Police direct Gold Coast United fans after they stormed a closed off area of stadium in protest of a crowd cap at Skilled Park during the round 13 A-League match between the Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury , Saturday, October 31, 2009. Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer made the decision this week to limit the Skilled Park crowd to 5,000 people to save on stadium fees. AAP Image/Dave Hunt.
At the end of their first season as an A-League club, we cannot say with any great certainty that Gold Coast United is a sustainable franchise. It was a tumultuous debut season of off-field debacles that blighted on-field achievement, culminating in penalty shootout heartache and another deplorable crowd figure.
On the park, Gold Coast were exactly what the A-League needed; another powerhouse club who could excite with star names, tear apart the opposition on their day yet were as unpredictable as the league itself.
The squad they built from scratch was certainly impressive. In terms of talent and ability of individual players, only the Melbourne Victory shaded the Gold Coast.
Jason Culina was an inspiration on his return to Australia, marshalling his troops, trying to lift them to his level and producing some sublime moments of his own.
His extraordinary vision and ability to cut through the opposition with his pinpoint passing, combined with Shane Smeltz’s early season goal scoring form, made you think, even for just a moment, that Gold Coast could threaten to go through the season undefeated.
Had it not been for injury-depletion at critical stages of the season, such as when an injury-ravished United were thrashed 4-0 away to Melbourne Victory in November, Gold Coast could well have stolen the Premiers Plate.
Jess Vanstratten, for example, only hit top form in the culminating rounds of the season, having missed much of the early season through injury.
Miron Bleiberg deserves much praise for the team’s performance in its debut season.
But it was the brash talk of an undefeated season and other bold claims that seemed to delude the club on the brink of their debut.
When they defeated EPL side Fulham in a pre-season friendly in front of over 10,000 fans at Skilled Park, you sensed an overwhelming arrogance sweep over the club.
Not only would they sweep to the title undefeated, bringing a glamour to the competition that it had not seen, they would also crowd out the Gold Coast market before the AFL moved. Owner Clive Palmer even baited the AFL with his suggestion that Gold Coast FC, set to debut in 2011, would be unable to sustain a crowd and predicting they would last three years.
As the season began, and despite the initial high-scoring victories, crowds plunged to the point where in late October, Palmer implemented the crowd cap of 5,000 people to limit the loss on stadium fees.
That match against North Queensland, which saw 2,616 turn up (it could have been so much worse), saw the club hit rock bottom.
The club publicly acknowledged they didn’t work hard enough within the local community, and the debacle over ticket prices only compounded the issue. For all the brashness and bravado that characterised their launch as a club, they failed miserably at the very basics of building a football club.
Yes, there were some factors out of their hands that impacted crowds; namely the fact the code doesn’t have the strongest footprint in the region and transport (especially public) isn’t easy to negotiate on the Coast, but there was no connection with the population and that was its fatal flaw.
With all the controversy and bravado surrounding Palmer, the team was viewed as his rather than belonging to the Gold Coast itself.
That lack of a connection and lack of concerted work in the local community saw the crowd drop from the over 10,000 to see Fulham to the 4,109 for the elimination final.
Despite a population base over three-times the size of Townsville’s, Gold Coast United was still behind the North Queensland Fury, with the core supporters, namely The Beach supporter group, making up a significant portion of the crowd each week.
With the defeat in the final, even their successful debut season (when you consider how challenging it is for an expansion franchise to join an established league) will be viewed as a failure such were the ridiculously high expectations made by them so publicly.
It poses the question: Is the franchise sustainable?
As long as Clive Palmer remains committed to the club, his riches will help overcome the deficiencies caused by the small crowds.
But, at heart, he is a businessman, and he’ll be guided by the bottom-line. It was, let’s not forget, fiscal concerns that convinced Palmer to implement the crowd cap.
The future of the club is in his hands, and we can only hope he and his team have seen the mistakes of their first season and start rectifying them in season two. They must understand that creating and running a football club is more involved than just business.
If the club cannot expand its core supporter base beyond the 5,000 mark next season, then serious questions must be asked about the franchise’s sustainability, and even then it will still depend on Palmer’s future.
