With the new season fast approaching, it is imperative that Australian football’s greatest asset continues to walk through the turnstiles from game one.
But the A-League’s most dedicated fans, those who come to every match and support their club with sweat and tears, not to mention their wallets, tend to receive the least attention from the FFA.
With all the emphasis on bringing new fans into the A-league, it seems loyal supporters have often been taken for granted.
Sasha, 24, is amongst the most passionate Sydney FC supporters and every match day he turns up to Bay 29, where he stands amongst the Sin City Crew.
The SCC, as he affectionately calls them, is a group of about seventy fans “which devotes itself to doing everything it can from the sidelines to help Sydney FC win games through use of noise and colour.”
Surely these are exactly the type of patrons the club should be trying hold onto – long term enthusiastic fans who stick by their team.
But as the new season approaches, many in the SCC are beginning to feel disgruntled with the establishment.
Sasha explains: “In Bay 29, we compete with the Cove, and much to ours, and the Cove’s frustration, it actually takes away from the atmosphere and the overall support of the team.”
These fans have wanted to move somewhere else in the stadium where they won’t conflict with the Cove since midway through last season, but their cries have fallen on deaf ears. Interestingly, Sasha doesn’t blame his club, he blames the governing body.
“I believe the club realises our value and wants to help us, but their hands are tied because of the FFA. The FFA wants to keep all supporters down one end and they don’t make the distinction between different supporter groups. To them we are all the same shit, different smell.”
Interestingly, Sasha’s words have been given credence after a recent meeting between Sydney FC officials, the SCC, and the Cove, where the issue of Bay movement was thrown up.
The club promised to look into moving the SCC but highlighted that they needed discuss the issue with the FFA before they could accommodate their requests.
The request of the SCC was posed to CEO of the FFA, Ben Buckley, as he sat across the table patiently waiting for the lunch buffet to open. With no change from his pleasant tone and demeanour, Buckley answered.
“In the home-end they (fans) can be watched to ensure there is no violent or unsafe activity. If fans are allowed to stand everywhere it would be too difficult to manage.”
“We don’t want to end up with situations like Sydney versus Melbourne last year where people were throwing dangerous projectiles at each other.”
The paradox is that some small sections of the fan base have threatened to resort to violence if they continue to be ignored.
Further disgruntlement has arisen amongst fans with the announcement to clubs last week that next season all organised supporter groups must be in allocated seating. This may seem innocuous to most people, but it has struck a cord with many of the most fervent A-league supporters.
Adam Tennenini is one of the leaders in Melbourne Victory’s best known supporters group, The Blue and White Brigade.
The BWB, as it is commonly known, stands, sings and supports in coalition with various other groups who together make up the “Northern Terrace.”
Tennenini feels that this is just another slight from the FFA in a long line of ignorance towards Melbourne supporters and the A-League fans as a whole.
“FFA want every home end to have its own membership, which is crap because it won’t allow for growth and will shred any ounce of independence we had left,” Adam said.
If there was ever a case of mismanagement by officials on all levels it would be at Perth Glory.
Crowds have been steadily decreasing over the last decade. Where in 1997-1998 the average crowd was almost fifteen thousand, the 2007-2008 season averaged less than eight thousand supporters a game.
Paul, 50, a dedicated follower of the Glory since its inception put it simply, “they are leaving because there is no reason for them to stay.”
He believes officials at a club level and at FFA are unprofessional and have put very little effort into the match day and overall experience of Perth Glory.
Everyone in the West remembers when the club tried to celebrate ten years of Perth Glory FC, only for the national governing body to step in and forbid it. In the end, the fans in Perth were allowed to commemorate ten years of football in Western Australia, as a substitute for celebrating Perth Glory.
The question of ‘why?’ was posed to Ben Buckley, and he explained the FFA’s motives on the Perth issue.
“The Perth Glory in the A-League is a separate entity to the old Perth Glory, so the distinction had to be made.”
While the answer was not unexpected, it did highlight that the FFA’s agenda is definitely not the feelings of loyal fans. A-League Perth fans are the same fans which supported Perth in the NSL. To the average supporter, there is no difference between the ‘new’ and the ‘old’ Glory.
‘Pedantic’ and ‘Diabolical’ is how Paul describes FFA’s actions.
He, and many like him, feel the FFA is more concerned with their own agenda than with the wellbeing of lifelong supporters like him.
The bridge between fans and officials in Perth is almost well and truly burnt.
Will the FFA learn from its mistakes?
