After producing one of the most pulsating climaxes to a grand final in Australian sporting history earlier this year, surely the A-League is not headed for the scrapheap.
The A-League’s introduction in Australia was supposed to usher in a new era for Australian football, yet after six seasons people are still left contemplating the competition’s value.
August 26, 2005 marked an historic day in Australian football history, when the newly formed Hyundai A-League competition kicked off its inaugural season in Newcastle.
I, along with 13,000 other excited football fans turned out to watch the Newcastle Jets at Energy Australia Stadium for the first time, leaving ultimately disappointed as they succumbed 1-0 to Adelaide United.
But I left the stadium that night feeling as if football had finally arrived in Australia and grew excited about the opportunities that the A-League could bring to the sport in this country.
Football fans felt as if they finally had a national competition which was unified under a national body (Football Federation Australia) and would become an integral part of the Australian sporting landscape.
The introduction of the A-League coincided with Australia’s qualification for the 2006 World Cup, only the second time the Socceroos had qualified and the first time in more than 32 years.
Suffice to say the popularity of football in Australia had reached fever pitch at the time, and seemingly the A-League would embrace this new found adoration for the sport and ultimately reap the rewards.
So, for all the potential that the A-League promised in its infancy, how successful has it actually been in the six seasons that is has existed?
It is a difficult question to answer given the competition is still developing, however the general consensus within the football community is that the league has struggled to truly prosper.
Newcastle Herald sports reporter Josh Leeson felt the A-League had enjoyed mixed fortunes in the six seasons it has existed.
“If I was to give the A-League a rating out of 10 in how successful it has been, I would give it 5 out of 10,” he said.
“At times the league has enjoyed massive success, especially with the Jets in seasons two and three, Brisbane Roar this year and Melbourne Victory throughout the six seasons.
“Since 2008-09 I do believe the league has regressed as seen with the financial failure of the North Queensland Fury and the dwindling crowds’ league wide.”
Leeson believes the A-League has been able to push football into the mainstream of the Australian sporting market, something which the sport has struggled to achieve in the past.
He felt that Sydney FC’s inability to embrace the community in Australia’s biggest city is the A-League’s greatest failure to date.
In recent seasons the competition has been riddled with financial problems, highlighted by the collapse of expansion club the North Queensland Fury in 2011.
Brisbane Roar, Adelaide United, Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets have all suffered financial difficulties at some stage, with the former currently operating under caretaker ownership supported by Football Federation Australia.
Dwindling crowd figures and a decline in television ratings have also plagued the competition over the past two seasons.
Meanwhile, Football Federation Australia’s expansion plans for the A-League have been a disaster, evident with the demise of North Queensland and the abysmal support shown for the Gold Coast franchise.
“It has been obvious that the FFA expanded into the wrong areas. Neither North Qld or Gold Coast are traditional soccer regions and have suffered accordingly,” Leeson said.
Judging by these apparent shortcomings of the competition, it could be easy to discount the A-League as yet another failure within the Australian sporting industry.
However, it would be too hasty and slightly naïve to make this assertion given the competition has been able to achieve some success in the six years of its existence.
Prior to the A-League, the National Soccer League (NSL) was the national competition, running from 1977-2004.
The NSL was only a semi-professional competition and consequently most of Australia’s best players decided to move overseas in order to pursue their football careers.
The competition in its latter years struggled to build significant fan bases amongst its clubs and subsequently could not attract crowds to attend matches.
Further, the NSL did not have an effective administration under Soccer Australia and the Australian press was not supportive of the competition.
In 2004, the NSL officially ended due to the struggling financial situation of the league and the fledgling support of the competition.
The collapse of the NSL resulted in an inquiry into football in Australia and culminated in the rebranding of the sports national body to Football Federation Australia (FFA).
Perhaps more significantly however, the inquiry laid the framework for a new national competition to be established, later branded as the Hyundai A-League.
Effectively the introduction of the A-League in 2005 fermented an evolution in Australian football, establishing a truly professional competition supported by a unified national body (FFA).
The competition was subsequently signed to a deal with Fox Sports ensuring all games would be broadcast to the public, something which had previously eluded the NSL.
Christopher Hills, a writer for the website The Football Sack, believes the A-League has been successful in terms of establishing a professional football league in Australia.
“For players, playing football in this country is now a viable full time profession,” he said.
Former Newcastle Jets media manager Rob Brooks feels that the A-League is still a work in progress, however he regards the competition as a success.
“The A-League has established itself as a regular in the Australian sporting landscape in those six years, so it has been a relatively successful launch of the competition,” he said.
