An opportunity not to be missed by the game
Columnist By Adrian Musolino, 29 May 2010 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert
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- 2010 World Cup, A-League, Craig Foster, football, John van't Schip, MCG, melbourne heart, Melbourne Victory, Nicky Carle, Socceroos, Sydney FC
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Australian soccer fans enjoy the atmosphere at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. AAP Image/Julian Smith
How does football convert the bandwagon Socceroos supporter into a permanent football supporter? That’s the question the football community should be asking itself as it enters the rare period every four years when the code is at the forefront of Australia’s attention.
Craig Foster recently wrote of the need for the game to take full advantage of the opportunity afforded by the World Cup, arguing that “football has to be clever enough to leverage the incredible opportunity that comes courtesy of World Cup qualification to drive some key messages out to mainstream Australia.”
Foster then outlines the messages football needs to get across in this period. They are, in the main, grandiose messages in keeping with Foster’s well-known philosophies on football’s place within Australian society.
But what he and the wider football community are missing are more practical strategies to help the betterment of the game, particularly the A-League.
Foster says one of the key messages should be: “The growth of the A-League and its goal to become number one in Asia and the foremost professional sporting competition in Australia.”
The message should not be just on the growth of the A-League but rather ways in which it can achieve further growth and consolidation.
Pushing and selling the A-League brand should be woven in to the greater Socceroos message when the national team is in the spotlight.
How? Simple marketing. Pushing brand awareness at any opportunity.
At the MCG for the Socceroos versus All Whites clash, there was no visible sign of the A-League and its two clubs, Melbourne Victory and Heart, apart from an interview with Heart coach John van ‘t Schip in the match program.
While corporations like Sony, Foxtel, Optus, Solo and the like were pushing random products emblazoned with their logos and slogans, why weren’t the Victorian clubs and someone from the FFA representing the A-League pushing anything from membership offers, the new season draw, beach balls emblazoned with the club and league logos, whatever, to help increase brand awareness of them to a potential new audience?
It was yet another missed opportunity and this sort of basic marketing should be a necessity at each Socceroos outing – even at events such as Sydney’s Fan Fest during the World Cup, where large numbers of casual fans will gather.
Would it hurt Sydney FC to send Nicky Carle and co to Darling Harbour during Socceroos matches and mingle with the supporters, offering membership packages, telling them the time and date of their season opener, etc?
Every little bit they can do to help push the Sydney FC brand will come in handy, and if they do it right it should have a noticeable impact on crowd numbers at the SFS.
Remember, football has been buried out of sight on Fox Sports and SBS for years, and this is only the second occasion in recent times where the code has such widespread mainstream attention.
Grasp this opportunity and maximise every possible minute of it through advertising, promotion, fan interaction, etc, to preach to the masses and convert them one by one.
These things don’t just happen naturally.
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May 29th 2010 @ 12:06pm
Joe FC said | May 29th 2010 @ 12:06pm | Report comment
We can all do things better Adrian; you, me, Craig Foster and FFA. I don’t know about you & Foster but in the world I live in resources are finite. There’s no bottomless pit of money from which I can fund my heart’s desires and I know it’s the same for FFA and the A League clubs. It’s always easier to spot someone else’s failures rather than our own, something Foster seems to have little trouble with. Sure we would all like to see more things being done and being done quicker, but the reality is priorities have to be set and not everyone will be happy with the decisions taken. Instead of bemoaning what isn’t being done let’s acknowledge the progress made. By any measure football in this country is light years ahead of where it was a decade ago. I for one am delighted that so called “bandwagon” supporters are ready to rally behind our national team at world cup time. As Victer has already said building a strong football culture in Australia will take generations, marketing campaigns with foundations of sand will bring bitter disappoint.
May 29th 2010 @ 12:09pm
James said | May 29th 2010 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
It doesn’t take a fortune to print out and hand out some flyers
May 29th 2010 @ 12:06pm
Galloping Guru said | May 29th 2010 @ 12:06pm | Report comment
I just had a quick think about it and Craig Foster is soccer’s gift to the other footy codes in this country, constantly giving them a free kick.