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jimbo
Guest
Interesting and relevant article on the FFA from Rale Rasic, who coached the Socceroos to their first WC appearance back in 74. http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/81269,rasic-lowy-walked-all-over-us.aspx
jimbo
Guest
Guido, good point about the fans situation and trying to overprotect the image of the game. It does restrict fans in some ways and some colourful fan behaviour is ok in my books as long as people aren't getting hurt or offended. But its something we definately have to be very vigilant of to help grow the game, as the anti football forces are just waiting to pounce with the Soccer Hooligan headline and it does sell papers. Not that we really need to be the number 1 sport to enjoy football in this country. Its another example of a few bad apples spoiling it for everyone else, but at least we're not as bad as the other sports in this country where they have banned drums and musical instruments or the Mexican Wave.
Guido
Guest
I also wrote about the FFA back in May when they introduced the 'Home End Membership' at Melbourne Victory games. and I also came to similar conclusions. "They will kill the atmosphere, they will kill active support, they will kill an element that made going to a football match in Australia an unique sporting experience. In other words, they will kill the goose that lays the golden egg." I wrote back then. I can understand the FFA being very scared about active support. They have a 'product' that they have to sell which is being marketed as 'family friendly' (whatever that means) and comform with the dominant cultural paradigms offered by the AFL and NRL. Anything outside that is seen as suscpicious. This is not helped by some sections of the media which are either hostile to football because of their own interests, or abide by the 'soccer hooligan' stereotype because its lazy journalism, resulting in incidents that would go unreported in other codes being beaten up as 'soccer riots'. I would also recommend readers here to have a looks at the July issue of the IFM Magazine, which explains very well the feelings of many Melbourne active supporters.
Liam Pender
Roar Rookie
Towser, it would be nice if everyone could support together, but the realisty is that two groups of fans who support the same club may have entirely different ideas of what support is. And thus whilst one group like SCC may require 90 minutes of jumping and chanting as a pre-requisite to standing among them, another group like the Cove is happy to allow people to sing at their pleasure. whats more some groups will sing different songs to others. the best result is a multicultural atmosphere of colour and noise throughout the stadium, where different groups support how they please.
Midfielder
Guest
Interesting article and some contrasting posts. As I see it both sides are right, no I am not fence sitting …… but some supporter groups at times go a tad over the top. The FFA are scared about Football media profile, have a sense that traditional baby boomer press will react to football violence story with glee and over report. I think the fear is well based; also football is still in a very tenuous position so caution is wise. On the other side is a hard core mainly gen X & Y out for a good night out which includes lots of singing / dancing / drinking / and sometimes name calling and the odd fight. It adds greatly to the match experience and is very colourful. The rugby and AFL managers of football understand the media, football groups understand football. Both know something about the others role in the football community, balance common sense etc were should the line be drawn, is still being established. IMO FFA are partly to blame especially in Perth where standards were applied to the Glory Boys as if they were part of the problem not part of the solution. Supporter groups to need to understand how they are being seen by the wider community, at the Mariners it is often a hot topic of debate on the forum, but thankfully enough cool heads exist within the supporter group to keep things under control. My answer is to keep talking about it. The FFA are watching and at least we have a management willing to listen. Finally as the old Beatle song go’s “ Come together “ it will help.
md
Guest
It's an interesting point, but I think you will find it becomes less of an issue in the next year or two. In the AFC pro-league review one of the key points holding Australia back was the lack of separation between the A-League and the FFA. See category 4 of the pro-league review: http://images.the-afc.com/Documents/common/cms/afc/FINAL%20ASSESSMENT%20CHART%201.pdf My understanding (indicated by the B rating in the AFC review) is that the FFA will move to address this by establishing the A-league as an independent entity governed by a board that contains representatives of the clubs, FFA and A-League management, by 1 October 2008. Effectively,watch this space. Cheers md.
jimbo
Guest
I think the FFA has done a very good job of turning around football in this country - both the national A-League competition and setting the Socceroos on their way to becoming regular WC Finals participants and not just every 32 years. Sure some hard decisions had to be made and we needed to be more professional and use new faces and new talents to get to where we are. Nick Tana did a fantastic job with Perth Glory before the A-League and chose not to join the A-League. The main reason being that he wanted to have full control of the team. Under the FFA's new guidelines this was not possible. So Nick and his associates have some sour grapes and continue to not only be uncooperative with the current Perth franchise, but also publicly criticise the FFA and the current Perth Glory. We can't return to the bad old days when wealthy philanthropists throw some money at a football team and then demand total control over everything, it doesn't fit in with the Crawford recommendations or the FFA's charter. Nick Tana could have been the owner of Perth Glory and helped them to thrive, as long as he was prepared to work with the FFA. Con from the Jets had the same issues and there were many public spats with the FFA, before he begrudgingly agreed to hand over control to the FFA. Now he has a successful club with his own HAL Golden Toilet Seat replica and thinks the FFA are OK. If Nick played ball with the FFA he'd probably have a successful franchise. The FFA had to step in and buy half of the Glory franchise and put in its own caretaker manager and admin staff to help Perth get off the ground in the A-League. It’s not too late for people like Nick to get back on board Perth and get the positive vibe back into Glory. The same thing happened with Clubs like Marconi who pulled out of the initial A-League because they wouldn’t have total control. Now we have 5 or 6 consortiums lodging an application for the second Sydney A-League franchise. The FFA have proven what the successful formula is. Sure its got a few teething problems, but football is in much better shape now than before the A-League started and you must give the FFA some credit.
