As we all know, the Hyundai A-League works on a franchise system, similar to the one used in the MLS, and more locally, the NRL. There has been no real questioning to this system of club management.
However, is it the best option for the clubs, fans and, more importantly, the growth of Football.
As it currently stands, each club is a franchise, a license to play.
To enter the league, they need a required amount of capital before they are awarded a license. This view is one of the biggest selling points of the system. Financially, the franchise system is the best for the A-League, in such financial uncertainty and such competitive competition from other codes.
Each club has a salary cap enforced, as well as three marquee players (Under 21, Australian, and non-restricted) that fall outside of the salary cap.
Once again, this model prevents clubs from overspending.
An entity bid that tries to change this model is usually always rejected. One big example is Sydney Rovers’ more highly advanced rival bid, Sydney Wanderers, headed by Chris Tanner, Peter Begley, Richie Williams, and Joe Pinto. With the Wanderers’ bid having presented a one year plan, with several revolutionary ideas, including Singaporean sister club, strong ties with the community, outreach plans, returning Socceroos, and financials and stadiums all sorted out.
This bid was rejected for one that was only one month in the making, with no reasoning.
According to Mr Tanner however, the reason for the rejection, was, of course, football politics. He stated that previously the FFA had asked for a 30 per cent stake in another bid, and 4 out of 7 seats on the board.
Is this the way to go for football? I believe it is not.
Chris Tanner’s bid had a slogan on the bottom of its paper “The People’s Bid”. All of these A-League bids should be “people’s bids”. They should be run by the community, for the community. The FFA should still have control over finance such as the salary cap, but give the clubs some freedom.
Even the simplest things such as club websites need to be non-linear. At the moment, all the clubs have the same website, with different articles and pictures.
These small things all contribute to a club’s identity. Its own match day feeling, posters, and advertisements let the clubs call the shots. Still, credit to the FFA, they are starting to let that happen ever since season 3.
However, they are still rigorously regulating the way they are run. The clubs are all generic, bringing back the debate of “Old Soccer vs New Football”. Those clubs had identities.
Despite the obvious ethnic ties that some had, they still had that thing that you could recognise as being truly “Pan Hellenic”, or a real “Melbourne Knights” supporter.
Still on the topic of identity, the same old ‘Reebok’ standard jersey is slowly tiring out. Teams in the EPL have their own jersey. Each year the unveiling of the new jerseys is such a large thing. Sometimes it defines the team’s future, or season to come. It leads to some amazing looking jerseys, as well as some shockers, and companies work long and hard to create new looking jerseys for the clubs.
It becomes a competition.
You often hear “Have you seen the new Manchester United Away strip?”, “Have you seen Chelsea’s new third kit?” Rarely do you see “I love Central Coast’s new jersey,” because they are all the same theme.
Either plain coloured, or striped.
The only real breakaways were North Queensland Fury’s inaugural kit, and Melbourne Victory, who began the V style strip. It’s a part of identity, more or less.
The A-League is a growing young league, with a large amount of promise, however depending on the decisions the FFA make, will define its future.
Until the association gives clubs their own true identity, the A-League will have its growth stunted.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
As far as I'm aware, there is no FIFA mandate to have promotion/relegation. The MLS does not have such a system, like us, they have a two tier system of Major and Minor leagues, basically the same as AFL/State level, NRL/NSWRL+QRL. The problem with the game in emerging football, but established sporting countries is that, the game cant stamp its "Euro-Centric" culture on the society. Football sides in europe relate to small towns very well and most have 100+ years of history behind them, they are moderately well supported, but when you go below say the Championship, very few clubs have 100% support, ie, i'm a Hereford United fan AND an Arsenal fan. Infact the crazy PL ticket prices has actually been positive for smaller, lower league sides, as people want to go and see football. Football needs to fit into the existing sporting landscape, the culture here (and in the US) is one of a Major/Minor system, with no movement between the two. Salary caps and drafts also come in here. Again, there is no FIFA requirement to have or not have a salary cap. but they exist in some places to help the game grow, survive and (perhaps most importantly) fit into the "target" culture. Ultimately, FIFA are hell bent on world domination, so they'll do whatever they have to for the game to take a hold in new territories...
