Sydney FC is killing the Sydney football market

From memory, growing up in Sydney in the 90s and early 2000s, nobody could give a flying f**k about the NSL. Northern Spirit was mildly popular for about 2 seasons and then died as soon as they lost. Sydney FC always has a loud and committed Cove no matter how badly last season finished.

Alex, undestand your passion for your club mate, but the A-League will only get better and better as the years go on...... Remember mate, the ethnic clubs have no future in the A-League, they have a proud history and have churned out many ex-internationals and current internationals as well, but they are in reality only feeder clubs now..... I am a passionate A-League and Sydney FC Fan and unfortnately there are a lot of football people like you that cannot move away from past glories and nostalgia...... Those NSL days are long gone my friend...... Even though I am a Sydney FC fan, I will probably attend the Premier League grand Final on Monday cause of the occassion, cause I love football and support the game completely in this country , whether top level or second tier...... Unfortunately people like you stop the game from really advancing to the next level...... You have hidden agenda's....... But the local game will only get bigger and better. P.S. The FFA will eventually bring in another Sydney team, it is only a matter of time. When the football market here in Sydney is ready for another team, a club from Western Sydney will be formed, make no mistake about that my friend...... :-)

Kasey - A good all round look at the status quo of Australian football but do not forget to push the one sure FACT that no one seems to care about in these columns. The best way to attract fans to our game is to lift the standard of play to that of other international teams that we can watch with a click of a switch. When our national coach,be he of German, Dutch, English or even better, Australian origin, can pick his perceived strongest squad of 22 for an important international game & at least 70% play in the HAL, I will begin to believe we are on the fast road to success.jb

Some good points kasey. Whan an ethnic minority move to a strange land. The 2nd generation eg Mark Viduka, Ned Zelic they integrate and be accepted by the mainstream, where as there parents or grandparents had closer links to the home country. Same across all countries not just European countries. Now in Australia in 2011 the A-league has to integrate with Asia more , it is Australia's natural future not Europe. We are geographically aligned with Asia, playing in the Asia football confederation, and we should forge closer links with Asia. In the next 20 to 40 years big Asian nations like China and Jpana and Korea and the Asian middle eastern countries will more and more buy the top players just like MLS in the USA will be a huge market to for big name players. Uzbekistan some of there clubs are very ric, 1 bought Rivaldo and had Scolari as there head coach. This will happen moor eand more. Just as we ar seeing now the russian soccer league in Europe get bigger and bigger. We need clubs that have there own identity but also clubs that will compete, and also attract fans in asia, for the asian club champions league. Have there fans want to watch them. Diversity is the key and we should have clubs that represent the image that Australia is. A diverse coutnry of many cultures. And with immigration now other than UK and irleand in europe and usa, Asian immigration is much higher than people form other nations in europe now eg Itlay, croatia,serbia, .

He cracks me up! He's just sharpening his crayons for his next draft. Good for a laugh our Johnoooo!!!

Most people can call it what they want, the fact is for purists and tactical nerds it is a great league.

Italian football is the equivalent of two boxers dancing around for the whole round and only unleashing the occasional jab before resuming their dancing routine again. Tactical or boring? I know what most people would call it.

I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure I share the northern Terrace of Hindmarsh supporting Adelaide United with both Australians of Croatian heritge and Australians of Serbian Heritage. As the first-gen migrants die out, their children are less likely to feel the need for the community clubs as their parents did. A place where they could be themselves in a strange land, where they could talk their original language and not be made fun of, a place where they could discuss the sport they preferred and not the strange games of their new homes. There is a reason for decreased patronage of migrant clubs these days. its generational and demographic change. these clubs are now an oddity a window into a different world/culture for Australian. Its one of the things I love about following a team in State League football. Every second week Its like going to a different mini-country with a diffrent feel and usully something exotic in the canteen to try that you wouldn't get at your home club. Just because its different doesn't mean its wrong. It works on a State League level because the outlay is more withion the budget of a community club. The NSL proved that it doesn't work on a National level, the travel costs are immense for starters. This is why the FFA will have to heavily subsidise any A2 League. For that to happen they need more money. The only way thats going to happen is if we all start paddling in the sme direction and trying to build up the game instead of tearing into it to push individual agendas.

