Football fans get the emotion and drama of a grand final on an almost weekly basis in the English Premier League.
After the NRL grand final I settled in to watch Manchester United versus Everton, and Chelsea versus Arsenal. While the games won’t be in the top five of the year, there were still plenty of talking points – like who would win in a fight between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho?
When it was all finished I looked at the time and thought, “I wish I could get this weekly excitement at a more civilised hour.”
Cue the A-League. Season 10 gets underway on Friday and I looked at the fixtures to see what to expect in the first few weeks – the F3 derby, Old Bling FC versus New Bling FC, the Sydney derby and the Melbourne derby.
And that’s before we think of the FFA Cup or the arrival of David Villa.
That’s a lot to look forward to, and with increasing crowds and ratings could we get to a point in Australia where there is more excitement for the A-League than the EPL?
For example, you might be celebrating your team winning a spot in the A-League finals and you don’t care you missed a 4-4 thriller in the Merseyside, North London or Manchester derbies. When someone asks “Who do you follow?” you say an A-League team first (mine is Sydney FC).
As a panel member of the EPLextra podcast on The Roar, I have been thinking about the how the tastes of the football community in Australia have been changing over time and wondered how long it would be before the local game was the main game among fans.
Having wrestled with the question for three hours I thought I should probably go to bed, even if football is a game which never sleeps.
George Haida
Roar Rookie
Good question, i reckon depends on the general loyalty of fans, which unfortunately i think is pretty lousy in this country compared to others. For example in Europe having many people passionately supporting their local team regardless of division, and here many of the casual (not all, emphasize casual) supporters follow the team/code that tends to do better. Not saying there's no passionate loyal supporters, there's a lot, but not in comparison. As a wild guess i would throw at no more than a quarter to a third, i guess? Really depends on the individuals.
EPLextra
Roar Rookie
George what percentage of A-League fans do you think would call it their #1 league to follow? You mentioned most but as Daniel said he's Chelsea first, A-League second and there is probably a lot more like Daniel. But as the game grows and a generation of kids have a great local product to follow maybe a majority of football fans will call the A-League their number one league. How long will this take? No idea but would love to know everyone's guesses.
George Haida
Roar Rookie
For most the AFL/NRL/start of EPL or whatever is to pass time in the A-League off-season. For me, the A-League passes time in the NPL off-season, South Melbourne to the end !!!
Daniel Nichols
Roar Guru
I follow both, but def a Chelsea fan first ... also did anyone notice in the highlights vids they referred to Jose as "Moura-Hin-io"?
EPLextra
Roar Rookie
Agree 100% about this year being a huge year for football fans in this country. So much positive momentum in the game at the moment. Records to be smashed! It's interesting you said the game doesn't need to cater to new fans. Having just seen the A-League it looks as if the marketing is very much about the football fan. But I think if the league continues to generate great atmospheres at games and positive press this will bring in new fans which can only be a good thing going forward.
EPLextra
Roar Rookie
The time difference with the UK is a big reason why friends of mine have watched less and less EPL since uni finished. But they are still big football fans and are Sydney FC members. The marquee games in the A-League are always a special events (can't wait for the Sydney derby!). I think the key for the league is to continue to take advantage of the increased exposure of those games to build crowds/ratings for the games in between. And maybe one day the A-League will sell out most games like the EPL does (Australian football paradise!) Isik
EPLextra
Roar Rookie
Great to see fans who have been part of the A-League journey from the beginning. I'm really hoping that we get an Adelaide derby in the FFA cup. Isik
AZ_RBB
Guest
MVFC have been very kind with their away allocation. Looks like around 3000 spots for WSW fans. Don't think we'll fill it all as most spots went on sale this week. Still, a crowd figure in the high 30k will be incredible. Santo, Sam & Ed are back tonight as well! Woo!
RBBAnonymous
Guest
I still do watch EPL but for me its all about the A-league. The A-league is going to be an absolutely monster season, you can feel it. I think we are going to smash all records before us as more and more football fans get onboard and follow the A-league. Notice how I said "football" fans, we dont have to cater to new or "other" fans. If we look after football fans then we will be fine. For the first fixture between Melb Victory vs WSW we will nudge very close to 40k fans for the opening fixture. Then you can also expect another huge crowd for the Sydney FC vs Melb City match up. We have a lot of momentum from the World Cup, the FFA cup and the ACL, its just a brilliant time to be a football fan. I cant wait for that opening fixture. It should be a cracker.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Still follow Man Utd closely despite becoming a WSW member. But my current lifestyle makes it difficult to stay late to watch any European football. Nevertheless, on weekends I've started watching a lot more Bundesliga and even a bit of Serie A when I can. The beauty of the EPL and the A-League is that you get massive 'marquee' fixtures almost every couple of weeks throughout the season making the league less dependent on one off mega events.
mattq
Guest
already happened to me. I was an avid Chelsea fan city '94. Obviously I still have a soft spot for them but it's merely a passing interest. I'm Adelaide Utd through and through and have been since 2003. Wouldn't even know who's the EPL these days.