To summarise the developments, the Fury were unable to reach the $1.5 million capital target that would have granted them another season in the A-League with the support of the governing body.
“Despite the hard work put in, the target of $1.5m of capital from the Retain the Fury campaign was not met, with less than $300,000 being pledged,” FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said.
“Whilst the club and the advisory board had attracted some very encouraging sponsorship commitments, the projected loss to run the club next season is still in our assessment in excess of $2m.
“FFA had been looking for capital from the campaign to set the foundations for a move to local ownership and a long-term future for the club.
“However with the capital-raising falling well short of the target, FFA has had to make the hard decision that it cannot continue to own and finance the club in these circumstances.”
There was an inevitability about the decision. Even as the Fury fought on gallantly, raising just under $300,000 from their community ownership model as floods and cyclones battered the region, all of the signs coming from the FFA indicated that their fate was already sealed.
After all, there are still those who insist the Fury were condemned to death by Australia’s failed 2022 World Cup bid. With no need to redevelop a World Cup stadium in Townsville and the demise of the stillborn Sydney Rovers leaving the A-League with an odd number of teams, the governing body seemed content to count its losses in a region of no great significant commercial importance; killing off the Fury and consolidating with a 10-team competition.
“We need to concentrate our resources on the growth, promotion and stability of the entire Hyundai A-League competition and this level of investment would prevent us from undertaking programs to achieve the above,” Buckley said.
The FFA’s purely fiscal decision leaves us with three questions. Firstly, why confirm the Fury’s axing in the midst of the finals series? Secondly, was it not worth the FFA covering the $2 million for another season, giving the Fury greater time in more stable economic times to build on their community ownership model? And thirdly and perhaps most importantly, why expand there in the first place if there was not the community backing and financial pull to sustain a club?
In terms of timing, it couldn’t have been worse – right in the middle of a so far exciting A-League finals series involving two Queensland teams.
All those involved in the Fury, from the players, coaches, members and club personnel, deserved an answer as soon as possible so they could plan accordingly, but the delaying and indecision meant the announcement fell at a time when the league should be building traction towards its showpiece event.
Now all the media focus will be on the Fury’s axing and the renewed questions regarding the A-League’s future and sustainability; clouding the drastic improvements in the on-field product at a time when it should be on full display.
It was as a mighty own goal from the FFA.
Secondly, could the FFA have not stepped in to fill the breach for another season? Expecting the North Queensland community and Queensland government to come to the aid of the club at a time when they suffered from one of the greatest natural disasters to hit the state was an unrealistic expectation. There were other more pressing financial concerns than the fate of a football club.
If the Fury’s fate was sealed well before this time, then this would hardly have mattered. But if indeed there was a chance the club could have been saved by the injection of new investment, then there should have been some leniency from the governing body.
As Fox Sports commentator Andy Harper pointed out, “When you look at the numbers involved that ($2 million shortfall) must be two, two-and-a-half per cent of the FFA’s business.
“In the scheme of things it doesn’t seem a lot of money, particularly when you consider how much money has been invested to get to this point.”
The fiscal decision overlooks the greater cost to the game: the supporters of North Queensland Fury who are now lost to the game (they cannot be expected to switch allegiances to Gold Coast or Brisbane), isolating the huge catchment area of the region and their grass roots clubs which now don’t have a direct path to the top tier of the game, and the loss of confidence in the governing body that comes with a failed expansion exercise.
Having made the decision to expand into the North Queensland, deeming the area worthy of a franchise, the FFA should have stayed there and accepted the financial cost of keeping the club afloat during its time of need, as a matter of honour.
This leads to the third question and the lesson to emerge from this sorry saga; the mistake in awarding North Queensland (and Gold Coast) a franchise as part of the A-League’s flawed expansion plans.
Expanding into Gold Coast and North Queensland seemingly had nothing to do with significant market research or the overwhelming desire for an A-League franchise in those regions, but more to do with the deep pockets of Clive Palmer and Don Matheson respectively.
It was a capital driven approach that completely ignored the level of support in those regions, in terms of commercial backing and fan interest.
This flawed strategy left the fate of the franchises at the whim of individuals, as witnessed by Matheson’s departure, which all but condemned the Fury there and then.
Gold Coast United, despite all the reassurances from Palmer, hinges on its owner’s personal fortune and business interests.
