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All football fans in Australia agree on one premise: things must change as soon as possible.
Now, the problem is to identify what really needs to be changed. Should there be an aggressive expansion? Should we implement a second division with a promotion and relegation system? Should the league have a different format?
Strangely, there are few who demand greater integration with the Asian continent. That is quite necessary if you really want to transform football in this country.
There were high expectations when Football Federation Australia joined the Asian Confederation in 2006.
Finally, the project by which many passionate spokesmen of this sport – like Johnny Warren or Andrew Detre – worked so hard and made their dream become a reality.
Unfortunately, the FFA never could (or wanted to) benefit from this relationship. At a time when the Asian major leagues like the J-League or the Chinese Super League receive attention from a lot of the world’s media, the A-League still remains in the shadows.
Today, the relationship of Australian football with the Asian continent resembles a marriage in crisis. They live in the same house, pay the bills but barely talk to each other – and when they do, they speak in different languages.
The owner of Perth Glory, Tony Sage, has already made reference to this issue and has proposed a solution to this problem that many consider controversial.
Sage wants the A-League to expand into Southeast Asia, including franchises in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and even Hong Kong. The Glory owner’s reasoning is simple as the ASEAN region has more than 600 million inhabitants and a gross domestic product of 3,000 million dollars per capita.
In a few words, money and people who can attend the game.
Perth Glory. (Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images)
So far, Sage’s reasoning responds only to demographic or economic factors. But reading between lines, the premise behind this proposal is categorical. Football is on track to lose the battle on the Australian soil and, if you want to ensure the survival of the league as we know it, you must think outside the box and innovate.
This idea is not well received by the great part of the public. Even the presence of the Wellington Phoenix arouses criticism and bitter comments from many fans. But clearly, there is a problem that has to be solved.
What is the solution? Well, the answer is simple and has been said many times. The A-League needs a ‘plus-one Asian player rule’.
Most of the Asian competitions already implement this regulation (Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong) and has given positive results. But Australia systematically refuses to do so.
Let’s do a quick review. In the fifteen years that the A-League has been active, only 37 Asian players have been part of any of the teams (thirteen from Japan, eleven from South Korea, eight from China, two from Thailand, one from Iraq, one from India and one from Bahrain).
This is an infinite number if we compare it only with the 27 Spaniards who play or have played in the A-league.
The ‘Eurocentrism’ that prevails in the league has led many teams to hire players who, under normal conditions, could hardly be part of a professional staff in their countries of origin.
Just because someone has played in the Fulham or Genova Academy does not mean that they are necessarily eligible to play in the A-League. Meanwhile, the Thai Chanathip Songkrasin becomes a key player of the Sapporo Consadole and is on its way to becoming one of the best on the continent.
Needless to say, the J-League today enjoys great popularity in Thailand, a country with more than 68 million inhabitants.
Keisuke Honda of Japan (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Former A-League head Archie Fraser is one of the most important spokesmen of the strongest integration with Asia today. He is also one of the main candidates to take the reins of the FFA once the reign of the Lowy Family officially finishes.
This shows that there are capable people in Australian football who really have a vision for the future. A plan.
We only hope that they will be given the possibility to act and transform the sport.
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