Towser
Guest
NUFCMVFC Having attended all matches except one of the Roars home games,but being of mature vintage I'm not likely to be involved in support of the raucous kind. However one of the reasons I watch football, apart from the game is the colourful antics of the "core" supporter groups. What I have noticed at the Roar at times is a distinct lack of co-ordinated effort from the "Orange" home end. This is in sharp contrast to the smaller group of supporters at the "away" end who make at times twice as much noise,because they are one unit of close away fans. Surely from a club support perspective it is better to have a large co-ordinated group supporting their team in unison rather than a splintered effort?
NUFCMVFC
Guest
Not only is this bad policy from a public order perspective, what the FFA have done is apply a clamp that will lead to stagnation and exacerbate tensions because people don't have the capacity to be able to adapt Putting it in "Business terms" or their langauge, think about when a small business grows t the point where it is large enough to be a medium business, it naturally needs to restructure, if it is prevented or obstructed by doing so via an overbearing clamp then that is going to bad in terms of its innovativeness now isn't it?
NUFCMVFC
Guest
Good Article, it is an issue that is starting to brew beneath the surface. A lot of it stems from the fact that a lot of people in the FFA with decision making power are not of football background This has been invaluable in many respects and for the most part is a good thing but these people are making decisions in relation to football fans etc as well and they are making uneducated and even based on ignorant misperceptions and stereotypes that are to the detriment of football and the football community in this country Not only are they out of touch they simply aren't listening, they don't support the fans when they are subjected to character assassination or hysterical media reports, even worse they seem to be so stupid they actually fall for it As far as the bottle throwing is concerned, some people obviously did the wrong thing and acted immaturely but if the adequate infrastructure was in place (buffer zone which is pretty much standard in football) - in this instance a cloth thing - ensuring they are out f distance, or even the use of a net then that can be prevented. If the police and security had been deployed properly (in football context) they could have perhaps prevented that from coming together or cut out the throwing at an early stage rather than it escalating I recall the Sydney security/police were able to do this at the first SFC vs MVFC game last year, where in co-operation with the fans they moved to the centre and so a good buffer zone of a few bays were able to be set up to ensure a buffer zone, with the security/police interjecting if anyone got overexcited and broke this. There have been some pretty elementary mistakes which is understandable but the FFA have not gone about this the right way at all Let's not forget as well, the "advice" the FFA have been receiving is from these consultants here, http://www.hatamoto.com.au/ who aren't football consultants and as such questions have to be asked about whether they really are able to offer educated advice, expertise and recommendations with any actual proper authority. People read for themselves Lastly, this type of approach has been tried before overseas, the people looking to act daft simply moved away from the stadium and started being daft around or outside of the stadium. This was realised a long time ago Towser, what you don't realise is that the FFA is not only not listening, it is overbearingly interfering with how clubs interact with their fans through forcing a HEM which is not wanted On the artistic side of things, with the Fanbases being at an early stage of development and there being a good cosmopolitan mix of philosophies and forces, there is a need for fluidity and flexibility of movement, examples being that MVFC Union from season 1 disbanded, SE extracated itself so there was breathing space for their style and so there was NE and SE, obviously SCC hav ebroken away from the Cove, I think there was a split at QLD Roar of some kind, with Adelaide they have had different groups with different perspectives with the Gate disbanding and there being about 4 small groups FFA are shockingly out of touch and uneducated with the fanbase and football culture and this will be costly as they are making bad policy on this basis. Football fans aren't like fans in other Australian Sports, FFA need to understand and respect this if they are to know how to adequately deal with football fans travelling from overseas for ACL or ACQ/WCQ matches. Any screw ups will not be good for the game They aren't just marginalising the "old soccer" football fans, they are starting to alienate and marginalise the "new football" fans, simply for wanting to be able to support in tune with football cultural norms
Towser
Guest
The FFA administrates the game. Individual clubs develop a rapport with their fans. If they fail its their own fault. Perth Glory are a classic example of this. They failed to adjust to the current scene and suffered . Using the FFA as a scapegoat is an excuse to cover up the deficiences post Tana. The FFA rules are the same for every club and it hasn't done clubs like CCM any harm. If you drop out of supporting a club because of an FFA decision,what sort of supporter were you in the first place?
Salvation
Guest
It is folly to press the FFAs importance over indivdual clubs ... and fans. Soon they will have no loyal fans anymore... just loyal enemies.