The Central Coast Mariners look to be making a bold move into Northern Sydney, and David Gallop and Frank Lowy would do well to watch this one closely.
Whether the reports that surfaced in the Fairfax press yesterday about the Central Coast Mariners playing more games out of North Sydney Oval in future are true or not, the perception is they are testing the market.
Michael Charlesworth needs to be careful not to alienate the people of the Central Coast – and the club hastily issued a statement in response yesterday refuting the claims they are seeking a permanent relocate
And having been attending Mariners games at Bluetongue Stadium since day dot, that afternoon in the inaugural A-League pre-season where Andrew Durante broke a leg and a rivalry was born, I’m certainly happy to share my opinion in favour of the folk of the Central Coast.
The feeling is that even if Charlesworth is only flirting with the idea of throwing more games the way of North Sydney Oval, he is sending out the wrong type of message to those that have backed the club since it’s inception almost a decade ago.
While the motive might be to shake the Central Coast from a perceived lethargy or even test the waters in an area it claims houses one in five of its members, it must be careful not to turn away the fan base it has built up locally.
While Charlesworth might point to the money he has poured into the club and his subsequent loses, for the FFA there is a bigger loss to make that might not necessarily be measured in dollars and cents.
Football can ill afford to throw away the significant investment of resources and time it has spent on building the round ball game in the Central Coast.
While it might not have historically been a football community in the way Newcastle has always been, there’s no doubt that a love for the club and the code has blossomed for many in the area.
There is now a cottoned on core base that should only grow if managed well.
Of course this might not be the most affluent of communities, but the fact that many of them have invested their time and money should be respected.
No doubt reeling from an initial public relations backlash, Charlesworth issued a statement yesterday backing away from his threats in the Sydney Morning Herald that the Coasties might not have a club if they don’t back it.
Making those types of threats is hardly the best way to go about engaging more of your community.
Even in his statement yesterday there was little acknowledgement for the fans that do attend Bluetongue and have made that commitment over the years.
There was also little acknowledgement that this is a community that punches well above its weight as far as A-League support is concerned.
While there is much hype about the growth and further potential of the Western Sydney Wanderers, the reality is there was still an excellent support base of Mariners fans at last season’s grand final.
The scenes from their victory parade a short time later were very special for the region.
The Mariners’ average attendances per head of population also stack up well.
This is a supporter base that can’t be taken for granted. Almost a decade of building it up can’t be destroyed because someone isn’t turning a profit.
The reality of club ownership is that it is hard to turn a dollar, and that would be particular so in an area like the Central Coast where there is already a clamour to make ends meet.
Yesterday, in his back-tracking statement, the message from Charlesworth was that he was trying to lure the support base from the Northern Suburbs football community up to M1 more regularly.
Perhaps the feeling there are no more fans to be found from the Gosford and Wyong regions.
Either way, I do wonder what Sydney FC, who must draw a portion of their members from the northern suburbs of Sydney, have to say about this exercise.
After all, this is a club that is also looking to build its base.
For Lowy, Gallop and the FFA, it’s all a fine juggling act and one they must manage with the long term interests of the game at heart.
Today they have taken the step of dousing the speculation about a permanent or more regular move to North Sydney by claiming the facilities at North Sydney need upgrading.
The Central Coast has long been thought of as rugby league territory, but there is little doubt the younger generations there are growing up with football running through their veins.
The trick is that many of these kids then leave the Coast for work opportunities elsewhere in adulthood.
But their bond with the local community and football should stick.
Far too much has been invested in the region to throw it all away, so Charlesworth and the FFA would do well to be mindful of the mixed messages being emitted.
S
Guest
There's more than a "portion" of Sydney FC members who are from the northern suburbs. It'd be incredibly stupid if the Mariners abandon the Central Coast and end up cramming themselves a 10 minute drive from the SFS. And...Central Coast Stadium is a gorgeous stadium. Why would you leave it for North Sydney Oval? And it's close enough that there's a "local derby" feeling to it but still represents a completely different region (i.e. "Sydney" vs "the Central Coast"). We may be a neighbouring region but the North Shore is still Sydney, NOT the Central Coast. And the Central Coast isn't North Sydney. P.S. For anybody suggesting the Mariners are a continuation of Northern Spirit, that's actually Gladesville-Hornsby Spirit FC. And for anybody dragging the Central Coast Bears bid into this, many CC residents supported the Bears because they didn't have a pro rugby league team, and the Bears have over a 100 years history in North Sydney. So, please don't confuse the North Sydney/Central Coast Bears thing with a the false belief that the Mariners are a North Shore team.