They also need stability, and the news that Paul Okon has been axed from the coaching staff is a worrying sign that the club may be reacting in panic to their failed finals campaign.
While the AFL franchise starting 2011 won’t be in direct competition with the A-League club, they will compete in the relatively small Gold Coast community for the same corporate dollars and supporters’ dollars and loyalties.
They, incidentally, launched the countdown to their debut in 2011 in the heart of Surfers Paradise yesterday with a rallying cry for the locals to get behind the club and help them reach the 10,000 members mark.
It’s such a campaign that United should have been undertaking this time last year.
As they watch the A-League finals from the sidelines, we can reflect on their season by saying there are more questions than answers surrounding the future of Gold Coast United.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
And what rules do the AFL Denmark association play under on rectangle fields with 9 aside teams? Australian Football are bound to the same set of rules that govern the other 200 nations of the world. There are no exceptions in Real Australian Football.
Michael C
Roar Guru
AF - "Australian Football" dear sir, btw - you said "Football has become worldwide over 200 nations play under the same set of football rules". Let me illustrate for you : the 200 nations you seem to refer to play under the Laws of the Game you'll notice that Australian football is played under the Laws of Australian Football, It is clear you do not know the meaning of the pseudonym that you have adopted. And it is you who are perpetrating cultural theft.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
MC There are 62 words in my last post----which word are you referring to.. ? And what are you thinking, of what I think, of what word you think, I'm referring to, as to what I think it means ? Are you referring to Donald Rumsfeld's speech to the American congress about the "knowns and unknowns", we know, knowns as unknowns, and we know unknowns as knowns. I will stand by my last comment as a known, as you have no idea as it being an unknown or if it is in fact, a known, as many of your own historians believe it is a known, not an unknown----providing we are speaking of the same word, I am presuming which I think you are referring to i.e. telling me it is an unknown in my opening sentence of the use of the word "Hardly". Otherwise I'm at a loss, as Republican has whole heartily agreed with my last comment. Btw as once Shakespeare said and wrote: "He who steals my purse steals but trash----but he who steels my name steals my most worthily possession". He happened to be an Englishman if you didn't know. ;) ~~~~~~ AF
Michael C
Roar Guru
AF - are you sure? as Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride" said : You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Timmo
Guest
hope so because if thats the case then the potential to have a Peel Region based A-League team will have a good chance. The South Western Corridor in WA from Rockingham to Bunbury will be very popular with houses going up at a rapid rate. It is growing.
Redb
Roar Guru
Not sure why the AFL should not put a team in the Gold Coast. Until North stuffed up their PR, AFl games on the coast were drawing 10-11K no problem. Quite a strong grass roots league in that part of the world. it is easily as big as any presence the NRL has in Perth.
matty1974
Guest
Michael C said | Today | Report comment funny you mention Pip yesterday driving home on ABC radio they were chatting as per usual to Stephen Mayne – and he was discussing the difference in probity standards b/w Steven Conroy being able to go skiing with a James Packer and meeting with media moguls and the like, whilst his own ALP faction at Vic state level has such rigorous probity such that people seeking gaming licences are not allowed to even chat to the minister in a hotel lobby………………this is in part a state based (Victorian) remnant of issues around David White……….the obvious thing is that whilst Pippinu understands this state context and the issues surrounding David White – - clearly many people outside of Victoria didn’t. The article that Pip commented on was contextually lost of most of you folk. btw – raining on parades………it’s one thing to hold a parade, it’s quite another to not trot straight through your neighbours sprinklers and then complain about getting a tad wet. I have absolutely no idea what any of that means, but I have a challenge for you, since you have such an interest in crowd numbers. What would be the average attendance of AFL and NRL games, if both adopted a proper League structure where each team plays each other an equal amount of time? i.e 30 game season, all teams play each other home and away. You could base it on crowd figures for both home and away matches over the last 4-5 years.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
James, am I suppose to laugh now? OK ha, ha, :lol: ~~~~~~~ AF
Chris J
Guest
Questions need to be asked around the assessment of the team and the due diligence conducted. Did the Goal Coast mislead the FFA when they submitted their application to join the A-League? Surely they didn't state that crowd forecasts were between 4000-5000? Did the FFA do enough work during the evaluation of the Gold Coast bid?
