The great debate between old sokkah and new football surely died forever at Edensor Park last week. As Australian football’s version of the Berlin Wall came crashing down the only thing missing was a Scorpions power ballad.
I saw 8,000 football fans watching an enthralling game cheering on their respective teams. But wait you say, there were people chanting “Cro-a-tia, Cro-a-tia”.
Well why shouldn’t they? The Croatian identity is synonymous with Sydney United. What did you expect them to sing: “O-lym-pic”, “O-lym-pic”?
The FFA cup has taught us that lower tier football is different. Interesting yet threatening no longer.
So who are these crusty old sokkah hold-outs? There is a small circle of us Sydney FC fans who watch the Sky Blues’ away games at our local club. Joe, a European migrant, now in his 70s with a great knowledge of the old days of Australian football, is surely a candidate.
I mean to ask him next time I see him but as he is a Sydney FC season ticket holder I know what his answer would be. Does anybody actually know a diehard follower of the old NSL who has no interest in the A-League? You can’t tell me those Sydney United fans had no interest in new football, especially as there is such a flow of players between their club and their opponents.
In recent times I have suspected that the “old sokkah” versus “new football” debate has been a bit of a beat up to sell newspapers. Those dwindling number of diehards standing in the queue yearning for the good old days need to take a look around. They may find that there is nobody behind them.
Supposedly the idea of the FFA Cup and recent attempts to engage old sokkah imply a one-way integration. That is, the crusty old fans will come aboard the shiny new football. What has come as a surprise is a level of curiosity shown by “new” fans for second tier clubs.
Come on, admit it, you thought NPL was a card game played at your local pub on a Wednesday night. Go all in on a pair of kings? Then the bloke with the Yankees cap and sunglasses calls you and lays down four aces. D’oh.
To those who may not already know, NPL refers to the eight state-based leagues in Australia. Now we know that Australia doesn’t have eight states (I can never remember how many, I always picture a map of Australia in my mind and count them), but the concept is that the winners of each league go into a knockout series to determine the national NPL champion.
Can something be made of such a great competition? The respective CEOs of the FFA and Fox Sports were seen in amicable discussions at Edensor Park the other night. I would pitch to them the following idea: each Tuesday or Wednesday night during the winter, a match from one of the NPL leagues would be televised live.
Has there been a precedent for televising what would be a second tier competition in this country? There has been a few actually. Fox Sports currently televises the rugby league competitions, the Queensland Cup, NSW Cup and the NRL youth competition. The most relevant example is the NRC or National Rugby Championship.
The NRC is a brand new competition featuring teams from across the country, with one match broadcast live every Thursday night. I have not researched the ratings but it generally receives a thumbs-up from posters on The Roar‘s rugby tab.
One of the advantages of a weekly NPL match compared to the NRC is that teams do not have to criss-cross the continent. TV rights would be as cheap as chips. Basically, Fox Sports would cover the costs of the broadcasts and that’s all that is needed.
Would there be huge costs to the FFA? I don’t believe so, as these matches are being played in existing competitions. The only change would be bringing forward (or pushing backward) one game each week in one of the eight NPL Leagues.
Lighting at stadiums could be an issue but this has been adequately addressed during the FFA Cup. And remember, my suggestion only requires one venue in one state every few weeks as the televised games would be shared around the leagues.
As fans what would we get? Some mid-week competitive televised sport for starters. I for one would sooner watch Tuggies versus Cooma instead of The Farmer wants a Bachelor or Dancing with The Blocks. We would be watching established competitions as opposed to a manufactured one.
And what variety we would have. Adelaide City versus West Adelaide one week, then Sydney Olympic versus Marconi the next. For promotion-relegation addicts they could get their fix as most of the NPL Leagues have some form of promotion and relegation.
Would there be enough demand to warrant the expenses of the broadcaster? I don’t know the answer to this question but I would watch the mid-week NPL match of the round. Would you?
Tom
Guest
ummm....por quino los dos?
SoccerLogic
Guest
What's with the pressure on all people to follow A-League ffs? Supporting your local community team still directly supports Australian football. If I would rather my money go into the near empty coffers of my local club rather than feed a private business than so be it.
Anthony Ferguson
Guest
A soccer channel on Fox would be awesome, and as you say, there would be no problem finding content 24/7. As well as all the live matches across the globe, there's also a massive archive.
Paul Nicholls
Roar Guru
@RBBA 100% agree with you (I am not sure if my previous post was completely clear) Again I'll say good luck for tonight - should be a ripper of a game
RBBAnonymous
Guest
The point I was making was that WSW didnt steal SFC fans and if they did it would have been a small amount.
