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By pushing expansion, FFA have their priorities wrong

22nd September, 2009
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Roar Guru
22nd September, 2009
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1928 Reads
Gold Coast players react after Jason Culina scored in the 59th minute to put the Coast 2-0 up during the 1st round A-League football match between Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast United at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Gold Coast players react after Jason Culina scored in the 59th minute to put the Coast 2-0 up during the 1st round A-League football match between Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast United at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

“Not again.” Two words I’ve muttered twice today thanks to a couple different articles. The first was in regards to a blog on The World Game from Jesse Fink. As well as being a fellow columnist on The Roar, Fink regularly gave me his time on my former SBS Radio program and is a writer I have a lot of respect for.

While I disagree with his stance on Richard Porta, I suspect we might have had a similar reaction to the second of those articles.

You see, I was left feeling rather empty by some comments made by A-League chief Archie Fraser this week.

When asked about the Professional Footballers Association idea of an ‘Asian Marquee’ by The World Game, Fraser was quite dismissive.

“Another marquee player is not on the agenda,” explained the A-League supremo. “There have been some discussions on the issue but our feeling is it would create a gap between those that could afford it and those who couldn’t at a time when we are still building and developing the league.”

Fraser adding that “the bottom line is the league is in its fifth year and clubs are looking to build sponsorships and attendances and financially this just isn’t the right or most prudent time to be taking such measures.”

Cue the disappointment I know is being felt right across the Australian football community.

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In truth, Fraser makes a reasonable argument but A-League clubs aren’t building on sponsorships and attendances. The clubs are barely struggling to hold on to what they’ve got.

Despite this season’s expansion and some high profile signings, for many, excitement is being dampened. Why? Because when club’s can’t even hold onto a squad player like Anton Kovacic you know something’s wrong.

Unlike Fraser and Football Federation Australia, I don’t believe a second Marquee spot will make the league one sided.

The A-League doesn’t have the reputation to even come close to drawing in world-class players. Not to mention that the A-League clubs that might be able to afford a second marquee can’t offer the salaries required to get them here.

For those reasons the quality of player a second marquee would bring in would be higher then your average A-League player, but they wont single headedly ruin the competition’s competitiveness.

There’s another side to this, as well.

The beauty of an Asian Marquee player isn’t just that it would enable us to sign Asian players who would be otherwise out of the A-League’s salary constraints.

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The rule, which could also be used to sign an Australian player, would also work as a defence against the continued player drain out of the A-League to Asia.

If a high quality player is being tempted by big money overseas, the A-League club in question would have an avenue to fend off the interest.

Tell me it wouldn’t be worth Gold Coast United backer Clive Palmer’s money to go as close as he can to matching an offer from Saudi Arabia for Shane Smeltz?

Beyond that, an Asian Marquee spot could help clubs sign more ‘returning Socceroos’.

While it’s still unknown if Mark Viduka ever wants to play football again, he would be a better chance of playing for a Melbourne based A-League club if they weren’t restrained by the salary cap. It would be just what Melbourne Victory need right now both on the pitch and in the stands.

In the story on The World Game Fraser also mentioned that “Right now (FFA) are more concerned with managing expansion, and making sure that’s done in the most sustainable fashion.”

Well, what’s the point of expanding a league’s size if you can’t sustain its quality as it is?

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Last year, with expansion looming on the horizon, concerns were already rife about the depth of playing stocks before the 3+1 rule was introduced. Now the player pool clubs can draw from has shrunk and is continuing to do so.

In protecting expansion and not the quality of players we have in the A-League at the moment, Football Federation Australian has got its priorities wrong.

I would rather a high quality ten team competition then what we’ll see dished out next year if the player drain continues.

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