A-league head Greg O’Rourke has indicated the planned expansion of the competition for next season might be delayed to the 2020-21 season.
After last month’s rejection of bids from Wollongong Wolves and Ipswich Pride FC, the six remaining candidates are Southern Expansion (NSW), Macarthur South West Sydney (NSW), Western Melbourne (Victoria), Team 11 (Victoria), South Melbourne (Victoria) and Canberra (ACT).
While O’Rourke hoped the new FFA board to be elected later this month could make a decision on the two successful bidders by the end of January, he said their entry might not happen until 2020-21.
“A number of bidders have said if they were to know in December or January, that would still be viable for them to come in the 2019-20 season, but any later than that would probably be too short a run-up,” O’Rourke said on Monday.
“Their view is the longer they have, the higher quality team they can put together in respect of not having too little time to build a team.
“As a result of that, we would hope that by the end of December, the board would be in a position to make a call, if not at end of January at the latest.”
Asked if that was the deadline for a decision for expansion in 2019-20, O’Rourke said “It’s not so much about the decision – it’s about actually the timing of the entry.
“The decision itself could still be made (by then), but the timing of their entry could be delayed to give them an 18-month run up instead of a six-month run-up.”
O’Rourke identified the political situation in Victoria as one potential stumbling block in sticking to the time frame.
“There’s one or two Victorian bids that require government support and the state government of Victoria is currently in caretaker mode,” O’Rourke said.
“So until that government election is held (on November 24) and we can talk to the incumbent sports minister, treasurer, premier, that’s something we can’t control.”
Asked if he would regard delaying expansion to 2020-21 as a setback, O’Rourke said “I think the league would benefit from expansion in 2019-20, that’s for sure.
“But if there’s some obvious reasons to delay it for one year, not the decision itself but the implementation of it, I think most people would be slightly disappointed.
“But we’d be ready, knowing that one year – as long as we’ve got all the right questions answered – would be a reasonable timeline to make sure that was done.”
O’Rourke said there had been formal meetings with some of the bidders about challenges identified in their documentation and the others would go through the same process probably by the end of next week.
He said following those meetings, he was more confident about some of the weaknesses previously identified.
John K
Guest
It was in Middle Park, South Melb Vs St George frpm Sydney Thank You
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Con, when was the last time S M Hellas got 18k to a NPL game?
Hermes
Guest
The FFA's Harmony Round or the trumpeting of Mabil as a sign of the multicultural character of our game is one of their creepiest Orwellian jokes. It is this organisation that excluded all teams that grew out of a southern European/Balkan ethnic base because they ethnic. Even funnier is that they try to push Aboriginal participation in the sport. However, they fail to mention that one of the first Aboriginal players to play for an elite club, Pan-Hellenic (Sydney Olympic) was Charlie Perkins. Not only did he play for them, he was the captain-coach. 50 years ahead of their time! Introduce Promotion/Relegation immediately. And no playoffs, straight up two down/two up.
Dart
Guest
I hope the Wolves are included in this league then. They really should have been one of the expansion teams.
con tripodis
Guest
i feel as an Australian but born in Greece i have been here for 52 yearsand have dealt with some incredible racism ,but lately theyseems to be trendy or in vogue nationalities like it ok for Brisbane lions to ware the orange and have the Netherland lions symbols ,its ok for melb heart or city what ever they want to call this sold off English crappy supported team with its English flag in its symbol or Melbourne victory with its Scottish national anthem song ,so some ethnicity are ok and some are not gee that makes me feel really good ,no don't put south Melbourne in the a league they are supported by Melbourne's 2nd biggest community they only used to get 18,000 at bob jane with no adverting, no foxtel, no boz, no radio ,no nothing ,yes that right we dont want them
con tripodis
Guest
i agree south was in a bad state in the last years of nsl ,but so were many other clubs in fact maybe all of them were in the same boat and the nsl was some what independent from the asf back than and this is what the a league wants to do now ,i somewhat agree with the outgoing chairman to much independence and not enough policing and auditing of clubs will result in what happened to the nsl clubs corruption, theft and running clubs to the ground so much to think about the past is good to learn from that is why we should respect it for some of its bad and learn from it and some of its good and not forget it ,one great nsl result was so much talent ,Australian talent A league gives all its money to hasbeens no thanks i would rather watch cristian athianou i forgot his name allready as muscat only wanted to play has beens and not play talent like that boy now he is gone to germany and i never watch melb city but when azani played hell yes i watched he was great now he is gone VERY SAD
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Yes, it's definitely a case of: Beware Greeks bearing gifts.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Really???? Old soccer ran the game from 1977 through to 2003 with all of their bitching and stuffed it up. Here you are wanting to give them another go at it. My advice to the Italians, Croatian and Greek fraternity who have all this money, buy into their local A League club and strengthen it with their support. Some of us have long memories. And tell me what football apartheid regime are you referring to, the old FFA Board is all but gone so are you referring to the current A League clubs or the maybe the State Federations, possibly the active supporter groups around the nation. I think you are just stirring the pot looking for an argument because many of the old school soccer administrators don't want to put at risk their current club funds into another NSL. One of the better solutions mentioned in this discussion so far was from Nem [I think] where a second division is set up and a play off for promotion involving the bottom two A League sides and the top two NPL sides.
