With the success of the Asian Cup and the rekindling of the romance between the Australian public and Socceroos, it is important the A-League picks up from this and runs with the momentum.
One of the steps that the A-League has to get right are plans for the competition itself and the amount of teams and where they are located. We don’t want more disasters like North Queensland Fury or Gold Coast United.
Current rumours are that David Gallop wants a team in Sydney’s Sutherland region, with Wollongong and Canberra also high on the agenda.
Now I live in the Wollongong area and I don’t think it is ready for an A-League team, though definitely in the future. Canberra is a maybe going by the recent crowds during the Asian Cup, but crowds over the past few years for the Raiders and the Brumbies have been in decline and haven’t been a good look for sport in the region.
A third team in Sydney is a no-go zone at the moment. Sydney FC and the Wanderers provide enough A-League for the city.
The way the A-League should look to expand is to put second teams in Adelaide and Perth. Setting up these two derbies will shore up those two cities, and the success of the AFL having two teams in Adelaide and Perth show it can work. Derbies worldwide are the biggest games of the year in any country and the more main city derbies the better.
Twelve or 14 teams is a good number for the A-League, one of the downfalls at the moment is that teams play each other too many times in a season, which takes away some of the gloss of the fixtures. A second team in Brisbane could come in and possibly Geelong to make 14.
Next there’s a need for a second-tier competition. An A2-League or A-Championship should have 12 teams – two each in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, and one each in Perth, Wollongong, Canberra and Hobart.
All teams to be existing club teams with a tendering process to take place for the right to gain entry into the competition. There will be no third tier so no there’s relegation from the second tier unless they don’t meet the standards required to stay in the competition. If a second-tier team can no longer meet the demands, a team from the same area will gain entry.
A two up, two down relegation and promotion format would be put in place. Minor premiers go straight up and the next four teams fight out a semi-final and final format for the final promotion place. Teams must also meet A-League financial and stadium standards for promotion. The bottom two teams from the A-League will be relegated.
I think this format will provide a greater interest in football and bring some traditional teams into the spotlight. The last piece of the puzzle might be (don’t hate me New Zealand) the Wellington Phoenix making way for another Australian team because I can’t see a Kiwi team competing in the second-tier competition working
Thoughts, Roarers?
Aaron Killian
Guest
A good name for a 2nd brisbane club would be 'Sporting Brisbane'
bryan
Guest
Unlike the AFL & NRL, which were extensions of existing State comps, the "A League"was set up as a National competition right from the outset. Even so,it has a disproportionate number of NSW clubs. Bringing in more clubs from that State would further dilute the National nature of the League,until it became a NSW competition with a few outsiders allowed on sufferance. I have no great love for Victoria,but if you really must have extra participants,I suggest Geelong. They have a long history of sports support & would help to balance out the NSW dominance.
james
Guest
LOL dude this is the best response I have ever read regarding expansion of a-league. well done sir, totally agree with you, 2 derbies a year are not enough to justify a second team in perth or adelaide...I say bring in teams from Canberra, Wollongong and the later down the track, look to Geelong and Hobart.
Matthew Russell
Roar Pro
Thanks everyone for your comments. I think the best point out of the discussion is if there ever is a second tier competition the should format should be the top two teams fighting into the A-League through beating the bottom two teams from the A-League. Lets just hope the A-League looks at all the options and makes the right decision. Also coming out of this article is that it shows the passion that people have for football in this country, which I think is great Cheers
Towser
Guest
Ian Whitchurch If your talking about the Maximum wage which was abolished in 1961,well inside my lifetime. If I also remember correctly it was the Football league not the FA, who regulated the wages for footballers in the 4 professional divisions they controlled. Football dominated England long before my time though.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Before your lifetime, the FA had a very, very strict salary cap - there was a maximum a club was allowed to pay any player, and this amount was low enough that regional clubs could pay it. This was also the time when the code grew to dominate England.
punter
Guest
UJ, yes I find their argument funny. All those events AR mentioned are also held in England & the US (cricket excepted but replace with baseball) & most with higher profile as well. As a matter of fact England has every sport that Australia has apart from AFL.
