After my initial reaction to the forfeit news a few days back, I told myself to take a few days time out to clear my head and try and see the situation from a more unbiased view.
It’s hard doing that. Having been following the Blue Tongues since 2004, our hearts are heavily tied to this team and anything that happens deeply affects us at the most emotional levels. As one of the players told me last season, my wife and I have followed this team longer than anybody in the stands, on the ice or in the management, it’s only natural we react so strong to thing that happen with the team.
People are unhappy with the league for calling last Sunday’s game a forfeit, I myself was one of them. But then I stopped and thought about the situation, did some research and came to the conclusion that we should be angry, but not at the AIHL, because at the end of the day, they made the right call for the situation.
As Oscar Wilde once said, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”, and in the absence of truth, speculation and rumours will go crazy. Over the last few days there has been a LOT of speculation on this issue. The “truth” in this case lies closer to home.
You should be angry. You should be upset. In fact, you should probably be seeing red, but make sure that anger is directed at the right people. Be angry at the rink for not telling the team about the problem or trying to fix it. Be angry at the team for choosing to play from a rink that is clearly below standard. But don’t be angry at the AIHL for doing their job. You don’t need to agree with them, but if you’re a fan of any sport you should know that leagues the world over make calls we don’t agree with.
The fact is, each team in the league should have a responsibility to ensure their home ice is playable, and part of that is to ensure a healthy relationship between the team and rink owners for those teams who don’t have control of their rink. It’s the same in the NHL, AHL, ECHL and many other leagues around the world (from what I can tell). In our own league we have had teams forfeit in the past because of unplayable Ice. I have been told by a few different people over the last day or so that Melbourne forfeited a game a few years back for similar reasons. If so, a precedent was set.
Clearly the owners of the G.C. Rink don’t care about their ice or the Blue Tongues. That much is evident by the way they didn’t bother to either tell the team of the issue or try to fix it. As we’ve been told by people at the rink earlier that day, the ice was that way all day long during public skate sessions. I would have thought that’s a major public liability issue. Simply put, a national level team should not be playing in a facility that is that unprofessional and mismanaged.
The Acacia Ridge Ice Rink in Brisbane
But the team choose to play there, even though there are 2 other rinks within an hour or so drive of the Gold Coast. The problem (at least for some) is they are both in Brisbane. Boondall, where the team played prior to 2008 and Acacia Ridge are both much better locations with better ice, stands and facilities.
So be angry and upset. Feel hurt at the decision, but please make sure your anger is not misdirected.
Just something to think about before posting (like I did) about how the AIHL made a mistake with the call.
After a stellar 10-3 win on Saturday, the Blue Tongues backed it up with an incredibly dull 7-5 loss. As i was not at the game, it’s hard to speak on the finer points of the game, however from tweets, forum posts and facebook messages I can gather at least some of the following is on target.
- The refereeing was incredibly one-sided (as was commented to me by both BT and Knights fans alike)
- The BT goalie should have been pulled after goal 4 as was clear his confidence disappeared (Knights fans mentioned this. We had noticed this happen on the Gold Coast, so doesn’t surprise me. Why our own coaching staff miss it though… worries the hell out of me)
- The crowd behind Kane were chanting things about Anderson, the goalie was did not play. Clearly they’re idiots.
- There were 2 penalty shots in the game, more than we’ve seen in 3 seasons on the Gold Coast.
- Tobias Falk, who has a wicked shot but often opts to pass rather than shoot has let fly this weekend, with 2 hatricks!
- Matt Amado continues to dominate the play and is on pace of just over 3 points per game this season!
While the loss does keep us down in 6th spot, we’re still 5 games up on the Mustangs and within a point of the Ice Dogs, whom we face 3 times in our next 4 games. If we can win those games, we will be in 4th with a buffer between us and 5th. Still too early to celebrate, but we’re definitely not in a bad position.
Wendy and I were at the Suncorp Stadium last weekend watching our team, the Canberra Raiders take on the Broncos. During the game, when we were down 24-0 to the bronc’s, one of the home crowd heckled us, to which a Raiders fan stood up and called back “anybody can support a winning team, but a true fan is there when they lose, too”.
Today, I sadly feel like a real fan.
After Saturdays very disappointing game, we were hoping very much for a better performance today. While the scoreline shows a loss, all is not negative. So here are my thoughts on todays game.
- Welcome back #8 Cam Trew. After missing 2 games with a suspension, Cam returned today and was an immediate noticable player on the Blue Line. He’s not an offensive threat, but he gives all he has and is always keen to do what is needed to help the team. Cam stood out today as one of the better players out there, always being amongst the play and getting involved.
