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On Sunday, SBS held an interview with Perth Glory owner Tony Sage. Sage was very confident in the future of the A-League.
Sage among many other things said he expected Perth Glory, should they lose, to still get a half place in the Asian Champions League.
Also on grand final day FFA changed the starting time of the Australian V Japan world cup qualifier in Brisbane from 7:30 to 8:00. The reason was for timing of the match into Asia.
The match is expected to be viewed by over half a billion people in Asia.
Sage was quite blunt in his interview saying he totally disagreed with what Clive Palmer and Nathan Tinker did but understood why they did it. Further, the new A-League committee had a six-point plan to put to FFA, coming out of recent discussions with FFA. I stress again he was very confident of football’s future.
The Asian Cup is by far the biggest sporting event in Asia and as more Asian countries grow their middle class, sport will naturally grow. Cricket, basketball, baseball and football are the big sports in Asia, with football the biggest.
Asia is on the rise economically.
Many Australian players now play in various Asian professional leagues. The A-League is being looked at both for players and more recently for coaches, with Graham Arnold said to have some tentative approaches from some J-League clubs.
The A-League is the foundation stone upon which football in Australia is being built. The influence that football brings across Asia is growing. In Indonesia and Malaysia, our closest neighbours, football is huge and in both countries the middle class is growing. Many of Asia’s most influential business figures have investments in football teams.
This Asian link will provide the A-League with two distinct selling points to the Australian media no other code will have. First the ability of the Australian media to do business with other Asian media companies for content. Second access to some of Asia’s communication technology and the selling of Australian systems and technology.
Finally, with a match broadcast to over half a billion people, all commonwealth, state and local governments will want to develop relationships with Asia. As far as popular Australian sports go, nothing comes within light years of football in this regard. This should ensure football retains government funding.
Football and the A-League can help Australia build and develop relations with Asia in business, government and general social settings.
Given we are starting the Asian century, this is a resource football must use wisely and take advantage off.
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