It’s not every day a new club comes along with solid finances, an existing supporter base and big-name endorsements – and still has questions asked of it.
If Southern Expansion are the right new club for the A-League, why does so much of their bid feel so wrong?
Let’s start with the claim that they won’t cannibalise Sydney FC’s support, as bid chairman and former New South Wales premier Morris Iemma told The World Game website in midweek.
“The people of St George don’t see themselves as part of Sydney FC at all. There is no relationship there,” said Iemma.
Yet on the very same day, Sydney FC chief executive Danny Townsend told local newspaper The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader that a third of their fans hail from the region.
“Around 32 per cent of our fans come from St George and the Sutherland Shire areas and we want to accommodate them with A-League content,” Townsend said.
So which is it? Someone, it seems, isn’t telling the truth.
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Then there was Iemma’s claim that Sydney FC have “all of the eastern suburbs, north shore, inner west, lower north shore and inner north west” to draw fans from.
Perhaps. But the whole point of Sydney FC was to unite football fans across the length and breadth of the city. Western Sydney Wanderers changed that dynamic, but there was an obvious geographic divide that allowed them to do so.
Yet a clear delineation between the southern suburbs of Sydney and the rest of the city simply doesn’t exist.
Then there’s Wollongong.
It’s one thing for Southern Expansion to mark St George – a long-time football hotbed – and Sutherland Shire as their own territory. But Wollongong is not in the same city, and it has a storied football background – replete with a ready-to-go standalone A-League club with a stadium of its own.
Why can’t Football Federation Australia admit both Southern Expansion and Wollongong Wolves as expansion clubs?
Or, if not, leave Wollongong out of the expansion equation for now and admit the Wolves and their picture-perfect boutique venue further down the track?
Why the rush to admit Southern Expansion at all?
Money, of course. And by the sounds of it, Southern Expansion will have plenty thanks to the generous backing of Chinese conglomerate the Jiayuan Group.
They’ve said they plan to build a purpose-built stadium at Loftus – but in the meantime, they propose to split their home games between Jubilee Oval in Kogarah, Southern Cross Group Stadium in Cronulla and WIN Stadium in Wollongong.
More power to them if they think that’s the best way to build a fan-base, but are supporters really going to travel between three distinct regions to watch a team play?
And if that’s the case, don’t they already do so to support Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers anyway?
For the sake of full disclosure and the benefit of anyone from Southern Expansion reading this column, it’s not exactly a secret that I support Sydney FC.
But the proximity of certain parties to the expansion hopefuls raises another important question.
Craig Foster is free to be the public face of any expansion bid he wants. But in doing so, is there a conflict of interest in the way the club is talked about by his other main employer, SBS?
Then there’s Iemma, who along with being chairman of Southern Expansion, is heavily involved in cricket – even suggesting a fortnight ago that he’d like to lead a review into Australia’s recent ball-tampering saga.
None of this is to imply that Southern Expansion are setting themselves up for failure. Their public proposal document suggests they’ve got plenty of faith in the business case.
But Football Federation Australia has made a habit of making mistakes recently.
Here’s hoping they don’t make another costly one. The A-League simply can’t afford it.
David
Roar Rookie
They could honestly add in a Frankston team if you're going off identity.
PA21
Guest
Chris, forgive me but you are the first SFC fan I've ever heard say something like that. My apologies and good on you!
bryan
Guest
SBS was always very Sydney oriented, which is not surprising, as the SBS presence in most other States has from its inception has been restricted to a delay centre & Transmitters, both operated by someone else. The Seven Network had enough brains to maintain a reasonable "footprint" in other Cities, even though most of their programming has retreated to Sydney. Nine does pretty well in this respect, too, followed by the ABC. Ten comes a poor last. As I have said before, I have seen more promotion of Perth Glory on TVW7 than I've ever seen on those networks that have the broadcast rights. With modern technology, it would not be hard to insert some appropriate publicity for our local team, but neither SBS nor Ten care enough to do so. Back on topic, the "A League" was set up from the outset to be an Australia wide competition without the State league baggage inherent in the AFL & NRL. Even as it is, it is a bit top heavy with NSW clubs, but to add additional ones from that State is taking it perilously close to the AFL/NRL model. If you have to inject another club in the South East corner of the country, I would suggest Geelong. It has a distinct identity. & they know how to do sport there.
DL2191
Guest
Southern expansion = Northern Eagles. That Craig foster is involved in this corporate Frankenstein idea given all he has to say about the importance of authenticity and uniqueness of football fan culture suggests he's getting paid well. But we can trust the FFA to take the money... let's see how the first football club in the world with a home ground in a national park goes...
