Reports in the press on Thursday quoted Mike Charlesworth as stating that the FFA should be doing more to encourage the larger clubs to bring in more big name personalities to help promote the league.
Of course that prompts questions about the real impact of our most famous import, Alessandro del Piero, in Sydney.
Prior to his arrival, Sydney’s lifetime average regular season attendance had been 13,274, with a record in season one of 16,669. They recorded their two highest average attendances, 18,637 and 18,682, during his time at the club which declined to 17,406 after he left.
On the surface therefore it looks like ADP was a huge draw card for Sydney FC, but several other factors also need to be considered.
The arrival of Western Sydney Wanderers that year also had a major impact on the sport, an impact that only increased as their fairytale season unfolded, moving up from outright last in week three to claiming the title by seasons end.
The Wanderers drew over 26,000 to the single Sydney FC home derby compared to the less than 20,000 total that Gold Coast United attracted in two appearances the year before.
If you take away the 35,419 that turned up for ADP’s first game against Newcastle, and the 26,176 for the derby, the Sydney average drops to around 16,400, an excellent number to be sure, but still less than their previous record.
In fact, looking at the figures game by game, Sydney FC played at home twice against the Victory, Adelaide, Heart and Mariners, and in every case except the Mariners, their home crowds increased second time around – suggesting that the increasing excitement surrounding the Wanderers was having more effect than the diminishing novelty of the Italian.
In 2013-14, two home Sydney derbies pulled in over 80,000 punters, which, even with ADP playing, gave the club an average attendance of around 15,100 for their other 12 games – again good, but nothing special.
On the field, the two years that ADP played, Sydney’s placing of seventh and sixth are two of the three worst results that the club has ever had.
Last season, their first post ADP, their average crowd of 17,406 is again one of their best, but again if you take away their one derby game the average drops to 14,200. Obviously, the Wanderers are having a bigger continuing impact on average Sydney attendances than one player.
ADP’s impact on attendance is therefore questionable, and he certainly did nothing to help their league position during his time with the club.
As for the league as a whole, the year ADP arrived league attendance increased from 10,488 to 12,341, but again removing Gold Coast and Wanderers home figures, overall attendances improved by less than 1000 per match. This is a number that would decrease even further if the away attendances of those two clubs were factored in.
ADP’s second season saw the second highest average A-League attendance on record of 13,041, but this did declined by just over 500 to 12,514 last year, after Alessandro left.
Just to put that in perspective though, Brisbane recorded a decrease of almost 58,000 alone, which accounts for 428 of the missing 527 per week, and that certainly had little to do with the departure of del Piero.
In fact, five of the ten clubs recorded increases from the previous season, after the departure of del Piero, and despite there being no other major marquee signing.
For me, the arrival of ADP along with the unprecedented success of the Wanderers created the perfect storm of excitement three years ago, but it was always going to be impossible to sustain that level, no mater who was signed.
While those in and around Sydney may be noticing the biggest difference, the fact is the rest of the league doesn’t just rely on those clubs within 40km of the Opera House to make the league viable and exciting.
And the above doesn’t even factor in the amount of money taken out of the local game to support one oversees star.
Seriously, does any big name marquee really bring any substantial value to any club or the league?
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