For those who can’t be blamed for missing it, the biggest club tournament in Asia has in recent weeks returned to our self-styled sporting capital after a three-year absence.
Last night, Melbourne Victory kept a rare clean sheet in defeating Yokohama F Marinos of Japan, a win which followed last Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Korea’s Jeonbuk Motors at Docklands.
Despite both matches being very much “alive” rubbers pitting one of the A-League’s most watchable sides against talented international opposition, the attendances they attracted were decidedly paltry.
All up, 6,128 came to Docklands last week. That crowd was only bettered by 229 fans last night.
For perspective, the most recent derby at the Docklands drew 45,202. Victory boasts over 22,000 members and an average crowd last season of 23,789.
When Australian clubs first entered the Champions League in 2007, there was much excitement and lofty ambition as clubs spoke with enthusiasm of taking on the continent’s best.
Aussie participation would keep football in the spotlight months after the A-League finished, and attract a higher calibre of player.
This it has arguably done, as recently evidenced by the arrivals of Tom Rogic in Melbourne and Kim Seung-Yong in Gosford.
Despite that, crowd figures have got progressively worse.
In no particular order, here are the reasons why.
1. Who are we actually playing?
The best sporting contests happen within a larger narrative, with renowned characters and established sub-plots.
The lack of mainstream coverage of – and interest in – Asian leagues means their players, managers and clubs are an undistinguished quantity when our Champions League opponents arrive. That is no matter how talented their line-ups may be.
Our football focus is undeniably European. Aussies choose to watch Everton over Evergrande and tune into Juventus ahead of Yokohama.
Football fans: as a test to yourself, attempt to name twelve of the eighteen J-League clubs and fifteen players in the K-League.
I know I’d fail that test.
2. Midweek lethargy
Unlike Europe and America, midweek professional sport isn’t enshrined in Australian culture.
A night out watching sport on a Tuesday or Wednesday is notable for its rarity (the thrice-yearly State of Origin being an exception) whereas in England going to football for midweek European ties and Cup replays has been popular for generations.
Most fans live in the suburbs and many have families. Families, remember, are the FFA’s target audience. Getting home at 10:30 on a weeknight is far from ideal, especially for kids.
Attending means added financial commitment, with Champions League fixtures not covered by a club season ticket.
The cost of dinner and a drink must also be factored in. Last night, the cheapest family tickets (two adults, two kids) began at $46.
When you include food, drinks and train fares or parking, that’s a night out approaching one hundred dollars.
It makes more sense for football families, who we’ll assume have A-League season tickets, to watch on television and come in on a Friday or Saturday night instead.
3. Lack of novelty value
In contrast to recent apathy, Melbourne’s first two home matches in Asia were memorable occasions.
The first, in March 2008, was a 2-0 triumph over the Chunnam Dragons in front of a vibrant 24,656 at Docklands.
The second was even more epic – a valiant 3-4 defeat to Gamba Osaka (who went on to win the competition) played in front of almost 27,000.
Around half that number turned out to see the final group match of 2008, a dead rubber, against Chonburi of Thailand.
In three Asian campaigns since, the club have failed to crack 8000 at a home game – well down on even the lowest A-League attendances Melbourne draw.
4. Everyone loves a winner and we’re not winning
All in all, A-League sides have fared poorly in the ACL.
Exhibit A: Tuesday night’s narrow win was just Melbourne’s fifth in twenty-one matches.
Additionally, the great Brisbane Roar team never notched a win in Asia. Sydney FC have had their moments but never made the knock-out stage.
Adelaide United’s under-appreciated journey to the final in 2008 remains the exception rather than the rule football administrators hoped for.
Competing on a year’s delay means Australian clubs don’t get the chance to test themselves against the best while on a roll.
Central Coast Mariners, for example, won the A-League championship last April but had to wait until February to compete in Asia.
During that time, seven of their grand final starting eleven departed, along with manager Graham Arnold.
Other factors which make it hard to compete are limited squad sizes, a restrictive salary cap and unhelpful scheduling.
Tonight, Western Sydney play their fourth match in eleven days.
