Just when you think the FFA might have figured out why fans watch football, they turn around and announce plans to play music during A-League matches.
A lot of insiders whose opinion I value have told me Greg O’Rourke is a smart guy. Why, then, has he just made such an unfathomably dumb announcement?
According to a report posted on The World Game last night, the A-League is considering playing music while the ball is in play.
“Fans wanted more pre-game entertainment, more in-game entertainment and more at half-time,” O’Rourke told AAP in a jaw-dropping statement that did the rounds yesterday.
“Football globally has about 30 minutes when the ball is stopped or out of play. Some of those gaps can be filled.”
My first question is: which fans?
Because I’d love to know exactly who came away from an A-League game last season and said: “what this league really needs is some music during corners”.
Was it you? Because it wasn’t me.
If I ever received an email asking me how to create a better atmosphere inside an A-League stadium, I’d delete it as quickly as all my other junk mail, then wonder if the organisation that sent it should really be in charge of a football league.
(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
And that’s what makes O’Rourke’s inexplicable suggestion so problematic.
There has long been a perception that executives in charge of Football Federation Australia know nothing about football.
So what do they do on the verge of arguably the most important A-League season yet? They make a statement that suggests they know nothing about football!
Who are these people who can’t possibly go the 20-second period between the ball going out of play and the goalkeeper punting the goal-kick up-field without being assaulted by some inane pop song?
Are they Big Bash League fans? Because I played representative-level cricket as a kid, but I won’t bother attending a Twenty20 fixture any time soon since it has nothing to do with real cricket.
If I go to a football game, I go to watch football. If I want to hear some terrible pop tunes, I’ll listen to commercial radio.
And the idea that A-League clubs might attract a new audience by playing music in play is so preposterous it simply beggars belief.
Here’s a thought. How about actually advertising the competition?
Instead of making a playlist, why not make an ad that says: “hey football fans, the A-League kicks off again on October 19”.
Want to improve the match day experience? Why not sit down with stadium staff from every A-League venue and advise them of what to expect at the football?
Heck, why not just sign some more marquee players? Slash ticket prices? Or maybe think of a way to shorten the world’s longest off-season?
(Image: Twitter/FFA)
No, all of these things are apparently too hard. With only 168 days between seasons to come up with something plausible, let’s just drown out whatever atmosphere the fans produce by blasting music through the public announcement system.
Even the rest of FFA’s blueprint reveals exactly what they think of their customers.
Safe smoke from controlled flares? World Cup-style fan zones? They want to take control from supporter groups and make sure it stays in their own hands.
If nothing else, you could argue that at least there’s some acknowledgement that crowds and atmospheres inside A-League venues have dipped alarmingly.
But having alienated so many bona fide football fans, it’s hard to see how trying to replace them with families transfixed by the whizz-bang of the BBL is going to solve anything.
Any fan groups drowned out by music being played through the PA system should simply walk out the first time it happens.
The FFA have finally realised they need to work to win over fans. Trouble is, for the umpteenth time, they’re targeting the wrong ones.
Mad Maco
Guest
Point No.1 The problem with "not enough goals", easy remove the offside rule. Don't worry, those clowns in charge have probably thought about. Music in - 14 year A League member out. Don't mess with my game!!!
Malby Dangles
Guest
As a new A-League fan I was blown away by the wonderful vibrant atmosphere at matches. This music idea is idiotic!
RF
Roar Rookie
Let's just get 2 October over and done with. That's the date of the meeting, isn't it? Surely the four minor associations won't use their 18% of player registrations to allow the FFA charade to continue. What I am seeing, strictly from a business point of view, is extraordinary incompetence. If FFA was a company, Lowy would be gone, and so would Gallop and O'Rouke.
Jon
Guest
Hahaha, mate I was at that game too, and me and my mate were laughing our arses off at the ridiculous bursts of weird pop music at random intervals. Who in hell thinks that's what people want when they go to a game? Just out of the blue a couple bars from some random song blaring out incredibly loudly, drowning out the sound of the crowd. It's completely mental.
