Gold Coast United are an embarrassment to the A-League
Roar Pro By Con Stamocostas, 24 Oct 2009 Con Stamocostas is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- A-League, Clive Palmer, football, Gold Coast United
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 United are an embarrassment one moment and the headline act in the theatre of the absurd the next. None more so than the antics of the ubiquitous owner Clive Palmer.
Before season five began, I wrote a pre-season preview on each A League club. With players to look out for and a light hearted prediction. Let’s rewind the tape.
“I predict Miron Bleiberg to be sacked after four games because of the poor form shown by the side in only scoring two goals per game not three. I expect to see Professor Palmer in pure Roman Abramovich-style, giving half time speeches while a bemused Paul Okon looks on.”
Last week that happened.
During the half time break, the Fox Sports camera’s showed Clive Palmer at half time in the Gold Coast dressing room.
A case of life imitating absurdity.
What’s more bemusing is that Clive Palmer has tried to cap the crowds at 5,000 so the Gold Coast don’t have to pay transport costs if more than 5,000 attend a home match.
No wonder the White Shoe Brigade don’t go to any games. In a first for football anywhere in the world, the owner doesn’t want the crowd to support his team.
Recently, I spoke with well-known surfing journalist and magazine editor of http://worldprosurfers.com, Jimmy O’Keefe, who was actually born and raised in the area. Jimmy offered some fascinating insights into the Gold Coast market.
Me: What are your thoughts on having an A League team on the Gold Coast?
Jimmy O’Keefe: “Tops. I think there’s potential for it to really blossom”.
Me: Why do you reckon the crowds are so low?
JOK: “It’s because Gold Coast is full of Visigoth-type bogans with bad tatts, and the only sports that seem to flourish in this cultural vacuum are burnouts in low-rider utes and rugby league”.
Me: Does the Gold Coast have the potential to be a football town?
JOK: “Certainly, it’s one of the biggest cities in the country. I think the place has had trouble as far as fan bases go because over the last two decades AFL and Rugby League consortiums have come and gone about five times. There’s also a huge transient population there, no affiliations to any teams”.
Me: What needs to be done to get bigger crowds? How would you engage the community so fans can watch the game on TV or attend?
JOK: “When it comes to families, let them know that it’s an alternative to whatever else is going on. That it’s a day out, people would jump at it. They just need to know that when it comes to singles, I think push it as a great place for women to go (unlike league) and a great afternoon to catch up with friends for a drink. Kind of like a Sunday session.
“I think marketing wise, it’s kind of strange place in that it’s a radio town, and people do a lot of driving or listen to the radio at work. And they seriously get into all the ‘Morning Crew’ and ‘Black Thunder’ sort of stuff. Sadly, they are indeed an effective way to mobilise Gold Coasters”. (The Gold Coast Titans signed Mat Rogers and gave his girlfriend a job on local radio.)
So there you have some free market research.
I am embarrassed to watch some of the Gold Coast matches. I think the FFA should have chosen a team in Canberra or Wollongong.
Those towns have football history and easily would have had greater crowds.
I also think the club would have used the word “Community”, rather than words like “three Jets”; “second richest”; and “undefeated”, in the way it sold the club to the local folks.
Recommend this story.
- Explore:
- A-League, Clive Palmer, football, Gold Coast United
October 24th 2009 @ 10:12am
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:12am | Report comment
In fairness to the Qld Govt – anytime a state government makes a substantial investment in a sporting stadium – it is hoping to receive at least some form of financial return to offset the investmet – perhaps not at commercial rates – but something has to be returned to the budget over a longish period.
October 24th 2009 @ 10:24am
goldcoastclint said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:24am | Report comment
Pippinu,
At the same time its the QLD state governments responsibilty to provide entertainment for us Queenslanders which will not always have a return on investment. Surely they have a responsibilty to do what they can to make sure that the team is a success. How about share the burdan of lower ticket prices and reap the rewards later…
The QLD Government just lost $11 Million on the A1 GP, Is spending $100′s Millions on a stadium just for the AFL team and are trying to bring the Red Bull Air Race to the Gold Coast, These are not commercial investments but do provide entertainment and make people feel good about living on the Gold Coast
October 24th 2009 @ 1:57pm
Rob said | October 24th 2009 @ 1:57pm | Report comment
Well, really, the first responsibility they have is to provide infrastructure to us Queenslanders, not bread and circuses, which is exactly what they’ve given us with the upgrade to Suncorp, the building of the Robina Stadium, and all that. Their responsibiliity to provide us entertainment is NOT as important as all of those things.
That being said, if they are going to build a football stadium at Robina, at least they should make sure that it has good public transport servicing it, which again, goes back to infrastructure, which is aprimary responsibility of the Qld Govt. Public transport on both the Gold and Sunshine Coasts is rubbish, and they should be investing in that sort of thing. Naturally, this investment would feed into better transport to the stadium.
