With A-League currently struggling somewhat off the field in regards to money, supporters and expansion a question comes to the fore; should we attempt to replicate the Barcelona structure and create a multi-sport super club.
It is a little known fact that FC Barcelona is just a part of a super club comprising of Football, Basketball, Handball, Hockey and Futsal.
This super club is all based in the one complex with a wide range of facilities all shared between the teams according to their needs. All teams wear the same blue and red dominated attire and have a near identical crest.
Super clubs such as these are an interesting idea and one which I believe could be beneficial to the A-League and sport in Australia in general.
For example the Moore Park sporting complex in Sydney would be an ideal location for such a Club. There is a Rectangular Stadium, the Sydney Football Stadium able to accommodate Football, Rugby League and Rugby Union.
There is the SCG which is able to accommodate Aussie Rules and Cricket. There is also the Hordern Pavillion which can be used for Boxing and could potentially be upgraded to be able to host basketball and various other indoor sports. All of these sports could combine under the one name so to speak.
For example, Sydney FC (football), Sydney Roosters (Rugby League), Sydney Swans (Australian Rules), Sydney Waratahs (Rugby Union), Sydney Blues (Cricket) etc.
The club could either choose to form a common crest which represents Sydney as a city rather than representing a particular sport or they could maintain their own individual sport orientated crest.
The club would have common colours across all sports; this could be a problem if the Swans didn’t want to follow the trend of the other clubs which is largely a blue of some form.
The clubs each have their own management team however, they are overseen by a larger executive board which oversees the entire super club. The executive board contains a member from each of the sports participated in by the Super Club and this member is voted on by the members of the club from the sport he represents.
I believe that such an organisation would build a stronger connection between a range of sports and codes. If Sydney FC was not playing so well fans of the Super Club may be able to take stock that the Rugby Union team was performing very well and were near the top of the ladder.
Instead of it being solely about how football performs in Sydney, super clubs could offer fans a wider range of sports to support Sydney.
Of course, not all Sydney Swans fans would be interested in attending Sydney FC matches of vice versa and they have always followed their sport of choice, but it would offer fans a good reason to take notice of the other codes in the city and support them actively or inactively.
Another way that it could unite codes in the city would be at a big match. Say, the Sydney Roosters needed a win in order to make the top 8 after an up and down season. It would be a terrific chance for fans of all sports at the Super Club to get behind the Roosters.
It would be an amazing site to see the Chookpen, The Cove and the supporter groups of the Waratahs, Swans, Blues and all the other sports supporting the Roosters as part of their city rather than just a part of their code. The same applies for if it was a crucial match in another sport.
Although Moore Park has ideal facilities for such an organisation, its location is not ideal as it is too far away from the Western parts of Sydney. Alternatively a similar club could be located at Olympic Park in Sydney’s west.
One may ask, “what about the other nine NRL clubs that are in Sydney?” A fair question. They could choose to attempt to form their own super clubs or stay independent as they are.
One thing is that if they did choose to stay independent it would create a healthy hatred of the NRL team from the super club organisation; tall poppy syndrome so to speak.
It would swell attendances at games where the Super Club are visiting as fans would turn out in big numbers to see of their ‘normal’ club could ‘topple that fancy Super Club team’.
Also, unlike the Moore Park example, a whole new Super Club could be formed without amalgamating existing teams.
It could help to make expansion clubs more popular with fans as having a range of sports to choose from cause there to be a large pool of supporters which the club would appeal to.
From what I can tell, the formation of Super Clubs could be an interesting and successful addition to the sporting landscape.
Please comment below and share your thoughts!
sheek
Guest
No, I don't think so. Super clubs might sound fine in theory, but would prove a nightmare in practice. While I understand the greater efficiency of economies of scale by having several sports under the same umbrella, the counter argument is no one cap fits all. Eventually, one sport within the organization is going to complain they're getting the thin edge of the slice, & this will cause jealousies & arguments. Ultimately, sporting clubs like to be in charge of their own destiny, for better or worse.
Daniels
Guest
I see the NBL having some teams going down this path. A whole bunch of NBL franchises could be bought by 1 or more of the sucessful football teams (A-league, AFL, NRL, Super 15 and the ANZ Championship Netball) A quick example is the Sydney Kings. The Sydney Swans and Sydney FC can share its ownership, by taking over the management tasks, and, the kings can then choose to hire only Basketball specific staff members. Basketball is unable to support complete clubs with the full complement of buseness level staff that would be required, and thats the role the other teams would play.
Elifanti
Guest
Fair's fair, the MV management rationalised it at the time that they preferred not to be directly linked to just one AFL club, when a large percentage of their supporters came from all of the Melbourne based AFL clubs - so it was a bit more than just luck.
Redb
Roar Guru
More luck than good management.
Redb
Roar Guru
The problem is that in most situations the AFL club is the strongest and therefore has little to gain.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
The problem is theres no rich clubs that wont to be involved in this kind of operation. That said with salary caps in the major leagues, clubs like Collingwood are going to have more money than they know what to do with soon, but soccer? They've been down that path before, dont see that happening again.
Elifanti
Guest
It proved to be a very smart decision by the Victory management at the time.
Kasey
Guest
Barely mate, I was a Norwood (SANFL) fan long before I became a diehard United fan, luckily North are a pretty 'nothing' team. If it had been a link up with Port Magpies, I would have beenropable that a team I love(United) and a team I loathe (Port) had linked up.
RedOrDead
Roar Guru
SANFL teams are okay - they're not controlled by the AFL! lol
roarlover34
Roar Pro
I hate to say it but i disagree with you about having a second A-League tier been beneficial. Relegation would ruin a team both financially and on the field. There would be less people at the games, less media interest, commentary and the players would leave and attempted to be signed by a club still in the top flight. It only really works in other countries becuase there is a deep rooted love of their team almost regardless of their position in football.
