The round-ball code is somewhat neglected in Australia, and with the English Premier League so easily accessible (for now), many are prepared to disregard the A-League as not worth watching.
Granted, the league does have some issues, the major one being the lack of free-to-air coverage it currently receives.
With one game shown on SBS2 each Friday night, the A-League is hardly a primetime, mainstream FTA fixture.
This is in direct contrast to the Big Bash League, which has seen its success boom on the back of outstanding Channel Ten production and the timing of the completion, which is in the middle of the sporting graveyard of the summer months.
This leads to the second major issue with the A-League, the timing of the season. Is it too long? Is it too short? When should it be played?
From a personal perspective, the A-League season should start in October and end in mid-March. Currently, the code is fighting too many other codes, and the quality of the league is getting caught in the Australian sporting shuffle.
This is the greatest shame of the A-League’s 11th edition, not enough people know how good the league has been this season. The lack of marquee power has been bemoaned by many, but while their names might not be as big as others, the likes of Bruno Fornaroli, Aaron Mooy and Diego Castro have lit up the A-League this season.
Fornaroli, in particular, has had an unprecedented season. Finding the net 23 times during the regular season, and scoring two sumptuous goals in an elimination final defeat of Perth Glory, Fornaroli proved that the A-League doesn’t need Alessandro Del Piero for the spectator to witness individual brilliance.
The season itself has been pure madness. The Leicester City script has been remarkable in England, but the A-League has matched it for drama.
With a few weeks to go, seven of the ten teams considered themselves genuine chances to win the title, such the evenness of the salary-capped league.
The minor premiers, Adelaide United, were bottom after five weeks and winless before Round 9. They then embarked on an unprecedented 14-week turnaround, which saw them climb to the top of the ladder under the guidance of Guillermo Amor, a former Barcelona legend who lists Pep Guardiola as one of his closest friends. Is that the star power the league is looking for?
The regular season was madness, but the finals have been absolutely bonkers. The finals opened with defending champions Melbourne Victory travelling to Brisbane Roar. Led by ex-Roar striker Besart Berisha, Victory took a late lead, before Brisbane scored two goals in the final five minutes, sparking memories of their famous grand final wins under Ange Postecoglou. Meanwhile, emerging powerhouse Melbourne City secured a first A-League finals victory over Perth Glory.
However, it was semi-final weekend where the excitement levels went through the roof. In its own right, Adelaide’s 4-1 win over Melbourne City was a classic contest, but it was the second semi-final, between Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar, that stole the spotlight.
It was possibly the greatest A-League game of all time.
Brisbane had a 3-0 lead after 25 minutes, as fans north of Tweed Heads frantically scoured for flights to Adelaide to see their team play in the grand final. However the Wanderers got a quick response and were able to get to 3-2 just before halftime.
The equaliser came after 53 minutes, and on 59 minutes the Wanderers were ahead 4-3. All of a sudden Brisbane were on the ropes.
In the 81st minute, the match took another twist, when Brisbane scored an equaliser. With the game moving into extra-time, the spectre of penalties loomed large, until Roar academy product Dario Vidosic popped up to score the ninth and ultimately deciding goal of the contest, sending Western Sydney to a third grand final.
Adelaide United and Western Sydney have both lost two grand finals in their history, meaning that one team is going to break their premiership drought. Between them they scored nine goals on semi-final weekend, showcasing their attacking abilities. Playing in front of a packed crowd at the Adelaide Oval, the atmosphere at 4pm next Sunday will be electric in a game that may just be the greatest grand final ever played.
The A-League has had its ups and downs, but crowds are increasing, as is the quality. Coupled with Postecoglou’s belief in the league and willingness to select players plying their trade in Australia, there is no reason the league can’t become the summer night staple the Australian sporting calendar is crying out for.
The majority have a Premier League team, so why not give the local A-League a shot? You could do worse than starting this Sunday.
Bondy
Guest
Eamonn The current length or duration of the A League season currently is perfect we dont really need a 38 Rd competition like most other leagues, at least not yet . The current final series and 27 standard Rd's are great ...
Punter
Guest
Could not agree more, both Perth & Brisbane, needs a 2nd team, not quite ready now, but down the line.
Eamonn
Guest
From a personal perspective, the A-League season should start in October and end in mid-March. Currently, the code is fighting too many other codes, and the quality of the league is getting caught in the Australian sporting shuffle. Great - football in Australia would run for 6 months - this is simply crass. What will A-League clubs do with players from March - October. Some clubs let go of a lot of players in May/June already. Many players miss out on 3 months wages if they aren't snapped up instantly - many aren't. And you really expect international players and/or marquees to come for 6 months. Football ain't hiding - it the current A-League season, ACL, W-League, FFA Cup and Socceroos and Matildas aren't enough for you - well where have you been! Sure League and AFL are the main codes, but anyone who thinks Rugby Union is ahead of Football has got their head in the clouds. Have you checked out the number of games Super 18 clubs play and it's an international comp, closer to the ACL perhaps. The number of people playing and involved in football against Union, boys and girls. Who wins that. And the Socceroos v the Wallabies - well take out the English, Lions and All Black fans - and are there many Aussies in the crowd - not often. Football has a bigger revenue resource than Union at all levels of the game. Sure we have more mouths to feed as well. But Rugby ahead of Football? No-one thinks that...except a guy who wants A-League to run Oct - March!
