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Football Federation Australia CEO David Gallop has thrown his weight behind the idea of a promotion-relegation system in Australian football, but insists plenty of work needs to be done before the pipe dream becomes a reality.
The FFA has been reticent to definitively back the idea of promotion and relegation in Australia, but, speaking at the launch of the 12th A-League season on Tuesday, Gallop gave the first public indication that it was on the FFA’s agenda.
“The ultimate prize — promotion/relegation — will happen in Australian football but there’s a lot more that needs to happen before we can sensibly move to promotion/relegation,” Gallop said.
“With the introduction of the NPL, the FFA Cup, you can see deliberate attempts are being made to close the gap between the A-League and the rest of the game.”
Before a national second division is established to facilitate the promotion/relegation system, Gallop said the A-League would have to expand to 12 teams first, and that expansion could come quicker than previously thought.
Gallop had been quoted as saying expansion wasn’t on the cards for at least the next four years, but his comments at the season launch indicated the introduction of two new teams was a possibility in the near future.
“We’re obviously focused on big population bases, the ability to have relatively quick success, to be in areas where our commercial partners and broadcast partners are going to see a benefit,” Gallop said.
“There are steps along the way and we need to take disciplined approach to that, but certainly 10 teams is too few. We want to move to 12 teams relatively quickly but the first step in that is some big commercial deals that the game is looking to do.”
Gallop’s comments would seem to suggest the FFA’s preference for second teams in major cities. Given the successes of the Sydney and Melbourne derbies, it’s no surprise the FFA are exploring the idea of having a second team in somewhere like Brisbane or Adelaide.
However, such a decision would be a hammer-blow to football fans in markets like Canberra and the Illawarra, both of which have been touted as possible locations for future A-League franchises.
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