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No midweek A-League this week? So accustomed have we become to Wednesday night football in the last two seasons, it just didn’t seem right having no live football to break up the week.
Aside from the rescheduled Gold Coast United versus Central Coast Mariners match on Wednesday February 22, that’s it for midweek football in season 2011-12.
After last season’s explosion of midweek matches that struggled for decent crowds, scheduling of Wednesday night matches was scaled back this season; condensed into the summer, school holiday period.
Smart move, yes, but scheduling the regional matches, new for this season, in the midweek slots was a mistake that needs to be readdressed if the concept is to work and if midweek matches are to pull their weight in terms of crowds.
Of the five regional matches, four were held on a Wednesday night. And when the likes of Melbourne and Sydney struggle to attract a strong crowd midweek, it’s not surprising to see regional centres unable to match the expectations set for them.
For example, Dunedin was tipped to get a crowd of 20,000 to see Wellington Phoenix versus Brisbane Roar based on previous strong crowds but only pulled 4628. Likewise in Tasmania, where the crowd of 5268 at Aurora Stadium, Launceston to see Melbourne Victory versus Gold Coast United fell well short of the 10,000 target and was the only regional round match to pull in excess of 5000.
The regional round has merit and should be retained. Not only does it help the continued campaign to link “new football” with the grassroots of the game, it takes the A-League to parts of the country beyond its current footprint at a time when expansion is justifiably on the back burner.
It is, after all, a tactic the leading codes like the AFL are using to strengthen their ties in the likes of Ballarat, Tasmania, Canberra and Darwin – places that, it seems, aren’t on the expansion agenda.
But for the concept to work for the A-League and have the desired effect, they need to be moved to weekends when the towns can truly embrace the concept by making it much easier for families to attend – Saturday and Sunday afternoons, creating a family day vibe around it – while also ensuring the host towns have a connection with visiting clubs (why Newcastle and Adelaide played in Bathurst, in the far west of Sydney, remains puzzling).
If they are dumped midweek as a way to cover unpopular timeslots for big cities, then what’s the point?