Mister Football
Guest
bob as I said, the Suns already have 7,000 members, and they are only playing in the VFL this season, which is one tier below AFL standard. That's a very healthy number and is indicative of plenty of local community support (certainly far more than what GCU enjoy, or will ever enjoy). The Suns will have little problem attracting at least 12,000 members and averaging 15,000+ home crowds in its first season. That will happen not because the club is being underwritten by the AFL, but because there has been a stack of community work in getting the club up and running the last two years.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
Its not smart to compare the A-League model to the AFL and NRL, if you closely look at all sports sides, there are different ownership models in every league of every sport. Most of it has to do with how the leagues have evolved, however given the chance, I think that the AFL, NRL, even the Premier League would rather have a franchise system. I think that they franchise system we have ensures that clubs fit the "new football" mentality, if the last six years have shown us only one thing, it was that the "old soccer" mentality was what was holding the game back. As football grows in this country, this culture of ownership and league wide finance will just be accepted as how our game is run. It is quite funny you mention the playing strips however, as just last night, while watching the Brisbane v Wellington match, i was thinking to myself how good it is now that the playing strips have evolved significantly in even the last three years. I was skeptical about the Reebok deal at first, especially given the "one size fits all" mentality. However this has started to wane. despite you're suggestion, the only two kits that are the same now are the Melbourne Heart and Wellington Pheonix, and this is in pattern only. What we need to remember is that the league is still very young at six years old, and football in this country has a very poor record of low level managment. a collective agreement on playing strips guarantees the same revenue for NQ Fury as the Victory or Sydney FC. Reebok are a strong brand (they're owned by Adidas), and it is good to have quality brand association with the league.
beaver fever
Guest
Thanks for pointing that out, i could not be bothered to correct these ignorant posts, of which on this subject and many others about Australian football are extremely common.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
Actually, thats not strictly true... they AFL are spending $200m over ten year on the game in western sydney, which only benefits GWS (the Swans might get some benefit though), however the money isn't being given to GWS to spend. This way the AFL can control where the money is spend and how. Most of Israel Fallou's contract is actually a 3rd party payment from the AFL for "Marketing and Promotion", and only 40% of his wage counts towards their cap, but the money comes from the AFL directly...
jimbo
Roar Guru
AFL clubs are not franchises - they are not privately owned - they are funded by the AFL. "Memberships" don't give you a share of the profits - its an inflated AFL term for season ticket holders.
Midfielder
Guest
Rome was not built in a day ... the A-League is decades away from having the same community acceptance and feel of the aFL & NRL... But this should not create any fear ... we simply grow a little each year and every now and then have a huge year and set up a new level... like the next media deal ... Mike go back to 2003 / 04 ... in the last NSL total revenue by the NSL was under 4 million dollars, crowds averaged about 4, 000 take away Perth Glory, South Melbourne & Newcastle and averages were less than 2, 000... Broke, no media deal, no stadiums, no broadcaster, SBS wanted it nothing .... so were where the new investors ore clubs going to come from... The system we have is the only one that could have worked...
Michael Turner
Roar Pro
I would agree, that because the A-League is not free to air, it is not viable to watch on television. These bids have been given official reasons, however most do not publish these, the first real mention of it seems to be here, because a bid member I'm in contact with gave me information on his, and Joe Messeiner's bid. A promotion and relegation model is not viable in the forseeable future, as relegation can spew chaos for clubs such as Newcastle, and even Sydney. With Australia such a competitive sporting landscape, any sort of downfall can spell the end.
Michael Turner
Roar Pro
hmmm...i'm listening more. Where did you hear that?
Art Sapphire
Guest
Its $450 to take 2 adults and 4 kids to Melbourne Heart 15 games Troy Mouni. Thats $30 for up to 6 seats. How is that expensive??? How can you take someone seriously when he gives himself the greek description for going down on a woman.
Michael Turner
Roar Pro
thanks mate, its good to receive some praise. I had no idea about the controlling majority idea, before I was in contact with Chris Tanner, who ran the Sydney Wanderers bid, as he told me Joe Messeiner' South Coast Bid was rejected for not giving 4 out of 7 seats. Politics. I believe in individuality. Websites, kits etc i dont think are a waste of time. They all contribute to a sense of identity.
bob
Guest
Websites are a waste of money for A-League clubs. All the AFL and NRL ones have template based sites, and most of the teams in England (for example), especially the lower down the club gets, have either tacky, horrible ones or identikit (look at Wolves and Stoke).
bob
Guest
Except that the AFL is pouring 200 million into the club before it starts. Hardly "community" if it needs to be subsidised like that. It's a franchise. Coat it however you like, but the AFL is a competition of franchises.
