The A-League is about to put the other codes to shame
Roar Guru By The Substitute, 4 Jun 2008 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
323 Have your say
A week ago I was so irate that I was almost prepared to denounce my football fanhood for good. Frank Lowy made comments about introducing a promotion and relegation system for the A-League and I just lost it.
The salary cap would die, I thought. Aussies won’t take to the idea, I thought.
I foolishly saw this as an attempt from Frank Lowy to exert his club-centric, Europeanized, traditionalist views on the Australian public.
But then I saw the genius in it all.
How blind I was to blog in a manner so vehemently opposed to such a brilliant idea. All I had to do was let go of the salary cap and then it just hit me like a moment of epiphany.
Confused? Let me enlighten you.
One of the main benefits football has over other codes is that is not bounded by traditional “strongholds” like League has with New South Wales and Queensland or like AFL has with the southern states.
It is, in a sense, a national game. Not because it has the highest level of support across the country, but because it has a fairly good standing across all states, not just a handful of them.
Promotion and relegation would exploit this leg-up and help football reach its full potential – and then some – by taking advantage of one of the biggest holes in the Australian sporting landscape. (No, I’m not talking about the Gold Coast or West Sydney).
A “PandR” system would offer citizens of regional centres the opportunity to follow a team that genuinely competes at a national level.
Even if they seem perennially bound to participating in a second-tier competition, the door is always open to move up from the AL2 (well, at least it’s better than the “B-League”) and into the A-League. Then chuck in an annual crack at the big boys through the mooted FFA/Australia Cup and you practically have a top flight team.
The Darwins, Tasmanias and Sunshine Coasts of this world can finally see their region represented at the highest level.
Through the magical wonder that is PandR, football can afford to hand out licenses to these cities without using them simply to make up the numbers or having them drag down the value of broadcast rights. They will either hover down the bottom of the A-League or make up the AL2.
Can the AFL afford this luxury?
Heck no.
As much as the AFL would like to give a new team to Tasmania, the fact is it would drag down the value of broadcast rights, because it is a fairly small market compared to the options north of the border and it is already AFL territory, so there aren’t any more fans left to convert.
As for league, it seems unlikely the competition could mount a serious blockade to football’s raid either. Although David Gallop’s expansion plans, which seemed crazy at first, are closer to the mark than what everyone first anticipated.
As for union, well, it would be happy to just get a fifth local team at this stage.
The only other option for rival codes is to build a strong second-tier competition, but given the ARU’s recent attempts, that could prove difficult. Such a move would be particularly controversial in AFL circles where the SANFL and WAFL seem intent on keeping whatever is left of their VFL-destroyed significance.
But even if such an example was to happen, without promotion and relegation – without the chance to “mix it with the big boys” – it all becomes a much harder sell.
One gets the feeling that by the time rival codes wake up to this fact, it will all be too late.
Football is about to, quite literally, take over the country and it is going to put rival code’s expansion plans to absolute shame in the process.
So well done, Frank Lowy, you really are the genius I thought you were before last week. I offer my sincerest apologies.
Recommend this story.
- Explore:
June 4th 2008 @ 10:51am
Midfielder said | June 4th 2008 @ 10:51am | Report comment
Treizistes
I played RL at a semi professional level with Guildford ……….. grew up in Fairfield ………… followed Manly and had a fight every day with a kid because I did, my all time best player any code is a spilt between Bobby Fulton & Harry Kwell.
Football is now well managered, I trust Frank Lowy and Ben Buckley look to the previous post if you have any doubt. Also has been said by many in NRL that A-League & NRL can share grounds and costs and work towards each other mutual benefit (notice it has been NRL people offering the olive branch)
So leave us along or be like Sheek & Redb and support your arguement with some logic.
P & R is still years away, but a plan on how to introduce it ………… how big the A-League will be ……………. if a Pacific team will be entered …………. if Singapore will be invited …………. rules to second tear will all be out there by the end of October. Football road map if it were to its future directions.
