The time has come to take the A-league to the next level

We’ve had 10 fantastic years of the A-League so far. There’s been great ups and dramatic downs. We’ve had some rogue club owners, a failed World Cup bid, two failed expansion clubs and much more.

But the A-League has been on the rise again in the past three seasons.

It still has many flaws, like the Central Coast Mariners and their owner, Mike Charlesworth, the Jets with virtually no owner, and the Phoenix still in limbo regarding their future.

These issues are in no doubt being worked on behind the scenes as we speak. But despite this I think the competition is now ready to take the next step in many facets.

1. Expansion
This must happen, the league needs more games, more teams and fresh blood. Regardless of where this happens hopefully they can do this properly and we can can get two new healthy clubs to add to the competition, not two more clubs that just drag the chain.

Possibles are South Sydney (Cronulla-St George-Wollongong), a second Brisbane side (Ipswich-Logan), and Canberra. In the future, you’d love to see Adelaide and Perth have a derby also.

2. Stop rewarding mediocrity
On the back of my first point being expansion, a 12-team competition makes the top six finals places completely legitimate. At the moment we have a situation where the fifth and sixth placed sides at the end of the season have lost as many or more games than they’ve won, but they still get rewarded with a finals spot, which is ridiculous.

And this translates onto the pith sometimes, where we see teams seemingly not trying hard enough until the end to get the points, or even one point. They know they have to be absolutely terrible during the season to not have a chance to make finals. We won’t have promotion and relegation in Australia for a long time, but by having a six-team finals series in a 12-team comp, it’ll improve the competitiveness and overall quality of the competition.

3. Sort out the Nix
The Nix are back on the rise on the field, but need a lot of work off it. FFA needs to sort out their future as soon as possible, as this is potentially now affecting their support back in New Zealand. The fact that their current licence expires in 2016 is well documented, and David Gallop needs to make the call sooner rather than later.

If they’re out, then so be it. But if it’s decided that they’ll stick around then there’s a possibility of bringing in another New Zealand team in the next expansion phase after 2017. Auckland City are the outstanding candidate, which would give the league a New Zealand derby, and would definitely help the A-League and football in general grow across the ditch.

4. Commercial TV deal
There’s been much talk about SBS and the job they’ve done for the A-League. They’ve missed out on the Asian Cup rights to the ABC, as the FFA is trying something new, but in the main I think SBS has been good for us at the time.

The next step for next season, at the very least, is to have one each of the Melbourne and Sydney derbies on free-to-air on a Friday or a Saturday night to test the waters.

The rumours are that the FFA are projecting or working towards $80 million a season or $320 million over the next four-year cycle. Is the A-League getting good enough ratings to be on commercial TV right now? Probably not. But we could easily be on GO, GEM, 7TWO, 7mate or ONE HD.

One of these networks could easily do what Fox did 10 years ago, and decide to pump some money in, grow the interest for the sport and also grow their channel audiences over time. Just like Kerry Packer and Channel Nine did with cricket in the 1970s. Without him, cricket would be nowhere near where it is today.

Watch this space in the next 12 to 24 months. But I believe as the product gets better on the field, the crowds and audiences will grow with it.

5. Refine the FFA Cup
David Gallop has already said that this competition will be refined next season, which is great. A Saturday night final, an earlier finish, which should help the semi-pro clubs out of season, and an extension to include clubs from the Northern Territory.

The only other thing I’d do is make sure that each state has a decent smaller venue to play out of. This year, the Sydney versus Adelaide game was played at Allianz on a Wednesday night and had only 4000 in attendance, as did Glory versus Victory, which is a waste of an exercise. Also, the state league clubs in Western Australia played at a poor stadium with a running track around it, and that made it terrible to watch.

This comp should be played at smaller venues the entire way through. FFA should work hard with local councils and state governments to get at least one inner city smaller venue in each state that’s up to scratch with proper lighting and pitches. That’s what this competition should be all about.

Even if it’s a tie between two A-League clubs, play the game at a suburban ground. It’s what makes this cup authentic and it’s what the public wants to see, and they love it. Also, an Asian Champions League spot should be given to the winner, but also some prize money. Perhaps between $500,000 and $1 million to really give some incentive to the lower level clubs, which will make this competition an even better spectacle.

Our little A-League is still growing, but it must learn from its mistakes, and if possible move fast to keep the great momentum going forward. Crowds and memberships are up, and TV audiences are on par with last season, even with less recognisable players on show this time round.

I think it’s at a stage now where FFA needs to take the next step, and if the right decisions are made in the next 12 to 18 months it should position itself nicely for its next stage of development.