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The FFA have got 15 bids expansion to consider for A-League expansion, which they will narrow down to a short list of just six.
I will do the same – list and assess all 15 bids in the first two parts, then narrow them down to a final six in my final piece.
For the record, some are calling for FFA to be bold and add six teams all at once so that’s still an outside possibility.
And the nominees are
NSW: Southern Expansion, South-West Sydney, Macarthur, Wollongong Wolves
Victoria: South Melbourne, Western Melbourne, Belgravia Leisure, Dandenong
Queensland: Brisbane City, Western Pride/Ipswich, Gold Coast United
South Australia: West Adelaide
ACT: Canberra
Tasmania: Entire state
Western Australia: Fremantle City
Starting with New South Wales, there are four bids.
Southern Expansion
The highest-profile bid is Southern Expansion, who hope to unite Sutherland, St George and the Illawarra under one banner, which is a bit like herding cats.
The bid group are worth billions and have friends in high places but money can’t always buy fans, as City have shown in Melbourne.
The so-called ‘Southern region’ is home to 40,000 registered players, with 15,000 of those in the Illawarra. Take out this group and that leaves just 25,000 in Sutherland and St George, which is still a significant number, but on par with Canberra and with a similar size population to draw fans from, who in turn are split three ways between Sutherland, St George and Sydney FC.
Splitting home matches between different stadiums is ridiculous and a sure-fire recipe for failure.
A bit of a healthy hatred might be a good thing between rivals but it isn’t a feeling of hate that Southern Expansion will inspire but more one of disgust and contempt. Australia likes its little battlers and Southern Expansion’s attempts to knock out a small but popular and historic club like the Wolves just to boost their own ‘metrics’ in order to gain a license for their own Frankenstein team is horrible to watch.
Hate is one thing but disgust is quite another.
This bid is all over the place, literally.
Craig Foster and the late Les Murray were the face of Southern Expansion at its launch. (AAP Image/Joe Castro)
South-West Sydney
A late bid came in from South West Sydney, who claim to represent an area stretching all the way from Penrith in the north to Bundanoon in the south, which are 150 kilometres apart. The team would play at Campbelltown initially, before moving to a new stadium that they plan to construct in Badgerys Creek.
This won’t be good for creating loyalty among fans in Macarthur. It’s pretty obvious that people in Macarthur want to have their own team that’s based in Campbelltown full time. After the experience of the Western Suburbs Magpies, they don’t want a team only to have it taken away again.
It’s also questionable whether Penrith is part of South West Sydney and how much of an affinity people from both Penrith and Macarthur have with each other.
It’s also debateable whether people from Fairfield, Liverpool, Campbelltown and Penrith will travel to Badgerys Creek.
Macarthur
The push for an A-League bid came from Campbelltown Council after weak community engagement and lack of fixtures in Campbelltown during construction of their new stadium in Parramatta made them see the Wanderers as mere occasional visitors, with little real commitment to the Macarthur region.
If their bid is successful, Macarthur FC will live and breathe the region. Not some blow-in from Parramatta, 50-odd kilometres away, which is about the same distance from Campbelltown as Cronulla or Moore Park.
With the backing of Lang Walker, the Macarthur FC bid is well supported financially and with 11,000 registered players from a population of 310,000 people, the sport has a good foothold in the community.
Macarthur is its own distinct region with its own identity. Macarthur is black and white.
Wollongong Wolves
If it’s derbies FFA want, the Wolves have them in spades.
In the words of Wolves CEO Chris Papakosmas, “We have potential derbies coming out of our ears. There’s Newcastle vs Wollongong, battle of the steel cities; Central Coast vs Wollongong, battle of the coasts; Sydney vs Wollongong, big brother little brother and Wanderers vs Wollongong, middle brother little brother.
“We have ready made, genuine vitriolic local derbies. With the past in mind Wollongong vs Perth is another classic fixture.”
In another interview, he said, “No other sport can put that on the table, no other team can offer the level of romance and marketability that the Wolves can.”
I agree.
The two-time NSL champions, Wollongong have a long history, with generations of loyal fans behind them. In addition to legends of the past they now have nine current A-League players knocking on their door to apply.
The time has come for the return of the Wolves.
Heading further south, there are four Victorian bids to choose from.
Western Melbourne
The Western Melbourne consortium are offering to build a new, 18,000 capacity football-specific stadium in Wyndham at their own expense, compared to $170 million in taxpayer money needed for the Dandenong bid.
“A club without a revenue stream because it’s renting its stadium cannot work,” said one of the bid supporters.
“The consortium will fund the stadium with their own money so they are not asking the state government for $1.”
The pictures of the proposed stadium look brilliant. Like the new Parramatta Stadium but without the acres of space behind the goals for the rugby codes – perfect. Safe standing too.
Purpose-built stadium for #WesternMelbourne. More details to follow in coming days, with a major announcement on June 1. #DreamBIG #Home
Posted by Western Melbourne Group on Friday, 25 May 2018
In addition to Melbourne’s western suburbs, including Geelong and Ballarat in their catchment area, takes the total population to over a million, in line with FFA and Fox preferences. They only need a one per cent turnout to reach the magic 10,000.
South-East Melbourne
Perhaps the main frontrunner up to this point was South-East Melbourne.
With a population of over a million, a diverse population from 156 different nationalities and over 12,000 registered players, this bid has real potential. The geographic distance of 36 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD also runs in Dandenong’s favour.
The icing on the cake will be a proposed new stadium at Cheltenham Road, next to Dandenong Station. But it still needs government funding and some reports say that it will also host the rugby codes, unlike Western Melbourne’s.
“We may be culturally diverse but we all share the one language of football,” Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti has said.
“An A-League club in the region would be a multicultural club for all the community, seeking to represent all the local clubs in the region.”
Cheltenham Road is a great name for a stadium – it beats the hell out of Melbourne Rectangular Stadium or AAMI Park – but if they insist on designing it to be able to host the rugby codes then Western Melbourne could get the better of them.
If they are both added then it sets up a ‘Battle of the Bay’ between two clubs with catchment areas of a million each. That should get media attention in Melbourne for a change.
South Melbourne
The team declared ‘Oceania Team of the Century’ are vocal in their bid for inclusion, have a loyal fan-base and a history of success from the NSL.
But with two very strong bids from both Western Melbourne and South East Melbourne, and with historical baggage to overcome they might be squeezed out.
They could also overlap too closely with Victory and City, wihle their stadium, which includes an athletics track and lack of rail access, are issues against them.
Belgravia Leisure
This bid was very late and has little information to go on except that Victory founding member Geoff Lord is behind it.
Suffice to say, against the strength of the other bids, it doesn’t stand much of a chance.
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