Where to expand next for the A-League?

@ Nordster: "In fact the game is already “expanded” all around the country …the base just needs connecting with the top tier. Yes that inevitably involves some semi pro teams mixing it with the pro teams via a two division Aleague." I suggest you read a good article regarding this theme by Michael Lynch in the SMH/The Age (http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/aleague-promotion-and-relegation-few-ups-plenty-of-downs-20131225-2zwmz.html) He'll pretty much explain why what you're advocating pretty much won't happen for a good while (myself? Well, I doubt we'll ever have promotion & relegation as we are used to it from football leagues around the world)... I don't want to sound too negative of your comments, but could you explain in more detail what you mean by "deregulate to free up the clubs at the bottom, while the clubs at the top and mid level can still be professional and in fact grow to whichever level they can support individually."?? And "socialism never works without aggressive redistribution which is something our league does not have. Its an unwieldy mix of both."?? The way I see the HAL, yes we have minimum wages (however, that's a standard across many other industries and sports - and even in other leagues around the world), but for me that's not the major impediment to allowing "semi pro mixing it with the pro teams", rather the 5 year licencing system which has created a rod for FFA's own back and the high amount of start-up capital the FFA requires from potential licence bidders. Both these factors stop most potential NPL teams from making the step up to the HAL as they can't afford the risk (we don't have a parachute payment system in place to soften the extremely 'hard landing' for clubs if they had to hand back there licences) and the current HAL teams have would cry 'blue murder' with an relaxing of the entry conditions that they had to adhere to (only once the existing HAL teams agreed to that would the start-up costs be lowered). My final question is, why do you want to risk the potential scenarios of clubs having to hand back their licences mid-season just so that some semi-pro clubs can live out their fantasies of winning the HAL? If we're going to focus on the economics of this theme, where's the cost-benefit analysis in your view? IMO, we don't need a 2 tier comp at all if we have a league of potentially 16 teams around the country that all thrive financially and can provide fans with great quality football that excites people. There are plenty of examples of sports (including football) that manage to provide suspense and thrills without the need for a 2-tier comp. If the semi-pro teams want to play in the HAL, then they need to make it happen themselves rather than look to the FFA to relax entry criteria so that they can try.

I think Wollongong is a definite but the other spot will determine the population growth and the football culture of the city when it comes a time to choose. The front runners are Canberra or North Queensland. North Sydney no chance, they would kill off the Mariners. Geelong and Tasmania could happen but not in 2018.

Until the AFC absorb NZ/Oceania or unequivocally state that NZ teams in an AFC league are fine, no more teams should be admitted from NZ.

If the A-League is to expand it should be looking at the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. Why. They have a suitably sized stadium for 18,000. The regions population is around 560,000 with 380,000 of those residing in Christchurch itself. It has a sizable and suitable football culture in a city which is traditionally English. The phoenix home games there have created good crowds of between 10,000 and 20,000. It will generate more interest in football in the south island of New Zealand and it will give the southerners something to cheer about. Auckland has had 2 goes at starting up A-League sides both times have been dismal failures. The question is why? They could never spark the imagination of the paying public to come to their games. With Wellington you don't get the same amount of apathy (Although this is sadly changing) and it is the same with Christchurch. Christchurch offers advantages the other cities of New Zealand do not they are the biggest city in the southern island. They are the second biggest populated region outside of Auckland in the country. They have a history of supporting their teams in all sports even when those teams are not doing as well. Adding a team now would assist in rebuilding moral which is still rebuilding from the events of 2011 and finally they have a well established football culture which is second in the city to rugby. It has a fully qualified international airport with air-connects to all the major Australian cities If the A-League is to expand Christchurch must be top consideration

I woul imagine that nobody will look at Geelong until the post-Ford situation sorts itself out.

He's overdue to morph into a more 'on and off' poster...i was surprised he managed to last out in as long a stretch as he did...a few months or weeks on/off at a time is probably more sustainable for him given his output. Just a guess. Thats generally my approach lol... A belated Happy Hanukkah, christmas, solstice, saturnalia etc Fuss if you're out there! :)

Good work, anything surf related was washed out here. Not much use for me as my dog ventures further in than i do :) Im also a former student of Marxist philosophy....have since drifted in another direction via Austrian school economics, which has a critique of crony capitalism and corporatism somewhat similar to the left in many ways. But more connected to reality thankfully! Worth a read over the holidays ....mises.org has some interesting articles.