Just like Clive Palmer is soccer’s gift to GC17 football club on the Gold coast.
Just imagine Craig on a free to air TV channel that people watch, how embarrasment !!.
I thnik craig will go, once the PR people have a good think about it.
May 29th 2010 @ 10:32pm
Realfootball said | May 29th 2010 @ 10:32pm | Report comment
Does anyone in any of the other codes even notice him?
Aside from his hair, of course.
May 29th 2010 @ 12:07pm
DiCanio said | May 29th 2010 @ 12:07pm | Report comment
I tend to Agree that people that denigrate other codes don’t do football any good
I’m a football fan first but love sport in general and see no reason to get into pissing contests about who’s sport is better.
I will defend Fozzie simply because he is the necessary balance of power that needs to exist to rectify the blatant bias and disingenous attitude towards football present in mainstream media.
I think that alot of the football hate comes out of the fear of the foreign that exists within small but vocal and powerful minorities within the Australian community. From an objective point of view it is a form of oppression and like any oppressed group it often requires strong voices to level the playing field
The day that Foster becomes obselete is the day football acheives fair equilibrium, but the fact that there are still many Australians who admire Foster indicates that there are still many football supporters who feel (rightly or wrongly) oppressed or disenfranchised by mainstream media attitudes.
May 29th 2010 @ 12:14pm
Axel V said | May 29th 2010 @ 12:14pm | Report comment
Adrian says “football has been buried out of sight on Fox Sports and SBS for years”
I understand being out of site on Foxtel, but out of sight on SBS???
Last I checked the Socceroo’s ratings when they were last on SBS (4 years ago) blew the ratings through the roof, and we are talking about midnight and 4:30am timeslots here… And that Foxtel are hogging the pre-World Cup friendlies is also sucking the build up from the tournament.
And if you’ve learned anything from the Jehovah’s witnesses, people don’t like being invaded and told what they should and should not do, what to like and believe in. It’s very simple, expose the very best of our game, maybe bring some of your friends to some matches, and let them make up their own minds, that’s all you can do. Free To Air will go a long way for exposure and media interest.
May 29th 2010 @ 12:20pm
Realfootball said | May 29th 2010 @ 12:20pm | Report comment
You know what, Adrian? It was a very good thing that the A-League was not associated with that disgrace of a game.
If the game against NZ was used to sell the A-League… well, it doesn’t even bear thinking about. Let’s just hope that the WC is a better promotion.
Realistically, how could an international under Verbeek be used to sell the A-League? A coach who has at every opportunity denigrated the competition and its players. My hope is that when the dour Dutchmen leaves we will have coach who gives us a team that can actually be used to promote the game, instead of a team that plays like its on Stillnox.
May 29th 2010 @ 12:35pm
Axel V said | May 29th 2010 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
Considering that the Wellington Phoenix completely played the Euroroo’s off the park in the 1st half, i’d say it wouldn’t be a bad selling point!
May 29th 2010 @ 1:56pm
Realfootball said | May 29th 2010 @ 1:56pm | Report comment
Good point – though I’m not sure what it says about the Socceroos. I know what it says about Verbeek.
May 29th 2010 @ 2:47pm
Corey said | May 29th 2010 @ 2:47pm | Report comment
Can I just say this is what holds Australia back from having sold out matches all the time. All this infighting between rival codes. I love my Rugby League and find Soccer a bit of a bore, but I will go to any match, I have season membership to the Broncos, I went to a couple of the Reds games, I have been to multiple Lions games and am going to see Everton take on the Roar (as I support Everton, due to all my Liverpool mates).
In Boston the supporters go for all the sports, Red Sox (baseball) are number one yet the Celtics (basketball) are loved by all, just as are the Bruins (Ice Hockey), and then they have the New England Patriots (NFL), they love all their sports, given their calendar allows for them to spread out fan base to all the sports better than our current system, but they turn up. I would go to all the sports if there weren’t conflicting timetables, along with work, but it seems most of us have a primary sport and the only secondary sport we are allowed to have is Cricket (which I love as well).
Lets just support our team, I have the Broncos, the Reds, the Bulls, the Lions and the Roar. Who are yours?!
