A New Caledonian team in the A-League?
Roar Guru By Australian Football, 16 Jan 2010 Australian Football is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- A-League, Christian Karembeu, football, World Football
Ocean 11. No, not the movie, but a football team to be based in New Caledonia. The A-League may have a new entrant from New Caledonia if ex-France 1998 World Cup football winner Christian Karembeu has his way.
Christian Karembeu is heading a consortium “Ocean 11 FC” to be entered into the 2012 HAL season, if all goes to plan.
Some corporates in France are warming to Christian Karembeu’s concept and will supply the finance and football academy expertise for the new club in New Caledonia.
However, the question remains: is this football team a current work in progress, or a real player for the HAL?
Maybe yes, maybe not.
The Ocean 11 FC consortium, after witnessing the All Whites amazing run of success, gate crashing through the Asian Confederation into the South Africa’s FIFA 2010 World Cup, are eager to do the same.
Or match them, at the very least.
Christian Karembeu is right – it would be near impossible to overcome the All Whites dominance if the status quo remains the way it is, unless something is done to counter what the Phoenix FC are doing on the behalf of New Zealand football.
The All Whites will have exclusive rights to the Oceania National Football Championship title if there is no other formidable contender in the South Pacific region of nations to keep up with them.
There is a huge disadvantage for the other smaller island nations, like Fiji, Solomon Islands, and any other Island member nation that makes up the Oceania confederation, which has no participation in any fulltime professional football league.
I believe the Ocean 11 FC entering into the HAL can be a good thing, especially as it will advance football in the South Pacific region.
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- A-League, Christian Karembeu, football, World Football
January 16th 2010 @ 7:54am
MV Dave said | January 16th 2010 @ 7:54am | Report comment
Would be truly wonderful but just cant see the politics of AFC letting it happen…they even want to boot Wellington! Just no understanding the petty politics and failure to see the big picture of spreading the word and giving opportunities to those that dont have any. Fingers crossed for it to happen but wouldn’t be holding my breath on this one.
January 16th 2010 @ 9:49am
TheMagnificent11 said | January 16th 2010 @ 9:49am | Report comment
Yeah I agree with MV Dave. This will only happen if Oceniania is dissolved and becomes part of Asia. I think the best case would be Asia splitting into East and West Aisa where the East Asia confederation includes Oceniania (otherwise Asia would be too big geographically and would be a logistical nightmare for playing qualifiers and the ACL). Of the 5 World Cup places you would expect the East to get 3 and the West to get 2. I can’t see the Oceniania countries agreeing to such term because in this situation the Oceniania countries now stand now chance of making a World Cup. This is because the East has South and North Korea, Japan and Australia. Those 4 teams would battle it out for those 3 spots.
January 16th 2010 @ 6:58pm
Daniel King said | January 16th 2010 @ 6:58pm | Report comment
Don’t really see how adding Oceania would make Asia too big, a few extra teams/nations yeah but no hopers so who cares! Come Play!
January 16th 2010 @ 7:52pm
Marcel said | January 16th 2010 @ 7:52pm | Report comment
The OFC nations just dont have the resources to mount a lengthy qualifying campaign. If American Somoa had to travel to Saudia Arabia, Uzbekistan etc on a regular basis then it would send them broke pretty quickly.
January 16th 2010 @ 9:19pm
jimbo said | January 16th 2010 @ 9:19pm | Report comment
Yes and Oceania is much weaker politically now that Australia has left, so not much chance of New Caledonia joining the A-League unless they re-locate the team to Australia.
New Caledonia to Perth A-League road trip?
Might be cheaper to locate the New Caledonia team in Alice Springs and play their home games at the foot of Uluru.
January 18th 2010 @ 8:46am
Tom said | January 18th 2010 @ 8:46am | Report comment
Its about the same distance from Perth to Noumea as it is from Perth to Wellington.
Still, Perth to Wellington is a long enough haul to do once a season.
January 16th 2010 @ 9:36am
True Tah said | January 16th 2010 @ 9:36am | Report comment
Agree with MVDave, that the politics of Asia will not really help Pacific Islands futbol, given that New Zealand qualified at the expense of an Asian side. Plus I suspect the FFA will probably sit at 12 teams for a few years to consolidate.
There is some division in New Caledonia regarding moves for independence, and this could have an impact on French corporates investing in the side, as aside from that, there may not be the $$$ in New Caledonia alone.
