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Football has always had player numbers – ‘the sleeping giant’ is the most common term used to describe its player base.
But no one in football seems to know how to connect to the player base. How to connect to the committees that run the park teams. How do you connect to the broader family who have a family member that plays?
So many ideas have been tried. Very often a massive effort fails and my guess is because there are so many folk from so many different backgrounds, with so many interests. There is no one size fits all.
Three (maybe three and a half) separate and identifiable events have and are about to happen that, when combined, may provide the one thing that everyone could have in common, thereby providing that hard to measure community support beyond the local park.
The three and a half events are:
• The re-drawing of the playing schedule so it starts and finishes later.
• The free-to-air SBS broadcast of the A-League, with Socceroos World Cup qualifiers and finals on a one hour delay.
• The Australia Cup.
• The half is a rise in standards and Western Sydney Wanderers playing in the Asian Champions League.
Playing later in the season means when the park teams are in preseason and in their first few rounds, the A-League is being played.
I have always through there was a disconnect when A-League matches were played outside the winter park teams playing times.
When we started in September, most park teams had finished and the NRL and AFL were in the last rounds and finals – the peak of their interest.
The revised schedule has the A-League peaking in the preseason and early rounds of the park team matches, resulting in a connection between playing and the professional league.
The broadcasting of the A-League will add another dimension, when for the first time ever football will be broadcast on free-to-air, allowing more people to connect with their teams.
Being on SBS 2 is not ideal from a viewer finding sense, but should be excellent regarding presentation. Soccereoo World Cup qualifiers should rate well and could provide the key to people finding SBS 2.
Could the Australia Cup [AC] provide the cement binding render, giving the park team something to connect them to the A-League with local rivalry thrown in?
Assume team A from a town is playing team B from a neighbouring town to see how far it can progress. Even if you assume you cannot win their will be some pride in how far your local park team progresses in the AC.
The half is represented by an acceptance that the standard is reasonable. WSW should get crowds and media to the ACL, thereby promoting the A-League.
Finally into this mix, the 2014 World Cup, and 2015 Asian Cup and 2015 add the Matildas, which should help ramp up the coverage.
In summary, can the AC provide that common thread linking the huge diversity of people playing in the park teams and their families?
Are the fundamentals in place? Is the A-League of a high enough quality to be on FTA and playing at least part of its season in the winter playing season?
Given people will have to find SBS 2 for World Cup, does this mean the issues of finding the A-League should be solved? Will the World Cup, AC, and Matildas add to the overall coverage?
Am I right to conclude we football folk are about to enter a very important two years, which will hopefully/finally/optimistically/expectantly, start to connect the park teams to the A-League.
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