But to say that the State Government has a responsiblity to provide entertainment to Queenslanders is a nonsense of the highest order.
October 24th 2009 @ 10:27am
Michael B said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:27am | Report comment
Con, this article shows why some people might be turned off and why you’re getting sh*t crowds @ GC united games.
It’s blatantly obvious that you’re not a fan of league, by your petty comments towards it. Maybe, just maybe if you thought for one second that you should be trying to win across some of those league fans to GC United games? Your comments about Visigoth-type bogans with bad tatts and unsafe females at league games just alienate fans from other codes and the outcome is 5K avg crowds.
October 24th 2009 @ 2:57pm
constantine said | October 24th 2009 @ 2:57pm | Report comment
you have a point
October 24th 2009 @ 5:06pm
AndyRoo said | October 24th 2009 @ 5:06pm | Report comment
I think he tried to back track later saying that the titans were going to win the comp this year but making those comments were dumb from the get go.
He’s a rugby league supporter himself so why he would piss of 85% of the QLD population by having a go at league is beyond me. especially the titans, if he had of made fun of the broncos fair enough but who has a grudge agaisnt the titans? Most people have a soft spot for them. I don’t support em but I admire what they have done on and off the field. Preston Campbell and Scott Prince are two of the nations favorite sportsmen.
October 24th 2009 @ 10:32am
macavity said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:32am | Report comment
they are fleecing the Titans too – hence they have the highest prices in RL which keeps their crowds artificially low.
and all to build an AFL stadium when (a) the AFL signed an agreement to get the GABBA upgraded and have now broken it, and (b) the AFL has buckets of money.
shame on the QLD govt for not making the AFL put their money where their mouth is.
October 24th 2009 @ 5:29pm
bever fever said | October 24th 2009 @ 5:29pm | Report comment
They did, the AFL provided quite a few million, a lot more than Searle and Palmer did, who gave nothing, both those clubs are privately owned, with all profits returning to the owners.
On the other hand if the GC football club makes a profit the money is funnelled back into the club not some fat cats pocket.
Are you for real.
October 24th 2009 @ 6:41pm
James said | October 24th 2009 @ 6:41pm | Report comment
Good Point. The QLD government is not stupd…thay know AFL is the number 1 game in the country….and when you look at crowds (you know…the people who get their asses off the couch and pay to attend games), no other footballl club comes close to the AFL…more than double the next best. So they know that when GC plays a Collingwood, Carlton or Essendon, there will be 10,000 out of towners staying at GC hotels, drinking that crap XXXX beer and generally stimultating the Gold Coast Economy. DO NOT have a crack at the AFL, they do a sh1tload more good than harm.
October 24th 2009 @ 7:56pm
Redb said | October 24th 2009 @ 7:56pm | Report comment
Bever,
Dont talk sense to the RL folk some just wont listen.
The fact is the AFL team will drive more inbound tourism than any other footy team on the Gold Coast easily and that is why the QLD Govt signed up.
Redb
October 25th 2009 @ 7:52am
michaelunt said | October 25th 2009 @ 7:52am | Report comment
Nice try AFL boys but the fact is that Rugby League rules in Queensland and Rugby League fans should not be forced to pay exorbitant ticket prices to subsidise a less popular code flush with cash.
Rugby League dominates QLD in terms of crowds and viewers – the AFL is a distant second.
Just assuming superiority, as you guys always do is not an argument – it is just bloated egoism of the worst type replacing argument with an elevated sense of self importance.
October 25th 2009 @ 7:56am
Freud of Football said | October 25th 2009 @ 7:56am | Report comment
And an NRL fan coming to a football article to talk about how poor the AFL and its fan’s are?
Are you intelligent enough to sense the irony?
October 25th 2009 @ 8:06am
michaelunt said | October 25th 2009 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Yes I am mate because whatever thread you start here the AFL boys come in and tell us why there code is the best in the country ad nauseam.
If I feel like responding I will. Are you intelligent enough to understand this?
October 24th 2009 @ 1:51pm
Ben Somerford said | October 24th 2009 @ 1:51pm | Report comment
I did a bit of my own ‘market research’ this week Con, posting a few threads on Titans forums to hear some views and there was some interesting responses about GCU. There’s a few links of threads below but my favourite was this reply from Diehard, a Titans fan;
“I have a very long memory.
Clive Palmer once said- “The difference between us and them (Titans) is that we will win the premiership and they probably never will.”
