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Melbourne Victory's Archie Thompson (right) walks past as the Central Coast Mariners players celebrate winning round 1 of the 2009/10 A-League season in Melbourne, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. The Mariners beat Victory 2-0. AAP Image/Joe Castro
The A2-League, or whatever the second division mentioned by Frank Lowy at the Melbourne Victory business luncheon will be called, needs to be forgotten. With crowds fading across the country, it’s the last thing the game needs, even if it is a long-term possibility.
Put simply, it’s not a realistic possibility considering the fragile state the code is in.
Relegation to the second division would be a potentially fatal blow to an A-League club. They aren’t secure enough in their respective markets to sustain such demotion.
See the Newcastle Jets as an example of how great the impact of poor form is on crowd figures. The Jets enjoy a large media profile in the region, and the memories of their championship success are not too distant. Yet crowds have plummeted with inconsistent results.
Just imagine what relegation to a second division would do to the franchise.
Also, how will the FFA be able to sustain two leagues and all these extra clubs considering the current financial state of the game?
Promotion and relegation may be important for Australian football’s global recognition, especially as it argues its case for the World Cup bid, but the reality of the A-League’s status precludes our system being modelled on countries in which the game has a larger footprint.
The FFA needs to accept this point, perhaps looking to the MLS over in America as a guide. The MLS has operated for a longer period of time than the A-League, yet it still has no second division. It knows its franchises could not sustain such a blow.
However, there is an obvious concept the FFA could embrace to help the A-League reach a wider audience while helping to appease the international football community that’s supposedly demanding an expansion of the code’s foundations.
The governing body has mooted an FFA Cup competition in the past, akin to England’s FA Cup. However, the concept seems to have been shelved with Lowy’s intimation showing that a second division is the priority before a Cup competition.
But, even if Mr. Lowy is determined on a second division one day, the FFA Cup could act as a prelude to the A2-League, strengthening and promoting the various state leagues, reconnecting ‘old soccer’ with ‘new football’. It would, crucially, help strengthen the state league level of the Australian game and help prepare it for assimilation into a wider national structure.
Why create new clubs from scratch when so many already exist?
The potential of an FFA Cup is endless.
As Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg told the Courier Mail, such a concept “could re-connect the parties” of the game at all levels.
It would be a symbolic union between A-League franchises and clubs that have a direct connection to the grassroots of the game, and some of whom who played such a large part in Australian football history.
When Lowy discussed the prospect of a second division, he said, “The larger competition will generate greater interest around the country, not just in isolated pockets of Australia, but a truly national game”
The FFA Cup would achieve this, with clubs already in existence, while A-League clubs would benefit from increased exposure in their respective communities. We all know they haven’t done a good enough job in connecting with many of these football communities. This is the perfect opportunity to work side-by-side with local clubs to strengthen the foundations of the code.
And crucially, as opposed to the second division talk, it protects the A-League franchises from the possibility of relegation, therefore ensuring their long-term economic sustainability.
There will be a visible connection to all tiers of the game.
An FFA Cup needs to be put on the FFA’s agenda; long before the second division is formulated.