As I’ve freely admitted before, I’m a frequent lurker on fan sites overseas where Australians play. This pastime elicits a great deal of interesting intelligence but the one constant is this: Scottish fans have a very low opinion of the A League, and Australian players generally. For your entertainment, I have shamelessly ripped off some of the arguments I’ve read on SPL fan sites (where the debate occurs frequently).

According to the prevailing Scotting wisdom, the A League is “pish” and Australian players are all “shite”.

Why would that be when you consider some of the players who have done well over there?

Mark Viduka is both loved and loathed at Celtic. The fans all agree he was a magnificent player but many hate the way he left. Fair enough.

Scott McDonald, Tom Rogic, Aaron Mooy (all fan favourites at Celtic – not to mention Ange Postecoglou).

Craig Moore was Rangers captain and Tony Vidmar played there for years.

Keanu Baccus and Ryan Strain – first on the team sheet for St Mirren.

Kye Rowles and Nat Atkinson both highly rated at Hearts, even though the fans are a tad divided re Devlin and Nieuwenhof)

Lewis Miller is many fans’ favourite player at Hibs, and Jimmy Jeggo also has his admirers. Jamie Maclaren had a respectable goal-per-game average there also (nine in twenty-seven is not bad for a non OF striker).

That’s not to say they’ve all been successes.

Mark Birighitti had a nightmare at Dundee. The jury’s still out on Marco Tilio at Celtic and the fans’ disrespect for Daniel Arzani is just weird. He was playing well on his Celtic debut when he suddenly had a catastrophic injury that disrupted his career for years. You’d think there might have been some sympathy but somehow his disaster was perceived as failure. (I have high hopes for Arzani’s return to the Socceroos – he’s been playing really well recently.)

So why… in the context of so many successful players in the SPL… are Scottish fans so dismissive both of Australian footballers in general and the A League in particular?

I referred that question to Lawrie McKinna who would have as deep an insight as anyone. He played SPL (Kilmarnock), then came out to Australia to play in the NSL and then coached in the NSL and the A League. He continues to watch both leagues very closely.

‘It’s hard to compare the leagues,’ said Lawrie, ‘because the conditions are so different. The A League is played in the hot Australian summer on rock hard pitches, whereas the SPL is played in a northern winter on ice and mud. There’s no comparison. But the quality of the A League is far higher than some in Scotland want to believe. If you could find a neutral venue to play the matches then the A league boys would do well against SPL sides.

‘But there are other differences also. A League players going to Scotland will take a while to adjust to the faster pace (due to the cold) and will never have been confronted by the fan expectation and media pressure that cripples so many in Scotland. Old Firm derbies are levels above anything an A League player has ever experienced.’

That’s all fair enough. But why do the Scottish fans continue to despise our League when their clubs keep buying our players (who mostly do reasonably well)?

Celtic has twice been beaten by A League opposition (Central Coast in 2011 and Sydney FC in 2022). At the respective times, both CCM and Sydney were in the bottom half of the A League. They may have been friendlies but EPL teams just about always beat A League teams in friendlies and Scottish teams don’t. If the difference between the leagues was as wide as Scottish fans like to believe, those losses simply couldn’t have happened.

On top of that, the Australian national team is almost entirely made up of players who have played in the A League and has performed consistently well against world class teams at the World Cup, whereas Scotland – on the rare occasion it makes the World Cup – goes straight out at the first hurdle.

Of course they have a harder route into the World Cup Finals (despite Europe having 13 spots) but that’s not the point. The point is that Australia defies expectations when it gets to the World Cup and occasionally beats far more highly fancied teams.

At the last World Cup, Australia beat Tunisia and Denmark, and nearly forced eventual winners (Argentina) into extra time in the round of 16. A last minute world class save from Emi Martinez was the difference and all Argentina held its breath. Australia had the momentum and a win against a team already beaten by Asian opponents (Saudi Arabia) was absolutely on the cards if it had gone to extra time.

Could Scotland have had those results?

Maybe. And to be fair, they’ve had some excellent results over the last 12 months. Scotland are much improved despite their current ranking of 36 (Australia 25).

Again, that’s not the point.

The point is, that most Scottish fans think Australian football is rubbish when, on any indicator you can choose, it compares extremely well with Scottish football. So well, that, despite what the fans think, the clubs see Australian players as good value for money. The quality is high in comparison with European players who tend to be far more expensive.

This might be fanciful but I can’t help but wonder whether this is a typical psychological response to bullying. Scottish fans are constantly complaining about the sneering attitude of English fans toward their league and maybe they’re just looking for another league to kick to make themselves feel better?

The reality is (as Lawrie McKinna says) that there is little between the leagues. Celtic and Rangers would (in a competitive match at a neutral venue) probably beat most A League teams, but the rest?

Would St Johnstone, Ross County and Motherwell really beat Melbourne Victory or Western Sydney Wanderers? Would Hibs or Hearts or St Mirren beat the Central Coast team that won this year’s A League Grand Final?

I don’t think so.

It’d be interesting to ask Monty (ex Mariners / current Hibs coach) what he thinks. And imagine an annual fixture where the SPL Aussies took on a Scottish selection. Wild horses would not drag me away from that one.

 

Adrian's books can be purchased at any good bookstore or through ebook alchemy. His first sci-fi novel (Asparagus Grass) was published by Hague Publishing in July 2023. The ebook can be purchased here and the paperback can be ordered here or at your local store.