Understandably, fans and the clubs they support – and not just Australian ones – are prioritising the bread-and-butter of the league over Asia, which is either a bonus or burden earned by success, whichever way you look at it.
Necessary rotation means several top players missing from most midweek sides, and with that, the Champions League becomes further devalued.
5. Lack of promotion and a ludicrous stadium deal
Do the general population of sports fans know the Champions League is happening? I’ve yet to see any promotion beyond Melbourne Victory’s in-house social media channels.
This is anecdotal – correct me if I’m wrong – but there have been no promotional billboards, nor ads on trams, nor radio ads for this international sporting event.
I’d argue the matches themselves are of a higher quality to the A-League, though you wouldn’t know it judging by the lack of promotion and poor crowds achieved by extension.
Another turn-off is Etihad Stadium where, due to a short-sighted and long-term contract Victory agreed to circa 2007, the majority of Champions League games are played.
Turn-outs of 6000 at built-for-football AAMI Park are tolerable – Heart live with it – but are depressingly eerie at the cavernous Docklands.
Fourteen years after opening, the stadium (not to mention surrounding areas including pubs) remains soulless and poor for watching football without the seats brought in.
And stadium management have a historic contempt for Melbourne’s active support.
6. Criminalisation: fans are over it
One could write a book, never mind an article, on the challenges faced by football fans in Australia.
I’ll spare you the detail today, but here is a sample of what’s happened this season alone.
There has been: a handing down of unfair stadium bans with no right to appeal, police searching bags of innocent fans who fit a certain “look” hundreds of metres from grounds, police requesting personal details without reasonable suspicion, counter-terrorism firm Hatamoto employed to spy on fans, supporters travelling hundreds of kilometres to away games only to be barred from entering stadia and/or entire suburbs, inaccurate and sensationalist media reporting and the ill-thought-out, draconian FFA action with suspended points deductions hanging over two clubs.
We live in Australia. And we’re not only football fans, but citizens. We’re not used to this type of policing and authoritarianism.
In other parts of the world, heavy-handed policing and dictatorial rule is a part of life from a young age. Not so here.
We’re not born and raised with a defence-mechanism to such rule, both individually and as a common collective.
After enduring espionage, suspicion, misrepresentation, restrictions and criminalisation for merely spending weekends at pubs and the football rather than, say, stamp collecting or horse riding, you can’t blame people for throwing their hands up and walking away.
Or at least you can’t blame them for being sufficiently “over all the bullshit” to skip unappealing games on a weeknight which their mates won’t be at anyway.
Even police and security – often visibly on edge at football matches, ready to react to any sign of spontaneity or non-conformity – have struck me as relaxed on Asian nights, with the tiny crowds and usual hordes choosing not to come in.
If “divide and conquer” was an intention of the various crackdowns, the authorities can pat themselves on a job well done.
I was there last night, but dozens of my mates – and more importantly for football, many thousand Victory members – again gave the Champions League a wide berth.
Deep Thinker
Guest
Interesting article, but also strange in many respects. 1 - Contempt of stadium management towards fans? Not sure what you mean by that and not sure what this has to do with the ACL. If it stopped people going to the ACL - same would apply for A-league. 2. Criminalisation - what the? I say get rid of thugs at the football. Again, what has this got to do with the ACL? 3 - $46 family ticket being too expensive? Seems pretty cheap to me. 4 - Lack of novelty value? Melbourne Victory v Yokohama F Marinos - you don't see that every day.
I am too poor to afford Fox
Guest
The ACL is an excellent competition. I watched all 3 games, but at home. As for the crowds, in Europe, football is life. In Asia, football is merely entertainment. There are so many other things going on. In Australia, football isn't the number 1 sport and midweek fixtures aren't really that popular.
Bill
Guest
I think I would much prefer spare change to go towards lower ticket prices or grass roots support rather than higher player wages. Cheap night, full stadium, and a close game between 2 squads at the currently improving standard of the a-league - sounds like a great way to spend my time. I have no dream of world domination at the cost of pricing average supporters out of the game - junior fees are already incredibly high in comparison to other sports.
