Why not run the A-League between October and May?

Just to clarify - I'm not advocating that the A-League shorten or condense its season to not clash with the other codes. I just think that October to May reduces the impact of those inevitable clashes and gives the A-League the chance to shine without distraction.

Some form of clash is inevitable, the season HAS to be this long so our players are playing enough games. It's about building a serious competition. Most pro football players will play around 50 games a year, the a-league is about, what, 25-30? You cant ask proffesional football players to come and play in your comp and then say, "We only play 5 months a year so we don't clash with Rugby". The a-league needs to be able to stand on it's own two feet while the other codes are on and pick up crosscoders in their offseason. The fans that go to football go to football any time of year. If you make the competition a serious one of high quality, then this core support will grow and grow. Sydney crowds were pretty consistent all year, about 13 000. 16 000 when Robbie was in town, 8 000 if raining or game is in Parra, 25 000 for important finals match against melbourne.

The A-League wasn't moved to August to avoid competition - it was moved to line up with FIFA's international calendar and the FIFA club free dates, so we can compete internationally. If you think that the A-League is going to die because of an AFL or NRL game is on in town, then we might as well have no competition at all. You are thinking too narrowly - football is not just the A-League its a world competition for all our international teams - junior, men and womens teams. We have to compete and prove ourselves equal or better, not avoid them. If you want football to thrive in this country then you have to be more positive, make a choice and support the local league any way you can and stop offering the Port Adelaide v Kangaroos game as an excuse not to go to an A-League game or whingeing that Melbourne Heart aren't as good as Manchester United.

Farqwar, I take your point but I don't believe that organising the A-League season so that it does not clash with the final rounds of AFL and NRL demeans the round ball code. It should be seen as a sensible marketing strategy. I think we have to admit that at the moment the A-League does not have the profile of the AFL or NRL and it seems counter-productive to schedule the opening rounds in early August. It would be like the MLS scheduling matches during the NFL play-offs.

I agree: the season should start and finish later. It starts too early. It loses oxygen in the coverage of the Finals series of other codes, we all know that. But I think there is a more relevant factor. In August and early September there are many potential attendees who are at the business end of their football seasons either playing or coaching. I know many who do not come to earlier games for this reason. It also finishes way too early. It's too early for players in World Cup years. It always leaves me feeling flat to finish in February. I follow European football and it seems anomalous that they finish 2-3 months after us. There may be compelling reasons of ground availability of which I am not aware that prevent a later finish to the season. I would welcome a clear statement from the FFA if that were so. In the absence of these reasons I'm unequivocally in favour of October to May.

It certainly is a dilemma apaway whichever way we go. The problem is exacerbated by having a finals series. Perhaps sometime in the future we’ll have a 30 round 16 team first past the post championship in conjunction with an FA cup. That might be easier to fit within the preferred time zone.

I believe the average stays pretty similar but the standard deviation gets bigger. Still some big blockbusters with 80K plus crowds, but quite a few smallish 15-20K crowds for teams out of contention. So the point about certain markets (e.g. Adelaide) being relatively free of AFL hype is correct.

I think the season is good the way it is to be honest. Start in August and finish around March. That way you are consistent with other leagues around the world. I think if we have a Cup competition around April and May, then this could fill out the rest of the season. I am not a fan of trying to imitate other leagues. Perhaps I am just happy with how it is at the moment. Let it stabilize and see what happens. We shouldn't bite of more than we can chew.

Also the reason is that by playing less games you are effectively handicapping any player in the A-league chances in representing the Socceroo as they will be out of season during important WCQ or even the World Cup itself in the future. Pim Verbeek had a major problem of picking A-league players during the off-season and was really justifiably concern about Jason Culina's ability to produce for the national team (he was very average at the World Cup) because of the lengthy break between the end of the A-league season and the World Cup.

James We have to expand to 16 teams... the main problem is we have no free to air TV.... Further our media deal is so small as to be a joke... blame not the FFA but the prior NSL folk... We need to expand the league have average crowds of somewhere between 10K & 14 K per season and have in time 16 teams... two rounds 32 matches + finals because we live in Australia... Meaning a 38 week competition.... resulting in about 60% will clash with the AFL & NRL... to combat this we are playing three rounds mis week next year probably six rounds mid week... It is the best call of a bad position.... but we have to move forward .... the ball has started we cannot stop now... The best thing to do is simply go to as many A-League matches as you can and get as many people as you can to go...and watch what football you can on TV ... and surf the net on football ... it all counts...

