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Central Coast Mariners Goal scorer Matt Simon (left) reacts with spectators after scoring in the first half of Round 3, A-League match between the Central Coast Mariners and the Queensland Roar at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Aug. 31st, 2008. The Mariners beat the Roar 4-2. AAP Image/Dave Hunt
The new A-League season is only a matter of days away and yet the promotion of it has been severely lacking. It’s only now getting into gear.
Despite the promise and expectation of the fifth season of competition, with such exciting new developments, kick-off will be in the shadows of the other codes.
The timing of the season start has already been much debated and it is always going to be a problem.
Overshadowed by the race to the finals in the AFL and NRL, you can also throw in the Ashes and the Tri-Nations as competing foes in the opening month of the A-League.
The FFA needs to fight for attention in this competitive marketplace, like a younger sibling battling for a parents’ love in an overcrowded household.
The Fox Sports promotions and local campaigns run by the individual teams are great, but in the most part they are preaching to the converted.
The new campaign just launched to mainstream Australia, with the tag line ‘World’s Biggest Game’, only went live on Sunday night, just a handful of days before the first match of the season.
Surely, in such cases, it is best to build up to the season with a longer campaign, one that slowly raises awareness at least a few weeks before kick-off.
There was no denying the success of the pre-season friendlies against high calibre opposition, and the fact that no one has really missed the pre-season competition. But the lack of any visible momentum within the mainstream, non-football public, is obvious.
Ask non-A-League fans about the upcoming season and they will have heard the mutterings about the Gold Coast, Robbie Fowler and some returning Socceroos. But for most, the season has crept up quietly and many will be surprised that it begins this Thursday.
With all the potential marketable aspects to this season’s A-League, you have to wonder if enough has been done leading into this season.
As for the advertisement itself, it’s an interesting angle.
With A-League teams mixing it with teams from around the world, the FFA, by using the World Game theme, is trying to bring the A-League into the consciousness of the fans we have dubbed the “Euro snobs.”
The appearance of Mark Schwarzer, for example, links in the Socceroos and the EPL.
The line, “Your team in the world’s biggest game”, is certainly effective and plays to the idea that, whether you’re a fan of the league or not, at least it is representative of our hometowns in the grander scheme of things.
It’s certainly a more effective and simpler concept than previous campaigns. Hopefully it works in helping to generate momentum before the season.
Sadly, it doesn’t have long now to get the word out.
FFA A-LEAGUE PROMO