Me I still support Manly …………. hate Brisbane …………. loth Parramatta …………….. support the Mariners ………. follow the Woodies in union. Sorry AFL people as much as I appreciate the skills of the sportsman playing AFL I cannot get into it.
Most of all I want football based on its own merits, and therefore to commard rather than demand respect, be allowed to continue to grow and be accepted as a mainstream / traditional Australian sport. But I wish no other sport any harm and have a soft spot for union as my sons played it for years. I have also often said football past problems where often of there own making.
So continue if you like but please not at as was your last post.
June 4th 2008 @ 11:07am
Towser said | June 4th 2008 @ 11:07am | Report comment
I’ve already made several points on this in an earlier post under another subject heading.
However I’ll repeat a few.
First of all P& R is not an option. Sepp Blatter also added weight to the ratings table of the AFC that P&R is how he expects the game to develop across the emerging football nations.
I agree with the thrust of this article that the biggest advantage Football has over any other sport except cricket is that it has a truly national following ,albeit traditionally at a lower intensity overall than AFL in the Southern States & RL in NSW/QLD.
As a migrant who has lived in nearly all states & has always been connected with Football in Australia I know this to be true because it is post war migration that has spread the game nationally. To the point that Socceroos can come from every state & players from every state can play in top European Leagues.
The clubs in every state are a mixture of district & Mono clubs,but make no mistake the so called & much maligned “Ethnic Clubs ” have contributed in a massive way to the creation of football in Australia as a “Secondary ” national sport.
So far this latent secondary national “feel” has had no real platform to develop into a “First tier ” National sport.
The Socceroos are important in this respect but without strong truly National domestic Leagues not enough.
The A-League has started off in my opinion with the correct blueprint for the game to grow Nationally.
Firstly one club from the main cities with 2 regional clubs added. Both good examples for other regional clubs to follow as role models,particularly Central Coast Mariners.
Slowly more clubs are being added & the calibre of people wanting in has stepped up a level with the pending ownership of “Gold Cost United” by Queenslands richest man. The FFA are not rushing Frank Lowy moves when the timing is right & the jigsaw fits not until.
But as I stated in my previous post this comes with a massive proviso,lots of money & I mean lots to prop up a second division whilst participating clubs find their feet.
Japan is prepared to wait 100 years to develop their football via a P&R system. But they have more money to splash around than this country.
Where will we get the money?
Firstly from an increased TV deal & sponsorship increases.
Secondly I hope from the AFC who I believe should help if they are committed to P&R amongst their member nations.
As I said before if cricket can find billions from one Asian country to fund the IPL given the number of billionaires in Asia,then surely football can(Thai bloke bought Man City for instance).
P&R is a sign of strength in a sport. It means that throughout the country there is enough support for a particular sport for the top to support whats beneath ,because whats beneath cares enough to want to be the top.
I firmly believe Football has that support throughout the country from my own personal football experience in Australia & the reasoning above.
Given what has happened in football in the last 3 years I believe the money will be found to create & uphold a second division. Not today, but tomorrow & not until the A- League has developed a stable & financially viable 12 or 14 team first Division.
June 4th 2008 @ 11:08am
Paul said | June 4th 2008 @ 11:08am | Report comment
Oh Hallelujah, we will all be converted from our heathen codes to the one true game.
Substitute, I am so sick and tired of this talk that soccer is better than the other sports. Also, up until now even you have been saying that soccer will not take over. How is this not a declaration of football war in your mind?
I expected better of you.
The AFL are not blind, and I think soccer has a much tougher road ahead than you Frank Lowy worshippers believe.
June 4th 2008 @ 11:39am
Koala Bear said | June 4th 2008 @ 11:39am | Report comment
Millster,
I totally agree with you.. It can not be a total European style model, and we need a promotion and relegation model base on the conference style of the USA. Someone posted that fair suggestion up; I can’t remember who it was, but, it seemed to me that traveling all over Australia will send it bankrupt; as it did with the Rugby U Club Championships in their first season, it went into $7m debt with averaging only 4k-5k attendances..
