BA-League draw 2011-12 announced (AAP Image/Steve Holland)
The A-League is still two months away. Can you believe it? It feels like an eternity. However, you wouldn’t know about it. As the European season gets ready to kick off in the next two weeks, it is hard to believe that we will be waiting until October 8 before we see top level football in Australia.
It will be 209 days from the last game of last season to the first of this year, or six months and 25 days since the unbelievable scenes at Suncorp Stadium of the A-League grand final on 13th March.
Agonisingly long for supporters of the game and long enough to slip from the consciousness of sports fans who follow football in the summer months.
The AFL’s gap is 173 days and the NRL’s gap is smaller again at 159 days. Both of course have high profile pre-season fixtures that make those gaps seem smaller still.
We recognise a later start to the season avoiding a clash with the AFL and NRL’s finals could be a positive. We also acknowledge the benefits of giving our players matches for longer into the northern hemisphere’s season, enhancing the potential for players to represent the Socceroos in key matches.
However this is still a very long break.
Of course with the pre-season cup competition ending a couple of seasons ago the break feels even more extended.
Where is the hype of the season ahead? The recent friendlies against Celtic that three teams played seem a distant memory already. The momentum for the season is lost.
Is the A-League waiting for Harry Kewell to sign and launch the season for them? It would be sad if it was. They should be promoting now: why not put a countdown clock in Martin Place, The Valley or Federation Square.
While I understand the shift in the season launch to avoid a clash with AFL and NRL finals, the question must be; how will any publicity during September for the A-League season launch get space ahead of St George and Collingwood’s attempts to go back-to-back?
Then there is the spine-chilling thought for the FFA, what if there is a draw in the AFL grand final again? If this occurred the season’s launch at Etihad Stadium between the league’s two most successful clubs would be better off applying to be the curtain raiser at the MCG.
With only three drawn grand finals in 115 years hopefully this does not happen.
The V8s are not for everyone but Bathurst tends to consume a large amount of forest each year and with the race around Mount Panorama that weekend, it’s just another big ticket item to compete with.
As a country with as many diverse sporting options to attend as we do, on any given weekend, the A-League will always have competition in Australia.
Looking ahead to the fixture we can be thankful that we wait until week nine before we see a midweek clash with Sydney hosting Perth in a yet to be confirmed regional venue.
While I liked the midweek fixtures it seems the public didn’t and restricting these to holiday times can only be good for school children. The FFA must earn a tick to this element of the fixture, but from season to season, ultimately it’s a long wait between drinks.
The introduction of a national cup competition seems a while off, so there won’t be a season extension through fixtures there.
As mentioned there are always going to be clashes with other sports and events, so let’s not be scared of these. The FFA should have the courage of its convictions to know that enough people love the game to come to a longer season.
Play each team home and away twice rather than the unfair three times we have now. Start the season in line with Europe and may football grow from strength to strength.
sk
Guest
herp herp durp true supports wouldn't follownrl or afl derp derp everyone should just follow soccer herp durrrr yeah you try that and see which sport dies out first people aren't going to ditch the teams they supported from day one in leagues with much greater tradition and better players which are quite frankly much more interesting. i laughed when i read " mabye a countdown clock in the valley," yeah mabye the nrl or afl could put up a solid gold one studded with diamonds next to it with a meesage along the lines of "we're better then you" or "we have the money to do this, you don't" or my favourate " so A-league hows your North Queensland and western sydney teams going, uh i mean your free to air TV deal, what you don't have one of those either??? well how about gold coast crowds over 2500..." yeah man the A-league survives because of bandwagoners and part-timers
Realfootball
Guest
You are sullying my user name. Please desist and find another, more distinctive moniker.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
The simple reality is that I would much prefer the A-League grand final to be in May so that we can run with a Festival of "pointy end football", Major European League climaxes, FA Cup final and Champions league final, in this country, there is far more hype for May regarding football than August. A side point is that, more and more, the Socceroos are going to have to rely on the A-League. We simply don't have the numbers of players at elite level european clubs at the moment. if the A-League finishes in late April/May, A-League based players won't have to worry about fitness requirements in the lead up to a world cup stating the the June.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
I seriously hope you were taking the p--s... All my friends and I were members, and/or supporters of other codes in melbourne as well as holding Victory memberships... The Victory missed out at the start of the season, the other codes missed out at the start of their's.
