Congratulations to the Central Coast Mariners, who not only moved into the top four with a 1-0 win over Perth Glory on Sunday, but did so in front of more than 8,000 fans in Gosford.
The fact that the fixture was brought forward from the original 7pm kick-off to a more palatable 5pm start was a victory for people power.
It was also an indication – however quietly the decision was made – that what’s good for TV ratings is not always good for attendances.
The Mariners deserve praise for working extra hard to try and get fans through the gates, not least by offering entire families entry by purchasing just one $20 ticket, as well as letting immediate family members enter for free if they showed up with a full season-ticket holder.
The Mariners copped a financial loss on the deal, but as chief executive Shaun Mielekamp told the Daily Telegraph, they would have worn a similar loss with the original kick-off time anyway.
And in Daniel De Silva, the 8,115 Mariners fans in attendance got to see a 20-year-old talent who looks increasingly like he deserves to be on the plane to Russia – irrespective of who the Socceroos coach is by the time the World Cup rolls around.
Yet the Mariners clash was a rare bright spark in an otherwise forgettable A-League round.
It didn’t help that the weather was diabolical for three of the fixtures, and Adelaide United and the Newcastle Jets might reasonably have anticipated their largest attendances of the season otherwise.
What’s the excuse at Wellington Phoenix? Just 5,765 fans turned up at Westpac Stadium to watch them capitulate to Melbourne Victory, less than three weeks after 37,000 fans turned up at the same venue for New Zealand’s World Cup playoff against Peru.
It will be interesting to see what FIFA makes of Wellington’s participation in the A-League when they take a closer look at our affairs, especially after New Zealand went close to knocking Peru out of the race for the World Cup finals.
It’s not a question of a team from one country playing in the league of another – successful sides like Monaco, Swansea City and Toronto FC are all testament to that.
But ten years after their foundation, the Phoenix add little by way of metrics, and it’s increasingly difficult to justify their existence when cities like Canberra, Geelong and Wollongong are all crying out for A-League teams.
Will a normalisation committee care about crowd figures? In a highly competitive marketplace where professional teams are forced to fight hard for every dollar, they should.
And A-League clubs who have complained vociferously about being hamstrung by Football Federation Australia’s centralised control had better start thinking up some marketing plans, because promoting the league may soon be in their hands.
At least the football in Round 9 was of a decent standard, and although Sydney FC were more methodical than mellifluous in their win over Adelaide, the rest of the fixtures were all reasonably entertaining affairs.
Brisbane Roar picked Western Sydney’s pockets with a couple of superb goals at a wet ANZ Stadium, while Melbourne City performed a similar smash-and-grab raid on the desperately unlucky Jets.
Melbourne Victory may have kick-started their season with that come-from-behind victory over the Phoenix, while the Mariners have been one of the genuine surprise packages of the season.
A more competitive A-League is a good thing, even if it comes at the expense of a few of the so-called heavyweights.
But what the competition may need – should the FFA be forced to relinquish control – is for fans to stop waiting for perfect footballing conditions and to start turning up in support of their teams.
At the end of the day, the only thing stopping the A-League from getting bigger crowds is the fact that thousands of supposed football fans choose to stay away each weekend.
FFA deserve their share of the blame, but the rest of it lies with us.
Phenom_MV3
Roar Rookie
Well it got to that point when I mentioned the NBL was putting out a better product :P (at this stage - talent pool, popularity in Melb, Adel, Perth - the wildcats are more popular than the Glory etc) I really do wish the A-league well because for a while I loved going to games and I thought the intensity of matches were amazing - going back to the old WSWvSYD derbies. Maybe it might help that Western Sydney Wanderers become strong again, because that did big things for the league's direction
Redondo
Guest
I'm not saying basketball is a bad game, just that Football is less skewed towards particular fixed physical attributes. So Football will always have a wider pool of potentially successful players, and so probably a wider base of players. It's not an absolute thing, just a tendency. If you enjoy playing and watching basketball that's great. I've done both and enjoyed neither. But one question - why are you here on the football tab dumping on the A-League and arguing the virtues of basketball?