The introduction of the A-League has effectively transformed football into a professional sport in Australia, allowing players to forge careers here in Australia.
Brooks feels that the competition is vital for the development of football in Australia and without it the quality of players developed in this country would be diminished.
“The existence of the A-League provides a recognisable pathway for young Australian players to aspire to, and is thus critical in developing football on the whole in Australia,” he said.
Brooks also noted that the A-League provides a terrific opportunity for players to establish themselves in Australia and if good enough, develop a career overseas in some of the higher quality competitions.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen the progression of state league players such as Mile Jedinak (who have) earned a run in the A-League, moved overseas and secured a spot in the Socceroos,” he said.
“These types of players, and there are many more, are living proof that the system can work and can ultimately benefit everyone with a stake in Australian football.”
The introduction of the A-League has also provided the public with the opportunity to watch professional football in Australia, whereas previously they could only watch overseas leagues on television.
Leeson recognises that the standard of the A-League has increased due to the growing professionalism of the sport in Australia.
“The A-League has certainly improved professional football for the players themselves in terms of training and training facilities,” he said.
Newcastle Jets squadron member Jonny Rowe believes the A-League is vital for the development of football in Australia.
“The A-League brings variety for young children in deciding which sport to play…they may see a game and be influenced to join their local soccer club,” he said.
“It also improves the quality of footballers in Australia, which effectively enhances Australia’s performances at World Cup’s and Olympics.”
Rowe feels that the standard of the A-League is improving every year and bigger name players are beginning to come and play here in Australia, which will ultimately increase interest in the sport.
Perhaps the most successful aspect of the A-League lies in the actual structure of the competition itself.
The A-League operates under a level playing field in which all clubs are subjected to a ‘salary cap’ which limits the amount of money spent on their players.
Christopher Hills feels that the salary cap is a necessary mechanism in the A-League as it prevents clubs from overspending and liquidating themselves.
“It needs to stay until the league has the financial capacity and stability to remove it. That is a long way off,” he said.
Rowe feels that the format of the league was the most enjoyable aspect, as it embraces the traditional competitive culture of Australian sport.
“I like the fact that the competition has a level playing field unlike the English Premier League, where only a handful of teams have a realistic chance of championship honours,” he said.
For all the positives which the A-League has provided for football in Australia, there have been a number of shortcomings which have plagued the competition in recent seasons.
In the past two years in particular, the competition has faced a decline in crowd numbers and television viewers.
A number of clubs are battling financial problems, the FFA’s expansion strategy has failed dismally and there has been a distinct lack of promotion and marketing for the competition.
The A-League has also struggled to attract quality players to the competition, with many players viewing it as merely a stepping stone to greener pastures overseas.
All of this does not paint a bright future for the A-League, so where to now for the FFA and the national competition?
Josh Leeson suggests that the A-League must look to consolidate what they have in place now and build greater fan engagement.
“The FFA desperately need to inject more funds, advertising and man power into the A-League as it has suffered while they concentrated on the failed world cup bid,” he said.
“The Australian sports market is among the most competitive in the world…I think private ownership seems the only logical saviour for A-League clubs, as they don’t have the membership bases to survive like some AFL and NRL clubs.”
Brooks agrees that the A-League must look to privatisation in order to inject much needed funds into the league.
“There have been murmurs of foreign investment in the league becoming a reality, and I don’t think this is something we should be scared of, as long it is under the right controls,” he said.
Brooks also conceded it was time to consolidate the league for a couple of years, however he feels growth is imperative for the league to continue to survive.
“The consolidation phase ought to be spent, in part, strengthening existing partnerships and looking for new compatriots to move forward with,” he said.
As we have seen with Nathan Tinkler’s takeover of the Newcastle Jets, private investment can be a logical move for the A-League.
To address dwindling television viewers, it has been suggested that the A-League needs to negotiate a deal to broadcast games on free to air television.
Leeson said that while Foxsports contributes so much to the A-League, free to air telecasts would help the league break into broader markets.
Rowe agreed, saying he thought the competition should have more games on free to air, even if its only one or two games a week.
The A-League desperately needs to improve the promotion of the game and engagement with the community.
Newcastle resident and rugby league fan Nick Davies feels that the A-League’s strategies are sub-standard for an Australian sport.
“There is little attempt made by the A-League to connect with the community,” he said.
“The demise of the North Queensland Fury is a shocking endorsement for the A-League…and introducing a second team in Melbourne, an AFL heartland, was a poor move, given the club lost $5 million in its first season.”
Leeson summed up the situation of the A-League, stating the competition will never be able to truly compete with the likes of the NRL and AFL.
