We need pre-season cups in football
Roar Guru By Midfielder, 28 Jun 2012 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
Related coverage
Pre-season is always about getting the squads together and promoting the game. With Sydney now having two teams, what about playing a pre-season cup?
The clubs could come from the district associations and former NSL and bigger state clubs – whoever is still around.
In Sydney you have a number of former NSL clubs including Olympic, Marconi. Sydney United, White Eagles, Blacktown Demons, Penrith, Melta Eagles and Apia.
Add to that the major state and former state clubs of a reasonable size, such as St Andrews and the Bankstown Bumble Bees. On top of that, add the twelve association clubs.
The Sydney pre-season cup would have 12 at least former NSL clubs, 12 associations and two A-League teams.
It would be a great local promotional activity which is very inclusive of everybody.
In Melbourne, a similar cup and was talked about last year, but was stopped by FFA. However without knowing the ins and outs of Melbourne, a similar thing could happen.
Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle could combine their local leagues and have a district versus district pre-season cup.
Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Wellington Phoenix could also run in with their local first grade associations and or clubs.
This concept has another advantage in being very cheap to run with minimal travelling and accommodation expenses for all teams involved.
In the long term, this could be used to build or an FA Cup-style knockout tournament sometime in the future.
June 28th 2012 @ 8:54am
Cappuccino said | June 28th 2012 @ 8:54am | Report comment
The public never took the pre-season cup seriously, and it drew low crowds and little interest from fans. With the FFA Cup coming in, any pre-season cup will be rendered obsolete anyway. Also, the potential for a Melbourne or Sydney derby pre-season would take away from the real event. Imagine if the first ever Sydney Derby was in a regional cup that neither team really cared about in front of a small crowd…
June 28th 2012 @ 9:11am
Football United said | June 28th 2012 @ 9:11am | Report comment
As a pre-season cup no one really would care. however the ffv organised the mirabella cup under the guise of a State cup that is conveniently played in the A-Leagues pre season. had the ffa actually let Melbourne and Heart go ahead with this competition, it would have been perfect for a pre season exercise.
NSW should look to extend the Waratah Cup to include Sydney FC and Western Sydney as well as the teams from northern NSW, especially once the FFA Cup comes in and uses these comps possibly for qualification.
June 28th 2012 @ 9:29am
Fussball ist unser leben said | June 28th 2012 @ 9:29am | Report comment
Sorry, Middy, but I can’t agree. Preseason cups are meaningless, which means coaches & players treat the competition with indifference & fans can’t be bothered.
I want 2 competitions in for AUS pro-football:
1. League system of 30-40 matches (I really want the HAL to be 2 home games for every team = 36 matches each if 10 teams)
2. National Knock-out cup competition (similar to FA Cup, with State Premier League & HAL teams joining later)
Additionally, I wouldn’t mind seeing a Victorian Cup Competition (2 legs knock-out), which included MVFC, MHFC, Victorian Premier League and State Division 1. Sort of a Victorian version of the League Cup in England.
June 28th 2012 @ 1:00pm
Midfielder said | June 28th 2012 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
Fuss
This kinda sets up the Australia Cup for introduction in a few years time …
June 28th 2012 @ 10:05am
Bondy said | June 28th 2012 @ 10:05am | Report comment
I like the second point fuss,and also with a state based knockout they would be playing a hell of a lot of football.
June 28th 2012 @ 12:59pm
Midfielder said | June 28th 2012 @ 12:59pm | Report comment
Bondy
Its not a state based knock out its a local knock out… Perth only play teams from Perth… SFC & WSW only play teams from Sydney..five weeks maybe six is all that is needed and is being played when the state and associations are ready to go…
Its just a way connecting an A-League team to its local community..
June 28th 2012 @ 3:30pm
Nathan of Perth said | June 28th 2012 @ 3:30pm | Report comment
“Perth only play teams from Perth…”
Glory vs Glorywood-erm, I mean, Inglewood United would be a hilarious match.
June 28th 2012 @ 10:28pm
langou said | June 28th 2012 @ 10:28pm | Report comment
It would be a pointless thing to do in Perth. The only football team anyone supports is the Glory. When we were at uni we would sometimes pay our $5 and watch ECU Joondalup play every now and then. They were part of the W.A Premier League and could still only pull a crowd of a few hundred at most. This was made up mostly of friends and family with possibly a few mad football fans who more than likely were Glory fans anyway.
