Should the A-League encourage the creation of 'super teams'?

Melange; They did have loopholes in it with marquee players which was commendable ....it undermined the whole cap concept from the start, deliberately or otherwise. But the attempted equality or level playing field argument underpins why most strayan sport has gone in this direction. Which is something football was trying to follow while also having some flex in there as well. I think the reason it was rarely explicitly mentioned as a factor was that it was assumed to be a good thing. Its never questioned in oz sport so they just follow along. The reasoning never needed to be explained or defended. Maybe now it is which is a good thing.

Nordst, I will trust your word that it is used as a reason to maintain it. It wouldn't surprise me if, when interviewed, 'daisy' did bring up this reasoning to keep it. I'd argue though that he may spruik it as a benefit of a salary cap rather then a planned strategic outcome in introducing the salary cap. I did a lot of reading in the years leading up to the ALeague establishment and I can't ever recall it being used as a reason to introduce it. Happy to be corrected. I am in favor of a less regulated system but as for how this all should be considered I could not put any better then Towser and Griffo have already.

A good article and some really good posts. The Besart Berisha issue is a case where the salary cap clearly has had an adverse effect on a club. Another problem with the cap is that it limits the ability of A-League clubs to compete in the AFC. However, there would be some serious ramifications if the salary cap was dropped. Football United dismisses the "kill the league" or the "Strayan sports culture" arguments however these are the precise reasons why the salary cap needs to continue for some time yet. It's no coincidence that the three leagues mentioned by Football United are all in countries where football is not the main sport. They can't afford lopsided competitions which people would soon tire of watching. In Australia there is no doubt that having 1 or 2 super clubs would reduce attendances, advertising revenue and most importantly the television networks wouldn't touch it - the "Strayan sports culture" at work. It is a struggle to keep 10 teams viable as it is; lifting the cap would reduce the league to 5-6 teams overnight. The one ace in the pack the A-league has that very few leagues in the world possess is the incredible competitiveness of most of the matches. It is truly a league where any team can beat any other team on any given day. Long may it continue. There is scope to tweak the current system - I like Nicolas Amies point - also maybe a few salary cap exemptions for players who have been at the one club for 5 years?

Wish he was going to the Jets. Lots of similarities to Western Sydney in terms of football and community that I think the current admin is losing and fast. Gorman would work wonders here...

Fuss, Why is the ACL @ AAMI (or should I say Melbourne Rectangular Stadium to comply with AFC's clean stadia mandate?) tonight? I thought contractually MVFC had to play ACL matches @ Docklands ?

Rugby league has it too from memory (giving discounts for home grown products).

Middy, I heard that rumour a few months ago. But the attachment to that rumour was that current CEO, Ian Robson was leaving to become the CEO of AFL St Kilda. A few weeks ago, the new CEO of St Kilda was announced as Matthew Finnis. Would be very happy to have Lyall Gorman but, to be fair, I can't find fault with the way Ian Robson is managing the business of MVFC.

Good post F.U. I think most aussies are used to this salary cap system with one or 2 great players at every NRL or AFL club. It works fine there no worries. But its just not feasible in football where you have thousands of clubs worldwide who wants the same top 300 players. This is why in all leagues around the world you have 2-3 clubs per league who attract those big names while the rest try to get results another way. Why should all teams have exactly the same approach, the same finances, 1 marquee each etc? Its also part of football excitement that every year a couple of minnows manage a few upsets. A few weeks ago Evian beat PSG 2-0 in ligue 1. That's the kind of fantastic achievement that's not possible in a salary capped league. Inequality doesn't mean the league becomes boring. In all fairness I think its a very cultural issue and ppl who were born with salary caps in their sports (like we have here) are less likely to understand or appreciate the benefits of having 'teams of all sizes". if you're a supporter of a' smaller team', the excitement of playing and, sometimes, beating a presumably bigger/richer team is indescribable. Better imo than playing teams all year round which have 'exactly the same means'. at least in football.

FUSS Fuss Fuss Fuss Is the rumour true ... Lyall Gorman to the Victory?

