Frank Farina's less-than-distinguished dismissal from the Queensland Roar coaching position marks the departure from the game of another of the hard-playing, hard-partying players from the Frank Arok generation of 1980s Australian soccer stars.

Given soccer's propensity for recycling, Farina will no doubt coach again someplace, but for now, he is serving his penance for reportedly blowing .12 last Saturday morning on the way to a Roar training session.

It must have been one hell of a night before.

Not a lot of tears will be shed for Farina, one of the more prickly characters in Australian sport. Towards the end of his six-year tenure at the helm of the Socceroos, he was seemingly at war with many in the game, particularly with the FFA, which runs the game in Australia and SBS, which merely thinks it does.

Les Murray and cohorts were among his harshest critics and Farina took the criticism to heart, resulting in some sort of altercation with SBS reporter Andrew Orsatti during a post-match interview in 2005, an episode that helped trigger his departure from Socceroo position.

He took over from Miron Bleiberg at the Roar amid much fanfare in November 2006 and was regarded as something of a favourite son in Brisbane, given he once led the Brisbane Strikers to a title in the old NSL.

But in an era in which sporting clubs are supposed to lead the way for responsible corporate citizenship, Farina was never going to remain in charge of the Roar once he had been busted for drink-driving. You could see the relief on the face of Roar chairman Chris Bombolas as he announced Farina's departure.

But there is a touch of sadness now that Farina is no longer on the sidelines. Arok's Socceroos of the 1980s were a lovable bunch, if not all that good, and the likes of Farina and John Kosmina are forever etched in the minds of soccer fans of a certain generation.

And while the A-League is all about the players on the park, we note with interest former Sydney FC skipper and now Adelaide United defender Mark Rudan, who remarked on Thursday that that the 2009-2010 version of the A-League is just that little bit "boring".

When the likes of Farina and Kosmina aren't prowling the sidelines, Rudan might be right.