nordozzz
Roar Guru
on SFC ... totally ... for me this is why Harry and the Blingers are a match made in heaven ... if only SFC were more comfortable with the tag. Worked well in the Dwight years ... those days when all was going 'swimmingly' for them ... and the league supposedly. I think things are actually better now on a club by club basis than then. i guess as time goes along, people become more fixated on the fortunes of their own club. So the effect of some Sydney 'down years' are less pronounced. Though we still do have a lot of commentators on national sites/TV/etc viewing it all through the Sydney prism. Sentence them all to compulsory Friday nights @ Hindmarsh and watch those frowns turn upside down :)
Kasey
Guest
nordozz, you aren't the first to notice that the Doom n Gloom types seem to be at their loudest when things aren't going swimmingly in Sydney.. I don't remember these sorts comming out ofthe woodwork when Melbourne Finished last f the Australuian teams in s1 or Adelaide stunk their way to the spoon in s5, or even Perth who have consistently underperformed over the course of the HAL existence after being the standard bearers (and might have actually proved that a broadbased non-ethnic team could not only survive but thrive in Aust just in the twilight years of the NSL - pointing the way ahead perhaps?) Taking off my provincial hat, I really hope that SFC get their sh*t together soon. It embarrassing that in a city of that size that they are out drawn and have a lower media profile than teams from smaller cities such as Adelaide, Perth and even Newcastle. Sure there's the "but we're home to x NRL teams" argument, but in what I consider an even more hostile environment, Melbourne have carved out a respectable niche for themselves, based on being more successful and dare i say it more professional than the Sky Blues..time for he Blingers to step up to the plate and Bring Back the Bling!
Kasey
Guest
FU, that bits easy to answer...Ground availability. Unlike Scotland the teams in the HAL don't own their grounds and are only tennants, second tier tennants in many cases. Despite their beautiful football, who do you think would get priority if a scheduling conflict arose at Suncop between a Broncos Final and a Roar regular season game? Simillarly if you extend the season in the opposite direction you risk clashing HAL finals with NRL H&A games..geez, who remembers the gnashing and wailing in Melbourne when the AFL tried toplay bully boy when a bloody Mickey Mouse NAB Cup preseason game conflicted with the HAL Grand Final...I think Aliens in deep space could have heard the Niel Mitchell's and Andrew Demetriou's of the world go appoplectic that Sokkah would dare to get in he way of the great Australian game:( never mind that a Finals game in any code deserves priority over a pre-season kick n giggle regardless of the codebeing played IMO.
nordozzz
Roar Guru
great thing with this league right now is the strength outside of Oz's biggest city ... perhaps this is why the gloom-merchants still get a voice, they are so Sydney-centric. Adelaide, Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne ... folks are loving this league :)
Midfielder
Guest
This guys got a good idea to solve the worlds problems and it maybe would increase our crowds if we took his advise.. Here is Rodney Carrington singing ... Show Them To Me ... a country song but its late and its not bad with a beer ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbihpBjckvk&feature=player_embedded
Titus
Guest
I wish you would stick to Rugby
Johnno
Guest
I wish the A'league would look beyond Hakoah F.C.
mds1970
Roar Guru
If the FFA Cup ever gets off the ground, the August to October window could be the best time for it. The state league seasons will be finishing around then, so the state league clubs will be match-fit and be better prepared to be competitive against the A-League clubs. It would also be good pre-season preparation for the A-League clubs (unless they were knocked out early). And it would give Fox Sports some live content in September, while the other codes' finals are on FTA. And then, in October, when the FFA Cup final is finished and when the multi-sport fans have finished their grand finals and are ready for some round-ball football, the A-League premeirship season can start.
Football United
Guest
My offseason wouldn't have been so bad if the FFA hadn't killed the mirabella cup. the end of the champions league group stage till august was only 2-3 months :(
asanchez
Roar Guru
As much as I don't like the long offseason, being a Football fan, I think in the Australian marketplace, moving the season back is the best thing the league at the moment. I know the crowds might not truly support the argument, but the media coverage is just non-existent in August-September while the end of the AFL and the NRL are on. The build up for our season is also going up against the Finals of the other codes, but I think were still better off this way. The FFA have to now stop tinkering with the start/finish dates of the season and stick to it to give the fans some continuity. I think in future with FFA cup and new teams coming in we can eventually extend the season. Ideally you'd want to see an 8 month season in Australia, but that's still a while off.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Oh dear oh dear ... no doubt, Foz will now be calling for the immediate sacking of Pep Guardiola and the team should be managed by a group of ex-Barcelona capitanos? ;-)
Realfootball
Guest
Being both dull and uninformed must be very tiresome, Uh oh.
Chumpion
Guest
I am waiting for Frank Lowy and the FFA to wake up and realise that the majority of football supporters in Sydney don't follow or care about Sydney FC
apaway
Guest
Uh Oh I presume you are referring to Sydney FC's 1-1 draw with Macarthur Rams last night. I've said this a number of times on this site but happy to repeat myself: Hakoah play in the NSW State League. Much as it would probably be welcome, there is no affiliation between them and Sydney FC. None. Zero. You could draw a longish bow and say that Mark Robertson and Hayden Foxe, ex-Sydney FC players, are on the Hakoah coaching staff. But the team that played Macarthur last night are NOT Hakoah.
Football United
Guest
NQ should of had hoops from day one, west sydney celtics.......
Football United
Guest
SPL do the four game schedule and it works very nicely for them. i have no idea why the ffa are unable to schedule a longer season?