Australian football is in the middle of a freezing storm, as cynics talk about the demise of the world game Down Under. It’s time for Australian football to have a major spring clean and really shake up the domestic game. It is time to be bold.
Purists have been demanding promotion and relegation for years. It’s got to the point where no conversation about Australia’s domestic league is complete without someone banging on about how Europe has different tiers.
The commercial reality is Australian football cannot afford to have more than one tier, yet too many meaningless games in the A-League have made the competition dull.
As a Wanderers fan at the 1-1 draw against Perth, I wasn’t too worried about not getting a result. We are still within the top six – and therefore likely to make the finals – despite a disappointing season on the pitch. If we were seventh or eighth, it might mean more, but still not enough to care as much as I would if there was a risk of relegation.
Promotion and relegation adds theatre and drama. It makes otherwise meaningless games, well, meaningful! This means bigger crowds and TV audiences, and potentially more sponsors.
I have been cynical about how lower-tier clubs can generate enough funding to survive. The average Australian sports fan are more fickle than a relationship on The Batchelor and likely won’t follow a team in the second tier. The hardcore, passionate, loyal fan isn’t enough for a football club to raise money in a second rate competition to survive.
Any money generated from the top division needs to trickle down to the second tier, to ensure these clubs’ survival. A Premier League-type shareholding structure must be spread across the two divisions.
The main voices asking for promotion and relegation are the pioneers of the old NSL clubs. The Melbourne Knights and West Adelaides of the world want an invitation back to the big dance. These clubs won’t have a chance in hell of ever attracting the type of crowds that FFA officials dream off, which is why it’s important the second tier is filled with new clubs (with maybe the odd old-school club who has strong finances – e.g. South Melbourne – getting a chance).
The likes of Canberra, Geelong, South East Melbourne and Tasmania should all be given the chance of getting into the top tier by earning it on the field. These new clubs, being free from any historical contempt, would be able to attract a wide range of fans in their respective markets.
[latest_videos_strip category=”football” name=”Football”]
Can you imagine Sydney FC or Melbourne Victory being involved in a relegation battle? The crowds would more likely come than if they had no chance of making the finals and were just going through the motions, like the Mariners and Phoenix are doing right now.
Just imagine if Geelong or Tasmania were in the second tier and on the cusp of getting promotion – hardcore fans in those regions would be pumped, but maybe the odd casual supporter might perk up with a sense of interest and even loyalty to their postcode. That’s exactly what we need.
A genuine second tier would also give an opportunity for players in the NPL competitions around the country a chance to shine on a national stage. The NPL competitions are not given much mainstream media attention, apart from the FFA Cup, which is why players in those competitions often miss out on a chance to get a full-time professional contract. There are some unpolished diamonds in those state-based competitions just waiting for a chance to shine. Providing such opportunities wouldn’t hurt our national team either.
The quality of football in the A-League has been pretty good this season, however this has gone relatively unnoticed. Negativity spreads faster and takes over quicker than the chicken pox. The stale and boring nature of the league means people fail to see past this and forget to see the healthy and good aspects of our game.
Apart from the quality we have on the park, we have games played at fantastic stadiums (who doesn’t love the history of Suncorp Stadium or the intimacy of Perth’s nib Stadium). We have excellent TV coverage, with the Foxtel crew doing an extremely professional job of promoting the game. We have been the first major country to employ the VAR, showing the technological advances being made in our game. We have mini roos kids, who are excited about getting on the big stage at halftime.
The Wanderers’ fans, especially the RBB, have added a wonderful dimension with the atmosphere at our games second to none. Yes, at the moment the club is going through some internal battles with the RBB but make no mistake, they will be back bigger and better than before after this minor bump in the road.
All of these positives are ignored as everyone focuses on the lack of meaningfulness to games and the fact the same teams play each other over and over again, which just makes things boring.