We must not make that same mistake, and we should look at the state leagues first to see how we can stitch them up to the A-League.. To have a promotion and relegation play off at the end of the season, as we just witnessed in the EPL created enormous interest in England and even here in Australia.. Something we should keep in mind when we introduce an Australian Model..
I also agree with you the current models of NRL and AFL are too contrived with salary caps first pick drafts etc it is just rewarding mediocrity and not incentive based.
~~~~~~~
KB
June 4th 2008 @ 11:41am
Supastrika said | June 4th 2008 @ 11:41am | Report comment
Substitute, i think you may be reading a lot more intothe FFA and Mr Lowy’s genius thinking than you need to. Think of it a bit more like this .
We want the World Cup in 2018 (despite all insiders views that say it is highly unlikely) , BUT Mr Bloatter (the o is there for a reason) has said JUMP !! So we just asking him how high we have to jump. 2nd division…..yes sir no sir 3 more bags of money for you sir…….here is our second league. I think its more about posturing to FIFA to get the World Cup.
I think that there is nothing more exciting than having a promotion and relegation system in sport, in my view it is what all codes league should have. However i remain unconvinced that it can work in Australia without a considerable amount of funds from the National federation and a lot of time to build it up. I think what the issue here is, what happens when a nearly bankrupt Sydney FC or Roar goes down…….they have no means of supporting themselves in the lower tier, and the fans will desert them. You only need to look at match attendance in the A-league to see when a team is losing the gate falls away (with most the exceptions maybe Adelaide, and CC) quite dramatically. What about stadium deals that are being signed up, say Gold Coast signs a 5 year deal for a stadium , gets relegated and then the promoted team is from Darwin……dont think they are going to take over the stadium deal and Gold Coast wont open the stadium for 1500 fans. You should know that the newly State games up here get about 100-1000 fans per game.
And we havent even thought about travel costs, loss of playesr when your relegated. Its going to cost big money to support.
It is a great idea but i think its impractical , right now , but i would be happy to be proven otherwise.
June 4th 2008 @ 12:03pm
Lazza said | June 4th 2008 @ 12:03pm | Report comment
Paul,
You will be never open your mind to Football, you just consider it a threat to the AFL and won’t give it any credit.
Football is targeting the current and next generation of sports fans. They have been brought up with easy travel, the Internet and Pay TV are much more knowlegdable about all sports compared to the baby boomers. Franchises are falling over themselves to get into the A League and the Socceroos are playing competitive matches in front of sell out crowds around the country. No longer do we have to wait 4 years for a quality meaningful game. There’s a 2 year marathon of WC qualifiers and then the World Cup itself followed by the Asian Cup. All COMPETIVE games and all played in front of good crowds. There were 50k at Suncorp last Sunday, a lazy 44k at Telstra Dome last Friday to watch a ‘friendly’ club game.
When the next TV contract comes into force in about 4 years time, the Socceroos will be on FTA TV rating anything between 1-4 million per match and the A League will be shown to an even bigger audience. It will be a lot harder to deny reality then.
Promotion and relegation may be a long term goal but I think it will happen eventually. Like all leagues in this country, when your team is struggling, what have you got to play for? Draft picks? P/R is the best concept ever developed in sport.
June 4th 2008 @ 12:16pm
Redb said | June 4th 2008 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
Towser,
Good reasoned post. I think Millster is also correct re travel issues in OZ are a nightmare and thus big dollars with little return are required. As is the point about stadium deals.
Substitute,
“Football is about to, quite literally, take over the country and it is going to put rival code’s expansion plans to absolute shame in the process”
I think this statement is highly questionable.
