There have been a lot of comparisons made between USA and Australian soccer in recent weeks, but it feels like the only ones not picking up on them are the FFA.
Right now, the MLS is a fish swimming in the ocean full of sharks that is the US sporting landscape, but doing surprisingly well.
Since 2015, the MLS has announced the six expansion teams: New York FC and Orlando City entered the league in 2015, Minnesota and Atlanta will join later this year, and Miami and a second Los Angeles team are slated in the future.
The expansions plan now sees teams dotting the nation, including some smaller markets.
Contrast that to the FFA, who have been twiddling their thumbs about expansion since 2012.
Whether or not they are gun shy after their first expansion bids failed is a question for another day, but we must ask ourselves if ‘expanding’ into places that already have two teams that aren’t all selling out stadiums is even a good idea.
Two of the most recent and loud applications have been the south of Sydney, fronted by football media powerhouses Les Murray and Craig Foster, and South Melbourne, an iconic NSL club with a cult following.
The south of Sydney is a footballing heartland and South Melbourne is one of the strongest non-A-League clubs, with a rich history. They both merit consideration for expansion.
Just not right now.
Australian football is at a crossroads. The Asian Cup victory by the Socceroos and the Asian Champions League win by Western Sydney were squandered and we now see two cities who already have two teams jumping up and down, demanding a third.
But football in this nation won’t thrive if we try to force two more teams into areas where football participation is high. Does the FFA really want to further dilute some of the nation’s biggest markets by ramming two more teams down our throats?
There are so many markets available where teams would not just thrive, they could be the biggest show in town.
Canberra, who already has a women’s team, could easily set up a male side with help from a state-of-the-art training facility known as the AIS. Or the FFA could beat the AFL into its own heartland by setting up a team in Tasmania.
Even if the FFA want A-League teams near Sydney or Melbourne, there are better options.
Geelong could get their own team and open up a large portion of regional Victoria to a much better option for professional soccer than elongated road trips to games.
And in New South Wales, the Wollongong Wolves would give the south coast back its own footballing identity, rather than hoping they jump onboard the south Sydney bandwagon.
Yes, the proposed southern Sydney franchise has said they would possibly play out of WIN Stadium at Wollongong while a purpose built stadium is constructed, but it is still Sydney.
There are cities and organisations pleading with the FFA to bring the beautiful game to their towns, but cutting your current teams off at the knees to introduce new franchises into already crowded sporting markets is economic suicide.
The A-League needs new markets to survive, not trying to salvage every last scrap from this nation’s two biggest cities.
Swanny
Guest
I've had to put up with crap Newcastle teams for most of the last 40 years
Swanny
Guest
Field hockey is huge in holland and rugby union then football is bigger in France . Germany is a football nation .
Griffo
Roar Guru
pacman - just on your last paragraph on finding players and overall quality: My thinking on this is that I don't think there will be a problem, at least not as large a one as some may suggest. Given the Gold Coast United example where the likes of Josh Brilliante and Golgol Mebrahtu were brought in among others, while the likes of Jason Culina came home, and how well the team was playing in the first season that Aurelio Vidmar was quoted after his Adelaide side fell at home to GCU that at that point there was just 'Gold Coast and daylight' when regarding the teams overall in the A-League. While I'm concerned overall about youth development here right now, it's more to do with creating that critical mass of players where more of the most outstanding players will emerge in numbers and skill, because there is a greater spread than what otherwise might be. In part this, if there is a larger problem than there appears, will in no part be driven by there being more professional spots available due to expansion. I would make it even more of a requirement of bids that demonstrate youth development is in place now and can be expanded, rather than empty promises of academies that may not arise initially when economic belt tightening of new clubs can occur. (And the first five years of the A-League were also suppose to see development of 'academies' but obviously never did for the most part). If we expanded by ten teams overnight, to start next year, that would be a problem. Two to four teams in two years time I don't think will see coaching staff struggle. At that point it comes down to the quality of players coaching staff choose, and the backing (financial, scouting or otherwise) they may have in terms of baseline player standards they feel they have available due to said backing.
