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.
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?
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
Ballymore
Guest
Tizzo, Originally it was 70%, but Bakrie increased their share to 100% earlier this week.
Roger
Guest
"For the very first time I understand why Sydney call Melbournians tards, just look at these people!! Thankfully they’re no longer involved with the Victory." Ha! Oh, and anecdotally, every Heart supporter I know (around 10 of them), all casually supported Victory before supporting Heart. Granted this is a small sample size, but still, even if only 50% of Heart fans used to support Victory, we’re still talking 4,000+ fans who switched allegiance.
Axelv
Guest
Look at the SBS interviews with Heart fans, http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/2193953678/The-fans-voice-Melbourne-Heart Their excuses from switching over are from because they like the colour red, they never felt Victory was their team, they like going for a team that is not supported by the majority, Victory supporters are too arrogant, I MEAN WHAT?! For the very first time I understand why Sydney call Melbournians tards, just look at these people!! Thankfully they're no longer involved with the Victory. Heart have done Victory a favour by weeding out these people, but it's still had a major impact on the average crowds in Melbourne, if it weren't for Heart I am sure that Victory would be averaging another 4000+ on top of the current per season.
Tizzo
Guest
I believe it is only 70%, but point made.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
It's an odd one, on the one hand the AFL has the most support in the state, on the other hand the financial requirements of an AFL license are considerably higher than any of the other codes top-divisions at the moment, so they kind of balance out like that. It's difficult to say what we can actually take away from the AFL's unwillingness to base a team there.
Johnno
Guest
Canberra Deakin no.
Roger
Guest
Erm, wait. You're saying that if AFL can't establish themselves in an area, then no one can? Right.....
Roger
Guest
Yes it was. Look at the statistics Mono. Sure, the trend was down, but not the way it dropped suddenly last year. It was a MASSIVE drop. Funnily enough, if you add the Heart attendance to the Victory attendance, you end up with a figure similar to the years before.
Johnno
Guest
Look at it like this. No taste team in the AFL has ever been seen as a financially viable option, so what hope has soccer got. Hobart tassie devils basketball team and launcestion casino Basketball NBL teams folded.
Philipcoates
Guest
Good point Cpaaa, the FFA need t take the guesswork out of establishing new teams and simply hoping the crowds will come - even in Melb it was simply a hope and a prayer that Heart would draw a crowd to justify their existence. A pre-sales membership with real member benefits might be just the solution to guarantee fans come to games for a new club and I would add that if the club can't get the membership numbers then the club doesn't get a license even if they are backed by a billionaire like Clive Palmer.
Mono
Guest
I think we have to discern between a direct reason as to why Victory lost a few thousand. I dont think the Heart establishment was necessarily the cause of the falling crowds of last year and to a lesser extent this year. Victory attendance were already on the downfall before Heart played their first match. The entire league was.
Roger
Guest
I don't think Sydney FC would survive the establishment of Western Sydney. Melbourne Victory took a 6,000 crowd hit when Heart was established. Now, while Melbourne Victory was the one club in Australia that could afford to take that kind of hit, I don't think Sydney can afford to even take a 3,000 hit to crowd figures. Until someone can prove beyond doubt that less than 10% of Sydney FC fans come from Western Sydney, or until Sydney start pulling 15,000 average crowds, it's simply not a viable option.
Cpaaa
Guest
I think what Canberra tried 2 years back was some what on the right track of how any New Club should start. PRE SALES Memberships. If the community wants a team in the area then sign up to a years membership for the team before they even start running. The foundation membership price should never change, never go up as long as that member continues to renew each year. The foundation members could even have a say to a marquee, team colours and away jerseys. If Tassie had 5000 in pre-sales does that justify an A team. (i dont know leave ill leave that one to the pros) Look after those that help you from the beginning. All this talk about engaging the community is B/S if they going to be treated as cash cows.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Good point Ben. Setting up football operations and funding a NYL side, helping the W-League side to grow, and improving infrastructure and growing a youth development system over a number of seasons successfully would mean a smoother transition to field an A-League side when the time comes. Requires sponsorship and investment now but less of a financial hurdle if starting from scratch a couple of years out from bidding for a licence. I think any side with a long term vision of fielding an A-League side should really be doing all they can now to grow in this way and make it hard for the FFA to not award a licence when they eventually start that process again.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
If Canberra United fielded a NYL side alongside their W-League side (derbies against AIS!) then they would be irresistible when the next A-League license popped up.
Hbomb@hotmail.com
Guest
Derby's seem to build Interest, west Sydney Canberra Wollongong And Hobart. However I think with the explosion of football In Nz affter w/c we need a derby for wellington, perhaps Auckland. Maybe them and west Sydney next year... Be brave pick the right markets though
Rellum
Roar Guru
Yes it does. Not as Canberra though. Which I think would be good to change.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
That's a pretty good idea. We see already the success of the W-League team in Canberra, drawing over 2,000 to the grand final, there is a good case for also establishing a youth team, to continue whetting the local appetite for the game, and the youth team would have access to AIS facilities, which would be a bonus. In fact - does an AIS team play in the youth league? and if not, why not??
jmac
Guest
Well, written. However, surely there is a huge amount of room and potential for growth within the existing clubs that needs to be teased out, and this is the best path forward. If botched expansion (and WC bid) taught the FFA anything it should be they need to focus on looking after what's in front of them, before worrying about geographic expansion seemingly for the sake of it.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I have been say that for ages now. In fact I think the NYL should act as a quasi B-League for 4 or so years before any distant B-League starts, with all the current A-League teams and the prospective B-League teams playing in the same comp. Start slowly with a long term vision in place.