personally I cannot believe the a-league screwed up on this one so badly. when the league/ffa was questioned over poor attendances at the start of the season Buckley said soothing words to the effect ‘all’s well, the league’s prime time is the xmas/NY period, that’s when to watch crowd figures’ >fast forward> so we get to the xmas/NY period and find the league has left a sign on it’s door ‘closed for business come back in 2 weeks’. xtremely pissed off as i was i lost interest in the league with this extra unnecessary break in proceedings and i’m finding it impossible getting interested again this season.
so when we’re told by the ffa that starting the a-league in july next year to cash in on the wake of the world cup will be a gr8 idea, all i can think is “FBS” and especially so if australia bombs out.

‘In that time, the A-League’s rival summer code (although, it can be argued it’s not much of a competition) has commanded the headlines with the Twenty20 KFC Big Bash pulling bumper crowds across the country.’ statistics tell their own story: the Big Bash pulled in over 18,000 spectators per match. A-League is struggling to scrape 10,000 per match.
so here’s a bit of advice frank, ben, and archie. management of the a-league should be outsourced to the afl because at least the afl can properly manage a league.

My hunch is that it is going to work just fine.

Re. Tasmania, the only thing I would point in is that in contrast to Townsville, which can access mining profits for sponsorship, Tas is a relatively cash poor economy. The debacle of the “mystery sheik” who was going to come in with millions to buy Tasmania a team underlined their paucity of options (not to mention their amatuerish approach). I just can’t see it happening. Do you really think the AFL would not be there already if Tassie was a viable proposition?

in addition to your list (canberra and auckland, both of which i think would be great for the league) i think woollongong could also support a team. reasonable sized population, strong footballing history and culture, good stadium. i’d certainly consider the nsw south coast a good option for future expansion.

The only real expansion possibilities after that would be, logically, Canberra and Auckland (AFC permitting). Tasmania is AFL through and through with a small geographically divided population and if the AFL don’t have a team there, an A League team certainly won’t be viable.

The hidden cost of our WC bid is this season’s A League.

There seem to be so many bloggers with football in their name now its getting confusing.
Maybe that comment was meant for “Mister Football” aka Pippinu, who is an AFL supporter who has gone feral on Australian Football and the FFA lately.

Just some basic marketing and promotion would be a start. I, like many others, assumed that this year the money was being held back for after the AFL and NRL finals, but no. There was nothing. I would be very interested to see what the FFA advertising and promotions budget was this year. If visibility is any guide, close to zero.

If you are trying to sell a product in a competitive marketplace, you have to promote and advertise. Until the FFA takes this seriously, the slide will continue.

Just to remind that J League attendances went from 19,000 plus in their 2nd year to 10,000 by their 4th and 5th seasons and are currently about 19,500 per game.
MLS high from over 17,000 in their 2nd season (1996) to less than 14,000 by 2001. They are now over 16,000 per game and have added 6 teams with 3 more to come in the next 2 seasons.

~~~~~~~
AF

It’scalledfootball: not all criticism is founded in opposition. Constructive criticism such as that offered in this thread and other recent articles is exactly what friends of the game should offer. If we keep mum then eventually we’ll have an “Emperor’s New Clothes” moment. We’ll be much better off making the necessary changes to scheduling next season.

I know others agree with this and it might be true for some of the teams. Perhaps in a place like the Central Coast where 5 years of Lawrie Mckinna is wearing thin but the 2 biggest losers (Jets and Roar) and the biggest disappointment (GCU) all have obvious reasons. If not for the ticket price increases (approx 75%) I think Roar would have matched or grown on their last seasons average (it was their biggest fan day ever). Gold Coast coming in had created more interest, more than enough to make up for a slight slit in the fan base.

The opening game despite the price increase was only 1k off the Roars best opening day crowds (season 1 and 2 were 20k) and bigger than the last two seasons but I know a lot of people who went to that game but felt miffed about the price and weren’t going to the next game. Since then their has been a lot of drama off the field so though prices have been somewhat remedied. Though the corner $15 sold out very early on (for a crowd of only 12k) for the Fury game leaving a lot disappointed.

GCU then matched the Roar prices and added on them (better team so should charge more I guess was the thinking). Very hard to grow the game (like Fury have done) in a new market with strategies like that. I bet the new AFL teams won’t charge as much in GWS and Gold Coast….and then everyone will compliment them on their success even though their gate receipts may even be less.

Jets have their own dramas with Con and selling their entire team. They also finished dead last (though someone will always finish last).

I think those 3 teams massive under performance (crowd wise) is hurting the leagues reputation but all the other teams have been doing fine for mine with a slight dip that is probably like you say the novelty factor.

Oh and points 1 to 13, hard to say anything other than I agree

In these instances it’s right to admire the AFL’s administration…. even if the product their selling doesn’t float your boat.
I wouldn’t be surprised if with much less interest the GWS AFL team pulls a bigger crowd than Rovers. Their will be plenty of free tickets and other strategys but a crowds a crowd and if you get one it gets you press even if 2 men and a dog are the only ones watching on TV.
So while the AFL will be succesful in selling ice to eskimos we have 13 day breaks and turning off fans with huge pricing increases.

Like realfootball I admire how well their game is run…. don’t enjoy the sport.

Did the FFA promote the season? No.
Did launching the season at the other code’s finals times work? No.
Is the timing of the season end a problem in a WC year? Yes.
Did GCU and the Roar’s ticket price hike damage the clubs? Yes.
Did the FFA approve the raised ticket prices? Yes.
Are the at times bizarre kickoff times affecting attendances? Well, attendances are down a full third, so something is, and this is the only presumption in this list, but at the same time a reasonable conclusion that the kickoff times are certainly a factor in some cases.

Attendances are the only real measure of success for a code in a competitive market place, and in that respect this season has not been a success.

If you “like something”, and I much more than “like” football, you express your concern if you see it being mishandled and its future jeopardised. I have supported the FFA strongly in the past, but this season I believe that there have been problems, serious problems, with their handling of the A League.

As the the AFL, pardon me? Where did I mention the AFL? I nail my colours to the mast here: I am a life long real football supporter. I have no time for AFL as a code, personally – but I also recognise that the AFL runs a tight ship with marketing a speciality. I also recognise that they have the funds to do it properly.

If you don’t like something you keep pointing out what’s wrong.
The FFA is always making “serious misjudgements”, while the AFL can do no wrong.

This time last year you were complaining that the A-League was played at the same time as qualifiers and all the A-League stars were missing.

No pleasing you is there.

The falloff in attendances is due in no small measure to the FFA. My suspicion is that their time and energy has been spent on the World Cup bid. They are only a small team with finite time and resources. Given this, it is a real loss that the A League has been so neglected in what I personally believe is Frank Lowy’s tilt at an unobtainable windmill. Mr Lowy has done wonderful things for the code, but the WC bid is a costly miscalculation.

Perhaps the HAL could simply continue when players have been selected for representative duties. It might not be a traditional approach, but it is employed in the NRL where the top players are skimmed off the competition for State of Origin and Test duties. There it adds an extra element of interest (or frustration) to see how teams will go when they are missing their best players. It is a leveler, if anything.

While football is definitely in a unique situation with respect to its international dimension the FFA could turn this to its advantage (especially at this time of year) with some imagination.