Xavier Smith
Roar Rookie
Not sure of the three regions proposed by southern Sydney - it seems like a bid by the Shire to ward off competition from Wollongong. A Shire team in itself would work well. South Melbourne would also work very well, though hopefully the ethnic issues of the NSL can be left behind should it join. I'd be concerned about the impact it would have on City. I'm sure right now there are South Melbourne fans who support either Victory or City, and would support a club they have most likely supported well before the establishment of the A-League. Victory will be fine, City would only continue at the pleasure of the City Football Group. One thought though - nothing will guarantee an AFL team in Tasmania more quickly than an A-League side down there, so here's hoping FFA look beyond Melbourne and Sydney!
Midfielder
Guest
Agree and you cannot discuss issues and FFA get the blame for all issues no matter what or how silly.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Some fans? It feels like the majority of A-league fans are like this. It's infuriating and makes me uncharacteristically sympathise with the FFA
punter
Guest
This is not even funny AZ. I was listening to a podcast today & one gentlemen was lamenting how come FFA didn't contact this huge corporate company call Red Bull, who wanted to buy a A-League club. Then he critiicised this expansion bid, with a huge corporate company's backing, why, because it wasn't where he wanted it. You can't win with some fans.
steve
Guest
To be fair, we do have a grassroots history in the game, we have good grassroots numbers. The problem is the very large majority of grassroots supporters aren't engaging, don't engage or wont engage with the A League. As far as promotion/ relegation is concerned, its a very long way off, if it happens at all. Australian football is in a unique position where we are the 4th football code in this country where sponsorships, money, media interest, TV interest are very much focused on other codes of football/ other sports.. I simply don't see the AFC, nor FIFA for that matter, enforcing a pro/ rel system on the FFA/ A League. Pro/ Rel is a sound idea in principle, but I don't believe it can work here.
pacman
Guest
Sorry Mathew, but comparing MLS with the A-League is not really a good idea. Australia is 1.2% larger in area than the contiguous USA. But, and here is the rub, the contiguous USA has 310 million people whilst we in Oz have 25 million. This is a ratio of 12:1. As another poster has observed, the USA has 30 cities with larger populations than Brisbane. One can only reasonably conclude that what works in USA is unlikely to work here. The economies of scale in the USA simply do not exist in this country, and are unlikely to ever do so. That aside, there have been some interesting comments posted. If expansion of the A-League proceeds, I would hope that support for any existing team is not diluted, and that the overall playing standards of the League are not diluted. Expanding into regional areas would meet the first hope, but what about playing standards? For two new teams, can we find an additional 50 players without diluting the playing quality?
Jeff Williamson
Roar Pro
Talk about axing the Brumbies is all about the shortcomings of the Super Rugby format and nothing to do with the Brumbies or Canberra. Australian rugby has been asked to consider reducing to four Australian teams. If a team goes, it could be Rebels, Brumbies, or Force.
Ken Spacey
Guest
A lot of the merits or negatives of new teams are how they directly impact on the other codes and their plans. Can anyone from the east give an overview of the real state of health of the Super Rugby teams? The FFA had to get to Western Sydney before AFL and they did to good effect. Going to Geelong where their main sporting interest is a strong AFL club is fraught with danger but Canberra and Tassie put it on the AFL to put up or shut up and possibly spend a fortune on new franchises they are not deeply committed to. Despite all the hype the AFL are quite reactionary to what "Football" does and the fast tracking of GWS and the women's league are examples of that. As much as all codes fight for athletic talent, the AFL have several key player nurseries that would be undermined by any other sport starting a proper franchise team there. Football has the world to recruit from but a downturn in Tassie or NT as player factories would really hit them hard. The dinosaurs were good but the smaller, more adaptable mammals own the land now .
Square Nostrils
Guest
Even if more teams means a drop, not the end of the world as long as some teams are quality. In established football leagues, the lesser quality teams drop down to their natural level by P/R. Already we see in the A-League even with a salary cap , a natural order developing. Show me a Football League with all teams on par and I'll show you a day when Donald Trump doesn't sign an "Excecutive order".
