As the Socceroos prepare to meet Scotland in the early hours of Thursday morning, it will be one of the few times in recent months where events off the pitch will take a back seat to the action on it after a very eventful off-season.
Whilst an A-League club has bitten the dust and another has been hastily added, it pales in comparison to events in the Scottish Premier League.
The SPL’s most successful club, Rangers, have been forced into liquidation and start this season in the country’s fourth tier and the debate on the merits of their punishment is unlikely to stop any time soon.
It is a vastly different football landscape than the one I expected when I moved to Scotland just over 12 months ago.
For years, Australian football fans could only dream of having a competition anywhere near the standard of the SPL. Now, many in Scotland, are predicting the slow death of the professional game in the country.
I am not one of them. The game is in need of reform in Scotland, but it still has the most important commodity inherent in a huge amount of the population – love of the game.
Within days of moving here, the passion for the game was obvious.
I would drive to matches for my old team Arbroath past countless people decked out in full-kits on their way to watch their team’s match; message boards were all over the net devoted to teams I had never heard of, with countless posts about them; the papers were packed with football; and every radio station seemed to only talk about the sport.
To witness this passion for the game and then see the trouble that the SPL finds itself in is difficult to comprehend for someone from a country where we still dream of football evoking such devotion.
How can it not be thriving?
The answer is simply that too many wrong decisions have been made, whether it be overspending or not moving with the times.
The good news is that this can all change. Just take a look at the transformation football has undertaken in Australia in just seven seasons of the A-League.
For years, the sport had limped along on life support in a state much worse than the one the SPL finds itself in now. With bold change and reform, the game can once again thrive in Scotland.
Many predicted that the game would never flourish in Australia.
Thankfully, they are being proved wrong. Many have predicted the death of the game in Scotland, but if I know one thing about the sport it is that it is enduring.
Scotland may never reach its previous heights due to financial restrictions, but this does not mean the game is failing.
Not everything can be measured in monetary terms.
The future will be a different one for the Scots, but just as Australian football needed to change, so too does the Scottish game.
Thankfully, the sport can count on more than its fair share of passionate supporters.
Follow me on Twitter @beaubusch
Evan Askew
Guest
I hear that Ajax are exceedingly weathy as a club. And it wouldn't suprise me, the Ajax academy develops heaps of players which are sold off to bigger clubs in England, Spain, Italy and Germany. They sell out their stadium or go close to it for every league, cup and European match. I magine they get a fair bit of money for tv broadcast rights because they are a prestigious club with a massive history that had enriched the very sport itself. But above all they live within their means which means that they actually make a profit. I was having a conversation with a Dutch customer at work who told me all this and that someone like PSV is in debt because they try to compete with the big clubs in the champions league. (I should point out that the customer was an Ajax fan so it may be taken with a grain of salt) But I guess the point is that the historically big clubs in these middle tier leagues should make developing players to sell a big priority, as shold clubs in the A league.
Titus
Guest
Get over it Cpaaa; distance from Campbelltown to Moore Park 52km distance from Campbelltown to Parramatta 51km Sorry Beau, great article.
whiskeymac
Guest
Interesting article Beau. As a comparison fo you know how the Danish, Swedish, Belgian, Norwegian, Polish leagues etc fare? There was talk years back of a league comprising these and others from Holland etc to form a more profitable (for the big clubs) set up. Are they all in a similar place as the Scots or are some of these smaller Euro leagues doing well/ flourishing?
sledgeross
Guest
What about Ross County! Undefeated thus far. Cmon the Staggies.
Cpaaa
Guest
We almost made it Beau, "it will be one of the few times in recent months where events off the pitch will take a back seat to the action on it after a very eventful off-season."....until SFC had to go out and play at cambelltown. But if you mean Scotland, Rangers in the 4th is ruff. Im sure the entire SPL and even Celtic fans cannot wait to have the Rangers back in top flight.
Football United
Guest
The last 8 months i've spent in scotland have been an eye opener football wise. The country needs reform, the league system is rotten to the core and people are over the hassle of supporting scottish football. The SPL must be restructured. This is a major issue with fans. They want more teams in the league to get rid of the repetitiveness, they want to get rid of the split and they want play offs in the 1st division for promotion to the SPL. The old firm dominance must be broken and now is the time to do it. Tough for me to say it as a Celtic fan but things cannot continue as they are. Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen need to become strong again for a strong Scottish league and footballing nation. Now that Rangers have been banished to footballing siberia, the rest of the SPL clubs can beat the Old Firm Veto requiring 10 out of 12 teams majority for issues such as TV revenue distribution and league structure. SFA and SPL need to act more professionally as idiotic comments from types like Neil Doncaster saying 'Scottish Football will die without Rangers' help no one and install no confidence in the the game. If Sky want to pull the plug then will. Until then shut up and act like proper leaders of the game.
AndyMack
Guest
would be the death of scottish football. plus even the top 2 teams from scotland would struggle to make the EPL. think i would back the likes of West Ham, Norwich, Reading and QPR to beat Rangers and Celtic more times than not.
peeeko
Roar Guru
i guess there is no more talk of rangers and celtic joining the EPL?