In a way, the A-League is the most stable it’s been since its inception. The league will begin its fourth consecutive year with the same 10 clubs in October, though it seems immature to celebrate another year without a club going bust – just.
But in so many other ways, the A-League has been incredibly volatile over the last six months.
At least four clubs are in the process of a revival in some respect and there have been plenty of calls for the FFA to focus on getting all clubs back to a state of financial stability first and foremost.
The signs are positive for most. Newcastle have appointed Scott Miller as head coach and are on the verge of being taken over by Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson.
Central Coast still have work to do to regain the trust of their fans, but have made strides with changes to the backroom staff and Tony Walmsley appointed as full-time coach.
Perth Glory have made an equally shrewd signing off the pitch, drafting in former South Melbourne chief executive Peter Filopoulos as CEO in order to reshape their identity and establish some long lost credibility.
Brisbane still remain in a spot of bother, with owners Bakrie Group yet to find a partner following a seven-month search, culminating in players and staff not being paid their wages for June. It’s believed the Indonesian company promised to put $3.5 million back into the club, but hasn’t delivered.
While it’s obvious that the Roar must be restored to a financially viable state, the need for growth in Australian football must not be forgotten.
Concerns that the A-League can’t progress until the current setup has been steadied only serve to set the game back further.
A national second tier competition might not be feasible in the next five years, but the longer planning is prolonged and the longer the powers at be deny it’s an option in the ‘near future’, the longer we will be waiting for the game to take a crucial step forward.
The attitude towards promotion and relegation has shifted over the course of the A-League’s early days. In 2008, Ben Buckley appeared eager to begin contemplating expanding into the lower leagues, though he ultimately did little about it.
The then-FFA chief said: “The premier leagues in each of the states have a lot of players who are capable of playing at the A-League level but, because of the small number of teams, probably haven’t got their opportunity yet.”
The FFA Cup and National Premier Leagues have given a taster of the future and it seems futile to not exploit that as soon as possible.
The well publicised financial troubles that rippled through the A-League have been used as a convenient excuse to put plans for a lower division on hold.
In an interview with ABC Grandstand in May, FFA CEO David Gallop said of a promotion/relegation system: “It would just be tough in the market that we’ve got. It would be tough to imagine that one of the 10 clubs we’ve got, with all the investments we’ve made, would drop down into a second tier, then who would come up? At the moment we have to consolidate what we’ve got and we see that as a system we have to keep in place for the next 20 years.”
Two decades is far too long to wait. Of course, no NPL side could have jumped straight into the A-League this season, just like no A-League team would be able to survive a drop down at this stage.
But a gradual process of integrating a second division will mean promotion and relegation is only introduced when both leagues are able to function independently of one another and clubs can manage the increased pressures of being elevated to the A-League.
There are certainly plenty of NPL clubs preparing for the next step and putting themselves in the shop window.
Before we get there, though, A-League expansion comes first. FFA chairman Frank Lowy set his sights on having an additional two teams by the time the new broadcast deal rolls around in 2017, which would mean the new franchises must be at least selected six months from now.
Ipswich is looming as a prime candidate after David Gallop announced plans for a dual NRL and A-League expansion bid into the Queensland city, which would eventually see both codes play at the 30,000-seater stadium set to be built in Ripley.
The move has its detractors already, but combining powers with rugby league offers a cost effective punt at expansion and would give the club a financial advantage if the NRL side were also a success.
It’s certainly a start and is encouraging to see action being taken to improve the A-League’s reach.
What we don’t want is the MLS style of thinking that has turned the concept of a second tier competition into a myth.
Commissioner Don Garber has a preference to add more teams to the 24-club MLS rather than working towards promotion and relegation.
League expansion comes with great challenges, but it’s imperative we at least start working on how to overcome those rather than continuing to fear confrontation.
Ethan
Guest
Im not ethnic but look at some of the old nsl clubs, great local stadiums who could be close to selling out games each week in a league compared to 35% full stadiums and no base.
Junior
Guest
I agree whole-heartedly that Canberra need a team. Disposable income is one key factor. Arguments can be made about poor attendance to league and union games, but that is during winter in a freezing climate in the coldest place in CBR. I mentioned higher up the page though that I think we are hamstrung by Foxtel's influence on the HAL. Canberra already has a high number of households that subscribe to Fox. It's not in their benefit for the next team to be here because they wont get an increased number of subscribers to offset their TV rights.
Junior
Guest
A big part of the reason why CCM got a licence over Canberra wasnt just population and juniors, but also the capacity for FOXTEL to increase it's membership. Canberra has a high number of houses already subscribing to Fox with the town being league and union territory with the Brumbies. Foxtel didnt see many new subscribers coming in for football. CCM was a newer market that could gain more members. Dont underestimate the amount of weight Foxtel has with the HAL. HAL needs the TV rights money that Fox offers and they Foxtel plays hardball in a lot of respects. Canberra will struggle to get a team in the next expansion too...
langou
Roar Guru
No worries Fuss. You are probably right mate. Less time on football forums and more on work :-)
langou
Roar Guru
Thanks Punter, Jamesb, Bondy and thanks Mid, Appreciate the comments
Bondy
Guest
FFA Cup live draw is on Fox Sports Ch 400 and streamed also on news.com.au ....
blob
Guest
Every time i hear talk of relegation in Australian football it just sounds mad, when you have half the teams in the comp struggling to get more then 10K through the gate week in week out, how many of those would follow the team when they dropped down, plus you would have to get rid of the salary cap meaning all the smaller teams would be stuffed as they could not compete against the big four from syd and melb, Half the people who suppport the promotion and relegation in australia follow big clubs in europe that never get dropped but they like watching the battles to stay up of other teams, what they dont realise is that these smaller team come from citys where people really care about football and would watch their team where ever, where as in australia fans are used to watching the best league,
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
FFA Cup Ro32 Draw will be streamed LIVE online at 4:00 p.m. (AEST). Only Yr2, but the anticipation vibe on social media is immense.