Troy Mouni
Guest
Great article and great read. I refuse to take my family to see either Melbourne Franchise's as its just way too expensive. The FFA have to recoup their money back some how. Considering Heart reneged on their deal to base themselves out at Casey, seems they are just trying to be a carbon copy of McVictory. Have these community bids such as Southern Cross and Sydney Wanderers, been given official written reasons why they weren't accepted or just phone calls to say sorry your rejected and that is it? Additionally when they do introduce a promotion and relegation model which is mandated by FIFA, what will they do with these franchises? Will they create other teams cookie cutter / or Maccas style and deploy them to regions that don't have a team? Considering the financial life line that the FFA already extends to most teams, where will these new franchises come from and how will they be financed / survive? Many underestimate or don' t understand the importance that winning the WC bid in 2022 is to the FFA. It is win at all costs for them. If they lose the bid, watch the football landscape change again. Keep up the great work ROAR, where others fear to tread you romp it in.
smfc4Life
Guest
Great story - a club should be an analogy of the community it represents - The HAL Clubs are rather generically compromised - I agree whole heartedly regarding assimilation of strips - websites and broader marketing campaigns - 11 clubs - however 1 model The FFA should loosen up and allow the clubs to express themselves more freely and regularly Football as still got a long way to go in this country - I am not convinced that the HAL has matured or is safe time for your traditional clubs to be given an opprtunity to apply provided they meet criteria - even if they do not succeed - it will atleast keep the franchises honest So we had a community bid - and the FFA wanted the controlling majority - I was not aware of that - what a joke Keep up the good work ROAR - tell it the way it is for a change
Art Sapphire
Guest
Correct Brett, the AFL owns the colours, the guernsey and even the mascots of every competing club. This is from 2003 "Collingwood has called on the AFL to protect the most famous emblems of the club - the magpie, the black and white colours and its stripped guernsey - or it will seek to win back the trademarks from the league." http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=3185
Working Class Rugger
Guest
The NSWRL and QRL systems were Club based system. However, with the inclusion of teams like Brisbane and Canberra that begun to change. It jumped further when the Cowboys, Sea Gulls, Warriors, Crusher's and Reds joined prior to the SL fiasco and really went nuts during SL .i.e. Adelaide, Hunter. Prior to this both NSWRL and QRL clubs built up over time while those listed and the likes of the Storm and Titans are for all intensive purposes 'franchises'. They were put in place by either the ARL,SL or NRL with any real history behind them. The CC Bears and Reds will once again follow this model as will another new teams in the future. It's has been an interesting evolution experienced by all the football codes in Australia. The AFL went from the seperate state leagues to introducing West Coast, Adelaide, Fremantle and Port Adelaide. Now we have both the GC and Greater Western Syd consortiums. Rugby has followed suite with the Brumbies to some degree, The Force and now the Rebels. In fact, if you look right across the Australian Sporting landscape only Cricket still maintains its traditional format. Though in saying that it will soon change at the very least in the T20 arena with a supposed expansion of the KFC Big Bash forming city based teams.
Mister Football
Guest
Both of GWS and the GC Suns will be membership based clubs like the rest of the AFL clubs (in fact, the Suns already have 7,000 members, even though they've been playing in the 2nd tier of footy).
Brett McKay
Guest
So if the A-L clubs don't own them, could it be the said that the FFA is guilty of identity theft?? I was interested to hear a Roarer state on the site in recent months that of the 32 AFL and NRL clubs, the Gold Coast Titans were the only club to actually own their own identity, in terms of trademarks, etc. News Ltd's subsidiary, Valimanda Pty Ltd owns all the associated logos, TMs, for the Melbourne Storm, but in all other cases (apparently) the govering body owns the identity. This seems to be rather strange in my mind, if this is the case, as the clubs really have no way of forging their own identity, in which case, Michael's piece here could easily apply to more than just the A-League...
Fez's are cool
Guest
You could concider the AFL to have "franchises" too... what else would you call GWS, GC, Swans?