What I would give to have been sitting in the row behind the FIFA delegates as they flew home following their Australian visit.
What conclusions have they drawn from our congressional set-up, our A-League that is in such desperate need of a loosening of its financial belt and the road-blocked game destined to destroy itself without intervention?
The apparently cordial nature of the talks and FIFA’s intention to move briskly in drawing up a clear and effective plan to solve the impasse certainly fueled much hope in those of us wanting the entire saga to be over.
One wonders how their professional long-distance airline pillow talk would have summarised the major players and what an outsiders view might be.
Do they see a governing body with selfish figureheads desperately clinging onto power or a more complex problem that just isn’t being conveyed well enough to the general public?
Perhaps the pragmatic solution lies somewhere in between, but if stripped back to its absolute core, their perspective on the current stand-off will inform their decisions over the next few months.
(Don Arnold/Getty Images)
The recommendations they produce will use words like ‘governance’, ‘congress’, ‘votes’, ‘promotion’ and ‘relegation’, yet the word that won’t be used frequently enough will be ‘women’.
While some obvious acknowledgement of the success of the Matildas and the positive upswing in interest in the W-League will be assured, the working party could do far worse than awaken the FFA to a revolutionary opportunity that lies before their very eyes.
My fear is that the FFA will miss another opportunity to be proactive thanks to the risk aversion for which it has become known.
Australian football has the chance to redefine the way fans experience the game. By riding the wave of growth in women’s sport in Australia, football can once again be at the cutting edge.
A-League clubs are no longer men’s football teams; they are organisations with a popular men’s team, a youth squad and a women’s team that thousands of young girls dream of representing.
This is quite simply a fact. Participation figures don’t lie, and while some dissenting voices may still deride women’s sport in general, it is the future whether they like it or lump up.
(AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)
The W-League pioneered the modern evolution in women’s professional sport in Australia. Apart from netball, which sat firmly on its hands as the world game slowly but surely moved past it statistically, other codes have only recently caught on.
The WBBL, AFLW and the new women’s rugby league competition are at different stages of development and the excitement around them is palpable. However, football was at the head of the curve eight years ago and, once again, should lead the revolutionary way.
The key is thinking and perspective. Nobody attends the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in January feeling like it is a men’s-only event. Parity is clearly evident, with prize money, scheduling and interest shared evenly between the male and female sides of the draw.
This is the mindset that should be in the periscope of the football powers, and we will all benefit on the day those powers show the courage to take what seems to me the most obvious and potentially important step for professional football in Australia.
While the A-League and W-Leagues don’t align seamlessly in terms of participants, in essence Australian football must go co-educational.
Rather than fans attending A-League fixtures at larger venues while W-League supporters venture to smaller grounds to catch some of the best female footballers on the planet, Australian football fans should be watching both in the same stadium each and every week.
(AAP Image/Darren England)
While Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Western Sydney fit the vision quite neatly, Wellington becomes the sticking point, and a women’s team from across the ditch, with all the travel expense and logistical issues, might be unrealistic in the short term. If only there was another team.
Thank goodness for the nation’s capital. When Canberra United is added to the blueprint, nine clubs align perfectly and a neat home-and-away structure becomes a reality.
And thus the double-header becomes the norm, with one W-League team receiving a bye rather than a trip to New Zealand and Canberra’s home matches being the only matches played without an A-League game in conjunction.
On various occasions in life I have been accused of being an old hippie – a dreamer, if you will – and this plan might engender ridicule from some quarters. However, it seems so logical and inevitable to me that I struggle to understand why it hasn’t been embraced earlier.
Game day would become something far removed from the stale normality that results from a lack of innovation and change.
Picture it: the W-League game kicks off around 5:15pm and the A-League clash follows at 7:30pm. The FFA would encourage young girls to engage with the women’s competition through local clubs, offer memberships that encompass both competitions and market a family pass that makes a night at the football equally valuable to fans of both competitions.
(AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)
Heaven forbid, if a dour clash between two of the A-League lesser lights looms and the women’s match holds more importance, play the A-League match first and give the W-League star billing. Now that would be a red-letter day.
Just as the move to ‘summer soccer’ was groundbreaking, so too would this set-up be. It would put Australian football at the forefront of administrators minds when adapting to the ever-expanding women’s competitions throughout the world.
Therefore football in Australia becomes entrenched in the double-header – a paradigm shift. Buck the conventional thinking and be different.
And before you tell me I am mad, consider this: is this really my job? Shouldn’t there be a group of people responsible for this type of innovation and vision?
Oh yeah, apparently there is.
Vennegor of Tarsus
Guest
Issue i have with a double header is time, it would be a minimum of three and a half hours of football including halftime i doubt people have the patience to be there that long. I really wanted to go to some of the womens matches held before the mens this season but i knew i wouldn't be able to stick it through. Holding a mens match before a womens isn't too bad an idea but we will have to wait till 2022 before they can delay the decision for another four years.