Harry I really think you need to look up the definition of troll mate. The original opster fits my definition. He blatantly mis represented the facts to push his pet wheelbarrow idea that Sydney Olympic should be in the A-League. All that does is put out there blatant falsities and annoys fans of the game. Lets check some of the (Propaganda- statements) used in the original article shall we? 1. In the NSL there were always at least four or five teams in Sydney, football was on show, advertised across the whole city and had links to many more people than with the current Sydney FC. True and False.True that there were a number of teams in Sydney at the same time, but falsein that the combined total of attendance of the Sydney NSL clubs in any weekend was rarely higher than 10000(big derby weekends the exception) - source ozfootball.net - the raw numbers are there check them out. The NSL was never advertyised on regular TV. Just the one advert on FTATV for the A-League is more than ever happened for the NSL. 2. The crowd was announced at 3577, with myself and many people at the ground only being able to see around 1500 people in reality. FALSE and disingenious. Other witnesses put the crowd figure as being close to correct including allegedly - people that use the ground regularly for St. George Dragons games. Disingenious in that the O/P fails to mention the bitterly cold rain on the day that was so heavy it actually forced the cancellation of a State League football game. 3. The only way to save Frank Lowy’s Sydney FC is to bring in at least three teams into the Sydney market. FALSE. firstly Frank Lowy is a minority share holder of SFC(if he still is at all) I can handle SFC being called Brett Emerton's SFC as he will have more say in how their season pans out than Frank Lowy, but your agenda to slander Mr Lowy to push your propaganda for Sydney Olympic are as obvious as they are pathetic. All the original poster has done is throw wild hystrionic filled acusations about and we've already read one person writing on here how much they miss the NSL. These articles sow the seeds of divisionin football.The only way the FFA could afford into the future to fund a 2nd division, which is how I believe the ex-NSL clubs would be involovedin a way that pleases them is for the football community to work as one to build the game up so that there is so much money in the game that a 2nd division becomes a certainty to occur. Right now with finances at the FFA the way they are, admitting new teams with crowd averages under 5,000 is not only a bad look for the game in a time when we are trying to change the perception of football in the eyes of the wider Australian public but I feel it would just lpainly be financial suicide. I wish I didn't feel the urge to write in to these places to correct the blatant liesand mistruths told about football, but Herman Goering once said that if a lie is repeated often enough, it can become the truth. Sadlt the knowkledge of football inthis country is based on old meories in a few cases and time has dulled the sharpness of those memories. it is up to blokes like jbinnie, apaway, MelbCro and myself who saw and attended football in the NSL era to ensure that the facts are not misrepresented lest we repeat the mistakes of the past.

see Johnno's comment just above

Well, the cat's out of the bag with this comment. Yes, it's all about your cultural origin and your view is that cultures don't want to mix. This was the NSL model. Try taking this model to the AFL and NRL and you'd be laughed out of the the room!! Why is it that Italians, Greeks, etc can support exisiting AFL/NRL teams without calling for new teams to be formed that represent their cultures???

Do you really have to ask why? It wouldn't have anything to do with his highly volatile personality and ability to disrupt any team, would it?

Well that surprised me there you go Ljubo saying who he was straight form the horse's mouth. i just thought all theses years he admitted he was gay, he admitted to going to gay nightclubs but he is straight or maybe he changed his mine who cares this is 2011 and he is a damn good defender. Which leads me to this question. Why can't we ever see the chance of Ljubo milllicivic in a soccer jersey again. He has as much talent as Lucas and Sash, and certainly Jade North or Kisnorbo. More physically imposing than ll those players. Has played in champion's league and captianed his swiss team. Why don't Australia , holger decide to give him another chance, as Aussy Guss and Pim ignored him. he was real quality at the jets, as good a defender i have seen in the A-league.

Ljubo openly admitted he attended gay night clubs not that he was gay. Apparently he likes the atmosphere there. from http://www.thefootballsack.com/2011/01/ljubo-milicevics-time-with-newcastle.html "Ljubo also has a partner this time in the form of PhD student, model and girlfriend, Iskra Galic. "

I thought Ljubo millicivic was gay, and openly and publicly so dasilva.

In my case, I don't really care whether the roots of the club has a monoculture background roots or how many boardmembers have ethnicity of certain background. As long as they evolve into a multicultural and be able to outgrow their monoethnic roots. Some people point out that Sydney FC has link to Sydney Hakoah (although I find that highly debateable) and Brisbane Roar had links to a dutch club. Nevertheless, at the present neither Sydney or Brisbane roars are jewish or dutch clubs respectively and are able to attract people with different ethnicities and backgrounds (although with Sydney not enough people though) I also don't really care about the ethnicity of the board members. Adelaide United during their early years before the recent takeover had numerous people on the board with Italian background but no one called Adelaide United a Italian club. If the former NSL clubs can demonstrate the ability to expand their brand outside their initial demographics then I'm all happy for that. Although I do doubt the ability of the club to do that but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

They can if the don't discuss politics. Hell even Ljubo Milicevic who is a self confessed proud Croatian has a girlfriend with a serbian background and has even admitted he has friends with serbian background. Look at Frank Lowy. A jew who worked and played politic with the AFC to join Asia who comprised of many arab nations who probably have a hostile policy towards Israel. I'm quite sure not all serbian and croatian can't work together but that doesn't mean that some or even most can't.

I like Hakoah apaway i am not jewish but liked there history, and i used to go there gym at the Hakoah club when i lived at bond beach. i am a sydney olympic fan. i might go to Belmore on monday tempted to. So apaway tell me this. As the Hakoah club closed down i think in 2009 or in 2010. Are they going to open the Hakoah social club in another rapt of sydney, or simply will not.

Sutho is the club that now plays alongside those heavily decorated former NSL clubs, George, and does pretty well at it.

Johnno I coach at Hakoah and while it would be great to tell you that we attract an average crowd of 8000, sadly that would be an over-inflation of embarrassing proportions. If the NSW Premier League is indeed beating the A-League for crowds then Monday's Grand Final better get moved to the Sydney Football Stadium quick smart and even if they fill it, it won't be as big as the last A-League Grand Final crowd.