- CJ was a lot better than the stats show. The box score showed that CJ faced 28 shots, letting in 4 goals. At first glance, you could say these are bad stats, but I feel it is very important to mention that CJ was a LOT better than the stats show. His positioning was great and play consistent. Unfortunately, a diving poke-check went the wrong way for him, which really turn what would have been good stats into what we have, but the play he made was the right one to make at the time.
- The Blue Tongues appear to have a major Ego issue among some players. Today was a lot better than yesterdays, but we still saw cases of people opting to hold the puck rather than play as a team. This is a team sport, and this type of play does nothing to help the team win. I could be wrong of course, but from the stands, this is how it looks at times.
- The #1 pet peeve I had about todays games was the lack of heart that a few players seemed to have. A sense of having given up on the game was evident in some players. Instead of chasing the puck, some just stood there and let others do the work. If guys don’t give a damn about the game, don’t play. That may seem a bit harsh, but there are people in the stands who pay good money to watch, scream at, and cry for the guys on the ice, and to see some just lazily skate around really pisses those people off.
- The Adrenaline Coach spent more time whining about the reffing than he did managing his team. When he did, his own team told him to “shut the F up”, which i found rather interesting.
- Once again, reffing was the lowlight of a game on the Gold Coast. I don’t know what is up, but todays game was pretty terrible. Missed calls right in front of the ref, bad icing calls and worse of all, a call for the 4th goal that almost everybody who saw it claims did not actually go in, really ruined the game. Those who follow the team know that the ref today was the same guy who reffed the shocking games a few weeks back.
- Someone told me today that the 39 shots we put on net today show our boys DO shoot on net. I disagree. What those 39 shots show is that we put bad shots on net. I would wager that less than 20 of those shots were scoring chances, whereas almost all of the Adrenaline’s 28 were. Our boys love to play down the wing then make terrible passes, or shoot from wide. Just something to think about.
- Lastly, Zac Daunt, Jack Conner, Jon Bale, Alex Hall and Ben Spillant need to be get a lot more credit than they’re given. In my opinion the 3 stars off this weekend are pretty much ALL in this list above. Sure, Upton and Amado scored, but it was these local guys who actually played like they gave a damn about the game. They gave all they had, every shift on the ice. These are not the only ones this applies to of course, but these guys were the standout players.
Talking of 3 Stars, here are my 3 for this weekends games, in no particular order. Zac Daunt, Marco Bertossa and Jack Conner.
If there is one thing that really irks us Blue Tongues fans, it’s when people from other teams travel up to the Coast and constantly complain about the quality of our rink. Point in case… This last weekend, after one of the traveling Mustangs fans didn’t like what one of the Blue Tongues fans said, she retorted with “At least we don’t play in a hole”. This happens a lot more than you’d think, and unfortunately, it comes mostly from those down Melbourne way.
Listen up people. We KNOW that the Gold Coast rink is a hole. We KNOW it’s well below standard. We KNOW the ice surface is shit. You don’t need to come up here and bitch and moan about our rink. Remember, it was only a season back that Melbourne had a hole of a rink themselves!
Understand this… we as fans don’t have a choice where the team plays! Are there better rinks up this way that have all the facilities, better ice and better stands? Of course there are… but they’re in Brisbane and not the Gold Coast, and while we would LOVE the team to play out of Acacia Ridge or Boondall (again), that decision is for the team management to decide, not us.
So please, next time you come up here, take a few minutes to think before you spew your garbage about our rink. It may be a hole, but right now, it’s all we have!
The Weekly Faceoff is a regular weekly blog talking about all things Tongues, in and around the AIHL.
The Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues have had a busy few weeks preparing for the start of the 2011 AIHL Season.
Signed Imports
The Blue Tongues made 2 new announcements in the last week or so. The first was the return off Alex Boyd to the lineup for 2011. Alex is currently playing Rugby in Canada but will return for the start of the season. Also named to the season were 6 key local players; Dave Upton, Cam Trew, Ben Spillane, Marco Bertossa, Ross Howell and Brad Young.
Bartercard Naming Rights
Just today the Blue Tongues announced the return of Bartercard as the primary / naming rights sponsor for the team.
Intersquad Games
Get a glimpse of the 2011 Blue Tongues before the season starts at the 6 pre-season intersquad games which have been scheduled. These 6 games will see the Blue Tongues battle it out against each other as part of their training / team selection process. Last seasons games were exciting and gave a good view of what the team could bring down the road. Dates are listed on the Blue Tongues official website.
