Football Federation Australia boss David Gallop has a warning for other sporting codes who attempt to take the spotlight off the A-League this summer – we’re unstoppable.
The A-League will commence its traditionally intense holiday schedule on Thursday night with the Central Coast versus Wellington match at North Sydney Oval kicking off a period of 16 games in 17 days.
There’ll be fixtures on Boxing Day (Sydney FC v Brisbane Roar), New Year’s Eve (Central Coast v Perth Glory) and New Year’s Day (Western Sydney Wanderers v Wellington Phoenix).
The Melbourne derby on Saturday night and the Melbourne Victory versus Western Sydney Wanderers clash on December 28 are expected to draw the biggest crowds.
But while the third edition of cricket’s Twenty20 Big Bash League starts on Friday, Gallop said he wasn’t at all concerned it would lure cricket fans away from football.
“We’re unstoppable in Australian sport and the next 17 days gives us another opportunity to demonstrate that,” he said as he launched the Summer of Football alongside stars Alessandro Del Piero and Shinji Ono at Bondi Beach on Wednesday.
“I think the proper cricket kind of ended yesterday with the Ashes being decided.
“So we’re really confident that the seriousness of the A-League, that battle for the six spots is going to command attention over this holiday period.”
Gallop said both crowd figures and television ratings were ahead of what they were this time last season.
But while attendance numbers have experienced a dip in the last few weeks from the record opening-round figures, he was confident they would spike again over the holiday period.
“We obviously went into the start of the season with an emphasis on some big match-ups and then we went into an inevitable period where we didn’t quite have those games every week,” he said.
“But now with the summer of football… I think you’ll see our crowds are going to be boomers over the next few weeks.”
A major factor in drawing crowds is the marquee players.
Sydney FC skipper Del Piero has so far missed two games with injury and was taken off in last week’s win over Melbourne Heart with tightness in his lower back.
With Sydney to play three games in 13 days beginning with their clash away to Wellington on Sunday, concerns surround the Italian veteran’s fitness.
Asked how many minutes he through he could manage in the three games, he said laughing: “270?.
“I really don’t know.
“The focus is on Sunday for me and for the team and that’s the best thing to do.
“A lot of us play all of the games so there’ll probably be someone who needs time for recovery, I don’t know. But this is trouble for (coach) Frank (Farina) not for me.
Sports Candy
Roar Pro
He's right of course, he's not going to stop the A-League because of the cricket. 16 games in seventeen days, not one game a fortnight which takes 5 days to finish.
Punter
Guest
I do agree with your first line!!!! The boxing day Test is huge in Australia. Every Australian cricketer would dream of playing a Boxing Day test Every Australian cricket fan dreams of a day in a boxing day Test. However, Australia v Sri Lanka on Boxing day, despite having the biggest crowd, is not the biggest event in WORLD cricket.
Australian Rules
Guest
God this is getting embarrassing for both of us. I'll say it one more time, then I'm done... 1) As a year-to-year event on a specific date, the Boxing Day Test is consistently the biggest event on the world cricket calendar. However... an Ashes Lords Test (once every 4 years) or a Ind v Pak Test (last held in 2007) might be a "bigger" event when they eventually roll around. But year-to-year, there is no equivalent to Boxing Day. 2) In terms of Boxing Day *crowds*, these are the biggest cricket crowds anywhere in the world, every year, regardless of the opposition. The fact that 67k v SL in 2012 is considered a modest crowd, just underscores this point. 3) For *Ashes* Boxing Day Test matches, the crowds and the event is even bigger. The last 2 (2010 and 2006) have had crowds of 84k and 89k respectively. And I think the cauldron of 90k at the MCG on Boxing Day is bigger than even Day 1 at Lords...but that's obviously just a matter of opinion. That's as clear as I can be.
Uncle Junior
Guest
Is it that strange for a CEO to speak positively about his organisation and his commercial brands, and dismiss potential threats from rival organisations and rival brands? I've never heard the CEO of Pepsi talk respectfully about the strong sales of Coca Cola. Every CEO is the primary spruiker for his organisation and it would be commerically negligent to not talk up the organisation and the brands at every media opportunity. Even when sports are tainted with alleged doping violations or player misbehaviour, I expect the CEO of those sports to be positive and bullish about the organisation and brands.
Australian Rules
Guest
Right you are. Also add the ALeague GF and All-Stars game at ANZ.
