Following Archie Fraser’s criticisms of FFA governance, of note is an article by Michael Lynch in the Age – “Victory in bid to re-vamp the A-League” – where Geoff Lord criticised the FFA’s incapacity for innovative ideas and expressed a desire to engage powerbrokers at the top.
The sentiment was echoed by Perth Glory owner Tony Sage, who was unimpressed by FFA CEO Ben Buckley’s performance on Fox Sports FC, in an interview of his own the World Game website.
Firstly, of interest to me was the idea of Geoff Lord to have a slightly shorter A-League, which ends earlier and have a cup competition that goes on further. Some have criticised this idea, but I think it is good value and it is in line with my own idea.
The A-League should be considered as a football competition aimed at football fans and the greater Australian sports market, while the FFA Cup should be purely for the football fraternity.
While many football fans are used to ten month seasons running August to May, it has to be understood in the Australian context most sports fans are used to six month seasons for winter codes in particular.
The first reason that a similar length season makes sense for the A-League is firstly season ticket/membership cost, keeping the A-League season of similar length means that membership costs will be able to be maintained at the same level as AFL or NRL memberships and what they perceive as “fair”.
This in turn means it is easier to retain committed fans and cross-code fans and the direct revenue to clubs they bring.
The second element is that the showpiece event of domestic football (A-League Grand Final) can be staged in the void between the Cricket and AFL/NRL seasons, meaning it gets maximum media exposure and there is no competition.
For committed fans used to ten month seasons, the show can go on through an FFA Cup competition. The immediate benefits are that this competition also helps to keep teams match fit for AFC Champions League campaigns and helps to give more senior appearances for youth players.
The structure should be along the lines of the model of the late UEFA Cup, where the lower league teams play in qualifying rounds, to the point where a five team group stage consisting of a mixture of a couple of A-League clubs and State/Provisional League clubs. Matches generally being played in more grassroots or State League level venues to allow for lower costs.
Marketing can be helped via the fact that many of the grassroots are in playing season, meaning advertising to participants for A-League clubs, while on the other hand, A-League fans who don’t normally go to State or Provisional League grounds in only a single match can generate useful revenue for grassroots clubs.
The Group stage should be regionally focused in a Conference system to keep travel costs down, but to also allow for a large influx of A-League fans to grassroots grounds.
This helps with the connect between the two. 3 teams should qualify, meaning a grass roots team each season gets the chance to travel inter-state.
The post group-stage rounds should be two legged, culminating in a final in May, with even an Asian spot up for grabs to allow for the capacity for some of the lower league or former NSL clubs to get Asian exposure. This way we can also hopefully argue there is a 10 month season to fulfil the AFC requirements while not counter-productively going head to head with the AFL/NRL seasons.
The next issue is what to do with TV rights money. TV rights money is where the money really is in sport in the modern age and not attendance revenue. There are many factors but it can be expected the FFA will generate more income when the current deal finally runs out in 2013.
Much of this money, rather than throwing it down the toilet in covering the functional costs, obscure programs and excessive low value (dollar for dollar) advertising, should be spent on investing in physical capital and infrastructure.
This ranges from developing our own in house media infrastructure so the football fraternity isn’t dependant on traditional media from owning actual football infrastructure rather than being held to ransom by councils.
The national media is traditionally hostile/apathetic, but football should circumnavigate this by developing relationships with the regional media networks and develop more exposure in places such as South East Asia in particular.
An A-League based Socceroos team should compete in the ASEAN regional competition (AFF Suzuki Cup) helping to facilitate that competition in return.
In terms of infrastructure, the Mariners are leading the way here, and the Melbourne teams aren’t too far behind. Victory are based in a Boutique Rectangular stadium and football can be considered a major tenant unlike Rectangular stadiums in other parts of the country. But like the Heart, the football fraternity would do well to strike up partnerships with Universities.
Problems that have plagued the Gold Coast and now the Jets can be partially offset by having a competitive alternative.
Football can build football friendly infrastructure at what are often well placed locations well serviced by public transport with decent parking and in return can provide good sports science data, as well as fill a government funding vacuum
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