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The A-League has started with a bang, cementing football’s place on the Australian sporting calendar.
In the early part of this century, when the domestic game was limping along from one crisis to another and the National Soccer League was approaching the end of its near three-decade run, did any sports fan conceive that a regular season club game would draw more than 60,000 fans to a stadium built for the 2000 Olympics?
This weekend’s derby answered a question even the most optimistic football supporter would not have dared possible. Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC drew an announced crowd of 61,880 to their Round 1 clash, shattering the previous regular season crowd posted back in 2007 when Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC drew 50,333 to a Round 16 clash in Melbourne.
The derby attendance was the 25th time an A-League match drew a crowd of 40,000 plus. 13 of those occasions were regular season games. It is the ninth crowd of 50,000 plus, a figure which includes finals games.
Of the 25 matches that have topped 40,000, 23 of them have involved teams from Sydney or Melbourne. The two exceptions were the 2011 and 2012 grand finals when Brisbane Roar hosted Central Coast Mariners and Perth Glory respectively. 13 of the attendances have been derbies, six in Sydney, seven in Melbourne, with one of those Melbourne derbies being a finals game.
The crowd at Saturday’s game bettered the previous record by more than 11,000, yet the head counters must have missed a few with the massive walk-up, because there appeared to be a lot more people inside the Olympic Stadium at kick-off than the officially posted attendance.
It was a massive crowd, a massive achievement for the home team who have only been existence since 2012, and a figure to have Football Federation Australia staff flashing neon smiles for the rest of the week.
What it also does is strengthen FFA’s view that when it comes to increasing the number of A-League teams, “fishing where the fish are” may well be the way forward. It’s a path that should be trod with caution, for there is a difference between strengthening a market and diluting it.
Graeme Arnold was vociferous in his criticism of the proposal for a third Sydney team to be based in the southern suburbs when it was discussed last season. The Melbourne teams are not divided by such clear geographical distinctions so it’d be unclear where a third team in Melbourne might be based.
There is a also a difference between adding teams and expanding the league, with regions such as Canberra, Wollongong, Geelong and North Queensland regularly cited as potential future A-League bases. Whether the FFA feels there are enough “fish” in those areas is open to debate.
If ever there was justification for the revamping and increasing of Parramatta Stadium’s capacity, it was there for all to see in a sea of red and black – and yes, there was a significant amount of sky blue but this was a Wanderers home game.
As much as I enjoyed the NSL, as both participant and fan, it didn’t drive this kind of stadium demand, and to be honest, a decade ago I never thought the A-League would either. Whoever made the decision to play the Round 1 clash at Homebush (whether it was the Wanderers or FFA) certainly earned their marketing stripes.
Had the game been played there in later rounds, it may have suffered had one or both of the sides been showing indifferent form. No chance of that before the opening round, though the Wanderers will be doing some earnest self-analysis after being dismantled in the second half against their cross-city rivals.
It was an alarming display from Tony Popovic’s side, who did not appear to have the players to exploit the width a big pitch gave them. In comparison, Sydney FC, through Rhyan Grant and Michael Zullo, constantly raided the flanks, pulling the Wanderers back four out of shape and allowing Sydney’s central threats Bobo and Filip Holosko to do terminal damage to the Wanderers chances.
It was off the pitch where the Wanderers thrived with a tremendous presentation. A wonderful nod to the grassroots saw children representing all the associations of the Western Sydney region form a guard of honour before the game.
The fireworks, the countdown, the atmosphere, the noise, all occurring in the first round of what was ostensibly the opening of the 40th season of National League football in Australia.
We’ve come a long way and the numbers are backing it up.
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