I stand by what I said above. Where is the evidence that crowds pick up after the NRL/AFL seasons end? Crowds pick up towards the business end of the season because the large finals format makes early games little more than a preseason. And with the exception of NQ and GC the crowds have been pretty good. Comments on these boards indicate that fans of other codes don't like football, and those that do are welcome to jump on board when their season is over, but fark organising the season around them. I'm with fussball, the shorter the off season the better. To organise everything around NRL/AFL demeans and devalues the a-league IMO.

JamesP It's just the way it is for serious football competitions. You have to play a lot of matches for the League to be taken seriously. Additionally, to be accepted into the lucrative ACL, the Asian Confederation has rules about: * minimum number of teams in the league * minimum number of matches played in the league. And, it's not just the best leagues in Europe, who play over 30 matches per season. Here are some of the lesser ranked leagues: a) Welsh Premier League: Ranked 46 out of 53 * 18 teams play 34 matches per season b) Albanian Superliga: Ranked 44 * 12 teams play 33 matches c) Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság I: Ranked 33 * 16 teams paly 30 matches

And why are you comparing the A-league to the best leagues in Europe? When you are the dominant league in your country then by all means play for 30+ weeks. But it appears many on this forum are saying that that the A-league is young...give it time to grow and develop. Why the rush to have a season that is longer than both the AFL and NRL???

JamesP Serious football leagues have to play at least 30 league matches per season - end of story. 1. Leagues with >16 teams * ranging from 20 teams per league for EPL, La Liga, Budesliga, Serie A to 16 for the Greek Superleague * Each team simply plays the other teams HOME & AWAY for a total of 30-38 matches per season 2. Leagues with less than 16 teams a) Danish Superliga: Ranked 12th in Europe * 12 teams play each other 3 times for a total of 33 matches per season, and b) Swiss Super League: Ranked 14th in Europe. 10 teams play each other 4 times for a total of 36 matches per season c) SPL Ranked 15th in Europe * Of course, the Scots like to complicate things ;-) * 12 teams in the SPL each team plays the other 3 times for 33 matches. Then the table is split in two and the top teams play each other once as do the bottom teams for a total of 38 matches! So, the HAL season of 30 matches is fine. A truly fair season would be 40 matches with each team playing every team an equal number of times at home and away. PS: Totally agree that we need to get rid of the rubbish "finals series" and initiate an Australian FA Cup, which would invlove every registered football team in Australia. Source for League rankings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_coefficient

Thank goodness for somebody else finally seeing the light. Thank god for you apaway! I have long said this and wondered ...why? Why run start the comp smack bang in the middle of the business ends of the NRL and AFL. for 5 seasons crowds have been losy at the start, yet every year they start it progressively earlier and earlier into August. From December onwards the crowds pick up and stay up, regardless of the start of the NRL and AFL, why not extend this period. If Foxsports don't like it, too bad, they will have to find a way to fit them in or they will lose revenue from the renewed interest in the league. Ben Buckly must be a double agent for the AFL or something, he keeps making stupid decisions.

How's this for a simple solution. Start the A-league in October and finish it in early March prior to AFL/NRL season proper kickoff. This would allow all 12 teams (including rovers next year) to play each other exaclty twice (i.e. 22 rounds home and away). Forget about finals - the crowds barely go up at all and its not in the soccer persons psyche. A shortened competition will produce more value on each H&A game, whith the premier being the team that finishes top of the ladder. ACL places go to 2nd (and possibly 3rd in the future). No interfereence with ALF/NRL...tick No finals which most soccer fans dont like anyway....tick Potential to introduce an Australia Cup or something similar which soccer fans like...tick No problems with playing ACL matches in Arpil/May....tick

+1

My point, Mitch, is that at the moment the A-League is doing just that.

thats exactly right, fox sports only has 3 channels meaning that a-league games could possibly be relegated to the Main Event channel. which is a good look for them

... but I think crowd averages for the NRL and AFL are probably weaker in the final third than in the first third of their season. Can anyone confirm? on this question, I think you are broadly right, although the AFL crowd average has remained consistently around 37,000 for the season, recalling that a few blockbusters the last few weeks has kept the average chugging along. But the point remains that in August, somewhere in Australia, some NRL/AFL teams are not travelling well, and some of those supporters will attend A-League games. People need to remember that MV took the plunge to start playing games at Etihad, early in season 2, attracting very large crowds, at a time when there were no Melbourne sides in the top four of the AFL finals. Obviously it wasn't the main factor, MV started well, there was still a novelty factor, but I'm confident that it contributed to the healthy crowds witnessed at the time.