- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Recent news stories have reported that the Cronulla Sharks are open to owning an A-League franchise based at Shark Park. This has again raised discussion about A-League expansion.
Perhaps you could also add another team in Sydney’s west and two more in Melbourne south of the Yarra to take the league to 14. This would create 12 derbies in each city and 24 between them throughout the season, plus matches with Central Coast and Newcastle in NSW.
But where should these new teams be based?
I think that Liverpool, South Melbourne and Dandenong should form a “strategic power bloc” to collectively lobby to gain access to the A-League.
Liverpool has already expressed an interest in forming an association with its namesake in the EPL and can play its matches at Campbelltown Stadium. A new plan for the proposed 35,000-54,000-seat Parklands Arena can be built, possibly with the help of federal assistance as part of a new ‘city plan’ like Townsville.
It also makes sense to put a team there now before new residents move into the area.
South Melbourne could form a similar association with Manchester United and could go back to using their old name of South Melbourne United. South Melbourne was locked out of the A-League previously when they attempted to join by buying out Melbourne Heart. But their aspirations were frustrated when they were beaten by another bid from Manchester City, so there’s already a genuine rivalry there with Melbourne City that’s just waiting to be tapped.
Dandenong Thunder meanwhile could form an association with the Italian powerhouse AC Milan who they already share the design of their uniform with to become AC Dandenong.
Dandenong is a centrally located hub in Melbourne’s south east and would have a large support base mostly to it self until they start hitting South Melbourne who would be a worthy adversary. It would also set up a red and black clash with the Wanderers.
Meanwhile, a new team in Cronulla will be making a few waves in the east of the harbour city with Sydney FC.
All this change and all these new rivalries will create massive media interest and increased TV ratings which will help with the new TV rights deal significantly. The A-League might even start to raise its profile in Europe with people tuning in to watch the same way as people in England watch the BBL.
If you want to shake things up in the A-League then why not really shake things up?
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.