May 29th 2010 @ 4:28pm
Andrew said | May 29th 2010 @ 4:28pm | Report comment
Promotion of the game is important, but what will lead to the eventual dominance of the game in Australia is it’s integration within Asia, that the other codes can’t replicate. So it is not a question of which games is better, which is just opinion, but the economic reality of the games popularity in the fastest growing region in the world. For example, the Perth Glory youth team has a $1million sponsorship from a Chinese corporation. That is the youth squad, not the A-league squad! This type of thing is the tip of the iceberg for Australian football.
Money will flood into the game from Asia and this is what will lead to it’s eventual dominance of the other football codes in Australia.
June 1st 2010 @ 10:15am
Corey said | June 1st 2010 @ 10:15am | Report comment
Mate, China is not the greatest way to sell the game, at the moment Aussies don’t have a great respect for them (Tibet, Rio Tinto jailing, support of North Korea, etc.), and if you don’t have a sponsor that people will sponsor then you lose a team eventually.
May 29th 2010 @ 4:57pm
tribina said | May 29th 2010 @ 4:57pm | Report comment
wats wrong with some of you guys..Foz is just defending his code….How many mindless articles by the AFL/rugby have we had to put up with over the years which have challenged footballs legitimacy..It’s time for the only real football code to stand up and own its space a bit..
We need ppl like Fozzie creating a face for the game…Whether its at times over-critical or just plain stupid like Cockerill…the spectrum needs to be widened….
May 29th 2010 @ 5:35pm
George said | May 29th 2010 @ 5:35pm | Report comment
Trying to say Football is not huge in most parts of the world is just silly. Furthermore, Money determines what will be the biggest spectator sport, but does this really matter? some people should spend more time talking about the sports they love and less trying to denigrate other sports.
May 29th 2010 @ 6:17pm
Eamonn Flanagan said | May 29th 2010 @ 6:17pm | Report comment
Adrian an interesting point. Most codes in Australia have their rusted on support, and most sports fans will flock to any Swimmer. Socceroo. Wallaby come the big events; Olympics, World Cups etc, but of course getting those to convert to watch the S14, the A-League or some swimming event is a tad more difficult.
It’s a slow build from the bottom up. Educate the kids, footballs advantage and of course Socceroos and Matildas help here greatly with their inceasing exposures.
Then it’s just work work and more work for the local A-League clubs. Sydney FC are starting to grasp it with their junior membership plan; five years too late, but hey it’s a start and slowly again clubs need to build fan by fan. People are still not linking the game their kid plays to watching an A-League team. Surely the crux; and the best marketing minds and some money need to be put to this.
Of course converting the older sports fans is also important but cash strapped football clubs hardly have the resources to splurge on the latest technology or behind scenes staff to promote the game.
Small steps but assuming Socceroos adds to greater A-League success is mistake number one. It highlights the game, no more no less and is vital for exposure and resources but each club needs its own strategy to bring in the fan.
In communities like Central Coast its possibly easier to get to the fans and for the fans to connect than it is in our major city, Sydney or at least that’s how it seems. Perhaps less is more, when it comes to people being serviced by clubs with limited resources.
FTA Television of course would have helped. How the State of Origin, NRL, AFL are rammed into the hearts of minds on FTA TV and radio should not be discounted. How many of those kids and parents attending grassroots football games who are not rusted on, and there are thousands maybe hundreds of thousands how many ever see the A-League in the news or promoted. I’d argue almost none.
So every exciting Sydney Melbourne game, Adelaide performance, Grand Finals, Dwight Yorke appearanceo etc etc over the past five years has been missed by every family who watched the Socceroos in Germany. Big games, big events build support…but maybe they just needed to be on FTA!
You can bang your head against a brick wall but for League and AFL the work is done for them by the FTA media. Let’s see if the next media deal doesn’t hugely assist the A-League clubs with FTA. Could change everything after two World Cups to get the game into everyone’s mind.
Got me Socceroos flag today, this is me doing my bit. Close to the bone; you had to be there I guess:) http://nearpost.blogspot.com/2010/05/get-your-flag-up-multi-cultural-aussies.html