No midweek A-League this week? So accustomed have we become to Wednesday night football in the last two seasons, it just didn’t seem right having no live football to break up the week.
Aside from the rescheduled Gold Coast United versus Central Coast Mariners match on Wednesday February 22, that’s it for midweek football in season 2011-12.
After last season’s explosion of midweek matches that struggled for decent crowds, scheduling of Wednesday night matches was scaled back this season; condensed into the summer, school holiday period.
Smart move, yes, but scheduling the regional matches, new for this season, in the midweek slots was a mistake that needs to be readdressed if the concept is to work and if midweek matches are to pull their weight in terms of crowds.
Of the five regional matches, four were held on a Wednesday night. And when the likes of Melbourne and Sydney struggle to attract a strong crowd midweek, it’s not surprising to see regional centres unable to match the expectations set for them.
For example, Dunedin was tipped to get a crowd of 20,000 to see Wellington Phoenix versus Brisbane Roar based on previous strong crowds but only pulled 4628. Likewise in Tasmania, where the crowd of 5268 at Aurora Stadium, Launceston to see Melbourne Victory versus Gold Coast United fell well short of the 10,000 target and was the only regional round match to pull in excess of 5000.
The regional round has merit and should be retained. Not only does it help the continued campaign to link “new football” with the grassroots of the game, it takes the A-League to parts of the country beyond its current footprint at a time when expansion is justifiably on the back burner.
It is, after all, a tactic the leading codes like the AFL are using to strengthen their ties in the likes of Ballarat, Tasmania, Canberra and Darwin – places that, it seems, aren’t on the expansion agenda.
But for the concept to work for the A-League and have the desired effect, they need to be moved to weekends when the towns can truly embrace the concept by making it much easier for families to attend – Saturday and Sunday afternoons, creating a family day vibe around it – while also ensuring the host towns have a connection with visiting clubs (why Newcastle and Adelaide played in Bathurst, in the far west of Sydney, remains puzzling).
If they are dumped midweek as a way to cover unpopular timeslots for big cities, then what’s the point?
chemikills
Guest
Pulling a crowd of 20,000 midweek in Dunedin during Uni holidays? They were ABSOLUTELY dreaming!
jamesb
Guest
I think what should happen is you keep the "big wednesday'' in the first week of January. Than have a midweek round around the time of Australia Day. Than have the regional round on a weekend. Have it in areas where you think has the potential of an A-league side in the future. Places like Tassie, Wollongong, Canberra, West Sydney and dare i say it townsville (Nth Qld)
Whites
Guest
Edit wikipedia then.
langou
Roar Guru
My guess is that at the start of the season, the A-League looked at ways of increasing mid week crowds and they decided to go with Big Wednesday and Regional Rounds. The idea of the Regional round was that with only one game all season, people would turn out regardless of the day. This has of course proved incorrect so I too hope that they retain regional games and turn them into weekend events. The other change I would make is to allow the home team to decide where they want to play their regional round, providing it is within reason. Of course the teams that don’t play a home regional game this year would get one the following year. This would allow teams to build a home away from home, similar to what Hawthorn does in the AFL by playing in Tassie each year. For example you may get Heart playing their regional game in Geelong and Victory choosing to go after the Ballarat market. Throw in a few pre season games and it could possibly be the start of building another fan base.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Off on a slightly related tangent: AFL to appeal court ruling over Optus. Article below talks of NRL's next media deal being affected - also FFA's? http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-10/afl-appeals-optus-copyright-ruling/3823430
Michael
Guest
The Bathurst Lord Mayor (IIRC) was on the Fox pre-game show and was waxing lyrical about how great it was to have the A-League game there. I imagine the local league would have been there in droves too.
ChrisW
Guest
I think the places for regional matches should of beenbigger citys like Darwin and Wollogong not places with a 20 000 population.
