Football’s growth leaves Perth, Adelaide behind

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By Towser, 22 Jul 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

Tagged:: A-League, Australian Football, football, Socceroos, World Cup qualifier

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Post-Lowy, Australian football has slowly started to get its act together. But its momentum appears to be leaving Perth and Adelaide behind, particularly regarding international football.

In this country, unlike older countries like England, the focus nationally is not concentrated in the capital. So in England, Wembley is, if you like, the stadium of national focus.

It represents England and all that is English, despite massive regional differences in accent and culture throughout the nation.

Not so here with Canberra.

So in my book, to become a true “national” sport in Australia, you have to spread yourself around the states. Here are some statistics regarding Socceroo matches since the World cup qualifier 2005:

Sydney eight matches / average 51,315
Melbourne four matches / average 72,560
Brisbane three matches / average 43,505
Canberra one match / attendance 20,032

Some of the matches were friendlies, some World Cup or Asian Cup qualifiers.

It doesn’t matter really.

The point of the exercise is to show that, with no matches in either city, Perth and Adelaide are missing out on football’s momentum.

Clearly Melbourne and Sydney are doing okay, but so is Brisbane. In fact, Brisbane has come from a position of almost no history of substantial crowds to a decent position post-Lowy. I believe its because it has joined in football’s momentum.

This issue with Perth and Adelaide is an Achilles heel for the FFA in spreading football throughout the country and making it a true national sport.

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The Crowd Says (72) | Page 1 of Comments

jaymz said | July 22nd 2009 @ 7:21am | Report comment

the issue is lack of quality stadiums in perth and adelaide

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DogsOfWar said | July 22nd 2009 @ 7:25am | Report comment

Yep, agree. Build decent rectangular stadiums, and not only will you pull International Fixtures for football (soccer), I would think there is a much higher likelihood of League and Union bringing big matches that way as well.

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Tom said | July 22nd 2009 @ 9:04am | Report comment

Agreed. But what’s the solution? There’s only a limited number of games to go around.

As it is it seems pathetic that Melbourne has only hosted four internationals since 2005.

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Towser said | July 22nd 2009 @ 9:18am | Report comment

Whilst this article is essentially about footballs momentum in these 2 cities,I agree every sport that uses a rectangular stadium benefits. If it is basically a lack of suitable stadiums,then it shows the work Perth & Adelaide have to do if we are ever to hold the World Cup. Is Subiaco in Perth unsuitable for Football internationals,in its present state?. Perth Glory twice drew over 40,000 to grand finals in the NSL,one of which(the first) was in my book better than any A-League final so far.
Didnt seem to affect the quality of play that match. Same in Adelaide ,is the AAMI stadium inadequate for Association football.
Therefore in both cases for this reason(inadequate)the FFA have deliberately avoided playing International matches at these stadiums. Or is their another agenda, another reason that they’ve clearly been neglected. Ie the governments in both states cant be bothered to get off their arse to lobby for matches as has been done in QLD/NSW/VIC & I presume the ACT.
Whatever the reason(& I would like to know what it is) it needs to be rectified from the FFA’s perspective if it wishes to capitalise on footballs momentum. You see the potential in Adelaide for instance,where the last 2 matches against SFC in the city have been held at Adelaide oval,with crowds of 25000 or so. As I see it Hindmarsh is a throwback to the days pre Lowy when you didnt need a large rectangular stadium in Adelaide because football had no history of large crowds unlike Sydney or Melbourne. But neither did Brisbane,but it did have a superb government built, new rectangular stadium in Suncorp, ready made to display top class International football if their was momentum ,therefore tapping into the latent support for the game. Build it & they will come said Kevin(No not 07, the Dancing with Wolves one luved it).

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Towser said | July 22nd 2009 @ 9:26am | Report comment

Tom

Given the average crowd of Melbourne,you could argue that the FFA from a revenue perspective should hold all matches in Melbourne. If Australia was the same as England with the National focus at the MCG I might agree. But it doesnt work that way here. Cricket knew this & always spreads its matches around. No coincidence that cricket has maintained its “National Sport” tag. A game for all Australians regardless of state is what football is looking for. Its just that at the moment it appears that some states are a lot more equal than others in the FFA’s eyes.

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Redb said | July 22nd 2009 @ 9:37am | Report comment

Towser,

Australia’s sheer geographic size has already contributed to several cultures within the country. England is small it’s sphere of influence can be from a central point. In Australia it’s always been Sydney and Melbourne – both don’t particularly like each other and if anything avoid joining on anything except beating the Poms at cricket.

At this point Sydney FC is not winning the hearts and minds and as a result the A League is not hitting its straps, I wouldnt worry about Adelaide and Perth, it’s Sydney you have to get right.

Redb

Redb

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Tom said | July 22nd 2009 @ 9:43am | Report comment

I agree Towser. But cricket can have five days of international test match in Melbourne plus two or three one dayers. Football doesn’t have the same luxury. One international match per year seems like an absolute bare minimum in such a large sporting market.

Its not purely an economic question, although thats part of it. Its about maintaining and improving support in the large population centres.

I agree with the sentiment of the article. More needs to be done for Adelaide and Perth. But what?

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Kazama said | July 22nd 2009 @ 9:52am | Report comment

While disappointed that I have to go interstate to see the Socceroos play, I feel there’s not much point in building a new stadium in Adelaide if it is needed only once a year or every two years. Adelaide United has failed to pack out Hindmarsh Stadium regularly since the last season of the NSL. You can look at the big crowds we got at Adelaide Oval and for the ACL finals, but those were special games that the notoriously fussy sports fans of Adelaide were actually keen to attend. Even for the A-League finals we haven’t got close to capacity. And it is not as if every time we play a blockbuster we get a big crowd – IIRC we haven’t yet sold out Hindmarsh against arch rivals Melbourne. When we are getting 15,000-ish to every game, like in that last season of the NSL, then it is time to think about a new stadium. Until then Adelaide will be deservedly left out in the cold when it comes to international fixtures or blockbuster friendlies against EPL sides. Fittingly, the last Socceroos game to be held in Adelaide was the 2-2 draw with the Solomon Islands, held in front of a pathetic crowd of 3,500.

And yes, the FFA considers AAMI Stadium to be inadequate for football.

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Pippinu said | July 22nd 2009 @ 10:00am | Report comment

Interesting discussion.

It occurs to me that if the FFA don’t mind using the MCG and the Dome in Melbourne, then clearly, it’s a little discriminatory towards Perth and Adelaide that Subi and AAMI aren’t used.

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Kazama said | July 22nd 2009 @ 10:10am | Report comment

Perhaps the potential earnings from those grounds stack up differently?

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