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If there was ever any doubt the flawed Sydney Rovers bid for admission to the 2010/2011 A-League season is doomed for failure, then Sunday’s poor crowd of 6,654 at Parramatta Stadium for the Sydney FC-Perth Glory match made sure there was no extra appetite for reviving the bid.
Sunday’s game represented a great opportunity for the western Sydney market to remind the Football Federation Australia (FFA) of its potential and perhaps even give the FFA extra motivation to try and make the bid work for next season.
But the meagre crowd of a tick over 6,500 fans won’t have the FFA rushing into anything.
And that’s probably for the best, given the failure of Sydney Rovers chairman Ian Rowden to actually build anything since the A-League licence was given to the franchise in September last year.
But questions have to be asked why the attendance for a one-off game in an area we are told is football-mad was so poor?
I’ve heard claims the western Sydney public don’t identify with Sydney FC. In my opinion, there’s probably some substance to that.
And if that is true then that gives some hope to a real rivalry forming in Sydney if the FFA can get their new outfit organised in the correct manner.
But, it seems, doing that is the tricky part.
Sydney Rovers might have built some real momentum with a presence at Sunday’s fixture. Selling memberships, merchandise, introducing players, whatever.
Instead, Rowden and Rovers chief executive designate Scott Duxbury are busy working with the FFA trying to find investors to fund their franchise, to find out if they can even get off the ground for next season.
I’m told through reports from those who attended Sunday’s game, the only Rovers presence at Parramatta Stadium was a handful of Rovers fans who brought two banners to the game which read “Give us our team” and “The west is waiting, the east is fading. Cashed-up FFA come to the Rovers party.”
I must stress, though, it was only a handful of Rovers supporters and unfortunately for them, it is hard to see them getting their wishes. In fact the paltry number of them is almost damning for the Rovers case.
It was almost a fortnight ago A-League boss Lyall Gorman met with Rowden and Duxbury and from that November 12 meeting Gorman admitted the franchise still had a long way to go.
Interestingly, at this stage in the creation of the A-League’s other expansion clubs, Gold Coast United, North Queensland Fury and Melbourne Heart, all three had announced coaches, headquarters and a number of squad signings.
And all these clubs were generating excitement by this time of the year about their entrance into the A-League.
It was common knowledge United were chasing Socceroo Jason Culina to be their marquee man, while owner Clive Palmer was flamboyantly assembling a top-quality squad including players such as Shane Smeltz.
Fury had signed their marquee man Jade North, before soon switching their attention to Scott Chipperfield and Robbie Fowler, while Heart’s approach to differentiate themselves from Victory had them luring European coaches to AAMI Park along with some cultured talent on the pitch.
At this stage, the only announcements Rovers have made have been superficial; their name, logo and colours.
And those announcements were made a long time, meaning the club has lost momentum. Since then, there’s been no hype about the club and opportunities such as Sundays are being missed as the uncertainty about their future remains.
So there’s no doubt Sydney Rovers are behind the eight-ball. We know that.
Nevertheless, Gorman said a fortnight ago: “It has been shown that you can get a club up and running in four or five months.”
But I can’t agree with that statement looking at Rovers’ relative development in comparison to the other expansion clubs and how those clubs have fared since joining the A-League.
They might find their investors in the next few weeks but grabbing attention, winning fans and generating hype and publicity in the A-League is a tough gig, let alone building a squad when you haven’t even announced a coach.
There’s no doubt western Sydney is an important market for the A-League, but if the FFA wants to get it right there, then the decision has got to be made to delay Rovers’ entry once and for all.
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