Atawhai Drive
Roar Guru
King, Sydney FC staged an A-League game at Parramatta on a Sunday last season (or was it the season before?). Whatever, it failed to draw much of a crowd. For me, it was all good. A glass of wine in the upstairs bar at Parramatta Leagues Club before the match, looking out over the stadium, and then good seats at a ground which is excellent for watching sport. But the fans stayed away that day. Re the Dunedin match, as already stated it was scheduled during university vacation and the Scarfies, the exuberant students who are such a feature of Dunedin life, couldn't get there. The 15k for a trial match was no surprise. They would have cracked 20k easily for the HAL game if they'd only studied the university timetable.
King of the Gorgonites
Roar Guru
Has anyone heard of Parramatta? what do you we have to do to get some soccer and rugby out our way? i was shocked by Dunedin. they drew 15K to a trial but only 4K to a HAL game......
Roger
Guest
"I’ve got to start saving my leave days for a good month off in Brazil in 2014" This.
Johnno
Guest
It's almost as if the FFA wanted to deliberately stuff up the regional matches with bad scheduling to not even give the regional games a chance to be a success. Are they scared that big interest will put pressure for a FFA cup to be had sooner, or are they afraid of old football rising again. Either way the FFA should have a review preferably independent to work out why it didn't achieve it's potential.
Roger
Guest
Agreed Griffo, Geelong should definitely be fostered as a potential location for another Victorian team. An excellent initiative of the A-League was to ensure that the A-League does not clash with the AFL season, so fans can enjoy both seasons. @ Kasey - heh, bring back the ropes I say! Unless you know something I don't, I think there are options. For example: - Simonds Stadium in Geelong (with Football Federation Victoria being a tennant) - Eureka Stadium in Ballarat (not sure about TV facilities but I'm sure something could be sorted out) - Queen Elizabeth Oval in Bendigo (ditto re TV facilities) - Latrobe City Stadium (ditto re TV facilties)
Axelv
Guest
Yep, every A-League team plays 27 regular season matches, 13 home, 13 away and 1 regional match. While Adelaide's name appeared first suggesting it was the home team for Bathurst, it wasn't anyone's home game and the Wiki stats are incorrect in including the regional games as home matches for a team that belongs in another state.
nordster
Guest
season would need extending to play them at weekends. All for that personally ... longer the season window is, the better for our footballers too.
nordster
Guest
meh ... player safety looking at some of the pitches in the HAL? A quaint small venue might even look nice to TV directors.
nordster
Guest
so true, in all the "regional game yay or nay" coverage i have yet to see many city-ensconced journos ask the people who count what they thought. There was a nice preview in the SMH around the Bathurst game. Least they went out to the game rather than just looking at it as a backdrop for TV coverage. ;)
Griffo
Roar Guru
Seems FFA could do better with the Regional Round concept - play it on weekends, normal kick-off times... I wonder if the FFA consulted clubs on which areas they would go to for these rounds? Targeting these games to regional areas associated with clubs as well as targeting areas that could be potential A-League clubs in the future might be better use of these unique opportunities. In light of any potential lost revenue to clubs or homeground advantage, how many rounds? Two seem to be the limit for me - and you could have the same teams meeting in the regional centre again for the 'Regional Decider Round' to draw people in for a second A-League fix.
Kasey
Guest
If it had been in Darwin I would have flown up for it. Bathurst was just a logistical step too far for me ADL->SYD, then regional flight to Bathurst + return..too many leave days required. I've got to start saving my leave days for a good month off in Brazil in 2014.
Kasey
Guest
what about appropriate venues? All HAL games must be played at a venue with appropriate facilities for the Fox team to broadcast the game and of course the players need their safety looked after. The days of just roping off an area and calling it a playing field went out in the 1800s.
Kasey
Guest
I'm just going on the details as they are tabulated in wiki. Most proper calcuations like the attendance thread on 442 consider the regional games as a seperate entity - that's how I think it should be done.