Fadida and LX, But PSG, Chelsea or Man city are also established clubs with loyal fans. They became popular overseas when they started to buy Dzeko, Mourinho, Ibra etc but believe me they were popular before, with their fans. Paris have been averaging 30K plus for decades, nothing new here. The only difference with others is that they became 'rich' later when a wealthy foreigner decided to invest in the club. So whats the solution for old clubs who weren't born with money like Real (Royal family behind it), Berlusconi's AC Milan etc? Should they just accept their 2nd class status and be happy with that? All these teams (real and co) have had an influx of money at some stage. It only took longer for others to find the investors they needed to play on par with those guys. I am not saying I am particularly proud that my club has been bought by Qatari but to say that "anything PSG “achieve” is compromised and should be dismissed as such." is plain wrong imo (dare I say grotesque!). No one will make me believe that clubs like Barca or Bayern are cleaner (we have seen in recent weeks it wasn't the case. They love money as much as anyone else if not more). Completely agree with F.U's post although I think the HAL isn't ready/mature enough for that yet. But eventually, they will realise that growing a football league and try to match the rest of the world with a salary cap isn't feasible.

Well there would be more potential areas represented were the level playing field approach to be abandoned. So thats a positive having more teams to possibly play for who are connected to the top level of the game. The kids in those local leagues would have more options to move up thru the pyramid with a second division....as well as a deregulated labour market. Young players and coaches now have to impress the existing hal clubs with few other options. In most football nations they can play with a small club that can win promotion and climb the tree that way. It would be a positive for players to aspire to play for and with the best. Right now Oz has a culture that no club should be the best...its mediocrity defined. As for "growing the sport" i think having super clubs dragging the standard forward is a better way to achieve this. The situation now is to try and regulate to grow the sport with arbitrary cap and floor levels. Thats impairing the development of potential super clubs.... A freer, open league approach would allow the standard to be raised at the top, which ultimately is how the standard of any league is measured. The current approach is to try and lift everyone up relatively equally....which its failing at anyway, without the hard cap approach of other sports here.

Then you have a system where the other teams are playing to make up the numbers. Where the kids playing in the local leagues in those areas will grow up wanting not to play for their local team that rarely makes the news or highlight real, but for a team in a different state that has major endorsements and so on. That is not growing the sport at all, its impairing its development. We have a population of 20 million and a heck of a lot more sports being played than some of these other countries. Take England, they have essentially Football, Rugby and Cricket. Football there easily dominates the other two. The EPL is also funded by a monster deal with Pay TV. Then look at Australia. We have Aussie rules football, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Cricket, Football. Each sport competing for a somewhat similar audience and each sport either supported by free to air tv rights or deals with pay tv. Pay TV here has nowhere near the money of Pay TV in the UK. Nowhere near.

Hmm the EPL is tedious? Billions beg to differ. Competition up and down the table....your argument doesnt hold much water these days as many aussies follow these supposedly tedious leagues. Id say watching the same teams go round every year in oz to be incredibly tedious. That and the mediocrity of finals qualification, dont even need to be top half to get in.

Prestige of being in the top flight is what theyd play for....competing for a place in the league provided abolishing the cap happens with a removal of the salary floor and a second division. Its actually a more geographically representative model to have no cap/floor....most regional areas are priced out in Oz. Not the case in most world football nations.

Actually its a reason its maintained according to hal supremo daisy de boehner.... Listen to most people defending it in oz, its a major factor. Not that its working all that well in football.

The AFL stole the Larry Bird Rule from the NBA ... it's still a good rule though.

Could not agree more Griffo ...

Definitely should not happen, if we tried to create two Super Teams in Sydney/Brisbane/Melbourne what would happen to the likes of Adelaide, Perth and Wellington, would their fans desert them knowing they have no chance of winning? What happens when those clubs fold, we don't have an A-league anymore, we have a few clubs playing each other

Mid, my thought (haven't read links yet) for a long time for FFA in terms of P/R pressure from AFC is that we should be innovating for our context (competition structure), not emulating others (Europe et al) that have different contexts...

Yes fadida, the thought of a marquee manager is interesting - outside the player salary cap, but the potential to move a club forward if they chose to learn at the same time as gaining some (potentially) immediate success as a medium term return on investment should have dawned on someone at the club by now. Except for perhaps HAL1, I wonder if the era of the Marquee Manager is just over the horizon...