Realfootball
Guest
A code mole!
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
I think the BBL very much started out that way, but it's getting to be a much more serious thing now, with players coveting the championship above a lot of other stuff now. It's easy to dismiss it because they "jazzed" aspects of it up, but whilst I was a skeptic at first I have to admit I find it riveting viewing and have been to a bunch of games over the past couple of years, and Cricket has something that our 4 football codes don't; a level of neutrality from "football" of all stripes. In reality, Cricket is the game the game that really unifies Australia on a state level, and so it's not surprising that the BBL was cracking a million viewers a game in their last season, which has led to a lot of unsurprising speculation regarding its expansion. The A-League is doing well enough, but I think it's folly to just dismiss the BBL given its trajectory and its undeniably strong foundation and fundamentals in Australia.
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
Bob, you're right about some of the others, but the Australian Cricket team had a few eyeballs when they played the World Cup final in Melbourne last year to be fair. I know people like to bag the other football codes, but Cricket does have a population of 1.7 billion people in the subcontinent that are pretty into it (if you hadn't noticed), which the record global TV audience for the India v Pakistan attests to. Indeed, I'd be surprised if from a pure numbers perspective there was any team more watched than our cricket team purely because in soccer we're not a 'main event' team for most countries, whilst in Cricket we are and there's a population base supporting the game that is larger than Europe and South America combined. Also, as for a global audience of 50 million. I think you'll find last year's matches involving the Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup often exceeded that, and with Super Rugby now taking place across almost every time zone in the world now, the global audience for that is getting to be a bit of a big deal.
Chopper
Guest
jb under Gallop's "fish where the big fish are" narrative, surely Perth must be seriously looked at for a second team? Probably not immediately but a derby in the west would surely lift the A League over there and with so many good players produced by the likes of Joondalup there would be enough talent for a second team.
Chopper
Guest
mattq a good insightful suggestion.
jamesb
Guest
JB Also Perths population has grown since 1999/2000. At the time, it was around 1.4 million. Today, Perth's population is around 2 million. So Perth is a growing market, which could only help Glory.
Midfielder
Guest
Actually has always had an interest in the game he followed Football long before he followed league. Before he became a sports admin his game was cricket ... many thought he would fail in League when he started because he was not or had not been a big league fan... So those saying his background is league should maybe do their homework.... his background is actually cricket [mainly] and Football..
Midfielder
Guest
JB As you would be aware if not for Glory their would be no A-League.. Then FFA attacked its only big and well established club. Nick Tanna left and all hell broke lose. I hope this is not a false dawn as having Glory back as true power house again would be very good for Football.
j binnie
Guest
MID - For comparison Perth in season 99/20 pulled nearly 200,000 to their home games to average out at 12,150 for the 16 home games played.They then played 2 home games in the finals series pulling 2 crowds in excess of 42,000 to each match. As you are probably aware they drew 117,000 to their 13 home games this season averaging just under 9,000 per game. However they are one of the clubs whose home crowds rose quite dramatically in their last 4 or 5 games so if that trend continues they could become one of the powere houses in the HAL. Cheers mate jb
j binnie
Guest
Cadfael Thank you my friend ,someone who looks and can see the "big picture".Cheers jb
j binnie
Guest
Fadida - Let me try and show you what happens with calculating averages. Around week 16 ,80 games played,we get a total of 1,000,000 people having attended/ The average is then calculated by dividing 1,000,000 by 80 = 12,500. now in your example we will assume no one attends the next 5 games the average is now calculated by dividing 1,000,000 by 85 =11,765.You will note the average has only dropped by 735 per game,not a huge drop. Now as you know,I keep records on HAL attendances and there was never a week in the season when "NO ONE" attended games, in fact the lowest attendance to 5 games was in week 11 was from game 56 to 60 when around 58,000 attended giving an average of 11,550.. So you can see boycotts and walk-outs did not really affect the overall figures that much. Hope this helps your thinking. Cheers jb
Evan askew
Guest
What does the user name mean?
Evan askew
Guest
I can see the benefit of a salary cap. But I can also see how it hinders the league as well. Whenever the salary cap is discussed two camps seem to form. One either wants the salary cap as it is or to be completely scrapped altogether. In my opinion a middle course is better for the game whereby it is gradually increased.As that prevents overspending by the clubs but gives the clubs more flexibility to retain better players and build a team
Evan askew
Guest
Garcia is also a wa boy if he is playing next season and not retired
Cadfael
Roar Guru
The A League needs to be a summer sport here because our Asia Federation is a northern hemisphere winter sport. The various club and nation competitions in our federation are all played in the NH winter. For us to play the game as a winter sport, we would be disadvantaging the club and national sides in their competitions. The A League is going ahead min leaps and bounds as it is played when it is.
harry houdini
Roar Rookie
"I suspect another code has planted him here " ??? yep we are all out to get soccer so we put plants on here !! FFS ?
clipper
Guest
They were down after the first 4 weeks