Phenom_MV3
Roar Rookie
So you're saying that basketball is not on the list of 'good games' because height as a variable significantly skews the chance of success in the sport? That is a load of nonsense. Short medium and tall players have all had their mark on the sport from a hall of fame perspective. Allen Iverson at 1.82m? Isaiah Thomas at 1.75m? The shorties have to be extremely athletic but I don't see that as bad. Short players and their acceleration, ball handling, speed and better jumpshot making ability are essential. Wings slightly above and below 2m are essential. Big men that are 2.08m and above need to be there for rebounding which supports your point, but again, short, medium and tall people all have a place in that sport as well - maybe not as prevalent as football, but to completely ignore those points above is illogical. By the way, taller players (2m and above), not playing the GK position are much less likely to succeed in certain positions in soccer, especially midfield, because it's all about having greater acceleration, control, and most importantly a lower sense of gravity.
Redondo
Guest
I'm not going to 'jog on'...whatever that means? Actually, I'm still confused about 'butthurt'? I'm guessing you're either American or you've swallowed a culture pill and started talking like some kind of American sub-species. Whatever... Surely 'finals' games are the 'quality' games that separate the wheat from the chaff. A perfect place to look for statistics about the best players. In any case, every single one of the players you are talking about is well above average height. So you just keep confirming my argument. Of course there are lots of variables, but one measure of a good sport/game is that no particular variable skews results or success in one direction. Lionel Messi is an outstanding athlete but he would be extremely unlikely to succeed at basketball. On the other hand, Football is kind to people of all heights. For example, Lionel Messi (short), Marco van Basten (medium) and Peter Crouch (tall) have all played Football at the highest level. There is even a place for the super-tall - in goal. And there are lots more examples like that. Finally, when I say height has a disproportionate effect on success in basketball I'm not saying all tall people are good at basketball. I may have an Apserger's-like tendency to argue with wallies like you but it's truly insulting that you think I'm illogical.
Phenom_MV3
Roar Rookie
The article talks about the history of Finals MVP's. You're going to solely base that statistic on your argument regarding players over >2m? What about the last 8 regular season MVPs? 4 of them are 6'3 or under. What about Kwame Brown? Anthony Bennett? Being big doesn't mean you possess the skillset to play the game and be elite at it. There are many more variables involved than basing your argument off Finals MVP's. Just jog on buddy
Redondo
Guest
And the article I linked to covers the playing years of your hero Michael Jordan, which was the subject of part of this discussion. The article's argument is factual and sounds entirely plausible. What is your argument - other than saying 'LOL' because you disagree?
Redondo
Guest
You just make stuff up: Out of top 10 avg points per game NBA this season: 6 are over 2 mtrs 2 are close to 2 mtrs depending on what socks they're wearing (1.96 and 1.98 mtrs) 2 are weenies at 1.9 and 1.91 mtrs Not only don't you know about football, you don't even know about your chosen sport.
Phenom_MV3
Roar Rookie
Bleacher Report LOL! That's cute, thanks for quoting a 'great' source and article from 5 years ago. 10 of the top 20 scorers in the NBA are smaller guards this season. Please stop you are making a mockery of yourself. Enjoy your A-league
Redondo
Guest
The stats don’t support your argument at all: see http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1210762-dissecting-which-position-is-most-important-towards-winning-an-nba-championship It’s the bigger guys (including Jordan) who dominate, not the weenies. Even though point guards are typically shorter (and more well-coordinated) than other positions, even then most are close to 2 metres tall.
Phenom_MV3
Roar Rookie
No it's not a major problem, particularly in today's game. It's actually dominated by guards these days, 6'3 or shorter, that do not lack coordination at all. not like 10-20 years ago with big men. If you needed a conversion to cm, that's 191 cm or shorter, not 2 metres. Also, you trying to find points against MJ as one of the best athletes ever is downright appalling. His vertical jump, speed, strength, power, stamina and size make him a candidate to physically dominate most sports if he chose to Can we agree that we both go back to our respective corners. I thought most would agree that with simple fact that the A-league is declining in quality, but obviously not. And you don't seem to know much about basketball so let's call it square.
