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The Phoenix isn't rising, so let's cut it loose

Ernie Merrick is keeping his and the Newcastle Jets' feet on the ground. (AAP Image/Theron Kirkman)
Roar Guru
21st November, 2016
35

The thing that is really hard sometimes, but can be really amazing and liberating, is giving up on trying to be perfect and beginning the journey to becoming truly good and ordinary and somehow more content.

Growing up, I refused to stop trying until I could juggle the football at least a hundred times without it hitting the ground. With limited success at first, I began to understand that sometimes it can be very difficult to give up trying, especially when it’s one of your loves and you mistakenly think you are good at it.

I know we’ve gone through a lot of pain with the Football Federation Australia and the Asian Football Federation and even FIFA about whether we should have a New Zealand team in the A-League or not, but the Wellington Phoenix are attempting a professional football assignment that isn’t working out too well.

The Phoenix’s predecessors, the New Zealand Knights, were an embarrassment to the A-League, to put it kindly. They finished dead last both seasons and had the lowest average A-League attendances for both those years.

Look, I feel a bit uneasy appearing so unkind to our Kiwi friends so soon after another New Zealand earthquake has damaged the Phoenix’s home stadium, but what does a New Zealand team add to the A-League?

The FFA’s board determined in 2015 that an application from Wellington Phoenix for a ten-year licence extension to compete in the A-League would not be granted.

At the time, CEO David Gallop said, “The application for a ten-year extension to the licence does not meet the requirements we see as fundamental to the future growth of the A-League.”

The FFA currently has half a dozen or more interested parties or applications for a new A-League franchise license. The increased media deal will fatten the FFA calf and lead to an increased share of revenue given back to the A-League clubs. This would potentially create greater financial viability for the clubs, so no surprise in the big increase in applicants.

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A $100 million a year TV deal would underpin the expansion to a 12-team A-League by 2017. It would also more than double the return from the FFA paid back to A-League clubs as a share of gross revenue.

A third Sydney team, based on the south coast (the Sutherland Shire/Wollongong corridor), and a second Brisbane team lead the expansion race and have the business plan and their finances lined up and ready to go.

Free-to-air networks are also circling to join Fox Sports as the A-League and Socceroos’ official broadcaster.

CEO David Gallop has revealed recently that the new deal and firm expansion plans may commence before 2017, with the FFA also not ruling out the early termination of the SBS TV contract. Talks have already opened with free-to-air networks, including Channels Seven and Ten.

Greg O'Rourke David Gallop press conference

“We’re very excited and optimistic about the growing interest that is currently in the A-League broadcast rights,” Gallop said.

I’m kind of excited too about the prospects of some of those new applications and the potential for a couple of them to grow into another Western Sydney Wanderers success story.

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I’m more excited about the Sutherland Sharks and a third Sydney derby team or another Brisbane team or even a South Melbourne one. While, on the other hand, I don’t know if I want to watch another handful of uninspiring, cold and windy Wellington Phoenix football games.

A football team working toward a common goal should be elating and exciting for everyone connected to the game, especially their own football fans. A lack of excitement about achieving what Wellington Phoenix think Wellington Phoenix want to achieve probably means Wellington Phoenix has become used to striving and never arriving.

It’s what New Zealand football teams do best.

We all face obstacles in pursuing our goals, whether they’re collectively professional or just personal. Why did Wellington Phoenix want to pursue their A-League goals to begin with, and has anything changed?

Would the A-League be any worse off without a New Zealand A-League team?

It’s in the A-League’s best interest to terminate the A-League license of Wellington Phoenix for non-performance, replace them with another team and then add another two clubs to take us to 12 teams in the 2017 season. This would also put any other poor performing A-League clubs on notice.

At the same time, removing a New Zealand team from the A-League would increase the FFA’s political standing with FIFA and the AFC. They are very powerful and influential organisations in world football, determining our future in the sport. They have both made it quite clear about where they stand on having a team in New Zealand competing in our domestic national football competition.

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