There are plenty of franchises across all the codes that failed on the Fold Coast.

Nothing wrong with Bruce either, and if a trip up the Tuggeranong Parkway is too big an imposition for southsiders, there's probably not much hope of attracting a crowd wherever the team is based.

"Nz will be part of afc as mentioned in article so will provide the marquee match for Wellington." Citation needed. All the well-reported signs are the AFC wants the FFA to jettison WP.

And indeed they were - a very nice left hander all to myself.

Cos Gold Coast, Nth QLD and Auckland went so well last time....

Good question, does anyone actually know?

That was unkind. It is Christmas, after all. I can bear even Fussball good will on this day, surely.

Medicated.

I think the next 2 clubs will come from either Nth Qld/Wollongong/Canberra/Auckland. I cant see Geelong happening for the same reasons as Tasmania, which is lack of sponsorship opportunities, those towns/cities are growing but are still too small in that respect. My first choice for the 11th club is Nth Qld. I think a club in Townsville club has both a lot of merit and potential, as long as its properly run, not like the first time. They'd obviously play home games at Dairy Farmers Stadium or whatever they call it these days. They could probably get 10k every week. There crowds in the A-league were very decent, when you consider that they had massive issues from day 1, and were never going to prosper. And the people knew that, but still showed up. I think a properly resourced club up there, which is there for good can be a big success. The 12th club is a 1tougher choice. But for me it has to come from NSW. I think a Wollongong or South Coast club, whatever they wanna call it, is the way to go. Canberra for me isnt an option at this stage. I think Kogarah is the perfect ground for the new club. The facilities are awesome there. And geographically they would be perfectly placed, close enough to the other 4 clubs in NSW, which should guarantee good crowds specially against the Wanderers and Sydney FC, but should also get decent turnouts to Newcastle and the Mariners games. That pretty much guarantees that they'll get good crowds overall. By choosing a 1 remote new club like Nth Qld and a new club in and around others also minimizes the risk I think for the FFA, and makes sure that espansion can in this case be a success. For me, to bring in another team from NZ would be disaster. If NZ eventually gets accepted into the AFC, which will probably happen in future, still makes no difference, as they cant even sort out the Wellington Phoenix at the moment, which gets the lowest crowds in the league. Also after the failed New Zealand Knights experiment, you'd think the FFA would've learnt their lesson from that. Bottom line, the Nix need to get sorted out first, to get the crowds back they used to get up near 10k for home games, and then we can think about expansion into NZ. Same thing as for a 3rd clubin Melbourne, the Heart needs to sort themselves out first, and then we can start thinking about another club, either from the southeastern suburbs, or from Geelong. But again, that's a long way away.

Where's Fuss?????

Fair point. Merry Christmas. I wonder how long FFA will continue as a single divisional league and whether even a 2nd division will ever be possible (even with 8 clubs). A few good pointers in this article: 1) Expansion of broad based clubs via NPL, 2) Boutique stadiums with reduced overall costs. 3) Appeal of derbies. A lot of this would be addressed in the NPL. Of course a lot is dependant on Broadcast Rights etc. Is there a Wollongong club in the NPL? Northern Fury seem to be doing the right things with what I've read. Both possible 2nd division clubs.

You're right - running dog capitalist would have been more appropriate. I specialised in Marxist philosophy at uni. Lovely theory, but takes absolutely no account of the reality of our selection driven psychology. Dismissing competitiveness as "false consciousness" doesn't work, I'm afraid. I'm with you on the semi regulated A League in terms of its shortcomings, but much less sure about the alternative. Have a great Christmas. I'm heading for the surf, hoping everyone else is opening pressies, and the waves are empty.

Happy Christmas all and I LOLed at the article. Slow news day when we have to have another article about a topic that is light years away given that most teams in the HAL are just surviving financially. Come back in 10 years after the FFA Cup has had time to bed down and then we'll see whether there's room for more teams in the HAL.