Archive for May, 2008
Injustice for Travelling Fans
As you obviously all know, the Socceroos will be playing 2 away matches in June. One in Dubai against Iraq, and the other in Qatar against, you guessed it, Qatar. Our dedicated traveling Socceroo supporters still have no information on obtaining tickets for independent travellers.
There are of course package deals available from the Fanatics. An Australian Sports Travel Company. By all means, use this company if you do not wish to organise your own itinerary. However, due to my experience during the World Cup in 2006, I cannot endorse this company on this Blog.
A mate of mine who has booked his own tour through the middle east with his wife has so far been unable to find out how to obtain tickets, as have many other Aussies who can be found on the Green and Gold Army Forum. A number of these people including my mate have contacted the FFA (Football Federation Australia), our governing body. Below is an e-mail to the FFA and their answer.
continue reading »
May 15 2008 | Helpful Posts and World Cup | 9 Comments »
Australia V Iraq
A quick look at Ticketek tonight shows only restricted view and Single seat available for the match. For a stadium of 53,000 I would conservatively estimate 45,000 seats sold. For the NRL’s showcase Centenary Test last Friday night, a massive 35,000 showed up, and most of them walk ups. For the so called number 3 rated Football code in this country, we are out stripping numbers 1 and 2 at a National level.
I believe we will go close to selling out Suncorp on June 1st, and a crowd in excess of 60,000 will show up in Sydney for the China match.
I have not felt anything so exhilarating in Sport as watching the Socceroos in action. Get behind them Australia, and you will not be disappointed.
Cheers
Terry
May 13 2008 | General and Socceroos | No Comments »
Travel Tips
I suppose I should start offering some sort of travel tips, especially since that is one of the main reasons for this blog.
There are many sources of information out there offering travel tips on just about every country and every conceivable thing you should check prior to traveling. I believe the most important thing to realise when traveling is that you are in another country and in many cases a completely different culture. The main thing is to accept that you are in the minority and to respect the local customs. (Except for New Zealand, England and the USA. They deserve to have the piss taken out of them 
).
Language – Most probably English will not be the spoken language. Take some time to learn key phrases before you go, and carry a little phrase book with you.
Learn the how to say
Any handbook will have a list of popular phrases.
continue reading »
May 12 2008 | Helpful Posts | No Comments »
World Cup Tickets - Part 2
I actually spent exactly $3,419.08 on those 4 tickets to watch Brazil play the Socceroos, and have Zero regrets.
This is about 4.5 months from the World Cup now, I have the whole trip planned and booked and I have a Ticket to see 1 Socceroos match. The excitement is building and I am beginning to be a real pain in the arse at home. I have a countdown timer on my PC and EVERY night is spent doing some sort of research on the trip.
continue reading »
May 11 2008 | My World Cup | No Comments »
World Cup Story Part 3 – World Cup Tickets part 1
Now Australia had made the World Cup Finals, we now had to plan our trip and get tickets. Without rehashing the FFA Travel Debacle, the system worked something like this.
- Download Application Form from FFA Travel website
- Fill in and save to hard drive.
- Type up e-mail and attach form. Save into drafts folder.
- Synchronise your PC clock with FFA clock.
- Make sure you are at home on December 21st, 2005. Sit at your pc with e-mail opened and at exactly 9am EDST select “Send”.
- Scream and shout because you did not turn spell check off.
- Cancel Spell check
- Go to work thinking you had to have a chance because you could have only been a few seconds late.
continue reading »
May 08 2008 | My World Cup | No Comments »
The Law of Reciprocity
Today I leant my ute to a mate of mine. This is something that happens now and then with my mates, because having a ute is a very handy thing. When he returned it he came back with a 6 pack. We then sat down and drank a stubby each and talked about this web site. The Law of Reciprocity is “treat others as you would want to be treated”. By giving me a six pack and a conversation on marketing my web site I believe I was more than fairly compensated for the use of my ute.
Next month when Australia play Iraq in Brisbane I have offered my house to my mates on Kickoff.com.au as a place to stay for the travelling visitors. Some of them have taken up that offer, and not for the first time. What I get from it is a chance to catch up over a beer or ten in a relaxed environment before or after the main event on the Sunday night. I know when I visit the towns they live in that I am welcome to stay with them.
This all started because I wanted to watch Australia at the World Cup in 2006. I never thought about the friendships that would come out of it. Having friends in various places around Australia or the world, gives you a perfect vehicle that allows you to travel.
Following the Socceroos has netted me a great circle of friends in different cities and towns around Australia. It is great going to a Socceroos match now and knowing a whole bunch of people at the pub and in the crowd at the game.
Cheers
Terry
May 05 2008 | General | 2 Comments »
Junior Football
I have been involved in Football in Australia for most of my life as player, coach or parent. My youngest son Blake plays in the U17 competition here on the Gold Coast for Palm Beach Sharks. As usual Veronica and I went with him to football on Friday night and arrived an hour prior to kickoff.
What I noticed here in Blake’s match was the big difference between players of different skills and how they played the game. It is an obvious statement I know, but it makes a huge difference to a team and how they progress up the field or are under the pump the whole game.
Then there are the parents on the sideline who YELL at the defence every time to “kick it out of there” or “get rid of it” or something similar. This to me is a terrible thing to be telling young players. We need to be encouraging them to play the ball out of defence whenever possible. Kicking it out of there should be a last result.
The FFA here in Australia has introduced a National Policy of Small Sided Games to promote this. We need this so we have more skilled players pressuring the small number of higher skilled players for positions in development squads, Youth Leagues and eventually A-League clubs. Our national squad will only benefit from this attitude. We need to catch up with the rest of the world in this area of Football development so we can have a 100 Harry Kewel’s or Mark Viduka’s to follow.
Coaches and parents need to be educated here as well and stop yelling out such negative support. Sitting with Brendon was also enlightening, even with his bad jokes. Brendon is from Tasmania and knows little about the game of Football, he is more comfortable with AFL. But because Brendon is very competitive and has played at a decent level in Tasmania he knows how to watch a team sport and what they are trying to achieve. He knew when things were going wrong and why. He knew more about how the game works than some adults who have been around the game all their life. Although he needs to stop openly applauding the opposition team because they were playing so much better, just keep it to your self next time Brendon.
Cheers
Terry
May 05 2008 | General | No Comments »
Customer Service
After working in a Service Industry for the past 13 years I have learnt that Australians really like good customer service and will pay extra to have a supplier who gives that service.
About 2 weeks ago my son Blake asked me to buy a pair of jeans from a Web Site for $99. I am glad it was not my money paying for them. The site uses Pay Pal of which I have an account, so I used it. On the weekend Blake said he still had not received the goods. I looked at my Pay Pal receipt and sent an e-mail to the link in the e-mail. It bounced back.
By now I am starting to worry that we have been ripped off. Blake gets me back onto the site we originally bought it from and it is still up and looks legit. I use the contact details on there and shoot off my Pay Pal receipt. That night i get a reply saying that Pay Pal stuffed up and he did not have our order. Says it will be 2 days. Yeah Right!!!!
Today Blake gets home from school and there is a package in the mail box. He opens it up and there are his Jeans, plus a little surprise, 2 T Shirts as well. Blake is stoked to say the least. Apparently Afends Jeans and apparel is well known in the skate scene, I have no idea. All I can say is that this is excellent customer service. Blake ended up with a pair of $99 jeans plus 2 shirts that sell for $45 each. There is no way this guy lost money, but he did gain a loyal customer.
May 01 2008 | General | No Comments »
« Prev