Much like a marriage that has lost its spark, the game needs someone to be bold and daring and try something different. Something that might not make a lot of sense but will add some flavour and variety. In turn, the interest this will generate might just provide the money needed to make it all work.
Time to be bold!
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
The quotes are not mine Pip, they are taken from the article, did you notice the rabbit ears " " or did you bother to read any of the articles I'm sharing with you. Stop trying to twist around my words and detract from the point I'm making. The point I was making was that despite the NSL getting average crowds less than 2K and Sydney CIty about 150, the NSL ran for 27 years, so don't you people expect the A-League to die any time soon. Just accept it and move on and stop being so melodramatically negative all the time.
j,binnie
Guest
cc- I don't know who "Pip" is. I use my name when commenting and expect anyone who answers me to use that name or at least my Initials which as you will see are jb., Re. your attempt at "cynicism" I note with interest you know all about the success Hakoah had in their 10 years in the NSL but have changed your tune from "the Lowy family bankrolling the team" to " the Social Club and it's wealthy members bankrolled the football team" That was exactly the point I was making. At the meeting that decided to withdraw the team from the NSL Frank Lowy and Andrew Lederer fought hard to stay in the NSL but that same "Social Club and it's wealthy members" decided enough was enough and the team was withdrawn. Again the point i was trying to make, .(nothing to do with the Lowy family) Cheers jb.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Did you see the flares in the PSG v Real Madrid game this morning. Smoke was so bad the game was held up for 20 minutes. Will PSG get fined or competition points deducted. Did it make the Sydney TV news? If flares are the problem, then why not. Imagine if PSG played Real at ANZ Stadium, or Liverpool v Porto - you'd sell out an 85K capacity stadium. There are hundreds of thousands of football fans in Australia. Its not football that's the problem, its the marketing, PR and perception of Australian football that's the problem.
Dart
Guest
For a B-League to work you need to have a small comp and a short season. I suggest 6 teams playing over 10 rounds. This is in addition to the state league during winter. The Wolves got 8,000 to a midweek, late winter game in 2016. If we could get those figures over five home games in summer, then that is 40,000 customers. Not too shabby. But you would need the carrot of promotion to make it work. Perhaps you could also have a 16 or 32 team C-league with a knockout structure. Over time, the market would sift the commercially viable clubs from the also-rans.
stu
Guest
I have my reservation on the success of a division 2 in Australia, why? Historically relative to modern day fiscal risk it is not viable. In the day when sporting teams were both amature and community based, that team was that community. As time went on and the shift started from amature to semi pro to pro, the 'teams' fortunes would ebb and flow but still identified with the community and the community with it. Australia being geographically large, I would imagine the goal would be to create a spread of teams to ensure state representation. Created teams tend not to be community base and if relegated from the first division, will simply fade away due to the absence of neither history or community soul. if Brisbane Roar was to be relegated, it would suggest it would cease to exist.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
I bumped into your nemises the other day Worried, he was Not Worried.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Pip, I replied to your incorrect statements last time as well. Did you not read it? http://www.theroar.com.au/2018/02/26/derby-great-long-youre-sydney-fc-fan/comment-page-3/ “The National Soccer League (NSL) began in 1977. Sydney City Hakoah was the most successful team on the field in the first ten years of the NSL, and Frank Lowy was president of the Hakoah Social Club for much of that time. The Social Club and its wealthy members bankrolled the football team. Sydney City won the championship four times, finished top of the home and away leagues on six occasions and played some of the most entertaining football in the history of the league. But it could never attract a crowd to match its playing ability. The demise of Sydney City, or Sydney Slickers or Sydney Hakoah was a long time in the making.” Let me correct you again: http://hakoahfc.com.au/club-history/ Get YOUR facts right before you try and correct others.
