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South Melbourne, the greatest Oceanic club of the century has been one of the most vocal teams in their attempts to obtain an A-League licence.
However do they actually stand a chance?
Some may suggest that their NSL history is one of its greatest strengths of their bid. If they were to be accepted into the A-League, most of the work to build a fan-base would have already been completed.
It could be argued that a similar affect to that of the success of the Western Sydney Wanderers could be established due to already having a major football community backing a club
Furthermore they already have a stadium deal at Lakeside in Albert Park. While they share it with Athletics Victoria, the stadium deal is something that many expansion clubs are lacking as of this moment.
South Melbourne have proposed that they would play derbies in bigger stadiums. By allowing South in the A-League there would be at least nine Melbourne derbies per season (assuming the number of rounds do not change at the next expansion).
It can however that more clubs in Melbourne will dilute the supporter bases of the current Melbourne clubs (Victory and City), however a third Melbourne club could spike more interest in the A-League in Melbourne potentially having an adverse effect on members (like when Western Sydney was introduced, it caused Sydney’s memberships to soar)
They have also since argued that they are a strong finical model for other clubs. South Melbourne do not appear to be in serious debt and are in a position to recruit stars, making them an asset to the A-League.
However all of this is let down by one single argument, their National Soccer League (NSL) history as a Greek club. While efforts have been made to remove their ethnicity, the football community will always view them as the Greek club – and ethnic-based clubs are something that the A-League has been determined to walk away from.
The FFA have spent millions of dollars to remove ethnicity from football.
Allowing South back would send a message of hope to other ethnic NSL clubs. While they already have the fans and the stadium, the A-League would be at risk of turning into the NSL, a clear backwards step for the FFA
As much as die hard NSL fans would like to see South back, it is very difficult to see them joining at the next wave of expansion. There is too much of a risk for the FFA.
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