In a surprising move, A-League chief Damien de Bohun has touted Asia as a potential target for A-League expansion teams.
While this sudden statement has fans taken aback in this country, it’s easy to see sense in such a move.
I think both Australia and wherever this team is based – be it Indonesia, Malaysia or my pick Singapore – will benefit from such an arrangement.
The AFC are very community-minded – they want to see Asian players, clubs and national teams do well.
A team in Southeast Asia would show the AFC that we’re serious about our place in Asia and we share their vision of making Asia as strong as possible.
A helping hand to the less successful nations in Asia could be what the FFA needs to win hearts in the AFC over, not to mention some of their valuable ranking points. The boost in Asian representation could see the A-League gaining the coveted four spots in the AFC Champions League.
If we do go through with it, we’d not only be helping out an AFC member but also a member of ASEAN member, the smaller subset of South East Asian clubs the AFC has geographically grouped us with.
It’s not as though the teams in question would be also-rans, only there to make up the numbers. The chance to field a team in a league like the A-League would have the financial sectors of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur bustling with chequebooks in hand, trying to get a piece of the action.
Admittedly, I don’t know much about the leagues of the nations in question. I’ve heard they’re honest, hard-working leagues where vocal support is king and a large array of nationalities are represented.
Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are also the two largest financial centres in Southeast Asia, with populations larger than any city in Australia at five million apiece). That means plenty of support, both financially and in the stands.
In a recent match against Malaysian side Johor Darul Takzim, Perth Glory saw just how passionate the area could be about football. A crowd of 27,000 saw their side lose 2-0 to the Australians but remained vocal throughout the match – imagine that crowd in a bigger league with bigger stakes.
It’s not all charity to those less fortunate, though. Australia will benefit from the extra tourism generated from the trips, while away support can be gathered from short-stay tourists, expats, students and most certainly corporate tourists.
It’s one of these situations that will see a slower return for longer than the instant gratification of a team like Western Sydney Wanderers.
I know we have a few key areas in Australia that a lot of fans would like to see represented, Canberra, Tasmania and Wollongong being the most touted of these.
But if we, like Damien de Bohun, start looking at things from a bigger perspective, moving in to Asia makes a lot of sense.
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the A-League CEO Damien de Bohun!
Genghis
Guest
A team from Singapore would be fantastic, it could help make our A-League a much more interesting & exotic league not to mention give clubs an extra leg-up playing in 100% humidity, a major weakness we face in the ACL. The exposure for the league in SE Asia might help sell our country & players in terms of investment, broadcast rights, maybe helping to convince the Australian corporate sector which is already stretched to support our clubs over NRL, AFL & Rugby comps.
JR Salazar
Guest
This will never happen. And for personal reasons, I am against having an A-League team in Singapore.
Punter
Guest
AR, I did not know about Joe Gorman, but would not say he is solely a football writer, but OK, one. Both Mike Tuckerman & Tony Tannous wrote football articles in the football tab & mentioned or in your words spoke ill of AFL. Plus you have been giving it to Mike ever since, no different to those who felt Glenn was wrong. The AFL writers writes football articles in the football tab, notice the difference.
Australian Rules
Guest
Not at all SVB. Punter said that no football writer had ever written articles about the AFL...I just showed him that they had. I've got no problem with anyone bagging the AFL, ever...and this year especially, I've savaged them many times...but when there's inane trolling or factually incorrect stuff, then I'm happy to correct it. Cheers
Franko
Guest
Mike, you and Kane have completely missed the point. It may well be great for us to have a team in from Singapore or HK or Malaysia, hell i'd be great if we had Man Utd in our league, but you have to ask what is in it for them? I refer you to my original, unanswered, question: ...What would Singapore or Malaysia gain from having a team in the A-League, that they would not gain X10 if they had a team competing in China/Korea...????
Mike
Roar Guru
They do at the moment. Australia will need to improve their relationship/status with the AFC in order to get more spots in the ACL. They're not too impressed that we don't have promotion/relegation in place, and this is costing us some of those spots. The problem for us is that it might be some years before we have such a system in place (if ever). I've also read about the AFC not too happy with the A-League having an OFC team in the league, which might be costing some points as well. I suppose the question here is: Would including an AFC team in the A-League improve our status with the AFC, or hinder it? Does the AFC want the A-League to be a league confined to one country, or would it impress them to see us engage with Asia? I like to think the latter, because why would the A-League even mention the idea of going to Asia if they know it'll damage our ACL spots?
SVB
Guest
Does AR simply come onto the Football forum to shut anyone up who criticises or dare ridicules AFL? What is his purpose here? Because from what I can tell he does not contirbute anything at all to quality Football discussion. His existence here has got absolutley nothing to do with the topic at hand. Is he really that sensitive if every once in a while we take a swipe at AFL? What an insecure mindset he has.
Franko
Guest
@Kane ???
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
Trust me, to any rusted of football fan that was drivel and we were just letting him know what we thought of the aticle. You have zero understanding of being a true football fan so I don't expect you to have any empathy.
Australian Rules
Guest
Punter: "I am yet to see a football writer write an article on AFL." Well, you'd be wrong. Joe Gorman has written numerous pieces on the AFL...including one this year that attacked the AFL for its ANZAC Day game. In Aug 2013, Tuckerman opened an article with: "The cricket is a farce, NRL crowds are dwindling, the AFL continues to promote catatonia-inducing boredom"...it seems consistency is key for Mike. Even the usually-excellent Tony Tannous has, at times, uncharactistically laid the boot into the AFL, particularly at the beginning of the year when the Essendon scandal arose. You asked...