Worried
Guest
"The commercial reality is Australian football cannot afford to have more than one tier" The Commercial REALITY is Football cannot afford to NOT have more than one tier! IT MUST be more Inclusive! How to enable those Tiers to operate ? Is the question. And there are a number of highly overpaid people at FFA doing nothing to answer that question! Its time for a Cleanout! Lowy & Gallop have to go, their is NO confidence in their management and without decent leadership this lack of direction will linger for years to come. Football Cannot Afford THAT!
j,binnie
Guest
CC - I see you are still peddling that mis-information about the NSL club Hakoah etc etc, being bankrolled by the Lowy family. I wrote to you already about this but you obviously didn't read,or believe what,. I told you then. I could suggest you visit your local library and get a publication called Hakoah Club Sydney,1938-1994. The first picture in this book shows a body of men who have just been elected as the Hakoah Club Board of Directors for that year ,1994.. Frank Lowy is not named on that board.. Starting on page 139 is an excellent portrayal of players who played for the club in the early days of the NSL.,Eddie Thompson,Ian Souness,John Kosmina,Todd Clarke,Ken Boden,Murray Barnes,and Joe Watson,many of whom starred as Socceroos. They entered the NSL as a founding club in 1977,and under orders from a newly elected board at Hakoah Social Club withdrew from the league in 1987 after playing only one match. It was reported in this publication then that the football team was costing the "club" around $300,000 dollars per year. In their short history in that competition they were by far and away the best performed although most pundits in the game knew that they were being financed by that same Hakoah Social Club. Cheers jb.
Buddy
Guest
Agreed. I don’t personally believe it is the best system Nem but it is more likely to work than a national second tier just on costs. Just taking a team from Mel to Syd would mean a party of 30 - about $10.000 in fares. Even one night accommodation would probably be the same over again plus local transport fees. An away trip interstae must cost somewhere between 30-50k. That’s huge numbers tomraise at the bbq and fundraising nights. That is one of the cheaper trips too. That was really my motivation for the suggestion unless we find a football crazy philanthropist!
Kangajets
Guest
I would be really happy to start with Wollongong and Canberra
Kris
Guest
Almost all of them http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm
Kris
Guest
Yeah cunning Fox buying up the A-League to keep it off all the non-bidders.
Rolly
Guest
expansion to sixteen adding two new teams next season and two more the following season and so on, .the FFA need to show vision and plan ahead it excites everyone when future plans are in place .ten teams is stale. New teams like Wollongong wolves Geelong 2nd Brisbane team Canberra south Melbourne and Campbeltown ,Campbeltown is a growing area .lot of young families moving to that region . .do you think fans will support a team if it's relegated to a lower division ,the core fans will but not the rest and what about sponsors they want a national audience . You could have a play off for all teams that finish top of the table in each state league play off for one spot in the A league, can we not source Asian partner teams to buy an A league licence say Wollongong wolves to partner with a J league team more money in Asia, Melbourne city did it .marquees are a must for the fickle Aussie sports fan , too many sports to follow in this country. A Del Piero was a dream marquee.the excitement he brought to our sport .FFA didnt capitalise on that after he left
Kangajets
Guest
I’m quite aware of Andrew Demetrou , not only as a former player but head of the Afl. Nothing about Demetriou presents to me as the right choice . He has great credentials to run afl , but why football?? Why do you suggest he could run football?
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
We've got to stop using negative terms like "the demise of football in Australia" ,"stale and boring" and so on. You are just adding to the problem and self destructing. The A-League is going to be around for a very long time, so just embrace it and try to give a balanced report on football in Australia. Sure there are issues, no sport or sporting competition in the world is perfect, we know that. The NSL lasted for 27 years, even though it averaged crowds of less than 2K per match. The Lowy family bankrolled Sydney Slickers/Sydney City/Sydney Hakoah had average attendances of about 150.
Janakan
Guest
@kangajets speaking volumes about how you don’t let common sense get in the way of your thoughts
Kangajets
Guest
Demetroiu No thanks
Janakan
Guest
Which euro leagues? Countries with a fraction of our population? The Norwegian league?
Kris
Guest
Will you pay $100m for the privilege?