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Where to now for Gold Coast fans?

shaker13 new author
Roar Rookie
4th May, 2012
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Gold Coast United FC owner Clive Palmer watching his United A-league team's first training session. AAP Image/Tony Phillips
shaker13 new author
Roar Rookie
4th May, 2012
65
1840 Reads

During my regular perusal of the FourFourTwo forum the other day, I came across a thread which read “what now for GCU fans?”

“Are you now lost to football? Will you start following another club or go back to the club you were following before GCU came along?” the message continued.

It’s a question I’ve read in many different forms and have answered multiple times.

What do we do now? Do we go and support another A-League team?

Do we forget all about the league and move onto other things?

Do we remain loyal in the hope that one day the FFA will give us another club?

Many GCU fans are split.

Some have already moved on, jumping ship to support other clubs and wear different kits.

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They are now singing songs and showing passion for teams they would have otherwise hated for 90 minutes, three times a season, for the past few years.

I look at that, and despite my openness to letting people choose what they want, I feel a little betrayed.

They showed passion for the badge, proudly wore the kit and sang our songs, yet as soon as it folds it’s on to the next one.

Yet I feel a little jealous that it’s so easy for some to switch allegiances.

Some have sworn to never watch the A-League again, never to pay for a ticket or show support for the FFA.

Part of me agrees with this. Why should we support an organisation that was so quick to throw us out the window?

Why help an organisation that seems to have an agenda towards making money and nothing more?

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The other part of me worries for the future of our game in this country if people don’t support it.

Each time the FFA folds a team they lose that fan-base. That’s 2000 people on the Gold Coast, 8000 in North Queensland and potentially 10,000 plus in Newcastle.

Without fans, the league is dead.

Personally, I feel that supporting another team is virtually impossible.

When you support a team so loyally – when you go to every home game; when you attend every youth game; when you spend loads of money following the team around the country; when you make banners; when you sing until you can no longer speak – it’s kind of hard to just go off and support another team.

It’s not going to happen. I’ll still support the game in this country, I’ll still play the game and I’ll still love it.

But it worries me that the league is so unstable and that other fans like me could be thrust into the wilderness so easily.

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Football in this country has the potential to be a huge player in the sporting landscape.

The AFL has a $1 billion television Deal, while the NRL is hoping for one similar to that.

The A-League is a long way from these sort of numbers, but it won’t get closer if the FFA continue the way they are going.

Change is needed; lets hope they realize that before its too late.

The last thing we need is to see the NSL replicated. It could be very harmful to the future of the game in this country.

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