Football in Australia is blossoming and the eagerness of fans and investors is promising for the future of the A-League.
Passion and corporate support work hand-in-hand when it comes to the success of professional sport. It is vital that the people who provide the passion, the fans, and the people who provide the corporate support, are all on the same page.
My team, the Western Sydney Wanderers, are the perfect example of how to go about building a successful A-League club.
Since their formation in 2012, the Wanderers have almost 19,000 members and numerous sponsors. They have appeared in three grand finals and were the first Aussie club to taste Asian Champions league glory, later making an appearance in the Club World Cup.
The Wanderers had a major head start from the simple fact there was already an established football market desperate for a club to call their own. However, this alone isn’t the reason for its success.
Those who started the Wanderers showed everyone how to engage with fans and make them feel like the most important part of the club right from the beginning.
Before the club even had a name they ventured around the western suburbs of Sydney, from Campbelltown to Penrith and everywhere in between, having community forums so people could have their say on everything about the club.
Fans were asked to come up with suggestions and the most popular ideas were subject to a vote via a fan survey. From this the “Western Sydney Wanderers” were born and now the colours red and black are a major part of the Australian football landscape. What a fantastic way to ensure the fans lay the building blocks.
The club has maintained its connection with the already passionate western Sydney community, running school clinics, raising money for charities and promoting community programs. It has lived up to its name, playing home games in Campbelltown, Penrith, and now Homebush, along with its spiritual home of Parramatta.
The W-League team has played home games at Campbelltown in their first season and now play out of Marconi Stadium with some games at Blacktown. The youth league team has played home games in Campbelltown, Penrith, Blacktown and St Marys. Pre-season games are played in Bankstown, Mt Druitt, Leumeah etc.
See why they’re called the Wanderers?
A major sponsor of the club is Western Sydney University, one of the more recognisable institutions from the golden west.
Coach Tony Popovic is a born and bred westie from Fairfield who started his career with Edensor Park based club Sydney United.
Numerous players for the club have grown up in the west, such as inaugural signing Aaron Mooy, who grew up in Carlingford, and the man who scored the most famous goal in the Wanderers short history, Auburn born Tomi Juric.
The diverse backgrounds of the players perfectly represents the multicultural community that is western Sydney. Go to a Wanderers game and you are likely to see people of many backgrounds.
This is a club for all Westies to be proud of together.
Additionally, established brand names such as NRMA, Visy, Mitsubishi and as of today, AETOS, have all climbed on board.
All of this has made the club a major success on and off-the-field. It is a model example for all A-League clubs to follow, with fans being the heartbeat of the club and the commercial entities providing the lifeblood.
This is relevant to those bidding to join the A-League. All of the potential bidders must engage with the fans right from the start.
Passion for football and tribalism brings in fans who create a market, which in turn, attracts investors and sponsors. A healthy supporter base will carry the club, while a healthy balance sheet will ensure its survival. Passion alone won’t pay the bills, but you won’t get the money without the passion.
The Tasmania bid looks very appealing, with the Tasmanian government throwing its support behind the club, along with proven A-League businessmen, such as former Melbourne Victory shareholders Harry Stamoulis and Robert Belteky. 14,000 registered footballers in the state is also a strong foundation to build from.
South Melbourne’s successful history, along with the fact the club plans to play home games at Lakeside Oval in South Melbourne, means the club has already embedded itself in the community.
Brisbane Strikers and West Adelaide have a long and successful association with Australian football. The Sutherland Shire has nearly 20,000 registered footballers and probably the biggest junior association in the country. In addition to the St George area and the South Coast, we are talking strong numbers for Southern Sydney.
Geelong is a region populated by 235,000 people where football participation has boomed over the past two years growing by nearly 30 per cent. North Queensland has a brand new $250 million rectangular stadium on its way in Townsville which is begging to be put to use when the NRL is in its offseason.
All of these bids have great promise but they must look at the Western Sydney Wanderers model to make sure all the pillars of success are there.
The fans will be there if you include them, the corporate backers will follow.
Janakan
Guest
Boohooo regional teams have no one but themselves to blame for failures. At the end of the day Wanderers have worked hard to build themselves up. Yes they had a ready made market but so did all the inaugaral A League teams but how many of them succeeded? Only Victory have a decent fanbase. North Qld had Robbie Fowler, Gold Coast had Jason Culina, Central Coast had Luis Garcia. Newcastle and Central Coast who are founding members of the A league had a brand new league with a plethora of players available. Newcastle and Gold Coast had rich investors. CCM have been very successful on the field but cant get fans. Stop blaming everyone else
Bruce
Guest
Yeah - designed to succeed with a player market full after the demise of GC and Fury. Shiggy Ono somehow made his way there as well... Now Melbourne city gets the marquee signing to give them a boost outside the cap -shame about regional teams who struggle on scraps...
Roxy
Guest
The Wanderers have the most passionate fans in the league. You always get the feeling at their games the fans feel like the club is theirs. Agree with the author the clubs need to link with the fans early.
NickP
Guest
There are numerous small towns all over the UK living in the shadows of "big" clubs - Take for example Manchester, just look at Wigan, Bury, Bolton, Oldham, Stoke City, Port Vale (the list goes on and on)
Janakan
Guest
Thanks for commenting :) yes Western Sydney definitely had a major advantage due to the sheer population and the history of football in the region. The ethnic background of the population who have football in their blood helped too. The main point of the article though is to attract the fans and make them feel part of the club you need to engage with them, make them feel the club is part of their community. This is especially vital for clubs in smaller markets who don't have the millions to choose from. I don't see any community forums in Geelong and not sure if they are dojng that in Nth Qld or Tassie. I hope they do. The small clubs need to engage with their local community even more than the Wanderers did. Sydney FC were around for 7 years more than Wanderers with a whole City of people to choose from yet they never engaged with the community and thus have less members. The Wanderers would smash them in terms of average crowds if Wanderers had a bigger stadium which they will in coming years. Melb City were always on the back foot after coming in behind victory but also have a state of millions to choose from and I hope they engage with the community more too
Robert
Guest
Exactly the point that was made in the article when it said they had a head start. But you look at Melbourne City and Sydney FC, they dont have a high number of members despite having millions to choose from. Part of this was they didnt engage the fans much at the start. Fans may have voted for the initial name of Melbourne Heart but the club wasnt nearly as engaged to the community as the Wanderers were. Melbourne also had numerous NSL teams which helped Victory but hasnt helped City as much.
Kurt
Guest
mot to mention the number of nsl teams, so the support was already there
DH
Guest
Western Sydney is a population of something like 2 million. Those other locations you mentioned, Geelong is the largest at 235,000, little over one tenth of the size. The mountain to climb to prove enough interest in a Geelong, Townsville or Tasmanian team is huge, probably insurmountable until teams like Newcastle and CCM (larger relative markets) are stable and strong.