Redb
June 4th 2008 @ 12:27pm
Ben of Phnom Penh said | June 4th 2008 @ 12:27pm | Report comment
The idea of a P&R system has its merits and as has been noted that there are considerable obstacles in terms of finance and support that can be garnered at this early stage in the A-League development. I believe a second tier needs to be national and as such would require significant subsidies from the FFA to exist. This can only occur once TV rights and other revenue streams have increased by orders of magnitude from current levels. Then there would be the need to compromise; a subsidized second tier will mean less funds for other areas of development such as youth, national teams and womens football. Hence the business model will need to show that the second tier is a better investment in the longer term future of football in the country than these alternative investment options. Timing is the key here and as I’ve said before we have to wait a little while yet however it is healthy for the debate to rage in the meantime.
June 4th 2008 @ 12:40pm
Michael C said | June 4th 2008 @ 12:40pm | Report comment
WIthout reading any other responses = my first thoughts are:
Australia is a big country – - travel issues – - means at very least a ‘conference’ style divisionisation – - except – - that, as with most things, if we could just ignore Perth it’d be a whole lot easier!!!!
Dilution of the small domestic market – - presently, for all the supposedly latent soccer support/interest/participation – - the fact that nationally only 50-70K attend every week – - thus far, it’s not an overly ‘mobilised’ market place. Perhaps this would actually weaken some of the existing franchises – - – because, it already appears that ‘local interests’ and perhaps dreams of future participation may be holding people back from jumping on the SFC bandwagon – especially. In a small domestic market this may actually apply brakes on the ability of a MVFC or SFC to become a rampant super club (not bad for the validity of the ‘local’ competition BUT, not flash for trying to take on Asian clubs).
It’d to greatly dilute the tv interest as well – - by focussing too much importance on the local club as being a direct (or 1 step removed potential) competitor with the SFCs and MVFCs etc, it breaks down what has been achieved by making these ‘one team for one city’. (and, actually, the potential expansions clubs waiting in the wings will likely do this too, if done too soon – - there just seems a bit of impatience – - but, the AFL is guilty of that too, I speculate the NRL can’t afford to do to much, and might actually be best served by being FORCED to be patient).
Maybe, people might opt to support Epping whilst also supporting MVFC, but, there would be harbored desires to challenge the ‘big boys’.
The finances and player depth etc – - that’d be a challenge.
So much would seem reliant on the soccer scoring system providing mostly low scoring matches and allowing a perception of eveness.
It is a ‘nice’ idea. But – - soccer is far from number one in the market place – and, even if it might be the best ‘average’ or best lowest common denominator in the national market place – - the fact is it’s no where near number one market by market (except maybe Gosford??). So – - modelling based on England, or Germany – - that seems to be folly – - or, far sighted wishful thinking.
btw – - invariably, in the other codes – - the 2nd tier really only operates efficiently as a ‘feeder’ league – - more based on the US Majors and Minors modelling. That probably, for so many reasons, still holds best in the Australian market.
Well – the above is mainly re. the 2nd tier PandR system. But, no reason not to have some form of FA Cup equivalent.
Lazza -
44K, at the TD – - most were there purely and simply because of their Italian heritage to see Juventus. And, the irony was the bigger write up in the social pages in the paper than the sports section. Now – - if it were 44K for a freindly between SFC and MVFC – - then, that’d be something big. There is a track record in Melb of coming out to see big international soccer teams – - the only thing that changed was it wasn’t the Socceroos playing them, but, on some previous examples the socceroos pulling power wasn’t that flash.
June 4th 2008 @ 12:51pm
Lazza said | June 4th 2008 @ 12:51pm | Report comment
Michael C,
According to the Sweenet Report, Football is currently No. 3 in the country with only Cricket and AFL having more interest. Football and Cricket are neck and neck with Football pulling ahead after the last WC and Cricket regaining No. 2 after the Ashes.
I’m sorry to keep bringing up Sweeney but a lot of people here just keep pulling out ‘facts’ and opinions out of their backsides. Most baby boomers don’t even know the true sporting landscape in their own country. How many times do you hear AFL/RL fans say that there sport is ‘Australian’ rather than a ‘regional’ sport which is more accurate. They might be big but they have never been truly national sports. Only Cricket and Football have been able to manage that.