“AFL and rugby league are entrenched in Australian culture and have a history of rivalries dating back over 100 years,” he said.
“When fans turn on to watch AFL and NRL, they are watching the elite domestic competitions in the world for those sports…the A-League is obviously not.”
Indeed many football fans refuse to watch the A-League because it is of ‘poor quality’ or ‘slow’ compared to other leagues from around the world.
However, despite these challenges, the A-League is likely to remain an integral part of the Australian sporting landscape for years to come.
As Brooks surmised, “I do see a long term future for the A-League – there are simply too many people fighting for the existence of the competition.”
StraightShooter
Guest
just a correction with number 4....."rini coolen" was supposed to be "ange ponstacoglu" (was watchin an adelaide game while typing)
StraightShooter
Guest
Why does everybody on almost every forum and discussion page, (granted most forum posters have absolutley know idea what there on about and their 'quick fix' ideas are worse than there fashion sense) tip-toe around the real problem/s? Yes you the reader know exactly what im about to write....something you know is true yet noone seems to want to acknowledge it, or maybe there that dumb and blind they cant see it? who knows. 1: The people behind the scenes making the real desicions on everything important to do with the a-league, team owners, marketing managment, scouts, and so on...are nothin but old men doing business with "friends" and "friends of friends" who all struggle to get erections, period. come to think of it thats just like most other industries in this country. There views on 'how things should be' and 'what would be cool' are so bad and outdated, its a mystery how they got into these positions of power in the first place, oh thats right ..money. 2: 98% of the a-league football players are just that, old average football players..on the verge of retirement (and were never that good to begin with). but...because of "friends" and "friends of friends" they get the opportunities in the a-league instead of the young aussie locals who are hungry for it and would no dought play FOR FREE! (not implying they should) because there chasing a dream!(leckie) not coming off from failed ones! 3: Those who give a F@#% about the a-league or football in general, most of them have a bad habit of being "soft hearts", and by this i mean they freely dish out loads of undeserving credit where credit isn't due! to players, managers and teams simply because they think its what being a good supporter is and they like to appear like they know what they are talking about and are simply happy that there is even a league to follow. As a result the bad ideas, bad plans, bad on feild peformances and bad contracts from those with the erection problems, keep rolling in and these soft hearts enjoy there games at home on the couch, while those of us with brains and uninhibited vision are forced to change the channel (i refuse to attend games and pay for someone elses viagra) for the saftey of those around us. 4:Rini Coolen (spell check) there isnt enough of him to go around, men with that mentality are very rare in australia. note im sayin australia as a whole country not just the australian sporting industries. 5: The first four problems will never be fixed.....its called life. the hyundai a-league everybody! a front for supplying old men with viagra since 2005! just like most other businesses in this world.
Asten
Guest
It's sad that both Australia and the USA are nearly alike. Cause both have simliar flaws and both have simliar successes with their top soccer leagues. That also would include how foolishly their federation's historically were running their professional soccer leagues. And now we both are starting to see how they are trying to right their wrongs for the first time. Soon they both might be respected like they should in the near future.
Kasey
Guest
Just wanted to highlight the players in the Olyroos and their HAL clubs. We've got a long way to go to re-build the reputation the NSL had for producing international standard players, but IMO we are well on the way. just think, if you'd been watching the HAL this last season you'd have seen: Mustafa Amini Central Coast Mariners Aziz Behich Melbourne Heart Mark Birighitti (gk) Adelaide United Dean Bouzanis (gk) uncontracted Oliver Bozanic Central Coast Mariners Isaka Cernak Melbourne Victory Kofi Danning uncontracted - likely to be BrisRoar in 2011/12 Diogo Ferreira Melbourne Victory Matthew Foschini Melbourne Victory Jason Hoffman Melbourne Heart Marko Jesic Newcastle Jets Matthew Jurman Brisbane Roar Ryan McGowan Hearts FC, Scotland Tahj Minniecon Gold Coast United Aaron Mooy St Mirren, Scotland Scott Neville Perth Glory Mitch Nichols Brisbane Roar Mirjan Pavlovic Wellington Phoenix Andrew Redmayne (gk) Brisbane Roar Sebastian Ryall Sydney FC Rocco Visconte Brisbane Roar In fact with the new season 3 months away and the international transfer window only open in July, you still might get to see a fair few of them in season 7 if you get yourself to a HAL game:)
Kasey
Guest
FYI anyone looking for a very cheap night of (underage) international football in Newcastle on Thursday here are the details: Second leg - Preliminary round 2 of 2012 London Olympics AFC Qualifiers Qantas Olyroos v Yemen Thursday 23 June 2011 Ausgrid Stadium, Newcastle Kick Off - 6.30pm Adult $15.00 Child/Concession $7.00 Family $30.00(2A+2Ch) Stadium is General Admission for the night. Hyundai A-League 2010/11 Members will be admitted free upon presentation of their member card at the gate.
