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To grow the game, FFA must look to regional Australia

Roar Guru
24th September, 2016
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Adelaide head to Campbelltown to take on the Wanderers for a spot in the FFA Cup final. (AAP Image/David Mariuz)
Roar Guru
24th September, 2016
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With calls for an A-League second division reaching fever pitch, I’d like to make some observations about expansion into regional markets.

If teams for a second division come from NPL teams in the major cities it just covers the same places that are already well catered for by the A-League and NPL competitions. I think that a second division should be based in regional centres to take the game to new markets.

The places I’m thinking of are the following.

Gold Coast – 625,000 (Largest regional city in Australia)
Would it help the Gold Coast to draw bigger crowds if they had a marquee like Wayne Rooney?

Tasmania (one team) – 500,000 people
It might be a good idea to start with a single team in Tasmania to see whether it works or whether the North-South divide is too intractable in which case there could be a Hobart-Launceston derby. An AFL team would be so expensive that Tasmania could support two A-League teams for less than half the cost of one AFL team so two Tasmanian teams might be possible.

Canberra – 425,000

Mid north coast (1 team) – Currently 330,000 and on the way to reach 424,600 by 2031
Like Tasmania the Mid North Coast could start with a single team but could also split to have a Port Macquarie-Coffs Harbour derby. The populations of these cities are currently 69,000 and 73,000 respectively but these places will soon increase to around the size of Ballarat over the next 10-15 years.

Sunshine Coast – 302,000

Wollongong/Illawarra – 300,000

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Geelong – 222,000

Hobart – 221,000

Townsville – 180,000

Cairns – 148,000

Darwin – 142,000

Launceston – 87,000 + NW coast = 130,000

Toowoomba – 115,000

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Ballarat – 100,000

Bendigo – 93,000

Albury-Wodonga – 89,000

Port Macquarie – 73,000

Coffs Harbour – 69,000

The NRL and AFL are concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne but 32 percent of Australians live in regional areas. Even though they have small populations individually the places I’ve listed have a combined population of three and a half million people.

Together they would be Australia’s third largest city. A whole of football plan must embrace the whole of Australia.

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While they might not be ready for the A-League they could be well suited to a second division or perhaps their own separate Regional Australia Premier League so they can shake out any problems and get themselves established.

As a carrot the top one or two teams could receive a bonus fund and leave the second division to compete for a season in the A-League before returning back again to the second division. If it starts as a semi professional league the costs can be kept down to a reasonable level.

Then when it becomes fully professional you can bring in standard promotion and relegation.

But while a second division would spread the game to more people and set it apart from the NRL and AFL there’s also cricket to consider. It’s hard to see the NRL and AFL expanding into regional markets but the BBL has expressly stated this as its own strategy. It’s important to consider the expansion plans for the BBL when looking at where to base teams for an A-League second division.

Placing more cricket teams in capital cities won’t be considered. BBL boss Mike McKenna has indicated that the BBL will look at regional locations to take the game to new people saying – “There’s big regional centres who don’t get access to international cricket and the Big Bash is a way of taking the game at the elite level to those areas”. The frontrunners for the next BBL licence are Geelong, Gold Coast, Cairns and Canberra.

If the BBL can impact on the potential crowd figures of places like Hobart then what will it do in other places like Geelong, Gold Coast, Cairns and especially Canberra? As Canberra is one of the most viable prospects for A-League expansion a BBL team there could be a heavy blow.

There is still an opportunity for FFA to expand the game into untapped regional markets but if they want to make it happen then they should announce a new competition before the next BBL broadcast deal in 2018-2019.

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Bringing a national league to regional centres will capture a market of 3.5 million people and in a small nation like Australia it could help in finding new talent in places that would normally be overlooked.

The fact that it will be a national league with wider media coverage than the state leagues will also make it easier for small teams to get funding and sponsorship.

If it is broadcast on regional television and webcast on channels like Wagga Wagga TV and Bendigo IPTV to target viewers in these areas, then I think it will be a great success.

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