The FA Cup works because the lower division clubs have passionate fans who support them and towns unite around them. Without that it is pointless.
June 28th 2012 @ 11:08am
Griffo said | June 28th 2012 @ 11:08am | Report comment
With four NSW based A-League teams now there is no reason these teams cannot get together and play a preseason ‘NSW’ cup amongst each other. It is a long off-season after all and fans I expect would welcome some early A-League action. Something similar could be done with Victory and Heart playing VPL and Cup winners from previous season, or why not Perth and Adelaide?
Most if not all state federations now have a knockout cup comp which involves all levels. The FFA would only need to bring the winners and possibly runners up amongst A-League teams for a quick fire FFA Cup – little need to re-invent the wheel there IMO. Since these State Cups are decided just before or just after A-League season commences, FFA Cup could be run during early part of the season rather than preseason.
June 28th 2012 @ 11:10am
C'monJETS said | June 28th 2012 @ 11:10am | Report comment
Watched the Jets play a very strong local Newcastle side Broardmeadow Magic last night.
http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/football-soccer/taggart-kicks-off-new-era-with-double-as-jets-beat-magic/2606377.aspx
The crowd was upwards of 1000 in the rain which felt like a good size for the venue and could have been more if it wasnt wet, the game was intimate, the excitement was evident and the local footballing side Broardmeadow Magic in the competition for NNSW was given a glamour boost.
pre season cup, no but a real community event…..yes……..this is a worthwhile exersice for clubs being part of the commuity and giving us a glimps of whats to come…..hats off to the Magic for some fine football too.
June 28th 2012 @ 11:28am
Cpaaa said | June 28th 2012 @ 11:28am | Report comment
im just going to let my mind go on this one..
What i would like to see is the A-Teams organise their own pre season type Cups.
By this I mean all A-League Clubs set up a mini tournament by invitation or request of their surrounding clubs.
tweak the rules, 20minute halfs, no sliding tackles, one day 10 teams and a final, carnival atmosphere, every saturday for 3 weeks.
Will this generate any interest from the media? probably not, but it will be engaging into your local Football scene.
Football dosnt have the media muscle other codes do so we need to be stronger in community engagement.
What better way than on the field. Visiting schools and hanging out in cafe bars is ok, but i dont think its what fans require.
Even as a football fan pre season tournaments are warm ups, players are rusty and the football scrappy.
What ive suggested i think is proper football engagement. how many youngsters would have the chance to run against Nicky Carle, or save a penalty against Berisha or test their sprint against Archie.
Would these players and onlookers in local comps be more inclined to buy memberships? i think the answer is yes.
but then again crazy people do come up with some crazy suggestions.
June 28th 2012 @ 12:33pm
Hoof said | June 28th 2012 @ 12:33pm | Report comment
I see no problem with pre-season cups based in each state or region. In the case of Melbourne, Sydney and the F3, put the A-League clubs on opposite sides of the draw and see how far they can go. Good chance for the clubs to look at the talent that is out there in state leagues and a unique opportunity to see how these players go against A-League standard competition.
June 28th 2012 @ 12:55pm
Midfielder said | June 28th 2012 @ 12:55pm | Report comment
Thanks for comments to date… have to agree with Cappa , Griffo & Jets… for me there does need to be a re-engagement process between the A-League and state teams and the former NSL clubs and associations also need to come together…
Maybe not call it a cup but a serious of knock out games among local sides would IMO in a generally media free zone create interest inside the football community …
We often talk about our greatest asset being our player numbers and to date FFA & the A-League has not fully connected with the player base… not saying this will be the fixer but it will greatly assist the process and if nothing else have A-League management talking to local state team management all this helps…
Most importantly in times of financial issues it would cost next to nothing to run especially if played on the state league grounds…
June 28th 2012 @ 8:00pm
Bondy said | June 28th 2012 @ 8:00pm | Report comment
The overall engagement between the H.A.L. clubs and local football clubs still needs more engagement and theres no greater way than local clubs knowing they potentially get to play their local H.A.L. club its great engagement, I hope the F.F.A. check these boards.