Davo
Guest
You make a very valid point. To state that the FFA are waiting for all clubs to be stable might mean waiting decades and then some. Some clubs are always going to be destined to be on struggle street. Especially if private ownership is on the cards. The FFA needs to focus on expanding in large cities in order to grasp more media attention from their respective outlets, so football is viewed more prominently and becomes a mindset. This will grow the sport much more so than plotting teams in regional or one off cities which will do very little to increase the strength of the sport. Local rivalries is what the a-league needs to focus on, it's what's driving much of the a-league at the moment.
woodo
Guest
That premise sounds like a great idea for a football team... in a well established and financially stable league that can wear the risk with ease like the AFL. For the A-League even now it's a horrible idea let alone when the league first started. Also I would say there's a reason why there was no professional competition on the Central Coast - who goes to a ghost town and says 'wow, look at all the lack of sports teams here, what a goldmine!'? We have more than enough young promising players who can't get a go at A-League level, we literally don't have enough teams to give everyone a go, like Fuss said it's not a matter of demand outweighing supply so the argument that they're relevant through the prospect of converting more footballers is unnecessary because we have enough already, and laughable because there's too few people (and too far apart) up there to provide an acceptable breeding ground.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Woodo, i can see the point you are making - however given the fact that there was no competition in the CC in a professional sporting sense (and the fact that the CC was completely behind the mariners in the early years) it seemed like a good idea at the time. Also CC is seen as a rugby heartland, so it is beneficial in a footballing/marketing sense to turn the juniors into footballers as they will be the new generation of fans and players. Also, the more juniors there are that play football the better chance you have of having the best 11 for the national team.
woodo
Guest
Fair point Kaks/Epiquin, but that has to be a pretty sad indictment on the administration at the time if the reasoning behind the franchise was getting more people to participate in the highest participation sport in the country when they would have been better off placing a team somewhere else that actually added a level of commercial value to the league (seeing as that's what domestic sport relies on to survive) rather then dragging the average attendance and ratings down for ten years.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
You're close, Lionheart. The Stadium was built for the North Sydney Bears to move to the Central Coast as the Central Coast Bears. However, after investing in the move, they were forced to merge with Manly due to their debts and they became the Northern Eagles. They played at Gosford for 2 years before Manly pulled the plug on the merger, reverted back to Manly and moved back to Brookvale.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
The Giants might be, but the Raiders, at least, do not need public money to survive.
j binnie
Guest
Fuss - "Dilution of talent "is a general term that can have very different meanings depending from where it is viewed.Overseas "losses" hasbeen going on unabated for over 25 years and is not going to stop in the forseeable future,so "dilution"can take place when that factor is considered. Then we have expansion for expansion's sake,I would love it if another 2 or 4 "Melbourne Victorys" could somehow be uncovered and fed into the present league set up but you and I are ,if nothing else,realists ,and know that is just not going to happen.If there are 80 players playing in minor leagues around the country who could make the jump in standard it points to another area of operation altogether,our present A league clubs are so busy recruiting overseas that they are missing the boat completely.That points to another area of mismanagement,the task of successful "scouting". Let us be radical in our thinking just for a moment and "remove" the number of players who have been recruited from overseas out of our set-up!!! It would create immediately a huge gap that would have to be filled with local talent,great,but would the standard of football being played be "diluted".The answer is so apparent as to be indisputable. The FFA are fully aware of this of course,hence the limits on overseas recruitment but in todays world is that restriction actually holding back the standard of play that the A league could be capable of providing. In other words back to the age old question,do we "dilute" the standard at the top of our game to accomodate local talent or do we improve local "teaching standards" to improve the local player and make "dilution" obsolete.???Cheers jb.
midfielder
Guest
Bondy As much as it pains me SFC are starting to lead the pack
Stephen Martin
Guest
Brasilia has a 70,000 seat stadium for a third division team, thanks to the World Cup. Hearts were promoted this summer, but Edinburgh didn't have a team in the Scottish Premier League last season.
Lionheart
Guest
I think you are right about Canberra up to A League, but that's no reason to blast the Newcastle and CC teams. Would Canberra have an owner, being a public service town I wonder if you have the corporate willing to spend up on football. Your W League side is very good.
Lionheart
Guest
Isn't this the stadium built for the NRL, Manly, but they didn't stay and moved back to Brookville, losing a lot of fans in the move. The council's been a big part of Mariners success too, hasn't it? They've given a lot of young players a go. I like Mariners and hope they're in for the long term - maybe the best away trip in the A League.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"Dilution of talent is already in play by virtue of the number of Australian’s headed off shore even 10 years into the brief history of the A-League" Well, if there were more teams & we found a way to increase the revenue, the players who are heading overseas will be retained. Japan also has its best players heading overseas but, when they do, they go to the Top 4-5 leagues. That's what I would like to see in Australia. I want to have a domestic competition that has the financial strength to provide every Aussie player with an option outside the highest paying 6-7 leagues in Europe. So, when Aussies do go overseas, they do it because they're going to the best leagues in the world.