Golden Soft Sombrero Moment with Phil Cleary

Four Diegos Profile:               

Politician, VFA football commentator, former VFA coach / player and former consultant to the Carlton Soccer Club.

Four Diegos Verdict:              

Straight talking, clear thinking and hard hitting.

It’s unfortunate that ‘Fresh Air’ Phil only joined Carlton at the death (literally).

If he had been on board earlier, whilst we may not have seen a complete turn around in the ‘Bluebloods’ fortunes, it’s a certainty that in true ‘dinky die’ VFA style we would’ve at least got a good old fashioned ‘donnybrook’ at half time. The Diegos reckon that can only be good for the game. 

Some Golden Soft Sombrero Moments with Phil Cleary…

Cleary on Soccer 21…

Diegos: “The club is entering a critical phase on and of the pitch.

The team is looking as good as ever under coach, Stuart Munro but the recently released Soccer 21 restructure criteria for the league in 2001 has brought a new scrutiny of Carlton’s long term future.

This week you suggested that Soccer Australia would have to be 'stark raving mad' if Carlton were culled from the competition next season.

Do you believe Carlton is one of the club’s under the pump and are you confident that all Soccer 21 challenges can be met?”

Cleary: “I must have gone a couple of chardonnays before I went with the ‘stark raving mad’ line.

Whenever you go to a situation where you cut teams from a competition they’ll be speculation. The criterion is going to hard to meet for everyone.

Soccer in Australia is still a fledgling sport. It’s got a long way to go to get into that mainstream Aussie rules sporting culture particularly in Melbourne.

I think Soccer Australia needs to be careful about this because the point I’ve been making again and again is that clubs like the Knights and South Melbourne which have been built on immigrant people’s efforts and without whom soccer wouldn’t exist want to grow their clubs too.

I think Carlton offers that opportunity too. Carlton needs the Knights and South, they all need each other and we’ve got to get more people getting to the footy.

So the mix has been changed a little and this is really important. Carlton is going to have to go to the barricade and make sure it can climb over it.’

Soft Sombrero Moment November 2000

Cleary on Carlton’s challenge…

Diegos: “You suggested that Carlton’s non-ethnic alliance to any one group was something that needed to be nurtured and encouraged and in the process appeared to fresh -air, traditional clubs – Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne.

Tapping into the mainstream is what we all want but how can you be confident that Carlton is the club that can do this given its low crowds and reported financial struggles?”

Cleary: “That’s a fair point.

I would say that it’s the concept is what we should be talking about. The concept of a broad cosmopolitan club is a sound one.

Carlton has had some sort of Italian flavour about it but it’s still cross section club. It’s got a good demographic with respect to balance between men, women and kids. So I think as a concept it’s the right one.

One of the problems for Carlton is that the Olympic Park move really set the club back. It needs to be very careful about its strategies now.”

Soft Sombrero Moment November 2000

Cleary on Epping Stadium…

Diegos: “Carlton last week took their home game against Eastern Pride to the boutique, Epping stadium.

Unfortunately the referee didn’t take too kindly to the stadium’s boutique goals – questioning their size and shape.

The team won and the game attracted over three thousand people.

In your opinion at the end of the day were there more positives than negatives?”

Cleary: “When the club went out to Epping last week, goal posts aside, it was terrific.

We got about three thousand people and a great atmosphere. That showed with some smart strategy the club might be able to garner some support there.”

Soft Sombrero Moment November 2000

Cleary on those ‘sandwich boards’…

Diegos: “Carlton’s highly regarded young guns, Archie Thompson and Simon Colosimo are said to be currently walking around wearing 'For Sale' sandwich boards in between playing and training.

Much has been made about how their sale would save the club.

How desperate is the club to sell?”

Cleary: “You Diegos know that so many clubs have been dependant on the sale of players. It’s just part of the tapestry nowadays.

Players, to make a long-term career in the game, need to make it overseas and clubs need to sell to be financial. So it’s just the natural progression, it’s not that the club is desperate to sell.

The Colosimo deal was a complete ‘balls up’. An absolute ‘balls up’. I can’t believe that it went so wrong but I’m not going to bother to tell you who I think was in the wrong.

I have a view about it and I just think it was pathetic. We’ve just got to do things better than that and I wish that I had more control over what happened.

Such is life. It didn’t go the way it should’ve.

The Archie one, well that was a little bit of ‘argie, bargie’ on price and alike but there are still possibilities there.”

Soft Sombrero Moment November 2000

Cleary on ‘turning things’ around at Carlton…

Diegos: “You have been known to get your fair share of hard ball gets on the footy field and for that matter, in Parliament.

It's no secret that soccer clubs in Melbourne are fighting for their survival. You have been drafted in as a consultant for the Carlton SC, with a charter to do whatever it takes to make it a viable concern.

You've been with Carlton for a short time.

Are you confident the club has a future and can turn things around?”

Cleary: “There’s no doubt about that. I think the club has a particular, quirky kind of status at the moment. It’s a bit out of the mould because soccer clubs a bound by ethnicity, probably a bit more than the administrators what them to be bound by.

Tribalism is a great thing in clubs like South Melbourne and the Melbourne Knights but you’ve got to get a broader base as well don’t you.

I think that Carlton have some great opportunities and I think they’ll go alright.”

Soft Sombrero Moment April 2000

Cleary on Aussie soccer culture…

Diegos: “They say that once you've been involved with an Australian soccer club, a career in federal politics is a stroll in the park.

You're a veteran of both federal politics and sporting club politics.

In your opinion does the culture at soccer clubs appear any different?”

Cleary: “I don’t know. The number of times I’ve been asked by people about whether I knew anything about soccer suggested that the culture is different.

One bloke, who I reckon was half tanked, said ‘what do ya know about socca?’

I think footy clubs and footy games are fundamentally the same.

There are nuances in the soccer game that are different and the culture can be different to a degree but in the end you build a really rich culture in a club to be successful and that’s no different in any sport.”

Soft Sombrero Moment April 2000

Cleary on Soccer in Victoria…

Diegos: “People talk about Victorian soccer being 'very complicated' market.

Whilst the Socceroos at the MCG attract huge crowds and engender a unique atmosphere, the punters are reluctant to come out and support a club week in week out in the NSL.

Have you been able to put your finger on the reason why this is so?”

Cleary: “Without a doubt one of the problems is Soccer Australia is happy to promote soccer at the international level but not at the domestic level.

What they’ve got to do is promote and market the soccer clubs in the national league. They’ve got to give these clubs a new kind of status. They’ve got to do it creatively and get some of the rub of the international game.

Soccer is an exciting world game. It should be doing well. If Australians are willing to go to the MCG to watch the Socceroos V Iran to the tune of 80,000 or 90,000, you can win them over to soccer but the promotions been appalling and they’ve got to break through the ‘cone of silence’ here in the sporting world.”

Soft Sombrero Moment April 2000

Cleary on media reporting of Aussie soccer…

Diegos: “The Diegos not only love soccer but like true sports mad Aussies, are partial to any sport.

I can still remember the days when big Freddie Cook, Buster Harland and Joe Radojevic used to do their stuff in the good old days of the VFA when men were men and the Coburg versus Port Melbourne clash rivaled the bloodletting and the passion of any Glasgow derby.

Many sports commentators in the media though, have said that soccer will never be adopted by mainstream Australia as a sport of genuine interest.

What's your view?”

Cleary: “Not true. It will take a while but I get back to the way it’s been promoted.

I don’t think there’s been enough interest or creativity shown by Soccer Australia so we are going to have to be innovative.”

Soft Sombrero Moment April 2000