Kasey
Guest
its only the first leg of the preliminary Olympics qualification tournament. Australia 3 d Yemen 0 @ Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford 19June2011 Hoffman14'&90+2, Nicholls 67' the starting line up had a good spread of current HAL players Starting lineup: Redmayne (gk), Ryall, Jurman, Behich, Bozanic (c), Cernak, Hoffman, Nichols, Visconte, Jesic, Foschini. Subs: McGowan, Mooy, Ferreira, Neville, Amini, Danning, Bouzanis. Hoffman GOAL in the 14th minute. Mooy came on for Cernak at half time. Nichols GOAL in the 67th minute. Amini came on for Visconte in the 72nd minute. Danning on for Nichols in the 78th. Hoffman GOAL in the 90+2 minute. phase 3 sees 3x groups of 4 playing a round robin with the winners advancing to London 2012 and the 2nd placegetters going into a playoff routine with the 4th best CAF team...hope those games get shared around the country if we get past Yemen. I'm always excited to see the next generation of potential Socceroos! leg 2 is also in Australia due to political unrest in Yemen [Thursday night at Newcastle's Ausgrid stadium] - free entry with presentation of s6 HAL members card.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
this morning in SMH, Fos urges A-League clubs to separate from the FFA and take control of their destinies: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/time-for-clubs-to-divorce-ffa-20110618-1g8wy.html Fos loses his well written article with these very strong words: "I can tell you now, if my money was invested in a club, I wouldn't let the FFA anywhere near it. "
Queensland's game is rugby league
Guest
The key to the A-League's success is moving to a country that likes soccer. :D
Queensland's game is rugby league
Guest
"Now, with ZERO marketing and only 6 years of operation" The A-League was marketed quite heavily during its first 3 or so seasons. I remember the amount of focus that was spent on the advertising campaigns that they launched at the start of seasons 1, 2 and 3. There was as much hype about its first season as their was when the Australasian Super League was launched in 1997.
Queensland's game is rugby league
Guest
"To compare AFL and NRL as world class competitions is absurd—when there is no other professional world class competitions to speak of. OK" Ever heard of the engage Super League? It's a professional rugby league competition based in England. There is one team from France and one from Wales competing in it. Australia's best players have chosen to end their careers in the Super League because of the money it has offered them over the last decade. Teams from the Super League have defeated the NRL champions more often than not. I'd rate that as a "professional world class competition".
Onlooker
Guest
'National' can simply mean the peak league for the particular code within the country. thus, the 'NRL' is the top league in Australia - irrespective of how broadly it is distributed or representative of.
jamesb
Guest
the key to A-League success is to get the people that follow local state leagues and amatuer leagues, to come across and follow the A-League as well. Whether its bums on seats, or watching A-League on Tv. i've sort of read a few comments on here in regards that the A-League should try to get high profile players. For that to occur you need a massive tv rights deal. Or a wealthy benefactor to fund the league. so its a chicken or the egg arguement?. Do we wait for growth via crowds and ratings, or should tv networks risk it, by paying over the odds of a tv deal, so that the league could attract big names.\ then again, its not the first time tv networks would pay over the odds, for a sports tv deal, to entice people to buy their product, regardless what the "experts say". But thats another debate for another day. I firmly believe the A-league will become a very high standard, if not world class competition, if the administrators can attract massive support from grassroots, get max. revenue from tv deals etc, and get the right education courses and programs in place for our coaches. its not a pipe dream, it can happen. Which way do you want to look at it, glass half full, or half empty?
