Football's future still murky despite epic 2013

Yep, it's a worry Matthew. All of Newcastle is feeling the pinch, not just the Football club. Hopefully, things will pick up. Cheers.

Well yes you are probably right JTD- it looks a little financially shaky over there in Coal Capital NSW

I think he should concentrate on Newcastle's impending plight before worrying about other provincial centres.

Mr Gallop is quite an intelligent man and less dull than people realise . I believe he is actually challenging regions like Canberra , Wollongong ,North Queensland to try that much harder to get their A-League licence He holds a lot of heavy cards , a royal flush of a hand that includes ; a FFA Cup , Asian Cup , expanding W-League, expanding Youth League a rejuvenated World Cup effort ,the All-Stars Games -all individually which are making the other major sporting codes quake in their boots but together will come like a flood that cannot be resisted. When Australia made their WC hosting bid the big dream was that if it succeeded it would make Football the 'The king of da codes ' well we didnt succeed in that , in fact it was a spectacular failure but football advanced anyway and is well and truly on course to be 'da king of da codes'

He studied law at Melboune Uni? But you are right, he's clearly intelligent. Just dull.

not the brightest lamp? Gallop graduated from the best law school in the country and was a solicitor at a top law firm before joining News Ltd and Super League. He is an administrator not a politician or celebrity.

Gallop has never come across as the brightest lamp on the street to me, but, maybe that's just his way. Is he the Messiah, or just Johnny on the spot?. If FFA's chief criteria was ; 'You must, at no time, exhibit a shred of personality nor charisma', then, they got their man well and truly.

I reckon drinking bucks that trend.. :)

I can honestly say that we'll all look back on these few years as "the time of our lives"-as a WSW fan I can see new major sponsors joining the circus mcgircus almost every week, the "fairer play"award system expanding exponentionally, foreign stars more than happy to be associated with the HAL and the W-League, crowds ,fan numbers and club memberships all up across the boardI bet at least half the tv's in New Zealand will be tuned in to their WCQ game against Mexico and we are only 5 games into the season . What a time to be ,to be alive and being a HAL fan oooohh the joy as Albert Einstein said in the movie "IQ" wahoooooo!!!!

So then why not mention Adelaide United as a hometown favourite sporting team---presuming you live in Adelaide? Checkout other articles---many cross coders name several sporting teams as home favourites---or don't you attend AU's home games?... Sorry you gave yourself away as a codewarrior...

Come on mate you've clearly forgotten that if you have any interest in another sport and say something that is not 100% positive that you are a code warrior and a detractor from the perfection that is soccer

Alot of Spirit fans say the combination of a pretty average ground to regularly watch football in, a team that was only ever decent for one season (the one they got big numbers of fans to), and all their local rivals treated Spirit fans very badly - I've heard people write about how they would follow Spirit away and even at North Sydney Oval and for example, Sydney Olympic or United fans would come over all ethnic gang and threatening on them etc. I'm not saying this is the case, just what I've heard from Spirit fans as to why they never consolidated their huge potential.

Yeah, I know, that's the irony John. Although, it's not irony under the true definition. I suppose I could have written: "Round ball football is currently booming in this country. This article appears to be a thinly veiled attempt to downplay its success and perhaps provide comfort to fans of other codes who don't like football and will feel warm and fuzzy if someone tells them its doomed to fall over at some point or another." Is that what the point of the article was? If so, I would have to roundly disagree with your summation. If you are just a football fan with a pessimistic outlook on its continuing success, chin up son, it's blue sky ahead!

The AFL is a very well run organisation where the top funds the bottom and they don't have extra levels of governance (they are a very well run dictatorship). However, they don't have to worry about national teams or youth development but what they do, they do well. The FFA is getting better but have inherited a cluster-f*** of issues that have come about over decades of mismanagement. Unfortunately, the states are voting members in the FFA governance. They are highly unlikely to put the bigger picture first and vote themselves out. You would require some sort of government intervention for that to happen. Considering football is doing ok now, that's not going to happen. So, it's a bit of a pipe dream of mine. Hopefully the FFA will be able to work with the states to find other ways to address the issue of cost.

Well answered. (both of you) Like the idea of slashing registration costs. I know to play kiddie football(AFL) cost next to nothing. I think they even chuck in free footy boots and a ball nowadays(ironically made by children in Pakistan). It is a very simple, cheap to operate game and the costs to players should reflect that. One of my work mates quoted me what it costs his son to play juniors and I said, hang on that is what it costs me to be a member of a private golf club. That is friggin ridiculous if that is true.

Inner-city teams in most big cities tend not to have the level or support (or level of passion) to teams on the outer of big cities (or even regional cities). This is because there's more to do in the inner city and supporting your sporting teams is one a few things you can do when you live out in the sticks. AFL in Melbourne bucks this trend, but it's rare and not the norm. In fact the AFL has one of the highest attendance rates of all professional sports in the world...it's 4th after the NFL, Bundesliga and EPL(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attendance_figures_at_domestic_professional_sports_leagues). Australian sports are well represented, which shows that we are fairly wealthy country that loves sport. The A-League is in the top 40 and not far off the Brazilian league (this season's average probably see the A-League pass the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A).

As an NRL and ALeague fan I'd say we just need to be careful with Gallop.

The issues regarding the national team, World Cups and Asian Cups are not important as they used to be. The A-League and it's profitability, NPL/youth development, junior participation (and it's cost) and grass-roots engagement are the most important issues now. The A-League is the biggest and most important issue. It will provide the most income for the FFA moving forward via TV and digital rights. The increase in crowds and ratings so far this season means Gallops ambition to get at least double next time around is very realistic. In time I think you will see most A-League clubs becoming profitable now that the TV money covers the salary cap. The NPL, while not perfect, is a good start. FFA have recommended best practices for governance, structure and youth developer to which NPL clubs have to comply. I'm not sure about the level of compliance but hopefully they will police it strictly. The other issue is the cost to the NPL clubs, especially in big states like Queensland where the cost of travel can be huge. The cost of playing football is ridiculous when you compare it to the cost of rugby league or Australia rules football. So, the high participation rates are incredible when you take that into account. Clubs pay the senior players too much and these costs are funded by juniors. The model is wrong and flawed and is a huge issue that the FFA must address. I personally would get rid of state federations and regional associations in order to cut costs and pass the savings (and inherited money) onto the clubs on the proviso that the drop registration fees (and perhaps implement certain best-practice measures). States and regions would become administrative regions of the FFA so all people working here would be employed by the FFA (easier to ensure the correct things are being done). We don't needs presidents of states and regions getting payed salaries to basically do nothing. Central Coast Mariners seems to be the old club that does grass-roots engagement well. Visiting kids in hospitals and making the odd appearance at shopping centre is not grass-roots engagement. I'm talking about A-League clubs using their resources to help junior clubs in their area with coaching and having players make frequent visits during the off-season (yes I understand that most A-League clubs are struggling financially but the visits part is not hard to do). The A-League is doing well and will continue to grow. Addressing the other issues will help it grow faster :-)

Exactly, I think John you have been owned on that comment in regards to the drop off as being an excuse of a murky future.

Jordi, it's no longer a trend!!!!