Needless to say, Diehard isn’t a big fan of GCU.
http://forum.titans.com.au/showthread.php?t=15758
http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/showthread.php?t=347366&page=2
October 24th 2009 @ 3:50pm
Con Stamocostas said | October 24th 2009 @ 3:50pm | Report comment
Well like me today it seems Clive has upset folks from the Gold Coat before a ball was kicked.
October 24th 2009 @ 4:08pm
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 4:08pm | Report comment
You get around Ben.
Not a huge amount of posts, but some common themes emerge.
I know it’s very hard to compare to Melbourne, but about half of the Victory’s membership comprise AFL members (i.e. football fans with two memberships, like me), and if you go to the Victory forums, there’s no shortage of aussie rules being discussed.
The Victory management understood this from the very start and have successfully cultivated an atmosphere where aussie rules people enjoy coming out to watch the Victory.
October 25th 2009 @ 7:06pm
Mitch said | October 25th 2009 @ 7:06pm | Report comment
Pretty simple why GCU arent getting crowds..
Its still Soccer!!!
Apart from the Socceroos (who are now the biggest national team) people couldnt give a toss about the game in general. Which shows in crowds and ratings..
October 24th 2009 @ 3:11pm
constantine said | October 24th 2009 @ 3:11pm | Report comment
palmer is an idiot and he really needs to learn when to stop. the team needs a bit of a boost, their not an embarassment they actually play extremely well. its obviously harder considering they never had an nsl team
October 24th 2009 @ 4:54pm
bever fever said | October 24th 2009 @ 4:54pm | Report comment
Where’s KB on all this.
October 24th 2009 @ 5:01pm
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 5:01pm | Report comment
KB has previously given his view on this – that 4,000 at the A-League provides far more atmosphere than 14,000 at Carrara (which may be true).
October 24th 2009 @ 7:18pm
goldcoastclint said | October 24th 2009 @ 7:18pm | Report comment
Rob,
The Government has a lot of responsibilities, one of them is to provide or at least support entertainment eg The Olympics, parades, sporting events, libraries, art exhibitions, parks etc.
One thing the government shouldn’t be doing is running businesses, They get their incomes from rates, taxes, fines etc. It shouldn’t be from charging too much for services for their people.
Right now the state government isn’t just getting a commercial return on their stadiums they are getting much more. Why government owned stadiums are far more expensive then privately owned one is beyond me, unfortunately it is causing ticket prices to be so expensive no one wants to attend this may make our team unviable and will mean that we on the gold coast will miss out on seeing live professional football. This would mean the government would lose their main summer tenant at Skilled Park.
October 26th 2009 @ 12:34pm
Rob said | October 26th 2009 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
Clint,
I won’t disagree with you on the point about government running businesses, although governments have had a long history of it – from banks (CBA, Suncorp) to butchers and a fishing fleet (Qld in the 1920s), and with my socialist hat on, I am all for it., because it was not about profit, per se, but about making sure there were stable jobs floating around, an “honest player” in the marketplace to help regulate the others – moderating capitalism, if you like. We could argue economic theory here, but it isn’t really relevant. We all know about how inefficient government run enterprises are, etc.
However, when operating a business specifically FOR PROFIT, Governments tend to want an immediate return on their investment, whereas most businesses plan for incremental gains that initially cover costs and build into tidy profits. That is evidently not what is going on with the stadium deals at both Skilled Park and Suncorp since the redevelopment. This is about recouping the cash in the fastest possible time, with no regard for the sustainability of the costs they are imposing on the clubs that are, in fact, filling the govt’s pockets.
So I agree with you that the government is being an idiot about all this rental cost business.
Again, my argument really comes down to the responsibilities of government – first and foremost they need to provide the basic provisions and equality of access for all, which is where infrastructure comes into it – trains, busses, light rail, hospitals, schools, universities and TAFEs, etc. and after all of these things are sorted out, entertainment comes into it. Unfortunately, it seems, entertainment and the provision of sporting facilities seems to outweigh the provision of these other things at times. Hence the argument about crap public transport on the Gold Coast, which invariably ends up in a discussion of why people don’t attend GCU games.
Incidentally, I wouldn’t put Libraries in my list of “entertainment”. They are cultural institutions and are about literacy, learning, preserving our history, and then entertainment, a distant last place.
October 24th 2009 @ 8:11pm
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 8:11pm | Report comment
There is one team who is at the exact opposite end of the spectrum (in terms of being an embarssment to the A-League) and that’s the Victory.
Eight consecutive wins against Adelaide, the latest in front of 22,000 (probably the 2nd highest attendance of the season), and an emerging start (Dugandzic) should have had a hatrick.
Who needs a World Cup when we have the opportunity right here and now to witness the likes of Arch, Muskie, El Zorro, Dugandzic, Leijer, a couple of gun Thais – the list just goes on and on.