Punter
Guest
This!!!! 'Every year, the single biggest event on the cricket calendar, is the Boxing Day Test at the MCG. No other cricket event (subcontinent included) attracts 90,000…and then 75k on day 2; 65k on day 3 etc.' Every Ashes year, yes!!! BTW I love the boxing day Test
Rocco75
Guest
a more accurate comparison would be: Socceroos v Australian test cricket team. and A-League v Sheffield Shield state cricket The BBL is not a real "league". it is a round robin tournament for the abbreviated format of the game. (it would be like 5 a side futsal or sevens rugby). Sheffield Shield is the real "league" for cricket in this country. Don't get me wrong, I love my cricket, but Gallop was merely trying to keep football in the headlines over the Xmas/New Year break. I wouldn't have used Gallop's approach. It's smacks of being tacky. at the end of the day, both cricket and football will continue to survive in this country. No need to be critical of each.
Rocco75
Guest
you forgot Australia v Iraq world cup qualifier - 80k.
Australian Rules
Guest
"stop lying about crowd figures" wtf are you talking about?
Don Corleone
Guest
"Personally I think Gallop knows that the a league will attract more than the BBL and so feels he can make such outlandish comments." More of what exactly? TV ratings? Last year's average subscription ratings for BBL was 232,864. ALeague on free-to-air this year has hovered between 130-150k. Crowds? The average ALeague crowd has dropped into the 13ks this year, below last year's BBL average of 14,196.
Punter
Guest
I think you would have found that the MCG has changed alot since that first Test cricket match. Do yourself get to Lords, or Headingly, even Old Tradford, no not teh stadium, the cricket ground. Australia v England boxing day Test would be the biggest cricket event of the year, when Sachin doesn't retire & England play Australia at Lords same year. Australia v Sri Lanka, v New Zealand, v West Indies, v Pakistan on boxing day would not be biggest event in world cricket. Australia v India, maybe, depends what else that year, v Sth Africa, I think they want their own boxing day test & will not play Tests against Australia on Boxing day.
Androo
Guest
LOL. FFA's (Gallop) empty boasts about football becoming #1 are getting as equally irritating as CA's (Sutherland) snooty claims that cricket is the #1 sport in Australia. If you can't back up your claims with results then say nothing! Gallop risks making himself, FFA, HAL and football look slightly loopy with a bloated 'its our destiny' complex. Salutations to cricket. It has given football a Liverpool kiss square on the nose: very messy. In this "Ashes smashes football" summer, football's true standing in the Australian sports market has come to resemble that of JUNK bonds: hold but only until something better comes along. If its good enough for Mel, then its good enough for your average 'supporters' to move across to another sport en masse. And before cricket lauds us with another round of 'we are #1 sport in Australia' consider this: cricket's premium product in 3 tests over about 5 days, 45 sessions and 90 hours pulled in a cumulative total of about 9 million viewers. That's about what one weekend alone of combined AFL & NRL football gets. And if session audiences are varying from between 1 to 2 million viewers, it begs the question "where the hell are the other 20 million Australians." (babies and toddlers, you are excused!)
Australian Rules
Guest
When England play Australia at Lords every 4 years, and when India play Pakistan in a Test every blue moon, those matches are bigger than the Boxing Day Test. But year in year out...on the same day each calendar, the biggest cricket event each year is held at the MCG on Boxing Day. No other match gets the committed interest of other cricketing nations...and obviously, when it's the Ashes, it's even bigger. By the way, this is a new one..."The MCG is not a cricket ground, it’s a stadium, famous for it’s AFL GFs & other high profile games" Actually the MCG is famous for being the location for the first ever game of Test Match cricket...ever.
Bondy
Guest
Its Australian Football alright your one's not relevant here though (its not relevant anywhere) and stop lying about crowd figures .
Australian Rules
Guest
No. I didn't say "84k & 89k last 2 years". I said "The last 2 Ashes Boxing Day Test crowds have been 84k and 89k".
Punter
Guest
Pretty simple really, seeing you are a stickler for the truth. You quoted 84K & 89K last 2 years, I wanted to correct you with the truth. Secondly if you think Australia v Sri Lanka, while maybe have the biggest crowd, was the biggest day in world cricket last year, then you certainly don't know cricket very much.
Australian Rules
Guest
Are you the only person here talking about Australian footy?
Australian Rules
Guest
Um, 67,000 against Sri Lanka was the biggest cricket crowd in the world last year. What point are you trying to make?
striker
Guest
The comparison between ashes and the a league is a joke,if the ashes is the pinnicle of cricket then I'm sure when the football world cup comes it would smash crickets tv ratings so there pointless comparisons.you only have to see the Socceroo's tv ratings to see how popular the game is.
Anthony Ferguson
Guest
Yes I agree, I don't think he needs to be that confrontational. Why give your detractors (and there are still plenty in the mainstream Oz media) a free kick at you? Now they'll be looking for faults. Better to talk up the game itself, and just let the figures speak for themselves.