Most football followers would agree that, on the field, it has been one of the best seasons on record for the A-League.
The standard of play and the creative attacking football on display has been hailed by many as the best ever witnessed in Australian domestic football. The average goals per game has also climbed to 2.7 which is a big number, when compared to the top European Leagues.
Brisbane Roar set an Australian domestic football (all codes) record of 36 games in a row unbeaten – a feat that will be very hard to improve on and an unbeaten record that will stand for many years to come.
Season seven of the A-League has also been a record year for aggregate attendances of any regular season. The 2011-12 A-League season proper aggregate attendance of 1,416,157 fans beats last year’s record of 1,395,734. That was achieved in a shorter season than the last, with one less team and 30 less games played.
The match average of 10,490 is also on the increase and while not a record, is a very healthy 24 percent jump on the previous season.
That aggregate figure will be added to in the next few weeks when six finals games plus a more than likely sold out grand final are yet to be played. The full season aggregate record, including finals for the A-League is 1,529,390 set last season and is the mark to beat.
The A-League also passed its eight millionth spectator milestone during season seven as it moves quickly towards nine million.
The FFA also successfully rearranged its schedule to run the season from October to March and allowed the league to kick off in clear air and obtain greater coverage and support.
There were fewer midweek games, played only during the holiday periods, and a regional community round where games were played in regional centres around Australia to engage more with local communities.
The FFA’s “Rivalry Round” produced another record for the all-time high aggregate attendance for any A-League round.
As a result of the FFA’s initiatives the Fox Sports Pay TV audience average was up a massive 48 percent, a record year on year increase for A-League football on Fox.
This season’s Melbourne Victory versus Sydney FC game on Fox Sports was also the highest Pay TV rating A-League match of all time.
Internationally the A-League was a big winner too and was shown in over 100 countries around the world to an estimated 40 million households and TV audience of between 30 to 50 million viewers.
Club membership showed very positive growth as well. The overall average A-League club memberships were up 20 percent this year on last season.
And in electronic media, A-League related web traffic was up 20 percent and on Facebook and Twitter, traffic was up 15 percent.
A-League regular season seven is over and Central Coast Mariners are crowned the 2011-2012 A-League Premiers.
We are now left with Sydney FC, Wellington Phoenix, Perth Glory, Melbourne Heart, the Mariners and Brisbane Roar to fight out the finals series to be crowned A-League Champions and the holders of the Golden Toilet Seat.
We’re all looking forward to it and if its even only as half as good as last season’s final series, it will be yet another memorable one.
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Mathew Leckie played a pivotal part in Melbourne City claiming an 8-nil win; playing a role in several of his team's goals.
The Mariners must deal with possibly their toughest challenge yet - Kyrgyzstan’s FK Abdysh-Ata Kant in the first leg of the semifinal.
The loser of the Sydney Derby will be under immense pressure entering the final three matches of the season.
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
Anthony Caceres is a player with immense talent and has a fantastic work rate, broke the deadlock against the Mariners in the 74th minute.
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