Jon
Guest
So after years of crushing the life out of active support, the FFA is now keen to get the fans back? What a joke. Here's the problem the way I see it. The FFA is run by former NRL and AFL honchos. When they came in they saw the active support and had absolutely no idea what it was, how it worked, why it was important and had no concept of how inextricably linked the concept of active support is to football around the world. They saw active support as a problem - they wanted to clamp down on it, control it. They saw it as a threat to good media coverage. They saw a bunch of mostly young people, standing, screaming, causing a ruckus and saw it as a threat to their concept of what supporting sport was. They wanted to recreate the NRL - docile crowds, mostly family, shuffling quietly in and out of stadiums. They wanted to control it. They wanted to grow the crowds, and assumed that to do that they needed to make the atmosphere at games more controlled and sanitized. They thought that because active support seemed frightening to them and their friends in the media who were raised on NRL and AFL, that to get more families through the gates they needed to shut it down. The concept of fans self-organizing, forming official groups, and then expecting their views to be considered and expecting organizing bodies to talk with them and negotiate with them was completely foreign to them. They assumed they could ignore the groups. They assumed that it was more important to appease their mates in the media by shutting down the groups, controlling them, shutting them up, ignoring any attempt at compromise. All in pursuit of this mythical idea that there are hordes of families out there that will go to A-League games if they can just make the A-League more like the AFL/NRL. And now they are reaping what they sowed. Active groups are either dyeing out completely, or are becoming a husk of their former selves. Some have managed to survive more or less in tact (the Cove for example), but in a diminished capacity. The Cove (again as an example) could be so much more than it is, but they are constantly having to compromise with insanely over officious stadium staff, police that see them as a threat and the FFA who are little better. And then other fan groups are barely hanging in there (the RBB), because of their refusal to compromise (in my view a bit unwisely - better to have a lesser active support then no active support). And finally you have the sad situation of the North Terrace, which has simply ceased to exist. And now, after all this, after seeing massive declines in crowds, having fans turn on them in droves, after a decade of simply ignoring everything their own fans tell them in their desperate desire to force the A-League to become the bloody NRL (which is insanely stupid), after their own clubs have turned on them what is their genius idea? Trying to make the A-League more like the Big Bash League.... They do not learn. They are so disengaged from the fans. They are terrified to do the one thing that would turn things around - give power back to the fans. Unleash the active fan groups. Let them drive a Renaissance. If allowed, the active fans would turn their stadiums into a thriving mass of singing, screaming, lunatics. It would be glorious. Every game could be a party. But they're terrified to lose control.
chris
Guest
Wow..welcome FFA to planet earth.
chris
Guest
Johnny you probably like the electronic 2 tier side boards around football grounds that assault our senses. Heaven forbid that we may actually be there to watch a game of football?
chris
Guest
Yes imagine taking any cues from cricket. A game that is slowly dying and has been reduced to appealing to fans with an attention span of 3 minutes with BBL. These people wont last and will move on to the next shiny thing when they get bored of the "cricket".
chris
Guest
lol - great comment Marron. Seriously these people just need to go. Isnt there a BBL AFLX something or other that they can "help" out with?
chris
Guest
Well said AGO74. The thought of music blasting away while someone is walking towards the corner flag makes me ill. Will they play "Highway to Hell" when someone steps up for a pen? Or will it be Stairway to Heaven?
Post_hoc
Roar Rookie
OK, let me say first up the music idea dumb, really dumb, and as mentioned on the Fox Football podcast yesterday and said again by Mike just above wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't happen. However, I have said previously, the FFA could cure cancer tomorrow and people would find reason to complain about oncologists being put out of work, the FFA can't do any good for some people. What has been ignored by most on here by want or by neglect are the other things being considered. The FFA are talking groups like the RBB and the Cove (plus others) about match day, they are talking to security and police about the ridiculous over policing at games (and I am certain the massive issues on crowd violence at AFL games have helped the FFA point out the hypocrisy. They have floated the idea of safe areas for pyro, which is EXACTLY what people have been asking for. The new Wanderers stadium has safe standing EXACTLY what the RBB wanted because of work done by the club and the FFA. So all of those things were announced at same time, but of course we ONLY focus on the negative, as we looove putting the boot in don't we.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Ah, some comments finally. FFA, such a sad outfit. They're busy creating a circus but real reforms, you know, the congress, etc sees the mandarins clinging to power as if they own the game. The people own the game, the players own the game not the FW suits. Sorry for my language, it must be the long off season. It can do that to a person :(
Griffo
Roar Guru
Looks like your right Kaks...
AR
Guest
MarkfromCroydon is very right about one thing... And that’s the enduring myth of the millions of football fans that are waiting patiently in the shadows, silently hoping that the FFA finally gets the “packaging” right so they can start turning up to games. Seriously, its as though some people have this Lord of the Rings image where the secret spell is unlocked, and millions of fans come storming on horseback over the hill and into the keep to restore the rightful balance of the universe. The ALeague gets between 12-15k to its games on average. It’s decent. It’s unlikely to shift much more than that...certainly not if/when new licences are handed out. The NRL hasn’t been around for 100 years and it gets between 12-15k to its games on average. Which is also decent.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Have heard FFA are dismayed by the reaction to this idea. I don't think it's going to happen.
Leo Linardakis
Guest
If I want a nightclub atmosphere, in-your-face blaring announcements and forced echo chanting I'll go to the Basketball. If I want fake entertainment with the above I'll go to the Big Bash Cricket. I want genuine, natural and entertaining football with our unique singing from the stands. If you start this music and fake entertainment rubbish, you've lost me.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Correct. A massive over reaction killed attendance at the two biggest clubs.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Reception@ffa.com.au is the one they advertise. You could always try gregorourke@ffa.com.au add in an extra underscore between fist and last name and a fullstop and it must have a good chance of reaching him. Btw the 30 minutes is a statistic used for a different purpose. I do not believe there is any thought given to filling up the full 30 minutes but stranger things have been known.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Kind of true. Been to San Sebastian and watched Sociedad. Unless its a big game they'd be lucky to half fill their stadium.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Funny how WSW drew big crowds when the fans were allowed to express their passion before it was clamped down on by the FFA, police, stadium security, News Limited et al. Similar scenario with Victory.