Josh Barton
Roar Pro
I have to agree with Nemesis here. The quality of the league is not as bad as people imagine, especially if you watch a lot of it. If you compare the quality of football to say some of the lower teams in La Liga, or the English Championship, the A-league certainly holds it own. I don't think that by increasing the league the quality would change very much, if at all. I do agree however the FFA policy of trying to get more derbies is not a great strategy, especially when they are trying to manufacture the derbies out of nothing, particularly in Sydney, where the presence of more derbies has the potential to negatively affect the existing one by diluting the passion and dividing existing supporter bases.
Nemesis
Guest
"the quality is horrendous for 50% of the matches." I watch a fair bit of ALeague. There are 10 clubs. Which 5 clubs play horrendous football? We've had 105 matches this season. Which of the 50% would you define as horrendous? Let's take last weekend which matches were horrendous? Thank heaven you won't ever be administering the ALeague. We need at least 14 teams in the competition and 14-16 teams in the 2nd Division. Don't like it? Don't watch. BBL for 6 weeks or AFLW for 6 weeks should keep you occupied.
pauly
Guest
Shifting demographic perhaps?
MoriartyExp
Roar Rookie
FFA got it wrong with Melbourne City. City should have been either South Melbourne or Geelong. I don't agree with expansion, people who do, watch every A League game during a weekend, the quality is horrendous for 50% of the matches. Diluting the league by adding an additional two teams would increase the bad games by 25% Wellington has to go, that's a failed project. Sell Wellington to Red Bull, tell them you are going to Tasmania and let Tasmania embrace their team! Sydney having three teams is not worthy of a conversation, I go to all FC games and we are first at the moment and averaging at best 12,500 people to our games. Wanderers at Spotless have really embraced the stadium name as their home games are spotless! How can adding another Sydney team be beneficial? A second Brisbane team doesn't work either, build the Roar up! Get them a solid loyal fan base, get huge crowds in before you even think about a second rival team. The FFA seems to be so concerned with having "derbies", three Sydney derbies, three big blues, all they are doing in diluting the derbies and people say "another derby already?" Amalgamate the Jets & Mariners, use their spare spot for Canberra. Sydney FC, WSW, Jets/Mariners, Roar, Victory, City (shouldbe in Geelong or South Melbourne), Perth, Adelaide, Tasmania & Canberra would be my league.
League table speaks
Guest
Fifa listens to the grassroots also and the overwhelmingly majority of them are excluded from the closed, no pro rel model.
j binnie
Guest
Fadida - Have you ever wondered why it is that two countries,devastated,if not flattened completely,during World War 2, have made the impressions they have in world football in those following 70 years. We all know of the German discipline and hard work ethic, but Holland ,where professional football only started in 1957 are the "pearl in the oyster" so to speak ,for in the ensuing 17 years (remember our HAL is now 12 years old), they had progressed from semi-pro (NSL) football to a World Cup final in 1974, playing against --------yes you got it, Germany. How was this done?. Popular to the common impression, no one waved a magic wand and created super players overnight, but there is a vast amount of evidence that they researched, and hurriedly adopted, the knowledge that had been gleaned by a coaching movement in Europe ,(rather quaintly described in the self proclaimed "home of football" England) as "Continental Football". Now the rather strange thing is that this "Continental Football" can be traced back to the efforts of a Jimmy Hogan, an English coach,who, ostracised by the powers in English football took his ideas to Sweden,Austria and Hungary in which countries the coaching revolution began. It is a measure of how he succeeded, when the manager of the Mighty Magyars,the Hungary team of the early 1950's ,Gusztav Sebes, stated that, "When our football history is told his name, (Jimmy Hogan), should be written in gold letters. Have we a "Jimmy Hogan" in Australian football??? .I'll leave that to you. Cheers jb.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Australian football fans "We want expansion! We want expansion!" *serious expansion bids come through* "No! Go away"
vin
Guest
cr*p games??? look at the current state of the league, i've had to put up with Newcastle vs sydney fc twice in 3 weeks, both at Newcastle this season. same games every second week. its bad enough we have to put up with a kiwi team in our league taken a place from an australian team