Titus
Guest
Central Coast has 300 000 people in Gosford, Wyong, The Entrance, Terrigal and Tuggerah, they are all within 30mins of Gosford, the figure isn't including parts of Northern Sydney. Gosford is nothing like a country town. There is not much difference between saying Western Sydney or The Central Coast.....Greater Western Sydney is starting to take the puss though.
Titus
Guest
NYL team playing against MVFC this sunday at Cromer.
Jorji Costava - The Guru's Guru
Guest
"Central Coast" is a pretty generic term. It is like saying "Port Phillip Bay basin". I've been to Gosford and it is literally a country town. If you are expecting people to drive an hour to get there it is asking one hell of a lot. As a comparison with Ballarat. I reckon going by "Central Coast" definitiions, you could say Ballarat has about 2 million people within an hours drive. You have all the northern and western parts of Melbourne, plus Geelong district. Putting a team there seems to have been simply due to them building that stadium there. Odd decision by the local Gosford council. Hope their rate payers are happy bankrolling that joint.
Wicked Ninja
Guest
I think most of north-west Sydney lives within an hour of Bluetongue Stadium. For example, I live 55 minutes away from Bluetongue Stadium and 10-15 minutes away from Parramatta Stadium.
Squizz
Guest
50 largest urban centres by population from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 7 Canberra-Queanbeyan 533,660 ... 9 Central Coast 297,713 10 Wollongong 245,942 ... 18 Ballarat 85,935
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
If you have a look at how many people live within an hour of the stadium, it's a decent number - easily comparable to Geelong and surrounding district. There is also the issue that Bluetongue Stadium is about the right size.
Jorji Costava - The Guru's Guru
Guest
Why did they bung a club into a town of less than 50,000 people would be my first question? Gosford is half the size of Ballarat for heaven's sake. Where is the team for Wollongong and Canberra? They could have more teams just in Sydney. There should be a club per half million persons in the big cities. That is the rule the AFL works on and they are the biggest league in the land by a country mile.
Aljay
Guest
The other point to note about (b) is that the salary floor in all Australian sports is usually a condition of the Players Associations'. I would expect it is the same in football.
asanchez
Roar Guru
Thats exactly whats going on, its all just a bit of robust negotiation. The interesting part of that discussion is that the Gosford City Council is actually a sleeve sponsor of the Mariners this season. Could this sponsorship be a sweetner in this whole deal?
Haz
Guest
+1. I've been thinking that for years.
Gordon
Guest
First - take away the "Go Bears" that is visible in the seats. For heaven's sake, a non-existent RL team should not take precedence over an ACTUAL football side that happen to be the defending champions.
Kurt
Guest
80% of the clubs are not turning a profit
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
It probably is, and it's - IMO - bad news for CCM that Singo gave the management rights for Bluetongue to Gosford Council rather than CCM (as a side note, this is the Last Post for the Central Coast Bears). Control of grounds means clean signage, sponsorship deals, side revenue from other events and a bunch of other things. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/central-coast/john-singleton-will-hand-bluetongue-stadium-management-back-to-gosford-council/story-fngr8h0p-1226768474909
1860melbourne
Guest
Its obvious that its a play with words more than anything. In a year where the payroll is being taken care of by the tv deal , unless CC are spending millions on there football department which is highly unlikely, the financials at every club will be looking much better this financial year.. I believe the COE will solve a number of CC issues.
jamesb
Guest
Central Coast Mariners are going nowhere. Like asanchez said, it's all brinkmanship.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Note that if you pick (b), your club gets locked into a death cycle of low payroll -> uncompetitive -> low crowds -> low sponsors -> no money -> low payroll. If you're happy with a league with two superclubs and a bunch of teams that wont win the flag, fine. But I cant see why writing off 80% of Australia is a good idea.
asanchez
Roar Guru
People need to relax, this is clearly not a play to move the club, it's a play to get a better stadium deal from the Gosford City Council, as apparently their stadium deal isn't great. I don't know the specifics of the goings on down there on the coast, maybe Mid can help fill us in, but I'm aware that John Singleton is giving up the running of the ground in February next year, after 13 years of doing so, back to the Gosford City Council. I understand that the Mariners were super keen on managing the ground, which would obviously help out their finances, but this was rejected by the council. So this sounds to me like the standard tit for tat rather than a Clive Palmer move. Charlesworth is obviously doing a Tony Sage and threatening to look for other options to play games at if he doesn't get what he wants.
premy
Guest
FFA have released a statement saying NSO is not upto standard to host A-League games and needs upgrading if CCM want to host some games there.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I rather think you'll find a somewhat different sentiment is prevalent amongst the footballing public. Certainly the Central Coast is a long term project, however it is proving to be an extremely productive one.