This Saturday night, Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory will lock horns at Allianz Stadium in the latest version of the Big Blue.
It’s a match that holds the record for Australian club football’s biggest ever regular season crowd.
With both clubs unbeaten in the first five rounds, it’s a mouth-watering prospect, and probably the biggest game on the A-League calendar outside a derby.
Unfortunately, the scheduling of this weekend’s game has it being played on a FIFA international weekend. Half a decade ago, this wouldn’t have raised too much of a murmur for the A-League.
But the times, they are a-changin’, to quote Bob Dylan.
No less than 27 players from the A-League are unavailable this weekend due to international commitments. Six of those players are from Kevin Muscat’s Victory squad while Graham Arnold loses three. That’s almost half the players likely to take the pitch.
Wellington Phoenix lose six players for the weekend as well, while the other clubs lose between one and three players, except for the Western Sydney Wanderers who have remained intact and have only ACL hangovers and jet lag to contend with on their trip to Perth.
Arnold has advocated that the A-League falls in line with FIFA’s international dates for quite a while now, and it’s about time his call was looked at more closely.
Having the marquee game of the round missing nine players, eight of whom have been regular starters this season, dilutes the game significantly. A-League clubs can only carry squads of 23, and with Victory and Phoenix missing six each they are a couple of training ground injuries away from not being able to select a full squad.
Of course, there is the side of the coin that the FFA and the A-League need to constantly consider. Unlike the European leagues, the A-League operates in a crowded sporting market with three other codes vying for media space, grounds and bums on seats. Moving the start of the A-League to October has been a sensible option but the league is operating in a seven and a half month window and doesn’t leave a lot of wriggle room for free weekends.
All but two clubs share their grounds with other sporting teams, whose season kicks off in March. While fans have every right to be bullish about the league’s great start to Season 10, it’s still sensible of the FFA to try and schedule the bulk of the season so the problems of ground-sharing with other codes doesn’t eat into the majority of the campaign.
The league could observe international dates and move rounds to midweek. Past midweek rounds have not been successful in attracting crowds but it will be interesting to see whether crowds are affected this week – especially in Sydney – by the absence of so many players.
FFA then need to balance out whether full squads playing midweek would have attracted a larger audience, both at the ground and on the TV. My feeling is that they would, especially if the league embraced the period of the long summer school holidays in January.
Midweek crowds flock to Twenty20 cricket matches, there is no reason why properly promoted A-League games could not find a willing audience on work nights.
It is ironic that a decade ago, it was Australia’s international players in Europe who had to fight for release to play Socceroos games, even after FIFA decreed the international dates rule. Now, Australian clubs need to advocate for the A-League to have this weekend off.
Casper
Guest
Does this mean that Aleague is slowly moving towards the name of the sport just like AFL is for footy?
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
It's been reported that Arsene Wenger will bring The Arsenal to Sydney next July. Added to this Liverpool is reported to be playing in Brisbane & Adelaide. And, Melbourne could be hosting Chelsea, Barcelona & Real Madrid during the International Challenge Cup. ALeague is rapidly moving towards the only sport with close to 12 month on-field activity.
apaway
Roar Guru
I forgot to mention the most important issue in the article - all these missing players is playing havoc with my A League fantasy team!
Greg
Guest
Yes. Much better than a 7pm Tuesday night. Would rather a weakened line up then not being able to attend at all.
AZ_RBB
Guest
But there's a good 10k seats in level 1. For the WSW game a lot of it was full. That's a considerable number of people whose view and enjoyment will be effected. But I'm not an MVFC member so I'm not going to push the point too much. It was just a thought re why it may be better to keep the season start in October.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"Are you not playing a game in Geelong this year?" If you follow ALeague you'd know that every year 5 teams have 1 extra 'home match'. This 14th match is designed to be played at a regional town. Heart played in Woodonga last year; MVFC have played in Tasmania in the past. This season we have 13 home matches as usual 8 at AAMI Park & 5 at Docklands. The 14th match is taken to a regional town: Geelong.
Kyle Stewart
Roar Pro
People flock to midweek T20s because it'll be sixes and boundaries galore.
langou
Roar Guru
Are you not playing a game in Geelong this year?
melbourneterrace
Guest
This, seats being brought in is only good for those who have a seat in the lower tier, it's still crap for everyone else.
melbourneterrace
Guest
Yes, in a similar way to Bayern München (Bayern = Bavaria) but like the Bayern, we should only be playing in our main City.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I don't normally watch MVFC home games on TV, but decided to record the WSW match. I noticed that, when the seats are reconfigured, there are large empty spaces on Level 1 that look desolate on TV. I don't know what mechanism/design is used at Stadium Australia, but the rectangular configuration doesn't seem to leave these large vacant pockets. Or, maybe, I've not been observant & the same issue arises at Stadium Australia. I'm sure the players prefer the rectangular configuration but, sitting on Level 2, or 3; it makes absolutely no difference. The roof closed makes a much better atmosphere with a large crowd.
AZ_RBB
Guest
All the MVFC fans I've spoken to hate the oval configuration and much prefer it when the seats are brought in. Even as a television product, it seems far superior when the seats are brought in.
melbourneterrace
Guest
That's always been my impression. The match experience is superior at AAMI Park in so many ways and you just your enjoy football days there far more than in boring docklands.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Isn't the Victory part meant to be reflect Victoria or something along those lines?
melbourneterrace
Guest
That's not the point, in my case, my team is called Melbourne. Not Melbourne + extra towns who get a game due to poor scheduling. If fans want a football holiday, they can go on an away trip.
Towser
Guest
We need to have a look at an actual midweek round in the period Dec-Jun School holidays as Fussball mentioned. There was one in Season 2011-12 On Wednesday January 4th 2012. WLG v SFC 8411 MH v AU 8272 NUJ v GCU 9311 CCM v MV 12284 PG v BR 6912 Total 45190 average 9038 in context average for season was 10488 and home clubs involved as follows:- WLG 8780 includes 20,000 at Eden park MH 9082 includes Melbourne Derby NUJ 12117 CCM 9505 PG 8972 Total 48456 average 9691 So in the end 600 less for this midweek round than the average for the home clubs involved. Of course you can manipulate figures to suit any argument ,but on black & white figures using some creative fixturing & advertising, in my book Fussball is spot on regarding midweek matches in the Dec-Jan school holidays being a goer.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"schedule these big games at AAMI Park where we actually want to see them played." Spot on. I read a neutral fan, who had attended the Melb Derby & MVFC v WEL state that he found the atmosphere at AAMI Park for MVFC v WEL with 23.8k people far more intense than the atmosphere at Docklands for the Melb Derby with 43.8k people.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"Swapping a weekend game for a mid week game will result in a loss of revenue" Depends on the date. Depends on the clubs. Depends on the venue. MVFC have already sold 23k tickets to all their home games. I wouldn't expect any significant loss of revenue if any home match against WEL, CCM, NEW, PER were swapped to mid-week. Last week 23.8k turned up on a Monday night to watch MVFC play an opponent who often attracts the lowest crowds.
Paul
Guest
Your membership price would be adjusted accordingly. With enough notice, some fans might like a few days in the bush and would book a holiday around it.
langou
Roar Guru
Its fine to say "Football fans just need to learn to get to Midweek games" but the reality is that midweek soccer games in this country don't attract big crowds. Swapping a weekend game for a mid week game will result in a loss of revenue.