If it doesnt get up, maybe the HAL should seriously consider recruiting players from New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and French Polynesia, Pacific nations where futbol is the number 1 sport…in the past I have argued that such players should be exempted from the salary cap.
January 16th 2010 @ 10:18am
Davstar said | January 16th 2010 @ 10:18am | Report comment
I think its a good idea if we could get a few more teams from our surrounding nations we might actually be able to make the A-league a very strong league. If you look at the population of Australia its probably unable to support a 20 team league or a league with relegation. If we could get a few more teams from Oceana then we actually might be able to boost a incredibly strong league.
However the AFC will never allow it, I’ve noticed the AFC is very poorly run. I hope they Merge Oceana and he AFC or at least accept that Oceana is a grow confederation and we need to work together to promote football if this happens Australia could build a league outside its boarders. With that we would have enough fans to have a 14 1st division competition and at least an 8-10 div 2nd competition with full relegation and promotion. Not to mention we will be up against more playing styles than ever before and a lot of French scouts will be watching our League which will increase our Exports to higher leagues.
January 16th 2010 @ 11:42am
gazz said | January 16th 2010 @ 11:42am | Report comment
Perth Glory already have enough travel to deal with.
January 16th 2010 @ 1:39pm
pernunz said | January 16th 2010 @ 1:39pm | Report comment
I honestly cannot see the Oceania confederation lasting too long, especially if New Zealand fail to pick up a point at the World Cup this year.
I think it would be much better if all the Oceanian nations entered the Asian confederation as TheMagnificent11 suggested, but I’m just not sure that the AFC would be willing to support all these lower nations without funding from FIFA.
I would love to see Oceania join Asia, and the A-League Division 2 being an experimental Oceanian league with a couple of Australian clubs, but I suspect this is only a pipe-dream.
January 16th 2010 @ 9:25pm
Midfielder said | January 16th 2010 @ 9:25pm | Report comment
AFC will ban… also I would perfer Asian teams… Singapore etc..
January 17th 2010 @ 7:47am
Australian Football said | January 17th 2010 @ 7:47am | Report comment
Thanks for the comments lads—-looks like the general consensus is an emphatic “Big No”… Although I still feel they would be an interesting inclusion for the HAL…
~~~~~~~
AF
January 18th 2010 @ 12:44am
Cpaaa 2018 said | January 18th 2010 @ 12:44am | Report comment
i love the working title “Oceans 11″, and how fantastic would it be to have our ocean neighbours taking part in the A-League.
Imagined if “Oceans 11 FC” had a marquee like Zou Zou, to put them on the map, with their French connections they would add a new dimension to the A-League let alone what it would do to the Oceania region.
I believe this idea would have gone ahead if Australia remained a part of Oceania, but considering the obstacles Wellington are now facing the thought of another Oceania club in the near future seems grim, considering the statements already made by Bin Hamman towards the FFA and AFC policy.
Not to say it cant happen, for the Wellington club will remain in the A-League…they have to. FFA will find a way for them to remain. That said it opens doors for another. heres hoping
January 18th 2010 @ 1:46am
youll said | January 18th 2010 @ 1:46am | Report comment
I think the expansion attitude has to stop somewhere. A little consolidation is in order I think. We shouldn’t be talking about expansion until Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane pull 25,000 to a game.
The Oceans 11 idea is interesting. I was under the impression that rugby was the most popular sports in these nations and football didn’t get a look in. Unless it is the other way around who is going to be watching. It is not an ‘if you build it they will come situation’.
January 18th 2010 @ 7:36am
True Tah said | January 18th 2010 @ 7:36am | Report comment
Most of the major football codes are popular in at least one country of the Pacific.
Rugby – Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands, Niue
League – Papua New Guinea
American football – American Samoa
Futbol – Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, French Polynesia, New Caledonia
Australian football – Nauru
So futbol certainly does get a look in these nations, but I guess this is not well known. Certainly the fact that plenty of Islanders play professional rugby in NZ, Japan, France and UK, and given that the Wallabies and All Blacks have always had guys of Islander heritage playing for them would certainly add to the rugby reputation of the Islands.
Apart from Karembeu and Cahill, I don’t know of too many guys with Islander heritage playing professional futbol globally?
January 18th 2010 @ 9:24am
Daryl said | January 18th 2010 @ 9:24am | Report comment
Theres no point in talking about all this until Canberra have a team. after the second melbourne and sydney teams enter the league, Canberra HAS to be the next team