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Electrifying, astonishing and absorbing. Three perfect words in which to describe season eight of the A-League.
From a derby stoppage time winner, to new boys, the Western Sydney Wanderers holding premiers Central Coast in their first A-League match, as well as knocking off champs Brisbane Roar twice, and Shinji Ono stamping his authority, the A-League’s newest team has been a success.
There is even talk of the Wanderers becoming the most supported club in three to five years. How big can they get?
The Alessandro Del Piero project has taken effect, with the game getting better ratings and gate takings as a result of the Italian superstar.
The other big star to come to the A-League, former England International, Emile Heskey, has set the A-League alight, rocketing to the top of the goal scorers chart (before being pipped by another veteran, 35-year-old Daniel McBreen).
And then, with the $160 million broadcast deal, things are looking pretty good for football in Australia.
There were also changes at the top, with former NRL CEO David Gallop taking over the top job from Ben Buckley. What effect this will have on the A-League, only time will tell.
Aside from the usual complaints of diving and overblown accusations of hooliganism, football in Australia is going from strength to strength.
Then there was the East Asia Cup, in which a new generation of Socceroos presented themselves to Australian fans.
Now for some statistics.
Out of the 70 A-League matches played so far, 21 have received an attendance higher than 12,000. Three had an attendance higher than 18,000 and nine had an attendance higher than 20,000. Therefore, 33 out of 70 games had achieved more than 12,000 fans to each match.
In comparison, the 2011-2012 season saw 26 out of the first 70 games attract attendances of 12,000 or more, 19 of which were 12,000, two had an attendance higher than 18,000 and five had an attendance of 20,000 or more.
Television viewing is also on the way up. 2011 had a total viewing of 7,533,326, whereas in late 2012, 9,571,504 viewers had already tuned in to the game, giving an increase of 27%.
905,807 fans had walked through the gates to watch an A-League match with an average of 12,940 and seven out of ten clubs are averaging more than 10,000.
What about the rest of the season? With 13 rounds left in 2013 there are still plenty of things to look forward to.
The A-League has never achieved 1.5million spectators during the regular season, with the current record being 1,417,084 at an average of 10,497.
If the current average settles around 12,500 for 2012-2013, we can expect to see to the A-League regular season reach 1.7 million.
We also will be privileged to see the third F3 derby in round 17, the Big Blue in round 18, Heskey versus Del Piero in round 19 as well as the Melbourne derby. There are more derby games and traditional rivals to come over the closing rounds.
Current positions count for nothing at the completion of round 14, it is now down to the last 13 fixtures for teams to strive for qualification into the Asian Champions League, before the top six fight it out for the traditional grand final fixture which garners the interest of most football supporters and let’s hope produces spectacles similar to that of the past two seasons.
Whatever the case, we are lined up for another 13 electrifying, astonishing and absorbing rounds of A-League action and who knows what will happen.
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