New A-League draw a mixed bag for clubs and fans

 
Adrian Musolino Columnist

By , 19 May 2010 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert

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John Aloisi - Melbourne Heart. Slattery Images.

When you take a closer look at the A-League 2010/11 season draw, released yesterday, you can clearly see the tactics the FFA is employing to curtail last season’s crowd slide. But the big talking point is the fact we’ll have to wait two months to see the first Melbourne derby.

The Melbourne Heart will kick-off the new season on Thursday August 5 at AAMI Park against the Central Coast Mariners.

It’s almost a carbon copy of last season’s opener when the Mariners traveled south to face the Melbourne Victory on a Thursday night at Etihad.

While it’s the logical and correct option to afford the Heart the right to host the season opener, the decision to stage their first clash with cross-town rivals (are they even cross-town rivals?), the Victory, in October, a week after the AFL grand final, is an indication by the FFA that the A-League will once again suffer in silence as its season opening fixtures cross-over with the AFL and NRL seasons and finals.

Why else would they make us wait two months for one of the most eagerly anticipated fixtures in the A-League’s history?

With the AFL grand final to be played the week before, and with the Melbourne Storm no chance of making the NRL grand final, the A-League should have the week preceding the derby all to itself in the Victorian media.

It will, in effect, be the unofficial launch of the A-League’s summer season, away from those media hogging codes with the weird shaped balls. Week 9 of the season: when the A-League emerges from the shadows with a bang.

Should the season have started with the Melbourne derby?

There are two schools of thought here. One suggests the best option was for the FFA to schedule the derby as the first game of the season to start with a bang.

The opening round of the season is intriguing enough, with Heart’s debut, the grand final replay between fierce rivals Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory, the Perth Glory with Robbie Fowler hosting his former team North Queensland Fury and the meeting of Queensland rivals Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast United.

Looking over these matches, it’s a very strong round of fixtures, but it would have been even bigger if it kicked off with the derby.

The other school of thought, therefore, is that having the Victory face the Heart in the first ever A-League derby would have been the perfect tonic for the ambivalence of the season start.

After all, it needs to start with a bang. As we saw last season, when the A-League commences and intrudes so much into the AFL/NRL seasons, it inevitably suffers from the lack of media and casual fan interest.

While this season will be able to ride the wave of World Cup euphoria, with a few of the bandwagon Socceroos supporters hopefully tempted to get behind their local club, they still have the same problem of intruding on the other codes’ seasons at a time when the momentum is with these rivals, as opposed to ending the season later and intruding into their season starts, when the momentum is with the A-League.

At least there is this derby fixture to look forward to and build up towards.

There were little other surprises for the Victorian clubs.

The Victory will move to the new AAMI Park for the majority of its fixtures, playing five at the bigger Etihad Stadium. These are against big rivals: the Heart, Gold Coast, Sydney and Adelaide twice.

It’s also interesting to note that on the weekends when the Victory play at Etihad, the Heart will be playing away, giving each team the Victorian capital to themselves – perhaps an indication that the FFA feels there will be a large number of fans who support both teams.

Other features of the draw are positive.

The fact the competition plays through January’s Asian Cup means the A-League avoids the savage blow of stopping at a time when it has so little competition from other sports.

The increase in the number of midweek matches is a step in the right direction, although I believe they start too early in September. They should instead be more condensed into and left in the December-January summer period, particularly to take advantage of school holidays.

Another tactic being used by the FFA in the draw is to give particular teams regular timeslots.

Adelaide United, for example, has yet again been given a bunch of Friday night home fixtures (10 in total, only one less than last season), while Sydney FC have a notable increase in Saturday night home fixtures.

This tactic is well and good to develop habits in the mindset of fans in terms of when their teams are playing – particularly handy when promotion is so limited – but it means there isn’t enough of a spread of these popular fixtures around the comp. So while some teams are rewarded with great timeslots, others are stuck with the unpopular afternoon matches in the height of summer.

A better spread of timeslots is needed.

For Adelaide fans, the news that United will be playing two games at the revamped Adelaide Oval is a huge fillip.

While Hindmarsh is undoubtedly a perfect home for an A-League club, the new Adelaide Oval, a key component in our World Cup bid, shows the progress United has made in developing a fan base, and it’s encouraging that they won’t miss out on the fruits of the new look CBD stadium.

Also, scheduling Adelaide at home to Melbourne Victory at the Oval in the final round of the season is a masterstroke. Let’s hope both sides are in premiership contention at that point. If so, Adelaide fans could well fill the stadium.

The other big talking point is the historic double header at the SFS on October 30 when the Mariners play a “home game” against Perth before Sydney takes on Brisbane.

Once again it’s a clever ploy by the FFA to try and entice punters.

It’s no coincidence that the visiting team in the curtain raiser involving the two away teams boasts Robbie Fowler – last season’s antidote for crowds across Australia.

But the double header needs to be promoted so that Sydneysiders are made aware of the fact that Fowler’s presence is why they should get to the SFS early to watch two neutral teams, otherwise the fixture has the potential to be played in front of a small group of traveling Mariners fans and no one else.

Credit to the FFA for trying the double header, a proven success in other codes, but it shouldn’t become a regular feature in the draw. We don’t want teams being forced to sacrifice home games for gimmicks to entice bigger crowds.

The draw also contains some shortsighted decisions that will adversely particular teams.

These include:

- Gold Coast United having two byes within three weeks.
- Adelaide United hosting Newcaslte Jets at Hindmarsh twice in just over a month.
- Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar playing all their three meetings over the first 14 weeks of the season.
- Central Coast having three byes in the space of a month.

These inaccuracies will hurt these clubs, particularly those forced into hibernation by having their byes in quick succession.

It’s hard enough for teams to get much going in the way of traction with fans and the media, so such own goals don’t help.

But overall it’s a positive draw, with the expanded midweek fixtures and scheduling of blockbusters around significant dates and weeks the right approach for the youthful league.

But let’s hope next year’s rendition irons out some of the shortsighted congestion of certain fixtures. It will at least be without byes with the Sydney Rovers entering the competition.

Fingers crossed all clubs survive so we have 12 competing teams.

The full A-League 2010/11 season draw can be viewed HERE.

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