The Bush
Roar Guru
The comparison shouldn't be that 19 teams in the Europa League had attendances of less than 10k on average, as these teams may only get attendances like that during League games (people in Australian don't seem to understand that lots of continental European teams in the top divisions average sub-10k). The comparison, and issue, is the Swansea one. Why do Swansea only get a 15% drop in average attendances, when some A-League clubs get a 50% on average drop? Personally I think the major reason is that the ACL is out of [Edit] sync with our domestic season. Whilst The Roar is full of zealots for each sport, for the majority of us, our sports are divided into seasons and we are far less interested out of season. For me it is hard to get into the ACL when the A-League is entering its final days and I am now into the full swing of the Rugby season. I would be far more interested in the ACL if it was in sync with the A-League season.
Adrian
Guest
Fuss don't talk to them base on facts.. we know all facts are full of lies ACL matchers of watch this year, have been bloody good games to watch, the standed getting better each year
nordster
Guest
Haha "fairness" another subjective weasel term popular these days like "level playing field"...funny how people shift language around when it suits them. You sound like some unionist apparatchik AR...i am convinced u and Fuss are the same person, or at least cut from the same cloth. :)
nordster
Guest
Ok cool so dont read me....i only post every so often so i dont see how its that big a deal. I post a few days here and there. I only have one or two issues i am into. And will keep posting about those where they are relevant. (Or until the private owners of this site cut off my privileges...their right). Very few people are saying what i am so im filling a gap in the market i guess haha. Sorry if it irritates given we may agree on these issues....most people i irritate its because they dislike that i am pointing out flaws in the sports they know and love. All outsider points of view cop this reaction.
nordster
Guest
Bill: The difference with professional football is that its meant to be more rigorously competitive and even yes a little cut throat compared to backyard games.
Matsu
Guest
Actually, no. There are some places where it has picked up a following but Japan and Korea have seen fairly steady declines. Last year at least they showed the games on free satellite TV in Japan. This year its payTV or forgetaboutit. The prize money has increased a bit over the years, but so have expenses.Unless you make it to the semifinal or better, you are lucky to break even (the exception being a handful of teams like Urawa, who can draw big enough crowds to generate a meaningful gate). Furthermore, while teams get money for success in the knockout rounds, the money generated by sponsorships, marketing, TV, etc goes straight to AFC bigwigs' Swiss bank accounts. Thats one of the reasons why nobody in J or K makes an effort to publicise their participation, or encourage some free TV channel to pick it up. Why bother when only the National Bank of bin Hammam benefits? As for the Club World Cup, it is probably the only reason J.League teams havent already quit the ACL. But if the comment about Evergrande was supposed to be a troll . . . . please! The best performances by Asian teams were third-place finishes on two occasions. Two guesses which teams those were.
NUFCMVFC
Guest
Hopefully the competitions appeal improves over time, the author is right in pointing out that some of the clubs to have graced these shores haven't been given their due respect Part of the issue lies with it being an AFC competition and the onus is somewhat on them to market the comp better Personally I don't think the fact this is exclusively on Fox Sports is helpful a mix of FTA like SBS and Fox may help, same goes with the FFA Cup, there has to be a mix of sacrificing revenue for "brand exposure", hard to get Australians to appreciate the competition if they can't get much in the way of foreign league or ACL exposure. The EPL highlights show did so well out of being on the ABC in the early 90's and then later moved to SBS Hopefully the 2015 Asian Cup is the turning point and Australian sports fans start to engage
Johan
Guest
As Australia continues to evolve the ACL may obtain slightly more respect. At the moment many see it as a Mickey Mouse comp. Like it or lump it Australia still continues to look to Europe and the US for their sporting and cultural icons. As Australia becomes more familiar with Asia and more of the population identifies with Asian rather than European culture this may happen but this will take time. Take myself for example, I am an Aussie of Dutch (aristocratic) ancestry so I naturally identify with Europe. This is still very common in Oz particularly in the football supporting communities. Look at the 94,000 at the MCG and 82,000 at ANZ for FRIENDLY games against Liverpool and Man U. There will doubtless be a big crowd for the visit of Juve later this year as well. The tyranny of distance thing doesn't either. In the Champions League you get peeps traveling from Munich to Madrid for example for the game. Cannot see Aussie a league fans traveling to Japan in large numbers for an ACL game somehow - too far and too expensive.
