Australia needs promotion and relegation

Interesting points. Maybe take current clubs and call them heritage clubs. They can't drop below the second tier period. Then all newcomers via promotion from npl divisions or multistate superleagues are called legacy clubs. They can be relegated right back to their home states lowest league.

If you did spend a bit more time on here you'll realise that EPL gets only a fraction of the attention that A-League does and is directly proportional to the popularity of EPL in Australia. There is nothing out of ordinary of a writer using England as an example. It is the country whose systems Australian football fans are most familiar with. Peeeko's question was actually fairly valid but your response made it seem ridiculous. EPL is many more times more popular than La Liga and Serie A all around the world. It evolved as a league much better than Serie A and although it might not have produced the quality of La Liga, it has produced far more major international clubs.

Being a Wanderers supporter I can understand you being a tad bit slow. Peeeko asked why the EPL always gets mentioned as having promotion/relegation when other leagues in Europe and the world have it too and I told him its due to ppl on here thinking that EPL is only league they think exists. Have you understood now? Or are you pretending to be funny and have a dig at us due to the fact we dont spend more time posting on here like you do.

2012/13 was an impressive season, as has been the start of this current season, but I don't think you can really get a steady progression after 1.5 seasons. 2007/08 was the A-league's most successful completed season attendance wise, bolstered mainly by consistently high attendances across the board. Even the last place Pheonix averaged over 10k, with the only side below this mark being the Glory who finished 2nd last. This years lowest attendance has already fallen below 2007/08's lowest and the averages are quickly converging. The league needs to consolidate its existing franchises and build itself a solid core of sustainable teams, bolstering existing franchises and showing potential investors in the a-league that this league is sustainable and profitable. The A-league now needs to consolidate otherwise they risk loosing more franchises.

peeeko and Mazzalenko should battle it out in the WTF Are You Talking About? Derby.

According to most ppl on here EPL is basically the greatest thing since sliced bread so theres your reason. Also most ppl on here are part of the Foxtel generation and we know Foxtel have only ever shown EPL with a sprinkling of La Liga. Believe it or not Serie A was the dominant comp on earth from the early 80's to early 90's but ppl like Tuckerman think its a load of you know what so EPL it is. You sound like someone who realises EPL is not the be all and end all of Football good to see others like you still exist.

Also, people keep saying the MLS don't have it. They do, they just have a different name for it. Instead of Promotion/Relegation they have Expansion/Contraction/Relocation.

As a thought why is England always given as the example comparison? Germany , France, Spain, Italy etc etc all have a similar promotion, relegation system

P&R will work once we have 24-30 decent sized clubs in Australia. We're at 9 at the moment and about a third of them have their legitimacy questioned almost daily on this website. Words don't describe how far we are from that now. 25 consecutive seasons like 12/13 should do the trick.

Agree. Promotion and relegation, at least as it applies in Europe, isn't going to happen any time soon in Australia. I reckon we need 16-18 financially viable A-league teams before we can start thinking about it. And the State leagues will need to have as many teams as the A-league and also be in a position to make the step up. No matter how quickly football is advancing here, it ain't gonna advance that far for a couple of generations.

Do we really need promotion or relegation? The MLS doesn't have it and their competition runs fine, with alot of major cities playing in the league. We need all the clubs to get as much backing as possible, and I believe clubs will fall apart if a promotion/relegation system is put in place.

"Australia needs promotion and relegation" ...... eventually, but not yet.

Promotion and relegation is a relic of a bygone era. Just because it works in Europe, where they have this huge amount of fans, players and generational following of even the smallest of clubs. When does an Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool get relegated in the modern world? There is just this gulf in resources that make promotion and relegation between the pros and semi pro/amateur too great. Also, you can take the bus or the train around England or any of the other Euro nations quickly and cheaply. We just do not have the infrastructure and distances here are insurmountable. All I hope for is 12 fully pro teams with academy teams. The state leagues act as feeder competitions. Australia is just too different to what you get in Europe. Forget about it and concentrate on what matters. This entire topic is just a distraction from what we need to be concerned with.

Relagation and promotion only work in a mature football market. Australia is not ready for this yet. Maybe in 20-30 years. Certain clubs are already struggling financially so it is unlikely a second division club which would almost certainly get less money from sponsorship, tv rights and crowds would be able to afford to keep afloat. Certainly not possible to have Perth or Wellington in a second division - travel costs alone would be prohibitive for most clubs.

What we really need is an A.2 League. Maybe two divisions of 8, with state league teams being promoted to the second division?

I'd say that after Fury and Gold Coast lost their licences that Mr Gallop will do absolutely everything possible to ensure if never happens again, regardless of what the AFC say. After all, we may not have 4 ACL slots, but we're still allowed in the comp. :) I do dream of pro/rel one day, but if the FFA ever announce that they've conducted a feasibility study into it and it's not a viable option, then I'm still more than satisfied with what the A-League will deliver.