October 24th 2009 @ 9:00pm
AndyRoo said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:00pm | Report comment
The new Thai didn’t score but he looks the goods.
MV’s recruitment vs SFC bounty of young players…. it’s going to be interesting last half of the season.
Fury 19mins to go 2 – 1 up, hope they hold on.
October 24th 2009 @ 9:21pm
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:21pm | Report comment
Yep – they’ve done it – came back from 1-0 down.
Well done NQF – the only Queensland team that can hold its head high.
October 24th 2009 @ 9:29pm
AndyRoo said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:29pm | Report comment
3 from 3 for the home teams…very un A league
October 24th 2009 @ 11:40pm
Freud of Football said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:40pm | Report comment
“Who needs a World Cup when we have the opportunity right here and now to witness the likes of Arch, Muskie, El Zorro, Dugandzic, Leijer, a couple of gun Thais – the list just goes on and on.” – I hope there was a hint of sarcasm there so subtle that I was unable to detect it.
October 24th 2009 @ 11:45pm
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:45pm | Report comment
Just like the title of that James Bond movie: “The World is not Enough”
Don’t worry about what the world can do for you – worry more about what you can do for your local football club.
October 25th 2009 @ 10:20am
Realfootball said | October 25th 2009 @ 10:20am | Report comment
I wish my GCU season ticket was a Victory season ticket, let me tell you. If I hadn’t paid so much for the damned thing, I’d be giving it back. Leaving aside the players, who are terrific, the club off the pitch is so disappointing. The bad judgements, the lack of professionalism in dealing with the public and the media. I was disgusted when I read that the old 5k cap issue was on the agenda again. Do these people have no self respect? Do they have no understanding of their market at all? I will most certainly not be taking out a membership next season. I’d rather travel further to see the Roar as I have done for the 4 previous seasons, because I think Postacoglou will turn corner for the club, and the fans will return. Commentators keep on saying how smart Bleiberg is. Well, I began the season with a high regard for Bleiberg but that has well and truly gone, and as someone who worked for a long time in PR and marketing, let me assure you that, contrary to Miron’s belief, there is such a thing as bad publicity. Exposure is about creating a brand, and Gold Coast have failed to create a brand that connects with its market – because, simply, they didn’t know what they were doing.
There is another match at Skilled Park next weekend. I couldn’t care less whether I go or not, and there is no more damning indictment from a member than that.
October 25th 2009 @ 6:09pm
AndyRoo said | October 25th 2009 @ 6:09pm | Report comment
Someone from the roar was on TV tonight talking about opening a bay that would be $15 tickets.
I hope that’s in place before Ange’s first home game as it would be a real positive turning point for the club.
October 25th 2009 @ 10:28am
Pippinu said | October 25th 2009 @ 10:28am | Report comment
There is no better value in World sport than a Victory membership.
October 24th 2009 @ 10:45pm
Davidde Corran said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:45pm | Report comment
Con I quite enjoyed your piece. I don’t necessarily agree with all your points but it’s nice to see the local community engaged in the debate (something I’m afraid Gold Coast United have done well).
Not sure why you’re getting a bit of a smashing for your approach in speaking to someone with understanding of the local layout and I don’t like the tone of it either. ‘Out of the box’ thinking should be encouraged. Keep it up.
October 24th 2009 @ 11:38pm
Freud of Football said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:38pm | Report comment
Nothing wrong with out of the box and as you said, it should be encouraged but there is no point posting that sort of crap on The Roar.
The Gold Coast is a huge area and I’m sure there are more qualified people to comment than someone whose answers make him appear as bogan as those he accuses of visiting RL matches. The comments of someone with no idea about the game or sports administration in general are totally useless and mean nothing, O’Keefe isn’t the kind of guy about to go and buy Gold Coast tickets so even from a fans perspective his answers are worthless – all in all it was a waste of time reading this article.
October 24th 2009 @ 11:43pm
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:43pm | Report comment
Steady on Freud – it wasn’t a complete waste of time!!
con’s line: “A case of life imitating absurdity” was quite good and that was a pretty fine pre-season prediction that the billionaire owner would address the team at half time!!
October 24th 2009 @ 11:49pm
Freud of Football said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:49pm | Report comment
Ok, so I read this article to find out Con made a good prediction before the season about an eccentric/idiotic billionaire who was always going to do something stupid sooner rather than later.
His posting of comments from the editor of a surfing magazine were a total waste of time and what this article was about. I’ll stick to it, a total waste of my time.
October 25th 2009 @ 11:16am
Con Stamocostas said | October 25th 2009 @ 11:16am | Report comment
I think you are over analyzing this one Freud…..
October 25th 2009 @ 11:15am
Con Stamocostas said | October 25th 2009 @ 11:15am | Report comment
Thanks Davidde