly and Rapha (Borges Rodrigues). That’s not an issue for me it’s more so about Adelaide United — why aren’t they signing these players.
“Our scouts are identifying players. They look first in our back garden but then they get reports from Adelaide and then there’s no reason why we should sign them.
“Our facility should be the norm in the A-League, we’re in a competition now that is not just born, Western Sydney has got a fantastic facility, Wanderers have a fantastic facility.
“For a player, people call it being precious or being spoiled but it’s not the case.
“We’re going to work and we’re going there to have no excuses and for our football club to have a gym, training pitches and I’m of the belief in a professional sport that should be the minimum now.
“A facility where you can go to produce everything you need for a weekend — our code is at a stage where you need clubs to invest in infrastructure.”
UNITED HOPES FOR BOUNCE BACK
Adelaide United will hope for a better FFA Cup bounce back when history repeats itself later this week.
The Reds face Melbourne City in Wednesday night’s Hindmarsh Stadium decider as they bid for a record third knockout crown.
But win or lose, they will need to refocus on domestic matters just three days later when they travel to Newcastle to take on the Jets in an A-League clash.
Coincidentally, Adelaide faced the same fixture fate after its triumph in the inaugural cup final in 2014.
Back then, ex-Reds striker Bruce Djite featured in the knockout success over Perth Glory on the Tuesday, but was reduced to a spectator for the 2-1 loss at Newcastle on the Friday.
“I went there and I was sitting up in the coach’s box watching the boys,” Djite, now United’s director of football, recalled.
“I felt kind of sorry for them.
“I was still on cloud nine and I’m like ‘how are they concentrating out there?’
“Anyway we lost, so I guess they weren’t that concentrated.
“After that game, everyone was like ‘now let’s start concentrating on the A-League’.”
The Reds will look to record their first league points of the season at McDonald Jones Stadium on the weekend, after losing their opening two fixtures.
LATIN FLAIR FOR LEADERSHIP
One NPL SA coach may be implementing a little more Latin flair into his leadership next year thanks to an educational off-season trip.
Newly-appointed Adelaide Comets boss Barney Smith has spent the past fortnight in Barcelona visiting his friend and fellow South Australian mentor Simon Catanzaro.
Triple Sergio Melta Medal winner Catanzaro is coaching in the Kaptiva Sports Academy, based in the Catalonian capital.
Smith witnessed Catanzaro’s European coaching debut, a 5-3 victory, last week.
The pair also took in some La Liga action, as they attended the RCDE Stadium to see RCD Espanyol go down 1-0 to Villarreal.
A mixed Kaptiva under 16 and under 19 side lost 13-1 to South Australia’s AUMC’s under 17s in a trial match in Spain recently.
Former Burundian refugee Vianne Kurikwimana, who has endured the most horrendous tragedies in Australia, scored a goal in the match.
The South Aussies were up against a coaching giant Rubén Martinez who was the sports director at Kaptiva.
Catanzaro was his assistant.
Martinez was an assistant coach at French club Saint-Etienne, Austria’s RB Salzburg and goalkeeping coach at Brighton and Hove Albion of England and Spanish giant Barcelona.
HOW BIG IS YOUR PITCH?
Google Map’s distance measuring feature has enabled 90 MINUTES to measure some out of whack pitches which have been under question for some time.
However there is a warning attached to what we’re about to uncover.
Not all Google Maps pitch sizes are up to date as spotted by Comets chairman Jim Tsouvalas.
Despite the measuring tool on Google Maps measuring the home of Comets at the SA Athletics Stadium as 90m long, Tsouvalas assured 90 MINUTES the length is now 97m.
Although the Google Maps tool won’t be millimetre accurate it does show some pitches in the top NPL flight are nowhere near one same size standard which is usually the main practice among good league competitions across the planet.
Here are the pitch regulations in Australia:
A-League: 105m x 68m wide, unless otherwise approved by FFA in writing.
FFA Cup final round matches (from round of 32):
(a) Preferred: 105m x 68m:
(B) Minimum: 100m x 64m wide;
(C) Maximum: 110m x 75m.
W-League: 105m x 68m. Variations to these dimensions may be permitted with the prior written approval of FFA, however they must remain within a scope of 100-110 metres in length and 64-75 metres in width.
NPL: Up to each state member federation. FFSA approves minimum length 90m and a maximum length of 120m. A minimum width of 45m and maximum width of 90m.
National Premier League Finals Series: 100-110 metres in length, 64-75 metres wide
WNPL: up to each Member Federation
National Youth League: 105m x 68m. FFA may grant permission for clubs to utilise a field of play within the scope of 100-110 metres in length and 64-75 metres in width.
Now these are the sizes of the NPL pitches in SA this season according to Google Maps.
And it’s obvious some home clubs had very distinct advantages judging by the size of their pitches according to Google Maps.
Hindmarsh Stadium is the only perfect FIFA international standard size — 105m x 68m — Grass
Campbelltown City — Steve Woodcock Centre — 106m x 72m — Grass
Adelaide Comets — SA Athletics Stadium — 90m x 62m — Grass
Raiders — Croatian Sports Centre — 110m x 65m — Grass
Adelaide Olympic — The Parks — 100m x 63.7m — Synthetic
Blue Eagles — Marden Stadium — 110m x 70m — Grass
MetroStars — TK Shutter Reserve — 106m x 78m — Grass but now synthetic so the size could change.
Croydon Kings — Polonia Reserve — 102m x 74m — Grass
Adelaide United — The Parks — 100m x 63.7m — Synthetic
Para Hills — The Paddocks — 105m x 74m — Grass
Adelaide City — Adelaide City Park — 105m x 70m — Grass
West Adelaide (played away from home all 2019 season) — Hellas Park Sportsplex — not available on Google Maps
South Adelaide — Panther Park — 100 x 64m — Synthetic
SA PLAYERS ABROAD
Brandon Borrello — Freiburg (Bundesliga): Unused substitute in the 2-0 loss away to Union Berlin.
Alex Chidiac — Atletico Madrid (women’s Spanish Primera Division): Not in the match day squad for the 1-0 win over Madrid CFF.
Craig Goodwin — Al Wehda (Saudi Pro League): Played a full game in the 1-0 victory over Al Ittihad.
Ben Garuccio — Hearts (Scottish Premier League): Recovering from an ACL operation.
Meni Haralampopoulos — Acharnaikos (Greek Gamma Ethniki):
Awer Mabil — Midtylland (Danish Super League): Played 90 minutes in the 2-1 win against Randers.
Andrew Marveggio — Macva Sabac (Serbian Super League): Not in the match day squad in a 2-0 away win over Vozdovac