asanchez
Roar Guru
I think OUR league is doing well in it's infancy, but it still has a long way to go. We should neither stop and feel sorry for ourselves or celebrate a great job done so far. We must keeping moving forward. I think the league is very underrated, the standard is better than before. People say the crowds started to drop after season 3, but in my opinion the football on show really started to improve after seasons 3 & 4. What did drop off in conjunction with crowds since then was the spending of Marketing and Promotion by the FFA, which was a huge mistake. Expansion into the wrong markets was also a mistake. The WC bid was a disaster in itself, but it had a direct effect on our domestic league, with all the bad publicity we absorbed, but also the lack of planning and vision by the FFA. We tried to grow too much too quickly instead of letting growth happen naturally. The years of consolidation should be well under way, and not be starting now. I think this season will be a much better year for the league, with more money being spent to advertise it, much better quality of football on the park, a balanced fixture, and some possible signings that could the raise the roof (Kezman, Fred, Neill & Kewell) in terms of interest and everything else. Apart from what some people may think, there will enough TV money for football as we don't need a $1b figure. The AFL gets $312.5m per year, the NRL will probably get $250m per year for the next 4 years. Football only needs $50-$60m to be sustainable. So were talking about a $250-$350m TV deal, which is very achievable! I hate code bashers. I love football but also enjoy other sports, and I know sports can co-exist. However the media is used to start code wars and weak people buy into it, and believe that they can't support 2-3 different sports, mainly in different times of the year. This is what people are told by the press who obviously have agendas. Yes the A-league does have issues, and they need to be addressed quickly. But I think they will, or at least the majority, and the league will get stronger for surviving this period. For people to say that the league is dying, they must be reading too many newspapers....
The Cattery
Roar Guru
I think part of the problem with the Marquees is that the standard of play in Australia is better than our reputation and higher than our financials would suggest. That's a very intelligent comment and I reckon it's spot on. There are blokes running around the Championship earning $10,000 per week (just below the best XI) who are the equivalent of some top A-League players lucky to earn $1,600 per week. Even the Indonesian clubs have a bigger salary bill than the Australian clubs, and for the most part, they are mediocre. A recognised, quality player like Juninho will only come at the very end of his career, and even he is going to cost more than A-League clubs can really afford, and the bang for the buck just isn't there. Fowler was good in most respects first season, less so the second season - but the hope that you might be able to afford him when he's a little bit younger, say 31, with at least two good years left, is a forlorn one currently.
Nathan
Guest
Re: Pt. 2 And again because the league and the clubs are not-for-profit, they are not paying dividends or floating rich owners, the money is getting recycled, which is why the league equalisation fund works. A large part of the problem with Adelaide and Port Adelaide lies in the fact their license owners are the SANFL rather than a more independant commission as in the WAFC as opposed to the WAFL owning the West Coast and Fremantle licenses, and in essence the South Australian state league *club directors* are making the decisions on how much AFC and PAFC are paying into the SANFL clubs, which is a large part of why those clubs are running losses and basket-casing themselves.
Nathan
Guest
[Warning: Crappy amateur off-the-cuff analysis-whilst-starving-and-waiting-to-go-get-food to follow:] Well, the idea has been that the Marquees allow clubs to stump up change for big names, but owing to a number of factors getting big names in their prime as opposed to when they are mostly name and rather faded, has been difficult. You need to have the dough (and there has been a bit of that, Tony Sage bankrolled a $4million wage bill at Perth Glory last year, for all the effective result we gained from it) and had a few big names in the mix. However, and all respect to the Fowlers and Sterjovskis and co, and I do appreciate them coming to represent Perth, we really needed a couple-years-younger version of themselves to compete in the A-League. Well, that and a coach and football department that could recruit to a plan and not recruit then plan. And a bunch of other stuff. Sigh. But I digress. I think part of the problem with the Marquees is that the standard of play in Australia is better than our reputation and higher than our financials would suggest. Makes getting the big names whilst they're still up to the task trickier.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Emric Currently, four or five clubs are receving an additional distribution of between $0.5 million and $1.5 million per annum. A few things to note: 1. $1 million might seem a big deal, but that's in the context of around $30 million in expenses each club needs to cover to stay afloat each year, i.e. around 3.33% of total expenses, for the league, it's petty cash 2. note the words "additional distribution", all clubs get a distribution from the governing body - that's the way well run leagues operate, the league negotiates TV rights and league sponsorrs, and that money covers central office admin, grassroots, umps, etc, and the remainder goes to the clubs, afterall, it's the clubs that earn it ultimately (because the comp comprises clubs) 3. a few clubs will get the additional distribution for only a year or two before finding their feet again, e.g. Carlton, got it for one or two seasons, now averaging in excess of 50,000 attendances and doing rather well, thank you very much. Even Collingwood has had years where it has made losses, although that will require some serious mismanagement over the next 50 years to get to that situation again.
Nathan
Guest
They have to because they are also forced to maintain a similar level of salary spending. Levelling the playing field is about more than simply restricting spending.
Emric
Guest
Awesome.
Emric
Guest
Redb. I'm not a Aussie Rules fan so i do not understand these things, but I thought the weaker clubs were granted some pretty big hand outs by the AFL if they were not making collingwood size profits ?