Banger
Guest
I am not sure that the 'Super club' model will ever succeed in Australia in the format that it does overseas. I believe that our sporting marketplace is too competitive and parochial. However, I do believe that there is room for the clubs to cooperate and share resources in the future. Besides the developments in Newcastle with the Tinkler sports group, I believe that the greatest potential for these 'super clubs' to develop would be between the Super 15 and A League clubs. In Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne these two codes share playing facilities, and in Brisbane their also share training facilities. And that these two codes have the most to gain from such arrangements due their stature as world games and as the 3rd and 4th most popular games in Aus. Looking in particular at the case of the Reds and the Roar, I believe that there would be great potential in further cooperation. Potential to lobby QLD stadiums for a better deal for the use of Suncorp as a bloc, potential to share back room staff and some non code specific staff such as medicos and fitness staff / physios. Further more as both clubs are on Foxtel with no free to air coverage the ability to come together for commercial and marketing events could only benefit both in increased awareness and press coverage. Furthermore, if there was potential to buy a season ticket to include both teams I believe that would have the potential to be a success, (or offer discounted tickets to other code for season ticket holders of the other). I believe that this type of partnership could succeed while ensuring that both clubs maintain their seperate identities etc, and that this could be copied in the other centres I have already mentioned, and possibly Perth as well. God knows that Sydney FC and the Warratahs need all the help they can get to cut costs and attract crowds at the moment. Well that's just my ramblings, I am not sure at all if the FFA or ARU would have a bar of it though.
NF
Guest
*Townsville.
NF
Guest
NQ Cowboys+NQ Fury+Towns-ille Crocodiles would of being a great super group for the NQ area unfortunate about the Fury being cut but it would of being ideal in the first place. Unity surpasses divide and conquer when it comes to the sporting landscape as there is a stronger possibility of gaining more support than losing it by being one united front. Imagine a super club in Brisbane: Broncos, Reds,Lions & Roar. Wow now that's a definition of a super-club when all 4 hit there stride the support would be huge if done right.
Nicotta
Roar Rookie
I personally think the introduction of a second tier could help both boost the league's quality and expand it at the same time. To start with, a few NRL or AFL teams could start up franchises for this A2-League (such as Parramatta, Wollongong, Canberra, Carlton, Geelong, etc) with the Tasmanian bid also given permission, and the remaining spots could be filled with current state league teams, with funds to grow the state clubs' standards coming as reward for qualifying for this second tier. The current state teams joining would win qualification through either winning their respective leagues, or via a play-off system. For example, higher quality leagues (such as NSW and VIC) could see their champions or however many automatically qualify, with lower quality leagues (such as NT and ACT) having their champions enter a qualification play-off. There are current 9 leagues at this level, so spots would be limitted. Maybe the AFL and NRL-supported franchises could start off in the A-League, allowing more state league clubs to participate in a possible 12 or 14 team second tier. It would work best if the second tier saw its bottom teams relegated back to state leagues, however this could cause problems in the number of teams in each state league... I'll leave this to the FFA. The point of this improving the A-League, is; 1. Current AFL and NRL fans would be interested in following their new A-League (or A2-League) team's growth. 2. The threat of relegation would lift performances in both tiers. 3. As A2-League teams join the top tier, more funds would be thrown at them, lifting the standards of these clubs, and eventually the standard of the A2-League as they start to relegate back down.
roarlover34
Roar Pro
I have to agree with you guys about how it would work better for regional teams, it really be interesting to see how the Newcastle idea work swith Tinkler. I was largely using the Moore Park example to portray what one of these site's would look like and who would be involved. Cheers for the feedback
jamesb
Guest
It has a stong chance that it would work in newcastle, with knights, jets, and possible nbl side, falcons, because at the end of the day, the people of newcastle would want ALL their teams to be successful, due to the fact that those sides represent their city/region. I agree with many on here, that regional areas would work rather than major cities, although if Perth were to get an NRL side, you might see a super club be formed of Western Force, Perth Glory, W.A Reds? playing out of NIB Stadium.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
certainly there is a parochial element in smaller centres that assists in over-riding antipathy towards different sports that is more prevalent in larger cities
Rusty0256
Guest
There will be many other clubs, especially regional ones, watching as to how the Tinkler experiment occurs in Newcastle. This is the first time two 'one-city' clubs have been brought together as, more or less, equal partners. Tinkler seems to be taking a more holistic view in bringing these teams together and making it less adversarial and more financially advantageous for supporters of the Knights and Jets to go and watch both and to make each team 2 parts of a greater whole. The earlier examples of Carlton SC, Collingwood Warriors and Parra Power were quite formed on completely different models; pre-existing strong AFL and RL clubs bringing in a minor partner to use facilities that would otherwise be vacant over summer. Each was borne out of cynical convenience rather than passion. None of them worked because there was little real commitment by the parent club to foster another code (sort of a 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' attitude) and potential supporters were marginalized by the fact that if they happened to hate the parent club, they certainly weren't going to support the 'soccer' club. The potential supporter base was simply too small. The main reason this may work in Newcastle but not in, say Melbourne or Sydney is that it will be much easier to succeed in a smaller city that has only one team in each code to follow, therefore no splintering of potential support. I believe there may be real potential for regional 'super-clubs' as this may be be their best way, in the long term, of evening out the playing field against the big city clubs like Victory Adelaide U and Brisbane.
Fez's are cool
Guest
I don't think this model will work anywhere in Australia, because each code operates under a franchise system. Also, Barca have Rugby Union, Handball teams and are in the process of setting up a Rugby League team to play in the French division 2.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
Adelaide United already has an affiliation of sorts with the SANFL club North Adelaide.