j binnie
Guest
Melb Cro- Don't know if you remember but "lighting" was a huge issue when the idea of "summer soccer" was first mooted in the late 80's.It had been suggested that the games should be played in early evenings to facilitate crowd "comfort " and what a "to-do "that caused for the vast majority of clubs (in the then NSL) had no lights at their "home" grounds ,and if the truth be told, didn't have the means and wherewithal to acquire lights of sufficient standard.Have things changed all that much in 30 years?????? Cheers jb
j binnie
Guest
70's Mo.- "Sydney crowds heading north again"????? This statement covers another myth that has been engendered into our HAL 'folklore". In season 10/11,before the WSW came into being, Sydney FC averaged 8,250 to their 14 home games.Come season 11/12 (still before WSW) that figure had grown to an average of 11,838 to 14 games.In season 12/13 (WSW's birth year) the Sydney FC growth continued with an average of 18,660 attending 13 home games and last season, 13/14, that average remained almost static showing a very slight increasel to 18,682,but this could have been explained by the fact that over the last few games, with the team not performing , attendances did "dip" in that time affecting that overall average. These figures just don't back up the myth that there was a huge "transference" of fans away from Sydney FC to WSW.and who knows, with a "new broom" sweeping this year, we could see that Sydney FC average figure increasing greatly once again. jb
Paul Nicholls
Roar Guru
@RBBAnonymous: good point you make about the fans that have no interest in local football. Far more prevalent than the bitter old football fans. I think getting across to these fans will be a big challenge. Your point about Sydney FC: I don't get this argument - If WSW stole the Sydney FC fans why are Sydney crowds starting to head north again? PS good luck tomorrow night
Paul Nicholls
Roar Guru
MelbCro: "Hello. Never been to an A-League match in my life champ, have zero interest. But I must be a figment of someone’s imagination. right? " Champ? And you want a reply? Well you do appear to have read the article so I will answer: Thanks. I now know one of these supporters. "Really? Then where are they in large numbers at NPL matches? This year in Victoria, if anything, I’ve seen a decrease in crowds. So where is this curiosity?" There has been some decent crowds to watch NPL clubs at the FFA cup. Far more than they normally get - therefore more interest. It is not necessarily going to translate to more bums on seats at NPL games but a weekly TV match may end up pulling in more supporters and could attract some sponsors. "How was this adequately addressed? Sorry but forcing clubs to change grounds isn’t adequate." It was adequately addressed because the matches went ahead and were televised. So for my mid-week NPL TV match idea it can be done. I admit that I would have preferred more FFA Cup matches to be played at teams home grounds but if the lighting is not up to it what can be done? Perhaps next year they could shift a few matches to Sat/Sun afternoons. MelbCro is there any way we can entice you to come along to an A-League game. What if I arrange an active bay for A-League haters - would that interest you?
MelbCro
Guest
"The funny thing is that this chant is sung by youngsters who would be more or less in the age range of 14-23 years old. Most of them have no idea what the NSL was or even remember the competition." I don't see the relevance, what does the NSL have to do with people supporting Sydney United? And the chant in question again has nothing to do with the NSL.
Socrates
Guest
What age bracket are you talking about? EX NSL diehard fans who followed the league from the start, are now too old to bother going to watch A League live. At best, they'll be watching the game in their old football clubs social room, drinking coffee, playing cards whilst "their team" is playing on the ground just outside the club house.
j binnie
Guest
socrates - Just for your knowledge there is a source that will give you all games and most of the crowds that attended the NSL Five figure crowds were very scare indeed and after Robble Slater made a similar claim during last weeks game I sampled crowds at Edensor Park during his time.Did not have a five figure crowd.I did the same exercise after reading your comment and found again 5 figure crowds ver scarce except later in the decade when Perth and Northern Spirit cracked the magic figures a few times. Cheers jb
RBBAnonymous
Guest
The funny thing is that this chant is sung by youngsters who would be more or less in the age range of 14-23 years old. Most of them have no idea what the NSL was or even remember the competition. @Socrates Interesting point you bring up but I would imagine that there is still a large group of football supporters who have become dissollutioned with the sport. There are football supporters that just dont follow the domestic league at all both A-league and NPL. I was one of them before the Wanderers came onboard. This also brings me to my next point, but the Sydney FC supporters would like you to believe that we stole their fan base. This is one of the biggest myths going around in the A-league. In fact we probably only received about 10-15% of supporters who would have been regular SFC supporters and say another 10% who were casual supporters being 1 or two games a year. The rest are new supporters or ex NSL supporters. This was from a loose survey that we produced on the West Sydney forum discussing supporter base issues and backgrounds.
Josh
Guest
Does the 'stick your A League up your a......' chant answer your question about some people having no interest in 'modern football' ?
Socrates
Guest
They must be watching something else.
MelbCro
Guest
do you have a point
Socrates
Guest
What happen to the good old days. Back in the 90's, the big derby between the Knights vs Hellas would draw 10K at Somers St.
MelbCro
Guest
"Does anybody actually know a diehard follower of the old NSL who has no interest in the A-League?" Hello. Never been to an A-League match in my life champ, have zero interest. But I must be a figment of someone's imagination. right? " What has come as a surprise is a level of curiosity shown by “new” fans for second tier clubs." Really? Then where are they in large numbers at NPL matches? This year in Victoria, if anything, I've seen a decrease in crowds. So where is this curiosity? "Lighting at stadiums could be an issue but this has been adequately addressed during the FFA Cup. " How was this adequately addressed? Sorry but forcing clubs to change grounds isn't adequate.
nordster
Guest
Nope not yet, although maybe ea could take the lead and introduce pro/rel even if ffa dont have the gonads to :)
Socrates
Guest
Wonder if NPL clubs would be on the new FIFA 15?