These clubs failed to engage with their communities because they never belonged to those communities, but rather those individuals who treated the clubs like their own personal fantasy teams.
Surely there should have been some due diligence to ensure there was the community backing to save the clubs in the event of their owners’ departures. The community ownership model came far too late to North Queensland and across the A-League.
Having now decided there was not enough support in North Queensland, we can only ask why the FFA didn’t discover this when they were handing out franchises.
“We need to know why we went there in the first place if the whole thing was so precarious,” said Andy Harper.
The greatest flaw in the A-League’s expansion plan was ignoring the advice of the PFA in their “Australian Premier League” manifesto back in 2002 and not starting with or at least expanding into the two leading markets, Melbourne and Sydney, with multiple teams, instead of awarding Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory with five-year exclusivity rights.
Melbourne Victory bursting out of the gates and leading the way with crowd averages and fan engagement and Sydney FC’s first season success (their fall in attendances and the backroom shambles is entirely self-inflicted), proved that the FFA underestimated those two cities’ ability to embrace the new look domestic game.
If we take this season as an example we’ve seen: Gold Coast United continue to pull awful crowds; North Queensland’s attendances fall and the collapse of the club; and Melbourne Heart, a club with no geographical differentiation from Victory trying to carve out a supporter base in a city owned by their intra-city rivals for the last five seasons, pull double the crowd average of their fellow expansion clubs, off the back of one of the success stories of the season, the birth of the Melbourne derby.
This proves that the way to expand was, as the PFA encouraged, in the major markets such as Melbourne, followed by the regional/smaller population centres.
Just imagine where the Melbourne rivalry would have stood today had the Heart started last season or earlier. They wouldn’t have had to steal as many fans from the Victory, for one thing.
The FFA failed to do that and must live with the consequences – great financial costs, isolating fans from the league, the ongoing concern over Gold Coast United, and so forth.
So the A-League is left to consolidate with ten teams and grind through this difficult aging process.
“Many leagues around the world have adjusted the composition of clubs in early years and we feel this move will strengthen the Hyundai A-League just as it did for Major League Soccer in the United States and the J-League in Japan,” said Buckley.
Trotting out the examples of the MLS and J-League struggling during their developmental phase is all well and good, but are the lessons from those leagues’ experiences being taken on board?
Hopefully the harsh reality of this situation and the public outcry forces the FFA to reexamine how it is running the A-League. After all, it could have been a lot worse than this.
The A-League dodged a bullet with Nathan Tinkler’s last-minute salvation of Newcastle Jets; Wellington and Brisbane have recently teetered on the financial brink; and Gold Coast United remains a basket case left to the whim of Mr. Palmer.
It’s time for the FFA under the leadership of Buckley to restore the fans’ faith in the governing body, if they can, and steady the ship.
Hopefully that begins with some genuine attempt to revive North Queensland Fury. Rumours abound that the club could be entered into the National Youth League next season with an eye at re-entering the A-League in the 2012/13 season. That’s a pretty steep ask. But leave them dead and the majority of North Queensland is lost to the A-League for good.
The A-League can’t afford to follow the NSL’s path, where franchises came and went through a constantly revolving door. But can the FFA avoid the mistakes of the past? If the North Queensland Fury saga is anything to go by, it remains to be seen.
Follow Adrian on twitter @AdrianMusolino
Chris
Guest
To all those people moaning about how the FFA are a pack of unfeeling bastards who should just keep pouring money into the Fury - where do you think that money is coming from? The decision to axe the Fury was absolutely the correct one - the mistake was to admit them in the first place. But that's easy to say in hindsight - at the time it was probably worth a shot. The next expansion (wherever that is) should not be rushed. I would say give a 12 month period for interested parties to put forward proposals and then allow 2-3 years of planning and building before joining the league. Look at how the Suns and GWS have been developed in the AFL.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
when revenue from the afl clubs they own is counted, the SANFL make more than 80 million a year, the WAFL nearly 90 million a year.Horse racing I didnt look up at the time I did it, any more than I counted up motor racing.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
Again, from memory it was a 40 million dollar gap between ARU and FFA revenue.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
He is also a former Vice President and board member of Australian rules football club Richmond. As a sports and industrial lawyer in the 1990s, he acted for the AFL Umpires Association in their pay dispute with the AFL, His brother is Cameron Schwab, Melbourne Demons CEO, and his father was Alan Schwab, Former Richmond CEO and VFL/AFL Commissioner.
