They say that a league is only as strong as its weakest team. If you take this A-League season as a facile example, we have a long road ahead – 41 points separates the Premier’s Plate winners Sydney FC and last-placed Newcastle Jets.
If that wasn’t a stat to make you gasp, it’s a 15-point endeavour for the Jets to grasp a sniff of finals football, which as we all know, is an objective that cannot be fulfilled this season.
One way this can be fixed, which will enhance the size and quality of our league, footballing opportunities for our youth stock and provide greater financial benefits for our struggling clubs? Simple. Something that is long overdue.
Expansion.
Now you may be thinking, well… Duh. We’ve wanted that longer than an Incredibles sequel.
The uninviting truth is that it comes at the cost of putting a promotion and relegation system on hold. Ten years? Twenty years? Who knows, but it needs to take a back seat.
It will be the second time in a ten-team competition that three teams have finished this season with less points than matches played, a dismal return for members and paying customers alike. Two of those three teams are our two regional NSW teams, the Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets.
In terms of improving their fledgling financial situation, expansion means more matches, which in turn provides improved deals with sponsors and more membership opportunities. With the new TV deal, the losses of regional and other struggling clubs won’t exactly cease but can at least steady the ship.
These are teams that have had issues on and off the pitch in recent years and the sight of them rapidly tumbling is worrying to say the least.
A promotion and relegation system would spell the demise of both clubs, because it’s financial suicide for the FFA to initiate a second division.
Go ahead and find me a station that is willing to lose ungodly amounts of money for an extended period of time televising second division matches.
If there is no form of outsider’s income, like TV money, besides possible investment, memberships, ticket sales and the logistical norm of the football club’s income, how can these teams survive?
Take the English Premier League as an example.
In 2014-15, Hull City, Queens Park Rangers and Burnley FC were relegated from the top flight. At the conclusion of the following season in the Championship, Hull City finished first and made only a loss of £5 million, QPR an £11 million loss, and Burnley took the brunt, losing £21 million.
This is despite Hull and Burnley getting promoted once again.
Here you can obviously see the effect of TV money, but also the detrimental result relegation has. Scale that down to the A-League clubs’ already minuscule financial returns, and it’s a scary thought, isn’t it?
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I am excited about a second tier being formed and the best way to go about it is by taking it one step at a time and introducing the second division and familiarising it alongside the current A-League format.
This is already being attempted, after representatives of almost 100 National Premier League clubs from around Australia met in Melbourne late in March to discuss a second tier.
As reported in The Australian, “the recently formed Association of Australian Football Clubs announced it has set into motion plans to formulate a model for a second-tier competition to be introduced by the 2018-19 season.”
This shows determination and drive that has been missing of late, as well as a willingness to implement a second division that is logistically feasible and runs smoothly. This means that a proper promotion and relegation system can be implemented down the road with reduced risk.
However, the FFA must show some gall to step up and truly govern the game with authority. After all, they are the governing body and anything that runs without their stamp of approval will cause waves.
Do we really want to see our clubs put in jeopardy or, in the worst-case scenario, see them vanish? Promotion and relegation isn’t worth clubs themselves. Imagine the impact it has on players, staff, and especially fans.
Let’s take a deep breath and focus on what will keep this league together, while also progressing at a faster pace: expansion and a second division.
pauly
Guest
Better still, such people should stick to the 6 week BBL and AFLW while the REST of us look forward to the finals!
pauly
Guest
Ease up Rainbird, you obviously have a rose-coloured view of Australia in world sport. The Commonwealth Games are only one year away!
punter
Guest
With the Masters over I might noticed.
j binnie
Guest
spruce moose- You can add as many teams as you like to what is essentially a 1 state based game but what you cannot do is affect the standing of AFL in what could be termed a "world game". That is the limitation , nobody else plays the game. That is a fact of life,has been for at least 150 years,so is unlikely to change in the near future. By the way this is not a criticism of the game it is simply a fact of life. Cheers jb.
j binnie
Guest
Waz- This whole subject is fraught with danger for it poses a question,that being,if the rules were changed how many of our HAL teams would be totally peopled by players sourced from overseas. At the moment there is a very strong argument that the really talented players in our teams are those who have been "imported" and such is the nature of those running our top teams there is little to suggest,that in the eternal chase for success,if the existing barriers were removed,we would certainly improve our standard, but at what cost to the supposed pathway the league is supposed to represent for our young hopefuls coming through the ranks. jb
Chris
Guest
Spruce you really need to stop brining AFL into an argument/discussion about football or other global sports. Frankly its just quite embarrassing.