Redondo
Guest
P___________3, what Punter said, but before you go... I doubt anyone here would deny you your right to enjoy whichever sport you like. I certainly have no problem with it. But you need to keep some perspective when making comparisons between sports. You do realise it’s mostly Americans who think Jordan is the greatest athlete of all time. They’re notorious for ignoring the other 7 billion people on the planet when judging ‘bestness’. Americans voted Babe Ruth second best ever athlete in the last poll I saw. As they might say ‘go figure’. The biggest problem with judging a basketballer’s athletic ability is that success is excessively dependent on one genetic abnormality - being very tall. So, not only do relatively few people play basketball (at least compared to football), the gene pool for greatness is further drained by pretty much excluding anyone under 2 metres tall (males). Michael Jordan certainly looked like a fine athlete, but that’s only relative to the athletes he was playing with and against. You have to remember, many of those other basketballers were struggling to overcome the coordination problems that come with being very tall.
punter
Guest
No just leave!!!!
Phenom_MV3
Roar Rookie
Redondo, how about you stick to football and I'll stick to basketball, because that comment was utter nonsense from you. Michael Jordan is regarded by many around the world as the best if not one of the best athletes of all time, and what sport does he play. Why do 80% of football fans have to bring up the world argument. Basketball is also a world sport, but soccer being more popular has a lot to do with its accessibility, like cricket, particularly for third world countries. So popularity has nothing to do with whether or not it's acceptable to follow a particular sport. It's a flawed argument that I will never use as a football fan. You're disrespecting many great athletes at other sports with that approach. I'm not disrespecting football at all, I love my football and enjoy watching top quality around the world. But don't sit here and bring out the dummy argument I've seen time and time again. We'll leave it at that.
Redondo
Guest
Football is an order of magnitude bigger worldwide than Basketball. Ben Simmons has done well but his achievement is actually more like Aaron Mooy going to a big League One club in England and dominating in his first year. But Mooy actually did way better than that in the Championship (1 step higher) and now he's shining in the EPL (2 steps higher). I guess that you, being an AFL and Basketball fan, simply can't imagine how mediocre your current heroes would look if the whole world played your sport. You would only understand that if your sport also had 250,000,000 people playing it. But you stick to your fantasy where the best players in a kindy sport are gods.
Redondo
Guest
P____3 - You have no idea what you are talking about. Go away.
Nemesis
Guest
Phenom_MV3 created his Roar Profile today. His favourite sport is AFL. The only discussion he's commenting on is ALeague. Text Book Aussie Casual Sports Fan & Nutjob.
Nemesis
Guest
What is it about ALeague that provokes the lunatic Aussie casual sports fans to come here every day to tell us how crap the competition is? I think the NBL is crap. AFL, NRL, BBL, Super Rugby are all utter rubbish. But, I don't bother going to those forums every day to tell fans of those competitions that I think they're watching garbage. I simply ignore the garbage & watch what I like. Something unhinged about people who don't like ALeague & think it's crap, but continuing to watch it.
Phenom_MV3
Roar Rookie
Someone's butthurt are they? Will do - by the way Ben Simmons is being mentored by basketballs greatest player, LeBron James at the moment, and he's going to win rookie of the year in the world's biggest league. That's like Aaron Mooy going into the EPL for a big club and dominating in his first year, being mentored by one of the games greatest and being the best youngster in the league - but hey, that's none of my business. Enjoy champ
Phenom_MV3
Roar Rookie
So the A-league having many current Socceroos makes it great to watch? Mate, have you realised the Socceroos have arguably (on paper) one of the worst rosters to ever make the World Cup (out of the Aus teams we have put through). Some of the names you are talking about are by far not big names. If we're talking about the 2006 side, and you had players from that team in their prime, and in the A-League, I would support your argument. Sorry, Ninkovic is not a "star" football player, he's shining in Arnold's system against sub-tier players in opposition. Also, I'm aware brosque has done a lot for the game but he's 34 years old, give me a break, that does not fit the criteria I speak of. Put it simply, there aren't any players with attacking flair that put bums in seats and make the game exciting and the product great. You cannot sit here and tell me that the a league is showcasing a great product at the moment, it's actually declining in quality. I agree on del Piero part but hey, it brought attention to the league and all the a league had to do was sustain and grow the game from there but now the game is on the downer. Sorry to burst your bubble but it's the truth.
Kangajets
Guest
Marco Stick to your basketball mate .