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?
Football is the Best
Guest
I think the A League is a good ,solid professional football league now. I love observing pre-season and watching how most of the clubs strengthen their squads, infrastructure and overall professionalism a peg above the previous season. It's now clearly going in the right direction. La Liga it certainly aint, but I do enjoy watching it much more than 5 years ago.
Football is the Best
Guest
Timmy normally uses Football as do most nations of the world. He just occasionally uses soccer for the boguns ;-)
Football is the Best
Guest
Don't dilute the obvious success of the Derbies. Keep expansion strategy simple and create new 2 team city derbies where the population base is large enough to support it. The next obvious choice being Brisbane. This would also help strengthen Roar in the same way Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory benefitted. There is one isolated exception I would make. Wollongong has the infrastructure and football grassroots to succeed if handled correctly.
Football is the Best
Guest
Expansion should follow a simple formula. Don't spoil the broth of the existing "Derbies" which have become awesome viewing spectacles. Create new derbies in the next biggest population centres of sufficient size, Brisbane being the foremost choice. In Sydney I believe it's Derby has as much to do with increased membership at Syd FC as the much vaunted Del Piero legacy. I would make one exception to the Derby strategy. Wollongong has the football playing base, infrastructure and proximity to Sydney to make it economically viable if handled correctly.
Football is the Best
Guest
Here's my take. No codes that handle the ball primarily with their hands have a right to the name. But I will permit you to utilize Handball in the name There is only one Football
Football is the Best
Guest
On the contrary, expansion has to occur to grow the game professionally and provide added development pathways for our burgeoning junior talent. That next phase of expansion is upon us now with the new TV deal looming. I don't believe most of the clubs suggested should be considered accept possibly Sth Melbourne. Priority should be given to a 2nd Brisbane team which would bolster football greatly in QLD with their own derby. After that Wollongong...a true football region with great faciilties. Both should be phased in over the next 3 years. With 12 teams the A League will look more attractive to Broadcasters
Sharks Fan
Roar Rookie
Personally, I don't agree with the idea of A-League or NPL clubs associating themselves with larger European clubs. It instantly decreases the A-League or NPL club's potential of gaining new fans. For instance, would someone who supports Everton in the Premiere League, really want to support a Liverpool FC in the A-League? I don't think so. Just as a side note, thanks for using my upload in your article. :)
Agent11
Guest
Except NRL has low attendance and high ratings, much higher than AFL and A League in Sydney. It is odd how Swans are so popular and yet people just dont want to watch them on TV, like it must be really boring to watch unless you are their in person.
Nemesis
Guest
It's got nothing to you with your denigrating the A-League. Your opinion is your opinion, it doesn't count for anything more than my opinion. I was simply astonished to find someone had taken this article so literally they took the time and effort to itemised each point and refute it.
CG2430
Guest
Brainstorm they may, but no business publishes every poorly conceived idea it ever has. Perhaps you're just smarting about me denigrating the quality of the A-League. I watch a lot of the A-League and a lot of Spanish and European continental competitions - the difference is stark. In any event, the results at AFC and Club World Cup levels speak for themselves. None of this means I don't like the A-League or resent its growth - it's just being realistic.
CG2430
Guest
Sounds reasonable. I refer to this football as 'association football' on the other boards.
Sydneysider
Guest
not that it makes any difference because it's probably the same for A-League clubs, but I found this article from back in May 2014. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-membership-the-real-figures-for-your-club-20140506-zr5tt.html Looking at the Swans figures from there, they look like they have a decent sized % of home game memberships. Conversely, GWS have a decent sized % of "reduced game" memberships ie. Canberra only games. Doesn't mean much in the greater context of things, but the AFL also count reduced game memberships. Not sure what the Wanderers do but in a smaller stadium with limited capacity, I would guess that to obtain a membership with the Wanderers the club would be looking to fill the "Full season" membership seats first, so I'd believe the Wanderers figures moreso than the GWS Giants.
clipper
Guest
Post hoc - WSW usually are capped at 18k due to stadium constraints, so we won't know until the new stadium the true membership numbers, but they, too have 5 and 3 game options, similar to the Swans - are you positive these aren't counted?
Casper
Guest
Regardless of how many members they have, the Swans are averaging over 30k again this year. More than SFC and WSW combined.
Post hoc
Guest
But what does AFL Count as Members? I know Wanderers only count season ticket holders. If the two sydney teams have 50,000 season ticket holders then I just ran the 100m in 8 flat.
clipper
Guest
Here's my take on this debate - when on the 'Football' tab, out of deference, posters should always refer to the game as Football. When on other tabs, it's up to the poster, but in general - in a state with a clear, dominant code, that code should have the right to be referred to as football, hence Australian Football in WA, VIC, etc.In states like NSW where there is no clear dominant code you should refer to each as league, Rugby, Soccer, AFL (their marketing) so as not to cause confusion, although the increase in Soccer in Sydney will soon justify the use of Football.
clipper
Guest
Post hoc - you may have a point with Canberra and South Melbourne fans - taking all that into consideration, there would still be well over 50k Sydney based members - after all the Swans average is miles ahead of any Sydney NRL team. The other factor, of course, is that many teams have interstate members.
Post hoc
Guest
ummm, the AFL comments are usually posted by AFL people coming on here, so your version of why you are here doesn't really make sense does it. The 70,000 is a furphy, sorry, it is made up of people from the ACT for a start which is not Sydney, a considerable number of Swans members are from South Melbourne, again not part of Sydney, and you guys count members that have not paid to attend matches as members. So like I said that 70,000 Sydney members is a lie.
Paul
Guest
To include FIFA Windows and helping ACL teams it should. I was not counting the post-season cup
RBBAnonymous
Guest
Get over yourselves with this idea that the A-league needs a team from every major city. It doesn't.