Blow the Whistle, Ref!

Phill Chadwick is counting down the hours until the biggest day in the history of domestic football.

Here we go. This Friday night, at 7:30pm, Energy Australia Stadium, Newcastle, NSW. The referee blows his whistle and the A-League is born.

Newcastle United and Adelaide United, playing in the first game in the new competition. The long awaited beginning of the new Australian professional football competition, the A-League.

A regrettable lack of Foxtel at home will mean that I am unlikely to see more than a short highlights package on the local news. Still, the game will go on whether I witness it or not.

And the result will stand regardless of me. Strangely, I am not all that concerned whether Adelaide wins, loses or draws; the long wait and the almost unbearable anticipation have overshadowed all that and I just want it to begin. My main concern at this time is the success, or otherwise, of the whole competition.

Football in Australia cannot afford any more experiments or false starts. It has to work this time.

Forget failing to qualify for the World Cup, there is a bigger threat to the long term success of this adventure. That is "Soccer Violence".

In what could only be the worst possible timing, there was crowd violence at two local state league games last weekend. One in Adelaide and one in Melbourne. Can you guess why? Surprise, surprise, it was those bad old ethnic grudges, imported from Europe, and still causing trouble.

That shameful stain has to washed out of the game. If it cannot be removed in the minds of the public, the code will never prosper in this country. Never mind the great debt that we all owe to the ethnic communities in establishing the game here, it must be stopped. And it must be stopped by any means, however drastic that may be.

The non-football public don't know, and probably don't care, that the new A-League clubs are carefully and consciously non-ethnic and are all broad based community clubs.

If the "supporters" of the old-style local clubs, still tied to their old ethnic prejudices, continue to make newspaper headlines and television news reports for the worst possible reasons, that image will inevitably spill over to the new competition.

For those of us who know about the new set-up, it is easy to separate the issues, but the general public - those we are trying to attract to the new league - only see "Soccer Violence" as a headline.

The authorities should have a zero tolerance approach to this problem and force offending clubs to play matches behind closed doors at the very least. If repeated, match points should be deducted. Ban or de-register the clubs, anything to get the point across.

I know that the clubs do not condone this behavior of so-called "supporters" and do all in their power to stop it, but what other sanctions would have any effect? And to those cowards who are only willing to attack others when in a crowd, why not take up kick-boxing and let us see how brave you really are?

On a brighter note, I was very happy to see Central Coast win the pre-season Cup competition. For one thing, Sydney didn't even make the final, a potent antidote to their previous aura of invincibility.

Sure, their playing stocks were down, but given the limited depth possible with a 20-man squad, that will happen often during the season. Likewise, we have seen Perth brought back to the pack. I hope that tipping winners will be difficult, all season.

So here we are, ready for the start. The clubs have recruited players and coaches. The players have trained, the coaches have planned. The fans have bought tickets, shirts and scarves. The Football Federation has spent millions on publicity, and now there is only one thing left to do.

Come on Ref, BLOW THAT WHISTLE!

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