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A-League's tough expansion lessons can boost game

7th February, 2012
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Gold Coast United club chairman Clive Palmer (right) and head coach Miron Bleiberg speak at a press conference at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast. AAP Image/Laine Clark
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7th February, 2012
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Talk of A-League growth to Tasmania has raised the issue of expansion for the sport into new markets, with opinions divided on the wisdom of doing so.

With the death of the North Queensland Fury and the struggles of Gold Coast United off the pitch, the difficulties in expanding the competition have been clearly demonstrated.

The 2009-2010 season was meant to mark an exciting chapter for the A-League with two new teams entering the competition. Fast forward two years and the Fury no longer exists and Gold Coast have developed no real fan base and appear to be on life support, with billionaire owner Clive Palmer seeming to have lost interest in the club.

In contrast, fellow expansion club Melbourne Heart appear to be building steadily both on and off the pitch, raising the question of whether the location is the key to success or failure.

Does this mean expansion should only take place in major cities as they are the only environments capable of sustaining an A-League team? No.

This is not the sole reason behind the difficulties the Fury and the Gold Coast have faced in establishing themselves.

The lead-up to the introduction of both the Fury and Gold Coast could have been handled differently to ensure they were viable options for expansion, and if deemed so, given the best opportunity to hit the ground running.

Prior to granting licences to these clubs, Football Federation Australia could have and should have taken A-League and Socceroos games to these regions on numerous occasions to assess the public’s appetite for the sport.

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These simple steps could have saved much heartache or given the clubs a better chance of succeeding, as the sport would have at least established a presence in the local sporting market. Perhaps the FFA has learnt from this with the introduction of the Community Round but one off games do not go far enough.

The FFA must ensure that they play more of an active role in the initial phase of these clubs rather than appearing when things have spiralled out of control – as was the case with the Fury. People with a high level of expertise and experience must be in place and the FFA should play a role in aiding clubs to find these people.

In the case of the Fury, very few of the early staff had any experience in either football or sport in North Queensland and the FFA should have provided more guidance and assistance.

The owner’s motivation for stumping up the cash to establish a club must also be scrutinised, with Gold Coast illustrating that money is just one element in building a club.

Details of proposed community involvement programmes and a commitment to undertake them must be an essential part of granting a licence.

In areas which may not have a large population or be strongly associated with football it may be a case of special assistance being necessary for the club to get established, be it salary cap exemptions, assistance with stadium costs or extensive marketing campaigns.

These must be maintained as clubs must be seen as a long term investment in the sport in that region as success is unlikely to be instant. Fans must also be confident of the clubs long term survival as why would they invest their money, time and support in a club that could fold at any time?

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The long term growth of the A-League is dependent on expanding into new regions but anymore failures will undermine confidence and could result in fans turning their back on the game, as was the case when the Fury folded.

The FFA must take a more hands-on approach to ensure this never happens again; the likelihood of the sport becoming Australia’s national game rests with them.

Twitter: @beaubusch

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