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Despite adhering to a campaign of positivity around football in Australia in my Roar submissions over the last few months, there have been so many pessimistic sentiments conveyed about the A-League, that I have finally seen the truth.
The spirit within me has been broken and I can’t go on. For too long we have been deluded that the game we love is healthy.
I always saw the A-League as a burgeoning one that will take time to grow, yet also, one that had created a wonderful foothold in a highly competitive market.
I love my team, Sydney FC, and I love the stars of the league. Whether it be Besart Berisha, Jamie Maclaren, Diego Castro, Isaias, Roy Krishna, or the biggest of all, Tim Cahill, I enjoy watching them play.
Seeing my own kids leap off the lounge as they perform, pleases me greatly.
I was under the impression that average crowds of over 12,000 people was terrific, I thought the derbies were epic and starting to cross over some interest into sectors of the community where football has not been a focus in the past.
I thought a new television deal that sees all matches shown live, in high definition and supported by broader coverage outside the actual ninety minutes was an excellent result.
Moreover, I had been impressed with increased memberships that threaten to crack the 150,000 mark in the next few years, a great achievement considering where football had been only a decade or two ago.
Fortunately, I have now seen the light and am ready to accept the fact that things are not as good as what they seem.
The only chance football has is to take some lessons from other codes and sports in order to salvage itself from the wreck that it is becoming.
The following suggestions might just enable football to survive and at some stage in the future, start again in an attempt to get things back on track.
The first thing football needs to do is implement a completely indecipherable video review system to perfect the decision-making process. Rugby league has set such a high standard that it will be hard to match, yet with effort, it can be done.
An assistant referee sitting high in the stands reviewing every goal, potential out ball and questionable challenge might slow the game down a little, yet it would also bring the game into line with league, and considering their television deal, must surely be the way to go.
The players themselves also have a lot to answer for in terms of the poor nature of the league. These well behaved young men with excessive product in their hair need to man up a little and start to set a better standard for the youth, who are so impressionable.
The role model-like behaviour of Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic might be a little too much to ask for our poor quality A-League players, but I am sure, if the FFA get serious about player behaviour, we might be able to at least go some way towards becoming as ambassadorial as other codes.
It would be too much to expect any of the boys to take on Todd Carney, Semi Radradra or Sandor Earl-type behaviour immediately. Urinating into your own mouth, drug supply and cowardly attacks on women are not things that can be taught that simply, yet the players need to realise that unless they improve, they continue to let the A-League down in comparison to other codes.
Some simple and cowardly jumper-punching AFL style and a bit of push and shove league style will add much to the game.
One enormous downside of the A-League is mainstream media exposure. Both Essendon Football Club and the Cronulla Sharks have led the way in terms of providing their respective codes with the coverage they deserve.
Could an A-League player, let alone club, please grace the headlines for at least a day or two with a drug scandal looming? This is an integral part of the development of the code and an obvious reason why other sports look at football in such a disrespectful manner.
Without those headlines, media will reaffirm their focus on flares and a small skirmish in section thirty six at Allianz Stadium the next time the Sydney Derby rolls around. The A-League needs to think big and start to play with the ‘big boys’.
Rugby union crowds further highlight some of the narrow-mindedness of the A-League, whose powers felt that it would be impressive to grow the game through increased attendance, club membership and engagement of youth. Fools.
The ARU’s policy of alienating all bar the Wallabies, their close support team and direct relatives is clearly a better option in terms of signing broadcast deals, attracting corporate dollars and growing the game in the long term.
This absurd focus on getting bums on seats, bringing kids through the gates and slowly but surely building a brand has been a fundamental mistake and one which will eventually be exposed for what it really is.
What football needs right now are some media hungry firebrands to spark up the game. Forget this focus on quality pitches and the brand of football played.
What football would give now for a Lleyton Hewitt type to call a ref a ‘spastic’ as he did in his final match of the Australian Open earlier this year.
The FFA need to look closely at the winners of the A-League. Not one champion has had their title removed due to dodgy third party arrangements or salary cap rorts. Sure, the Perth Glory had a little dabble at this a few years back, and they should be commended for it, but it was small fry compared to other sports that are leading the way.
The notion of the questionable integrity of the competition is something the A-League needs to attend to immediately.
Perhaps we need to turn our Socceroos team into a dysfunctional mob of bullies who start fights in pubs and threaten to kill people in the midst of battle, like our national cricket team who have excelled in that area over the last decade or so.
No more of this sending them off to battle with a wave, watching them hug their mums and applauding them upon their qualification (fingers crossed), it’s time to bring in some sex scandals that ruin relationships and families.
It’s time for some fallen heroes, let’s call them immortals, to behave like buffoons and promote racial taunts and fruit throwing from the fans, as the boys battle it out on the pitch.
If the A-League are serious about survival, and things are indeed as bad as they seem, then these steps need to be taken immediately.
A friend of mine, who still has hope in the farcical competition that is the A-League, assures me that the dynamics of some other sports aren’t right and that they have intrinsic problems.
He informs me that the FFA should continue in their current direction, knowing that the international love of the sport, the quality men and women who play it and the slow but steady growth that has seen it rise to the top of the participation statistics across the nation, will be enough to keep the game afloat.
I’m not so sure.