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The AFC Champions League group stage kicked off this week, prompting the usual amount of hand-wringing from disappointed Aussie fans.
There were some promising early signs – provided you weren’t watching as an A-League fan.
Big crowds showed up in Guangzhou and Buraidah, heavyweights FC Seoul were stunned by Hulk’s goal for Shanghai SIPG, and Hong Kong outfit Eastern – with female coach Chan Yuen-ting at the helm – made an admittedly inauspicious group stage debut.
Did any of these stories make the headlines in Australia? Of course not.
We view the ACL solely through the prism of how it affects the A-League, and in many respects that’s understandable.
But as I tweeted in the wake of Brisbane Roar’s scoreless draw with Thai side Muangthong United, this is now Australia’s twelfth year as a member of the Asian Football Confederation, yet we still seem to treat every problem we encounter as though it’s our first.
I’ve lost count of the number of experts who’ve pointed out that Japan’s youth development is leaving its Asian rivals in the dust – Ange Postecoglou, Mark Rudan and Tom Byer are just three with opinions worth considering – so why is no one listening?
Postecoglou repeatedly highlights Japan’s vastly superior youth system, so why are we still shocked every time a team like Urawa Reds or Gamba Osaka rips our sides apart?
If Postecoglou sounds like a broken record, then perhaps we might pay closer attention to what Rudan thinks? Not only is the former Sydney United coach one of Fox Sports’ most erudite analysts, he has first-hand knowledge of Japanese football, having spent a season at Avispa Fukuoka.
Or how about Byer? Instead of the Australian government seeking out his expert opinion on how to train the next generation of Socceroos, the Tokyo-based youth coach is now lending his expertise to China as they look to kick-start their own development programs.
All three experienced coaches regularly point that our youth systems are light years behind Japan’s, yet no one seems to be listening. So we’re stunned when J.League sides turn up and thrash our ACL representatives, despite the fact it happens on such a regular basis.
A-League clubs in turn hedge their bets and send out weakened starting elevens in the ACL, hopeful that they don’t get flogged but armed with a ready-made excuse when they do.
The malaise then extends to the stands, with the majority of fans unwilling to part with their hard-earned just to see half-hearted Aussie teams cop a hammering – even if the quality of football on display is demonstrably higher than in the A-League.
It doesn’t stop well-meaning observers from suggesting clubs ought to market themselves to expatriate Asian communities, as though the thought hadn’t occurred to anyone in the preceding ten ACL campaigns.
The Asian Cup proved that expats are willing to watch their national teams play. But if Australian fans can’t be bothered to come out and watch the Roar in Brisbane, it begs the question why a sizeable contingent of Thai fans might suddenly do the same just because Muangthong are in town.
Yet Simon Hill hit the nail on the head when he criticised the AFC for not doing enough to market the Champions League at the start of the year.
There are so many sheikhs and salarymen involved in running Asian football, who see the game as existing not to entertain fans but purely to provide them a means of employment, it’s little wonder the marketing is virtually non-existent.
And when every league views the ACL exclusively through its own national lens – as happens across Asia, not just in Australia – it makes it hard to take a holistic approach around ways to improve the competition.
The first step, ironically, is to stop worrying about what the ACL can do for us, and start wondering if there’s anything we can do to help the AFC.
Otherwise this year’s ACL will simply meander along the way it started – with minimal Australian interest until our sides make an early departure.