MyLeftFoot
Guest
I might be wrong here, but doesn't Brendan Schwab have an AFL background as well?
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
I should add, Fox looks at more than just ratings - they look at the capacity to sell subscriptions. The A-League may not sell lots of additional subscriptions on its own, but it might help sell subscriptions to those sports fans who are weighing up buying a Fox subscription, it will be a factor that helps sway such a decision. Being able to offer all four major football competitions is a selling point. Fox look at it from that point of view. Similarly, Fox are interested in increasing their penetration into the Southern markets (currently lower than in the Northern markets), and AFL is the vehicle to do that, so the AFL will end up getting as much as the NRL, even though NRL ratings on Pay TV are currently higher.
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
Fox will want to keep it, no doubt, they definitely have a need of such product over the Summer months, and the interest is suffiiciently high (with growth potential) to maintain it.
jamesb
Guest
At the time, I personally thought that the tv deal of 7 years was 2 years too long. Also, pay tv possibly need to pay overs in the next tv deal to keep the A-League sustainable, otherwise it will collapse, and therefore what will fox sports show during the summer months. Even though the A-League doesn't rate well, it will still leave a hole as far as sporting content is concerned.
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
Scary stories coming out of NZ about the troubles the Nix owner is in.
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
james it has been said many times that at the inception of the A-League, the Fox deal was the only deal on the table, and at the time, from their point of view, it was reasonably generous. To put that in perspective, SBS wanted the FFA to pay them to televise a couple of games per week.
steven Ellis
Guest
Proving utterly incapable in a major sport with national junior , professional club and international team aspects Buckley should return to who his true calling commensuarate with his skills.. an AFL muppet in the accounts department .....
asanchez
Roar Guru
jamesb Agree with some of your points regarding the administration of our game. John O'Neill was much better then Ben Buckley. Frequently got his head in the media, and was proactive. Ben Buckley has been in hiding while in the job, and only comes out in the media when he has no choice, or when there's an issue. Buckley was always very reactive. Lyall Gorman I believe is better than Matt Carroll, he's only been in the job for 6 months, has a very tough gig in front of him, but I think he'll do ok. Uncle Frank is a totally different issue, he gets criticized for a lot of things, but we can't deny the positive impact he's had on the game. Where would we be without him? The problem is he is 80 odd, he's not going to be around forever! As to who will take the mantle, who knows? Hopefully someone... My choice for the next CEO, has to be Brendan Schwab, who is currently the president of the PFA. I've never heard a man speak about our game with such passion and knowledge.
Brian
Guest
I know this is slightly changing the topic but does anyone know the potential maths from the Asian Cup bid. What rights and/or revenue/expenses will the FFA make. Does the FFA get funds from selling to Chinese TV in prime time or are all profits derived by the AFC? I've never heard of any talk of what the rights to the Asian Cup are worth. Still with Japan, S Korea, China and Saudis competing it would be interesting to know
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
the bush an increase from 17m to 25m would not be sufficient - each club would get about $500k per annum extra out of that, at the very most. It really needs to be around the $50 mill mark as a minimum, which is achievable, they'd get about $2 mill each extra out of that - and then you are starting to make a difference. Although it must be said, some clubs have accumulated massive losses over the past 6 seasons, at least once club, at an average loss of greater than $2 mill per season.
The Bush
Guest
Brian, I made use of the NRL and AFL to highlight that by reducing the teams in the A-League there must be a corresponding reduction in games because the A-League employs a system whereby all teams play eachother a corresponding same numbe of times (currently 3, eventually just 2). However, the NRL and AFL do not employ a home-and-away fixture list, something that frustrates me immensely. Extra games, for any code, is only worth more money assuming people are tuning in and the aggregate expense of putting on those extra games is less than the increased comparative revenue (on a percentage basis). In other words, if 10 games equals $0.5m in expenses but makes $1m, then 11 games, costing $0.55m, must equal more than $1.1m for it to be a worthwhile increase, otherwise you are simply being paid the same per-game/team amount as you were previously. Bigger pie sure, but also more mouths to feed. The NRL and AFL are the premier leagues in Australia and, unless this current expansion policy proves to be the biggest failure in Aus Sporting history, will definately make more money, even against additional expenses, by having a ninth game each weekend. The same, as you've indicated, cannot be said for the A-League. All indicators are, however, that the A-League will command a substanial increase in TV revenue next time round, even if it remains only on Foxtel. Even if the current 17m per year were increased to 25m per year, most of the debts the clubs are running would be wiped clean...