Kris
Guest
Heidleburg, Morwell, Collingwood, Gippsland, Carlton, South Melbourne, Victory, City ... the life of a supporter in Melbourne is a bit different to Newcastle. Every 5 years they give us a new team to support :)
Tony
Roar Rookie
The NRL had to merge teams because they had too many. The A League doesn't have that problem. The NRL structures their competition with the mindset that they will only ever have 1 division. The FFA should be expanding the A League with the intention of one day having 2 national divisions. They don't need to combine 2 seperate cities to make one team Most people here in Wollongong hate the dragons / steelers merger. They support the dragons out of loyalty to the steelers and because its the only team they have but they are still pretty bitter about not having their own identity in the competition. I can't see southern expansion being any different. If anything it will be harder without having any existing fans
Ed
Guest
Maybe becuase it the Dragons merger has not worked the south coast still linger for the Steelers the merger has never been accepted down here .just look at the juniors .junior numbers in Wollongong for league have been in decline .most of the local league teams struggle to get enough players to fill three grades in schools kids taking up league has been in decline for the last ten years some schools no longer have league as a sport . the all blacks down here port kembla had to pull out this year of the Illawarra league couldn't get enough players for their three grades and this team has been around for decades .the merger hasn't worked it's killed league in the Illawarra.football is tribal dosnet matter what code it is .sydney and Wollongong are two different cities .there are no synergies.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Mate, more people watch the A-League than the Turkish Superlig, Croatian HNL, Greek Super League, Ukranian Premier League, Czech Liga, Danish Superleague, Austrian Bundesliga, Swedish Super League, Polish Extraklassa League and the Swiss Super League, not to mention lots of other football leagues around the planet. That’s fantastic for our little local national football league that barely has 2 dollars to its name. Great Stuff. The A-League is also shown live to every country in the world and every week 5 to 10 million people watch it. https://www.a-league.com.au/news/hyundai-a-league-201718-season-goes-truly-global Every week the A-League is watched by between 5 to 10 million viewers around the world. Football is a truly GLOBAL game, unlike some parochial suburban league. This article even estimates that up to 250 million people watch the A-League now; https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2015/10/13/leagues-global-coverage-expands That is AWESOME mate. absolutely awesome for Australian football and our A-League.
Nick Symonds
Guest
NEWS - City of Joondalup open to housing A-League franchise https://www.communitynews.com.au/joondalup-times/sport/soccer-city-of-joondalup-open-to-housing-a-league-franchise/
Lionheart
Guest
mm, not really. Roar has only just moved to Logan and I don't think anyone let alone Roar fans, sees them as a south Brisbane club. Their fan base comes from all over SE QLD, not just Lions. My understanding is that both Brisbane Strikers and Brisbane City have bids. Both are well established clubs but would need to grow their fan base for the A League, thus BC's bid is called Gladiators (or something like that). There is no real obvious split in Brisbane to be exploited, in my opinion. There was once, way back, especially north-south but since the NRL killed off the local league, there's been nothing to fuel that and I think it's died. An Ipswich side taking in the west and Logan might provide a split, but Roar's move to Logan has nullified that. Gold Coast provides the best split with Brisbane, but still Brisbane can support two clubs if they are properly managed.
chris
Guest
That was a takeover not a merge. And of course the Bears were not going to put up with that.
chris
Guest
Interesting point Randy. If Illawarra Steelers and St George can merge 2 existing teams, why all the doom and gloom with Southern Expansion?
chris
Guest
Come on Nem. No they were not homophobic but they werent complimentary. And I dont think we in Sydney were that upset by the WSW tifo. I certainly wasnt and my mates thought it was a bit of a laugh. GA saw it differently as has been reported previously.
chris
Guest
KJ I have said all along that Wollongong should not be part of it. And you saying that only I want it is dismissing the marketing analysis done by the expansion group.
Kangajets
Guest
I agree There’s hardly people banging down the door for southern
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
My main concern with this bid is it appears supply, rather than demand, driven. The FFA seem keener to fish where the fish are rather than fish where the fish are biting.
Kangajets
Guest
Chris My point is who exactly is going to pay to watch this team, that only you seem to want You provide no reasons why they these 3 districts need a combination team
Nemesis
Guest
@Midfielder You're one of the few people left on this forum who will appreciate this major milestone. When I went to my first MVFC match at Olympic Park against Perth Glory 13 years ago, I never in my wildest dreams expected to be here in 2018. ALeague clubs have done a lot wrong, but they're doing a lot right. Victory secures funding for Maribyrnong Academy site Full story: https://www.melbournevictory.com.au/news/victory-secures-funding-maribyrnong-academy-site
Nemesis
Guest
I'm a hugely committed ALeague fan, but there is no future for ALeague on commercial FTA TV. Commercial FTA TV attracts a certain type of Aussie - you just have to look at the shows that attract the highest viewing. And, there is nothing about ALeague that would appeal to such Aussies. SBS is the only FTA network that could have a strong pro-football audience and, even SBS, is transitioning away from the network it used to be when it started.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Regardless of who the two teams are, the cricket deal may leave Ten looking to get a second A-League game. One game a round on FTA doesn't really build a narrative to people without Pay-TV. Only being able to see some sides a few times a year doesn't generate the feeling of following a fully fledged league. Two games might help do that a bit more, providing more variety in teams on offer and frequency they are seen. Of course, that's for the next broadcast deal and Ten haven't really made a great go of the A-League. But having lost the BBL, with no obvious replacement except "Masterchef : Celebrity Summer Karaoke Barbecue Edition" on the horizon they might have the incentive to look at a greater presence and marketing it more.