Uncle Junior
Guest
Punter, stop making sense. Next you will be trying to convince us cricket, rugby and league are actually all foreign sports even though many people try to make the argument Aussies won't ever embrace football (soccer) because it's a foreign sport.
punter
Guest
Well done, you guys are finally understanding my comment back to Perry's first comment in regards to him implying that Australia is different because we have 4 professional football codes, well England has 3 football professional codes & a variety of other sports. I do not doubt that Football is a Goliath over there, but they do cater for 2 other football codes & many other sports. Check out the BBC sports website. Even the US where yes NFL is Goliath's bigger brother, they too cater for a whole heap of sports including 2 professional football codes. The MLS averages over 19K a game with some teams averaging above 40K, this is tiny in comparison to the NFL, even most college football competitions, but fairly good world wide. We are not that different.
AR
Guest
I think slane makes a fair point... Many people that post here imply that Melbourne has a mono-sport culture - being Aust Football. Yes, the AFL is massive in Melb (which stands to reason given it was invented there 160 years ago and is home to a whopping ten teams). But it's also home to the largest soccer club in the country. And the biggest horse race, tennis event, Motorsport, cricket event, golf tournaments etc...all of which have massive public followings. The claim that Sydney is "more sports diverse" seems a bit convenient or hollow.
Brick Tamland of the pants party
Guest
What are you on about?, are you talking about the upgrade of NIB stadium which is a stadium used for all rectangular sports?
punter
Guest
I was talking about the NRL & AFL the competitions, not the sport. However I do think that football games are played in country towns, but you are right, AFL & League rules in country towns.
slane
Guest
Victory are the biggest football team in the A-League. I get that it is hard for people from Sydney to follow more than one sport (despite the fact that they are played on opposite sides of the calendar) but it's not an issue in Vic. We have millions of people who enjoy going to a wide variety of sports. AFL is the big dog of course, but we've just had the Australian Open getting as many people through the gates as the Asian Cup. The Cricket World cup is about to start today in front of 80-90,000 people at the G. I'm sick of being told there is only AFL in Melbourne. The place has sports all year round and many of us appreciate this fact.
Anthony Ferguson
Guest
Rather than Freo, wait another ten years and there will be enough rich Poms along the northern corridor to form Northern Beaches FC. Drawing support from Sorrento, Quinns, Joondalup, Currumbine, etc. they'll build their own boutique stadium.
Rossad
Guest
Perth's population is 1,972,358 (2013).
Martyn50
Guest
You say that NRL and AFL are urban centric. Rubbish. Go to any country town during the winter and see what codes are played their. No soccer my friend. Plenty of Rugby and AFL, depending on the state of course
Martyn50
Guest
You fail to mention the $6 million that was given to WA Soccer from the local shire and state government to up grade Perth Oval
Martyn50
Guest
Converting Fremantle oval into a rectangular stadium cannot be done on at least 3 points. Firstly the Dockers need a full sized ground similar to what they play on in normal fixtures. Secondly the ground in used for WAFL matches. Thirdly the ground is heritage listed. Fourth is a sacred site.
Griffo
Roar Guru
ciudadmarron, I agree there are many variations that could be employed over and above a 'pure' P/R. One thought I've said before is to have a playoff between the bottom A1 and the equivalent NPL Conference to see if promotion occurs. Example would be that if one of the three NSWFootball-based teams (SFC, WSW or CCM) were last then the play the NSWF NPL season winner. Only problem is the seasons don't align, which I think is going to be one issue if P/R takes off. Another is that it could be a very long time for an NPL conferences to get a shot at a playoff.
duecer
Guest
I think you're on the right track with another NSW team - As Punter notes, Sydney especially is becoming more sports diverse with Football and AFL making inroads and gets a fair swag of immigrants, VIC, SA and WA are still dominated by AFL, so will find the going a lot tougher.