Hopefully I can do this topic of players becoming fans of the A-League justice, as it’s the single biggest issue we have in football in Australia.
My approach is to briefly explain the issue including the Australian sporting environment, add some obstacles, explain what research and other things have been done and what is missing.
In 2014, the FFA put numbers to what we all in our hearts already knew, that the playing base has a conversion rate of 18 per cent compared to an average across the other codes of 86 per cent.
The degree is both disheartening and certainly an opportunity to grow.
While this represents an opportunity, it does also scream out ‘why so low?’. The answer is difficult to accept in that football’s support base is not what we think or want.
We have all been at training or at a Saturday match when what happened at the NRL or AFL the night before or the next day is what is being talked about.
Giving FFA credit, they did the research and published the figures without fear. FFA went further and put forward their vision on what could be, and a plan of how to get there.
In the way are the NRL, AFL and cricket. Any new player, as is the A-League trying to break into an existing market is difficult. We should be under no illusions that the Australia’s sporting market is finite and relatively small, with many fans rabidly addicted to their codes.
To break in with a fraction of the budget and a fraction of the media and little tradition is difficult. Marketing experts will tell you a challenging product messaging must be consistent, ongoing and simple.
FFA have been very disciplined and strategic, with key simple messages; ‘Old Soccer is New Football’, ‘We Are Football’. The Socceroos represent Australia better than any other code on the international stage.
FFA’s report from 2014 concluded that to grow football, it needs to capture more of what’s referred to as mainstream Australia.
I would add to this that FFA have recognised the need in going mainstream not to distance itself too far from football’s traditions.
FFA identified a number of measures and to become more acceptable in the eyes of the mainstream, including getting better media, improving technical aspects across the board including players, coaches, and referees, and getting greater access an acceptance in schools Australia-wide. All of these have largely been achieved and have helped build a number of foundation stones.
The missing link in the foundation stone is a free-to-air broadcaster partner to help grow the game.
If we are fair, much more needs to be done. FFA have largely ignored the grassroots.
I wrote way back at Season 2 that Sydney FC had a board that could run BHP or Westpac but struggle with the local park canteen.
I see an extension of this in both the current board and the direction they have sent their management team on. Additionally the same would apply to many A-League team owners.
From my point of view the lack of understanding at park team level needs to be addressed. My hope is the new A-League head coming from an association background has this knowledge.
I have often bemoaned the fact that maybe as little as four to five thousand people could turn football around. If we assume 1,000 teams with each team having a committee of six, those committee members have an ability to influence their players.
In the main, these committee members are already football folk, and by and large would be seen as mainstream.
FFA and the A-League clubs need to give something to the park teams or many things to generate support. Essentially having park team committees promote the A-League to their players.
Some suggestions, let park teams sell tickets and memberships, and give then say 10 per cent of the ticket price as commission. Give all committee members a general admission pass to all A-League matches.
Promotion and relegation, B-League and all other recent calls need football to have a far greater and broader support base than it currently does, our TV ratings are low by comparison to the other major codes.
The answer lies in the player base and their broader family connections. We can get access to the playing group via the park team committees and I have never seen any attempt to do so.
Over to The Roar and your thoughts on how to grow the base, and do you think I am right.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Sydney people aren't as fussed about memberships as MeIbourne RuIes people. I've been a loyal SFC fan since day one and often sit with my mates in the Cove. I've never bought a membership because of work and family commitments, I can't get to every game, so my seat would be empty. I also figure SFC will get more money if I buy individual tickets and helps them to be more profitable.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Unlike FIFA, the FFA are having frank, honest and open discussion with stakeholders about their issues and concerns. There are still some sticking points, but there was also a lot of agreement and positive feedback about the way football is headed. The brutal commercial reality is that some of what they are asking for is not commercially viable at this point in time. It doesn't mean that it will never happen, just not right now. Australian football is in a consolidation phase and at the end of the day the clubs and owners are the ones with the greatest responsibility to make their A-League club and operations commercially viable.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
FANTASTIC NEWS http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2016/10/05/socceroos-secure-free-air-deal “This is a great result for football, tremendous news for Socceroos fans around Australia. We welcome the undeniable sports broadcast expertise of Channel Nine on board for what will be two massive games for the Socceroos in the road to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.” Adds spice to the battle for the FFA’s TV rights negotiations.
Midfielder
Guest
Its were FFA have failed and just been so far removed from were they can grow. My comments from Hal 2 are as true today as they were then FFA have a board that could run BHP, Westpac or any major corporation ... but would struggle to organise the local park canteen roster ... this is were we can grow the support base Football needs in Australia to reach its potential.
Waz
Guest
This is an issue at my junior club where we have 1,600 players U16; however at training what is being discussed is NOT another code but FIFA16 or a European league!
AZ_RBB
Guest
Hopefully a few more are converted on Saturday night. With 70k expected and the two clubs only having 30k members combined, there will likely be over 40k attendees who are casual fans or previously not interested. If a Sydney Derby doesn't convert you then I don't know what will.
