Having watched the A-League over the past few seasons, and speaking with friends and work colleagues, I couldn’t help but think that Australian football has been losing its charm amongst Australian sports fans.
The A-League was initially fuelled with Australia’s first World Cup qualification, with solid crowds supporting the inaugural season that challenged NRL and Super Rugby attendance figures.
Unfortunately, the interest has waned over the years since most teams are basically playing in front of friends and family.
Two teams have folded since the inception of the league and many are in dire financial circumstances, including the newly crowned champions Brisbane Roar.
But after the watching one of the greatest Australian football grand finals of all-time this past Sunday, I realised that there is definitely a place for this league in Australian sports.
The scenes at Suncorp Stadium were amazing – one of the best spectacles in the past 12 months.
Ben Buckley said that there was considerable interest in the Roar franchise when being interviewed after the game, but it’s all well and good after winning a grand final.
The FFA needs have a look at how the competition is structured. I think they are not harnessing the potential of what the league can reach.
To me, playing the game of risk is similar to the Australian sports market – if you spread your men throughout the board, trying to branch out as far as possible, then you are vulnerable to attacks from all players.
When starting out, solidify the areas in which you control and strengthen you position by moving slowly.
Know where you stand in the market.
The current season starts in August; not the best time when all eyes are on the NRL and AFL final series. With nine out of ten teams with AFL and NRL teams (seven of these teams have two or more NRL/AFL teams) it would be smart to capture the audience of the fans in both codes in the off-season.
The season length should be shortened from 30 weeks to 26 weeks. This would allow for an 18 week home and away season and continue the three week finals series.
Proposed season breakdown:
– 26 weeks between end and start of NRL–AFL seasons: play inside those dates.
– 18 week regular-season.
– Three week finals.
– Four week FA Cup-style season (see below).
Shortening the season will link with Asian Champions League. Keep the bandwagon going after grand finals like that. Teams in the current grand final should continue on their good form overseas.
The season should start with two big derbys importantly utilising the Monday Afternoon (NSW Labour Day public holiday) after the NRL grand final with a NSW derby. (CCM, NEW or SYD) Victorian teams to utilise Melbourne Cup week and the tourism it brings – have Melbourne Victory play either Sydney, Adelaide or Brisbane or even the Heart, which could give extra meaning to ‘Derby Day’.
There should be local/area derbys and Grand Final rivalries at Christmas and Australia Day.
It’s always going to be hard to retain standout players in the competition when there is Asian competitions with significantly bigger cheque-books at their disposal.
Teams should look to continue to lure big name players to play out the twilight of their careers in Australia. Australia has a big fan-base of European leagues, so continuing to bring out the likes of Robbie Fowler, Michael Bridges on long or short term deals would be beneficial in getting more people to both home and away matches.
Incorporate a knockout style Cup – a 22 team competition with a field of the ten A-League teams, as well as 12 State League teams.
– First week have the two top teams from each state, NSW, QLD, VIC, SA and WA as well as New Zealand to playoff for six spots in the round of 16.
– Second week, The bottom two A-League teams square off, with the state league teams playing A-League sides in the round of 16.
-The top two A-League teams have the second round off – yada, yada, yada.
Having this league will allow the FFA to grasp which areas they need to expand through the development of the state league teams. It will help develop solid bases in regional areas that will be more than happy to have an A-League team come play in their region.
And it will allow A-League teams to field junior players in the competition to rest their A-League regulars.
The final could coincide with an A-League XI v All-Stars match (Rising Stars and International players) double header in major city. All-star team could allow FFA to bring out retired stars (e.g. Zidane, Beckham) and promote the game and league within cities around Australia.
Free-to-air exposure? This is a contentious one, with Fox Sports owning the rights to all A-League games. But at the very least, there should be a highlights show which would be a great advertisement for the game, especially with customers who do not have pay television.
With that in mind, it’s your call Mr. Buckley.
With the AFL, NRL and Super Rugby just about to start playing their turns, how are you going to play your pieces?
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