Jeff Dustby
Guest
I love you blinkered head in the sand enthusiasm
Jeff Dustby
Guest
You could be used to our people to sleep
Jeff Dustby
Guest
Quite possibly the most boring man in the world
Dimethoate
Guest
The A league is lacking narrative. Forcing teams to play for 26 weeks then allowing half to make finals is a joke. 1) Showcase premium events/games with your free to air television partner. Including finals live and in high definition. 2) Reduce to amount of teams playing finals football to a ratio that reflects the length of the regular season. 3) Promote and televise the Asian Champions League. Every fan is looking for the next challenge. Aspire to reach another level.
spruce moose
Guest
How about next time you just let them comment instead of regurgitating their thoughts?
MarkfromCroydon
Roar Pro
The quality of play in the league is totally not important for it's financial viability. Hardcore fans such as myself will still go to watch Victory every week regardless of the overall standard. It's already a pretty good quality league, and improving the quality will not attract Eurosnobs as they won't come no matter what you do. For the average casual fan who follows other sports more than football, they mostly wouldn't know how to tell a high quality match from a low quality match, so improving won't quality won't generate more interest from them. The main thing we need to do is build hype and emotional attachments to the teams. Expanding the league needs to focus on the colours, names, geographic factors, background stories, personalities and all the fluff that any modern entertainment business focusses on to sell their product.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
We definitely need expansion. I would love to get to 16 teams in the A-league but would settle for 14. We also need to have promotion/relegation. The main problem we have is that the longer we delay the harder it becomes to implement. This is because every time you have a new tv deal money goes to A-league clubs rather than being filtered down to a 2nd tier, the gap between the two tiers only becomes larger. So when someone tells you that we are not ready for a 2nd tier it means we wont be ready in the future either when it becomes way too late.
Swampy
Guest
That's actually a silly thing to say. We need to convert more casual fans to zealots. Comments like that only serve to alienate. If we want an expanded league and promo/relegation it can only happen with expanding the supporter base which will bring the financial ability to support the concept. As of now that financial support does not exist.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
'Should of'? The phrase is 'should have'. Sorry, but when you take a shot at writers, you should use English in your criticism. You are making a habit of this and it isn't fair.
Nemesis
Guest
Fair enough. You're a hard core committed fan, who wants less ALeague and more time to watch NRL & AFL. Ok then.
Swanny
Guest
Nemesid I play over 35 s Season ticket holder at the jets Go to Mariners home games also Have driven my son to victory game in Melbourne and I go npl games at Edgeworth and even other games as a neutral games in the npl And u r calling me a casual fan I'd say I'm A hardcore fan , just not blinded by the stuff u say
Nemesis
Guest
Clubs want longer season. PFA wants longer season. Fans whose primary sport is football want longer season. So, the only people who don't want longer season are the people who don't follow football as their primary sport in Australia. Let's hope the FFA listens to its major stakeholders & not the casuals.
Waz
Guest
I think the AFL starts fairly soon ...
Waz
Guest
Footballs got to stop listening to non football people. You can see what's happening in other codes as they concentrate on tv viewing in ring fenced competitions and measure success only in the value of media contracts - participation is falling dramatically. We need a Div2 even if it's part time. The only reason it's not getting done is because we are perpetually run by non football people. It's time for change and rid ourselves of people who think like you do - we need people in our code that can figure out what we can do, not tell us what we can't do. Change is coming and it's going to be great for our code, we won't displace the big two but we will find our place