jamesb
Guest
When the FFA started it had Frank Lowy, but it also had John O'Neill, Matt Carroll from Australian Rugby and a very highly rated person in Bonita Mersiadis They set the foundations with the start of the A-League (clubs with no ethnic ties) along with Australias move to asia. More importantly they promoted the A-League with advertising at the start of every season. Since then, John O'Neill and Matt Carroll have gone back to Rugby, while Mersiadis has left the the FFA more than 12 months. We are left with an overated AFL administrator who knows nothing about soccer, and lately administration. Buckleys achievements in recent times: Failed West Sydney bid into the A-League Failed World Cup bid Failed North Queensland Fury venture 3 strikes your out. Also its time Lowy steps aside and gives a younger, fresh person to take charge. Maybe its his son, or some one else that Lowy is connected with or someone else. My choice for CEO to run the FFA, if shes qualified, I would back Bonita Mersiades. http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/jesse-fink/blog/1025691/Mersiades-gets-her-due
jtg
Guest
I cannot work out how grown men from FFA and Fury getting paid hundreds and thousands of dollars could not even get a basic communication right between each other?? I suspect the FFA and Buckley are LIARS. At the same time I would really like Rabieh to explain what happened? He kept telling us he has the money and don't worry about it. Where is Mr Frank Lowy? His silence is deafening...I assume he is doing deals behind closed doors for the second sydney team??? The kids in North Queensland have had their hearts absolutely ripped out by these supposed adults. I really hope the truth comes out about the FFA and Fury management. At the same time if Rabieh had any heart he would be continuing the drive for community ownership this season to present to the FFA. But his interview on Foxsports showed last night that he has no passion about the game!! Back to the Port Authority board of directors you go. Why individuals who have/had no involvement in football are running the show beggars belief?? Benji Marshall was announced the face of Rugby League today. May I suggest Ben Buckley be awarded the face of AFL and Rugby league. He has done a wonderful job for them!! To the other A league teams don't get too smug as your team may be next!!!
jamesb
Guest
I suppose the question needs to be asked. Who in the FFA oversaw Furys inclusion into the A-League and approved Don Matheson as the private owner? Matheson pulled out of the Fury before the end of Furys first season. Personally I don't like private ownership. All A-League clubs should have Community ownership type models in place. The reason why the A-League clubs have private ownersip is because the TV revenue deal is non existant. $17 million a year is hardly going to make the A-League and its clubs viable. The FFA (i don't know how?) need to have an increase tv revenue deal of around 45 or 50 million a year. Otherwise I see a complete collapse of the A-League and the future of soccer in this country to be decades behind. ( if it isn't already)
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
A fair enough question, and as you probably know, the answer is complicated. If we think back to 2004, what was the biggest stumbling block to Lowy delivering on the recommendaitons contained in the Crawford report? The existing administrators, both in the ASF and across the various state bodies. At the time, there some very public spats, shedding of crocodile tears, etc. Lowy appeared to clear the way for a new start (and it was a new start of sorts), but in truth, quite a few of those vested interests remained in power, especially at state level. The new start was littered with compromises. To what extent did this feed in directly to Lowy ignoring the recommendation of having the FFA separate from the league - I don't know the answer - but we do know that some of the most important recommendations of the Crawford report were never put into effect. Two possibilities: 1. Once Lowy was put into a position of complete authority, he did things his way (and as the man with the Midas touch, initially, no one would have worried about that); or 2. the exact opposite, he somehow remained hamstrung by certain vested interests remaining in power and acting as stumbling blocks to the full implementation of the report. We also have to be honest - in the euphoria of the Socceroos qualifying for the WC for the first time in 32 years, promising signs of growth in the League in the 2nd and 3rd seasons, and certain superficial changes having taken place across the state bodies (new names, etc), no one in the 4th estate was casting a critical eye across what should have been done pursuant to the Crawford report - these non-actioned recommendations have only received attention very recently, for obvious reasons.
damos_x
Guest
By the sounds of some of the shenanigans that have apparently occurred ( payments to consultants, all the usual pandering to delegates on their official bid visits etc) the FFA did play politics but ultimately we just didn't pay as much as Qatar & so be it, no WC for us.