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Season six of the A-League has been plagued by falling crowds and TV ratings. What was tipped to be a big season for Australian football off the back of a World Cup has fallen a little flat in some aspects while it flourishes in others.
Some of the reasons for the falls include the first up World Cup match being a 4-0 drubbing giving the Socceroos little chance of progressing past the group stage.
The follow-on benefits for the game should the Socceroos have had a beyond group-stage campaign would – like in 2006 – have been enormous.
The failed 2022 World Cup hosting bid took away a lot of time and resources from FFA which also contributed to the declines.
Some less than flattering remarks by the former national team coach also took a bit of gloss away.
On the positive side, a change in national team coach has resulted in an Asian Cup final appearance by the Socceroos and the promotion of A-League players to be worthy contributors in the Socceroo jersey namely Jason Culina, Robbie Kruse and Matthew McKay.
The A-League football on the field, though, has never been better.
The delightful play of the record breaking unbeaten run by the Brisbane Roar has been exhilarating to witness. Their winning the competition in a canter with style and substance has impressed everyone.
The imports this season have never been better.
Marcos Flores (Adelaide from Argentina), Patricio Perez(Central Coast from Argentina), and Thomas Broich (Brisbane from Germany) have all played their first full seasons of A-League football and have been very worthy additions.
Others have also been impressive in spurts.
Another import, Sergio Van Dijk (Adelaide from Netherlands) has topped the goal scoring list for the first time after coming close in his two previous seasons here.
Some fantastic local future talent has been uncovered. Players to watch out for include Matthew Leckie, Josh Rose, Ivan Franjic, Mate Dugandzic, Erik Paartalu and others.
While the stands have been empty, especially in the Gold Coast and North Queensland, 20,000 plus crowds in the final round in Adelaide and Brisbane as well as three very well attended Melbourne derbies have shown what is possible with the right ingredients.
Adelaide, Brisbane, Central Coast and Newcastle have all improved their averages compared with last season.
Moving the season kick-off to October could help to improve the interest in the A-League.
Starting the season after the media noise from the AFL and NRL finals has died down would improve media coverage and interest for the start of the season.
This would also mean an end to the season in May which would be before the fever of the NRL State Of Origin begins. By playing the end of season and finals of the A-League in the first two months of the rival football code’s seasons means the momentum and interest would still be there.
We had the ridiculous situation at the end of the the 2009/10 season of players going to train with overseas clubs in the hope of being included in the Socceroo squad. By ending the A-League in May the players would be match fit when a June World Cup comes around.
The Asian Champions League would also then be played during an A-League season. The situation at the moment is that Brisbane is the best team in Australia but the best teams from last season, being Sydney and Melbourne, are going to the Champions League and playing games for three months after the A-League season ends.
By having the teams playing Champions League in a season would mean the players are match fit and ready rather than having to keep training for the sparsely scheduled Champions League games, and we would have the current champions representing Australia.
As a pre-season, in the August – September time frame, the much talked about and hopefully closer to fruition FFA Cup could be played as a lead-in to the A-League season and at the end of the state league season.
A FFA Cup final two weeks after the AFL grand final and a week after the NRL grand final would be a nice lead-in to a new season.
The future is bright for the A-League, a shift in the start of the season could help. Its definitely worth a try.
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