JamesP
Guest
White Elephant? No, that would be Skilled Park in the summer time.
Republican
Guest
Australian Football Agreed, I like the term grooky too. There is no denying however the Sassanach heritage of the roond ball game. More power to you A.F.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Hardly it's Australian Football as to opposed to Italian, Greek, or Croatian Football... They are not indigenous---Football has become worldwide over 200 nations play under the same set of football rules.. Of course the modern game of marngrook is unique and has an indigenous heritage---nothing wrong with the name in my opinion as some Australian historians proclaim as the root of the Australian game.. ~~~~~~~ AF
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Redb, that's kinda cute----that's what my father use to call it... ;) But we are in an English speaking country in a new century and we must keep moving forward----otherwise we would be stuck with Sokkah which has become unpalatable to us Football Purists.. :) I wish we were the indigenous code so I could be proud of it by calling it Australian Grooky.. I don't know why there is so much resistance to the indigenous name of Marngrook----sound great to me like the Geelong MC (marngrook club) not Michael C :) Geelong is an indigenous name is not..?
Al
Guest
So GC17 wont even be playing their firfirst few games in their own city, Brisbane Bears anyone?
Redb
Roar Guru
I tell you what, we'll keep Australian Football coz we had it first and you can have Oztralian Futbol. A mix of Aussie and the sports Euro connections. :-) A League = OFL. Socceroos play OFL.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Redb, there is no soccer in Australia. Repeat after me "Football Federation of Australia" (FFA) with its shinning Australian ambassadors "the Australian National Football Team" or Roos if you like for us purists and of course for the AFL Melburnians it's Socceroos to keep the piece (exceptions of course MVDave and ART and other Melb football purists) . Now on the FIFA registration directory it's "the Australian National Football Team" that's drawn out of the World Cup fish bowl draw from a white marble that indicate the name "AUSTRALIA" in what group they are drawn in.. ~~~~~~ AF
Australian Football
Roar Guru
MC, Thankyou for the additional proof it was first coined in England and not in Australia----so your honour the prosecution rests. Tom Wills guilty with association of hijacking the term Football. ;) "or the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser from Jan 26 1833 : When theFix this text coercive laws that were passed at the period of the Revolution (after the manner of a foot-ball that is kicked from party to party, to use Burke’s descrip- tion of that memorable piece of parliamentary wick- edness”) were repealed in 1792"
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Redistributing from the rich (Australian Rules) to the Poor (Soccer Australia) are key principles of Australia. When Association Football in OZ has a billion dollar TV deal we will pass the name on to Field Hockey.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
We never claimed to be organic as it was stated by some AFL advocates with the GC17----we told the world that we intend to bring the best available to the club under a salary cap----we make no apologies for that and continue with our youth team's development.
Michael C
Roar Guru
how can you hijack that which is yours? 'football' as a word dates well back to the 1400s, therefore, the word existed and belong to the English speaking folk - - including those sent or headed to the colonies. btw the word - whilst a noun - and describing the general concept of a game on foot, and also the general description of a ball that might be played with in a game on foot - - - it also had a broader usage as describing for example "treated as a political football" - - this was a very common usage of the word....... eg the Hobart Colonial Times August 19 1825 - "as to the able manner in which this most important Commission has been executed, and of the tender attention which has been paid to the public interests, by placing it in the hands of these Commis- sioners, of whom we shall only say, that two to one are odds at foot-ball" or the Colonial Times from Hobart 3rd July 1829 : Gentlemen of the Jury, you see before you one who has for- merly had tbe honor of serving his King and Country, and who has long been tossed about as the foot-ball of fortune. or the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser from Jan 26 1833 : When theFix this text coercive laws that were passed at the period of the Revolution (after the manner of a foot-ball that is kicked from party to party, to use Burke's descrip- tion of that memorable piece of parliamentary wick- edness") were repealed in 1792 It seems to me that the word was already 'hi-jacked' as you might try to claim........it had escaped whatever narrow confines you would like to believe might apply (or have applied). The usage was broader and more descriptive. cheers ;-)