SVB
Guest
Forget about it Punter. AR will never admit that Glenn Mitchell is a hypocrite (his heart lies too much with AFL for him to admit that). But deep down inside he knows he is. Glenn's theory is that when the AFL rebrands itself to 'Australian Football' we should all acknowledege it, but when the FFA rebrands itself to 'Football', we should go on calling it what Glenn wants us to call it (which is 'Soccer'). Why? Because that's the world Glenn (and other AFL supporters) feels more comfrotable living in. Maybe they should open their eyes up and see that a lot of Australians live in a different world to the one they do.
Punter
Guest
AR, Gallop made a bold statement that 'Football will one day be the no 1 sport in Australia' he did not say football was the no 1 sport in Australia today. Then we get an AFL writer posting on a football tab on why Football was not the no 1 sport in Australia today, of which everyone knew, not sure why an article was required & then proceeded to ask us why so many was offended by calling the game 'Soccer' & then stupidly got involved & wondered why Aussie rules or AFL was used in non AFL heartland. Now if a football writer did the same on the AFL tab, I sure you & the other defenders of the great Aussie game would also be up in arms. I am surprised that you were surprised that even the more calmer football fans took umbrage to this. I mean you get upset when Mike Tuckerman discusses AFL on a football tab. Remember beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I struggle to understand why AFL writers take so much pleasure in writing football articles., I am yet to see a football writer write an article on AFL.
Australian Rules
Guest
Punter - the reason Glenn wrote the article is pretty simple...the day before, Gallop made the bold declaration that "football will become the largest and most popular sport in the country". It was *news* and therefore worthy of discussion. There were many articles on Gallop's statement (which was the intention behind making it). Kane - I've been around this site for a little longer than you have - and know that you haven't read every one of my posts. I also respectfully acknowledge you're a "Guru" but if the best you can do is... "you liar", well...it just sounds adolescent. Glenn didn't come in "guns blazing with complete rot"...he repeatedly stated that soccer is, and always will be, the No.1 sport in the world...but unlikely to be in Australia for some time. Hardly controversial.
bryan
Guest
I agree,Ben,-----It seems very presumptious on our part! My feeling is it would really "get up their noses",particularly in Indonesia,who are very touchy about anything that looks like Neo-Colonialism! I could imagine some sort of alliance between the FFA & another Football League,but to just go in as the "A" League sounds pretty fanciful. Maybe the AFL could get away with it,as participation in that game is tiny in Asian Countries,----but the "World Game"? Back when the VFL was flexing its muscles & talking about expanding Interstate,there was a big backlash from the other Aussie Rules States,& they had to reinvent themselves as the AFL before they came onboard. Multiply that resentment by about a hundred,& that's what I think you'd get. .
Mike
Roar Guru
I like your points there Justin, and I feel the same way. The A-League can't afford to put another team in the league if it risks going under. The other 10 teams might prosper on, but the media would go ballistic if another team's license was revoked! It would severely tarnish the credibility of the A-League. The way I see it is this: The A-League's recent announcement about Asia was done for either one of two reasons: 1) To simply create some marketing hype in the lead up to the season starting tonight. 2) Because they have done some research and discovered that it is a viable option. If the A-League say that they want to set up a team somewhere, or invite a certain team to play in the league, then I'll be sold on the idea. The governing body has professionals who deal with this sort of thing for a living. It's easy for people to say it's not a good idea, but at the end of the day I'll put my trust in a team of professional businessmen and women who say it's a good idea and have done their marketing research.
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
The guy was going in guns blazing with complete rot, you can't have a huge sook about us not agreeing and expect us to take such poorly writen stuff lightly. And I haven't seen you pull up an AFL troll once you liar but as soon as someone expresses any disdain for VFL you're all over it.
Justin Thighm
Roar Guru
If the Asia experiment works out and the A-League becomes more profitable then we can afford basket cases like the Gold Coast in future in the league. These are established, successful Asian clubs, so they have money, they have expertise and won't be a burden on the FFA. We are in consolidation mode right now so FFA can't afford any more basket cases. Wollongong, South Melbourne and Canberra failed the FFA Entry Exam and didn't have enough money in the bank. Chipperfield said he would rather go back to driving buses than play in the A-League and he was supposedly one of the backers for the Wollongong bid.
Punter
Guest
Again AR, you don't answer my question, WHY? Why did Glenn write this article? This is the beginning of the A-League season, why write an article on facts on why Football is the No 1 game in the world but AFL is still king in Australia????? Especially on a football tab. It is fact, but why? David Gallop said football would be become no 1 in the future. So why write an article, akin to Mike Tuckerman providing factual historical information that AFL has not gone beyond 4 states despite 150 years of history. Plus Glen started to interact with the punters (excuse pun) & this was when he lost me when he said he did not understand why Soccer people had issues with people calling it soccer (re-branding from Soccer Australia to Football federation Australia) to not understand why people in Sydney called it AFL or Aussie Rules (because there was a re-branding to Autsralian football). In both cases people use Soccer & AFL or Aussie to differentiate.
SVB
Guest
A slur? Sensitive much. Fact is Jorgi has been consistently trolling the Football forums (like numerous AFL supporters) over the past two weeks or so. I thought I would give him a nice little comment to send him off on his way if third world countries are of little interest to him. By the way AR where is your consistency in pulling up AFL posters who consistently slur other sports?