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Pretty good figures by both the Jets and Roar, we should be looking to see what they are getting right. As for the Victory, that is a shocking number from what is meant to be the biggest club in the land.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Naturally gaining an A-League side should also mean a W-League and NYL side. The other side of that point is that Canberra United FC should field a men's side in the A-League...
Kangajets
Guest
So the 4 clubs who finished finals are in the top 5 for crowds in the W league..
Kangajets
Guest
Melbourne Victory, biggest club in Victoria maybe . Currently Sydney FC are the Manchester United / city of the Aussie football landscape. Victory are more the like the asenal who keep a coach who did well for them a long time ago .
Kangajets
Guest
Well said
Kangajets
Guest
Pies Which W league game was that Just re the netball. They had a televised trans Tasman tournament for about 12 years until last season . What netball did wrong was reduce its amount of teams from the original concept, they took to long to expand . The W league needs to expand rapidly, and not in capital cities . The Ffa could really crack open the expansion with the w league first into Geelong. Ipswich Coffs Harbour Wollongong Tasmania Get it done Ffa
Kangajets
Guest
Stuart You have created Football XL1V Football 44 Football parity means we play the men’s and women’s games at exactly the same time and field . 2 goalkeepers in the same net 44 players, 2 balls . That would be fun? We could call it. Football XL1V
Kangajets
Guest
The hour gap doesn’t help
Kangajets
Guest
Stuart I can verify you watch every game and blog as you put up with my very unwitty and slightly biased remarks Although I missed the ccm v Phoenix.......did you dodge that bullet ?
Kangajets
Guest
I think he means plenty of amateur clubs hold football or rugby union or league on the same day , or at least they do in Newcastle
Kangajets
Guest
Stuart What abt having the W league expand to 14 teams soon Geelong Wollongong Coffs Harbour Brisbane whoever ? Tasmania
Kangajets
Guest
Hard to know where exactly I stand on this I always found it more enjoyable to go the Jets w league games at the suburban grounds , where they played in front of some decent crowds . The game is far more enjoyable for me , when I can be pitch side watching, rather then in the middle of a half empty grandstand. However double headers at the jets seem to be the clubs plan now and if that’s getting the team more interest from the public. I can see why its done. The jets w league get good written media in Newcastle as well as the local winter women’s n p l which gets regular write ups .... highlighting the benefits of football in regional areas . Not sure many on this site are aware of the regions of port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour in nth New South Wales but those small cities need to be included in future w league competitions in my opinion. They are a current and future hotbed of untapped football talent and support. I would also add Geelong. Tassie Wollongong, Brisbane city to the W league ASAP
Smiggle Jiggle
Roar Guru
let me guess, you want the funds from the A-League, to pay for the W League?
Newie
Guest
Yep, we were at the last double header. Unfortunately we were flogged by Melbourne City as Jess Fishlock showed her wares. Still, my 6 year old daughter loved it and wants to join the W-League.
KJ
Roar Rookie
Melbourne Victory....biggest club in the land! Ooops.
Nick Symonds
Guest
W-League average attendance 2016-17 = 1,547 Highest = 4,591 Lowest = 264 Average home attendance by club - Newcastle Jets 2,650 Brisbane Roar 2,478 Sydney FC 1,557 Adelaide United 1,410 Canberra United 1,285 Melbourne City 1,045 Western Sydney Wanderers 996 Perth Glory 807 Melbourne Victory 596
Onside
Guest
There's a tendency to get bogged down in details. The broader issue remains how best to promote and support the W League, a homegrown Australian competition that underpins one of the most successful Australian International sporting teams of all time. Articles like this generate debate. My feelings on double headers are moot, save that if held, I would l like to see them played on smaller grounds, not large concrete stadiums. The easiest way to sell something, is to tell a person they cant have it. A sellout crowd of 20,000 in a small ground (get in early or you cant have it), is better than a even a larger crowd in a huge soulless concrete stadium. Then there's the bonus of fantastic TV vision of the atmosphere of a packed ground .
Griffo
Roar Guru
I also agree with your points here Waz. I suppose also do women sides want to play at suburban grounds, with all those qualities of pitch and facilities that can entail, or at the same fields as the mens' sides? My understanding is the women's team appreciate the improvement in facilities and pitch quality. It might also cost clubs more to hire the main stadium for longer, but then people might be more likely to spend on food and beverages because they are there longer. I see both competitions as stand alone, but can see the benefits of double headers. My experience of watching the Jets W-League side early on a hot afternoons left me thinking the scheduling could be better. Then we have the A-League side kicking off first a couple of times this year... For the women's game what is the top three priorities to sort out at this time? For me it might be pay, length of competition, and perhaps in general facilities as third given some games get played or rescheduled at less than ideal locations. Agree also with your post that the World Cup bid is an ideal platform to upgrade or build new facilities that could be used post World Cup. In terms of double headers and sharing of facilities, perhaps the clubs youth teams would also benefit from playing at these (new) stadia if not at the same time. Overall my impression of the FFA is that they don't lobby as well as they could, which was one of the aims of the 'Whole of Football' plan iirc.
Choco Muffin 911
Guest
I wouldn't see a W-League game unless it was played before an A-League game.