Suburban boy
Guest
You're right Big Jock it needs to stop. What needs to stop is the football harming behaviour of small groups of young males who act like they are a quasi military force, marching out to do battle for their club. While this attitude and behaviour continues the so called harassment of active fans will also continue. And the sad thing is not all active supporters are like this, I sit near the South End at AAMI for most MV games and the South End people are passionate, loud but non threatening. Unfortunately their counterparts at the opposite end of the ground, or some of them, revel in their notoriety and their behaviour and attitude invites attention from security/police. I can't see a resolution until these people are made to pull their heads in or are banned from attending. .
Marchisio
Guest
I don't know exactly what deal Victory have with Docklands, and how often they are compelled (if at all) to play at this venue for ACL games. I wonder, given the relatively sparse crowds, whether there is the possibility to play the ACL games at a variety of suburban venues? Assuming the facilities meet the requirements set out for the ACL, which would, I assume, also meet the requirements of the broadcasters, it would be great to see them play at Kingston Heath or Dandenong, or Sunshine or wherever. Posssibily they may go even further afield to regional venues like Ballarat or Bendigo for example. At these venue the crowds would not look small, and it may attract punters who might not ordinarily attend a match. I take the game at Geelong as a precedent for this kind of arrangement. My other team, Juventus, many seasons ago, used to play an occasional "home" game in Central or Southern Italy, which I gather was a way of shoring up their position as the most supported club in the country. Perhaps Victory as the most supported club in our country could try something similar
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
UEFA's Europa League is the 2nd biggest (prize-money) confederation club competition in the world. 56 teams have played since the Group Stage in the Europa League 2014 19 of the teams had average home crowds less than 10k, for this prestigious European competition. Of these 19, six teams had home crowd averages less than 5k... for this prestigious European competition. EPL team, Swansea who average home crowds of 20.3k in the EPL, have a 15% drop in UEL with home crowds of 17k. Only 15 teams have managed to attract crowds more than 20k ... for this prestigious European competition. Source: http://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/europa-league-2013-2014/1/
Titus
Guest
" I give it until the next significant energy crisis, when jet fuel costs push up expenses to the point where most club teams cant afford to take part." Three words; Solar. Powered. Airships.
striker
Guest
Fuss the ACL is such an exciting competition and is getting bigger each year, exciting times ahead for the round ball in this country.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"The ACL is going to die eventually, it is only a question of how soon." That's an interesting perspective. I'm a newcomer to ACL football, but I'm pretty sure the ACL competition has grown every year over the past 8 years: TV audiences, sponsorship, prize-money. Chinese teams seem to take the competition very seriously & are getting stronger, Japanese teams seem to be exposed when the going gets tough. In the recent FIFA Club World Cup, Evergrande were good ambassadors for the Asian Football Confederation.. unlike some previous ACL winners, who were easy-beats. In Iran, the ACL crowds are tremendous.
Steve from Sydney
Guest
These problems could all be solved through increased prize money for the ACL. Increased prize money equals increased prestige, increased club interest, increased marketing budgets etc.. The ACL needs to be the biggest prize just like in Europe, bigger than the local competitions The thing I don't get is how the cashed up Asian Football Federation doesn't recognise this and act accordingly. I suspect it's because, like FIFA, it doesn't have the game interest at heart
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
Good points and certain grounds should be avoided---Docklands not good. Nothing that can't be fixed when teams get into the quarter finals and beyond, then the sporting public sit up and take notice. We just need to get our teams competitive in the ACL every year into the quarters and semis.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
For my football mates & me, the 2014 ACL is definitely not flopping. In the 2 ACL matches in Melbourne, I've witnessed the best quality of club football I've seen in the past 9 years. But, mid week matches are not easy to attend - to be honest, mid-week anything is not easy to attend. The "9 to 5" job is not all that common in the 21st century, plus people have family commitments, school commitments (not just kids, parents have to drive kids to various after-school activities, etc.). If MVFC played an A-League match in the mid-week - not during school holidays - I'd be surprised if we attracted more than 12k; so 6-7k for an ACL match seems fine.