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This week, the first part of an interview with A-League chief Damien de Bohun was put up on the A-League’s website, discussing a range of topics relevant to fans of football down under.
As a Wellington Phoenix fan, the topic that most interested me was the section on the future of my beloved ‘Nix. Having seen the vague and unenlightening comments De Bohun made, I shouldn’t have bothered.
Phoenix fans like myself have been feeling uneasy ever since it was announced over a year ago that the other nine teams had their licenses extended until 2034. This was not lifted at all by De Bohun’s comments.
Yet again, we’re hearing lots of talk about “working towards the right outcome”, and not a single concrete statement of intent to extend Wellington’s license.
I understand that Wellington’s place in the A-League is a unique one, with no other club in the world playing in a competition that is outside of their confederation. This brings specific challenges to the administration of the league, including the fact that Football Federation Australia (FFA) needs to obtain the sign-off of both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to extend the Phoenix’s license.
However, it’s not without precedent, given that these are hurdles were jumped when Wellington joined the league.
At that time, AFC head Mohammed Bin Hammam announced that the Phoenix would need to move to Australia by 2011 or face expulsion from the league. Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, said shortly afterwards that it is not a matter for the Confederation, but for the FIFA Executive Committee. As long as the league, club, and both national federations were happy for Wellington Phoenix to play in the A-League, the FIFA ExCo would give their blessing.
That pretty much settled it. FFA were happy, New Zealand Soccer (now New Zealand Football) were happy, so the Nix stayed on.
It’s not been the smoothest of rides these last seven or so years, with original owner Terry Serepisos going bust due to the property bubble bursting, but Wellington’s now in a good place, with a financially viable and committed ownership group and a well-structured backroom staff.
The club is still not profitable, but annual losses have been stemmed to a very manageable low-six figures, with every likelihood of becoming profitable in the next year or so.
In short, the Phoenix are in the best shape of their short existence. Which makes it all the more galling that this sword of Damocles is still being held above their heads.
The issues that are being mentioned as holding up the extension are largely out of the Wellington management team’s control: crowd sizes, and the TV deal with Sky Sports.
The crowds may be lower than anyone would like, but they’re pretty stable, and per-capita Wellington arguably outperforms any other club in the league. The problem in Wellington is that the home venue, Westpac Stadium, is too large, both in terms of the number of seats (34,500), and the physical size of pitch. Playing on a cricket field is not conducive to an amazing atmosphere, no matter how hard the Yellow Fever work at it (and they do).
The ultimate solution would be to go ahead with the boutique stadium that has been discussed over the past year or two, but the only way that agreement to do this would be gained from all the relevant parties would be if there was some assurance that there is a future in it.
The TV rights deal with Sky TV is not great, admittedly. But keep in mind it is negotiated by the FFA, not Wellington Phoenix. There may not be a lot of money in it, but that’s not Wellington’s fault – if the FFA wants more, they should demand more from Sky. Threaten to take it away from them and sell the rights to a free-to-air channel, or to someone like Coliseum (who own the rights to broadcast the English Premier League in New Zealand).
Wellington now have just 34 regular-season games left on their A-League license; surely it’s time to make a decision on their future? Dragging this out further hurts the fans, the club, and the league itself. Saying that you’re working towards a resolution is just not good enough anymore.
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