Midfielder
Guest
RBB I have a slight difference with you, not so much the growing to 12 or 14 teams .... IMO ASAP... More where you talked of the player base.... what I have tried to illustrate is we or IMO FFA and the A-League clubs have not done this well and its the one area IMO if approached can greatly add to many aspects of Football.... As I have said the committee members of the park teams IMO hold the key to connecting the player base to the professional level especially if we give them a FTA commercial station to sent people to.
pete4
Guest
Saw the Yoshi with Melb City promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GzdmdNL3rk&list=FLDJ9Cf4T5kb4FA-ACHrxNfw&index=4
theBird
Guest
I already have a team . No need to replace it with a franchise. #OneLoveOneClub
Stevo
Roar Rookie
MF, the Smithies article mentions that the FFA hired The Gemba Group to conduct research 'market' research. Quoting Smithies from the article: "The research by the Gemba Group reveals that using so-called “asset power” - a marketing equation that measures an athlete or celebrity’s awareness and likeability in the eyes of Australian consumers - Cahill has the highest rating of all football athletes, well ahead of Ronaldo and Messi. Cahill scores some 50 per cent more than Ronaldo and 90 per cent higher than Messi." So it's pretty clear that the break through FFA hope to get with the younger audience is to use Cahill in advertising. It's no accident that Cahill is well known to the younger audience through the Weet-bix Kids ads. For me the key is Cahill + wide exposure through commercial FTA channels. FFA know that and that's why they are keen to move some HAL games to one of the major FTA channels. Foxtel were great partners initially but we need a wider reach.
TK
Guest
I dont buy the tv channel argument for u/15s. My son is in that age group and he shows little brand awareness for the channel he is watching. He just cycles through the list of shows on the tv screen using the remote with no regard for what channel it is provided on. He has however been to half a dozen a league games and recognised an old roar shirt being worn by a bloke on the sunshine coast on the weekend when he walked past and commented " dad there's a roar supporter " - nothing like getting ppl to the game to build the brand recogition.
Realfootball
Guest
MF, I think the picture is more holistic, and the influence on a household of FTA exposure on a major network should not be underestimated as a driver of interest. Again, I return to the issue of visibility. It's not just FTA tv; the marketing and PR dimension is arguably at least half of the equation, and it simply isn't there. In the end we come back to the inescapable fact that this is a process of cultural change, and cultural change is incremental and occurs over extended time frames - but there is no doubt the process can be accelerated by targeted promotion, and that is completely absent from the landscape.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Realfootball the stat stands out for me because it is precisely this age group who are relying less and less on FTA TV (or any form of TV for that matter), so the extent of FTA exposure or otherwise matters least with this age group. We also know this age group basically lives online, so I would have expected that the U15s would have a high conversion rate than older segments (by conversion, I mean following an A-League team).
SVB
Guest
"Nemesis I don’t think the individual players being known is the issue but I think that the competition being in the media is." I agree with this. I couldn't name you one Sydney Swans player, but I know they are a pretty strong brand in Sydney. If I was going to watch an AFL game, I would watch them. There is a reason why MV and WSW have such high memberships. There is a buzz about the clubs, and not the individual players themselves (you learn the players names later on). This buzz can be created in many ways, albeit one of them is players visiting schools. In a way it is a failure of the clubs themselves not being able to promote the club. But a lot is dependent on the market you are in too. Sometimes something will just not sell that well, no matter how hard you try.
marron
Guest
Well we haven't had the ability to get the kids on free because of the stadium constraints (although plenty have cycled through the half time games I'm sure). Time to make hay now we have the room!
Nemesis
Guest
Why wouldn't you expect that result? The research does not say the parents of the u15 players are watching A-League. What the research says is: 1) a bit over 50% of those who participate in Football follow A-League 2) less than 42% of those u15 who participate in Football follow A-League Adults can make their own consumer choices and they'll go to whatever entertainment they choose. Kids u15 won't have that freedom of choice.
marron
Guest
Thing I don't quite get though is that the first club is usually through it being your local club. One that you can properly interact with by attending. So with the a-league - yes it might be adopted, but in essence for people like that, it's the same deal - attending. Attendance makes the heart grow fonder if you will. And if someone follows a club overseas who has never attended - or has once or twice - well, that actually should be easier to "break".
Kaks
Roar Guru
Marron, I agree with this - "although it’s important not to devalue the product through freebies too)." - but it wouldnt hurt if clubs did this once in a while. I know that WSW do a lot of work within the community, but I feel like a lot of the work isn't worthwhile. There are a lot of fan open days where players sign kids shirts and hats, but it's usually kids who are already fans who attend. It's time to branch out a bit with the younger kids.
Kaks
Roar Guru
We're talking about kids here. I didnt know a single player at the time but I didnt care because I knew that they were professional sportsman who were stars in their own right, even if I had no idea who they were. I was starstruck because I knew these guys were on TV weekly. Of course a Tim Cahill would do a lot more than say a Steven Lustica, but that doesnt mean a Steven Lustica cant get kids interested in going to games if he spends some time with them.
Realfootball
Guest
Conversely, MF, that is exactly what I would have expected. SBS is invisible to this age group. In effect, there is no FTA presence, no marketing spend. No visibility. That will impact on the under 15s disproportionately. Untll FFA comes up with a realistic marketing and PR spend and FTA on a major commercial network, nothing will happen except in the smallest increments. It is ironic that the Lowys of all people should understand that you have to spend money to make money (God knows I'm doing that at the moment), and yet under their watch nothing has been invested in growing the game.