Hermes
Guest
It is okay to have Chinese-backed bids, where more than likely the funding is coming from state-backed or state-supported sources of dubious quality; however, bids backed by Australians from Italian, Croatian or Greek backgrounds, with money won by toil in Australia is not only frowned upon but viewed with fear and suspicion by the football apartheid regime, the FFA.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
The way I understand Team 11 is that the state Govt has said they will fund a new stadium if it gets in, which requires a bit of a leap of faith from the FFA and board to accept them before a stadium is guaranteed. The West Melbourne bid is different again, they reckon they will fund the stadium in its entirety, as long as the local council grants them some cheap land somewhere West of Werribee (where the first Mad Max was filmed, yeh, that's how isolated it is). Then there was the Chinese backed Southern Sydney bid, which clearly is a front for getting access to Sydney real estate on the cheap to develop. The other three bids will be using existing stadiums. If the new board is doing its job, they will want to have a careful look at each of the short listed bids.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Nah, no bias. Don’t let the Jets logo induce you into any perceptions on geographical preference for new teams. ;-) I am sure there are a lot of NPL clubs across the country that aren’t putting their hand up for the A-League, either. And I did say ‘Grand finalists’ amongst others...
Nemesis
Guest
"Cricket on Fox actually represents a substantial threat to football. The justification for Fox shelling out above market value for the A-League was the need for summer sports content. It has that with cricket now." You honestly think Foxsports pays $56M/yr to ALeague because it might lose a 60,000 subscribers for 3 months of summer? Are you involved in business decisions? That just doesn't make sense at a financial level, or common sense level. ALeague starts in October, finishes early May. I don't know when Cricket season is in full swing, but I do know Cricket doesn't last that long. I know BBL lasts around 7 weeks. Something like 4 home games per franchise.
Jordan
Guest
I think a top 4 two leg semi format would be a lot better than what we gave now.
Mark
Guest
There are plenty of people out there wanting Cricket on Fox to fail, and the Perth match gave them some easy material to work with in the absence of any context. The series vs South Africa is on well before people are ready to start watching cricket, and is little more than a few meaningless one dayers. The Australian team is also at one of its lowest ebbs in a very long time. The numbers will get better in December and January, but will still be below previous seasons. Cricket on Fox actually represents a substantial threat to football. The justification for Fox shelling out above market value for the A-League was the need for summer sports content. It has that with cricket now.
RF
Roar Rookie
This could happen, but only if Tom Cruise was there singlehandedly rescuing the Rohinga
Nemesis
Guest
AAFC had a briefing a few weeks ago for Members Only & so far no information has leaked. I can only hope it will take the form of 14 teams spread across 8 of the 9 Federations. My preference would be NSW, QLD, VIC = 3 each SA, WA, TAS, ACT, NNSW = 1 each I'd start with relegation play-off only bottom team 2 leg playoff agaisnt the top NPL team from that State Federation, so the 2nd Div remains with the above State representation. If this came to fruition, we'd open up interest in the 2nd Div to every State Fed. And, for Victoria it would be a wonderful fight to see who gets in: SMFC, MelbKnights, Heidelberg Utd, Bentleigh Greens, Avondale Heights, Green Gully, Oakleigh Cannons... lots of worthy contenders on & off the park.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Griffo, do you know who the current NPL Champions are, there is only one by the way not two. Its a South Australian club Campbelltown City, a club full of [local] history and a great NPL stadium. Surprise, surprise, they have no intention of putting their hand up for an A :League place. Your East Coast bias is showing mate.
Nemesis
Guest
Under the new independent leadership, the operators will do whatever needs to be done to create a competition that the Australian football community wants. If that means Finals, fine. But, based on all available information over 13 years of ALeague, the fotoball community has fading interest in finals. Yes, they have big interest in the Grand Final. But fading interest in the other 4 finals. The Grand Final can be replicated with Playoffs for Pro/Rel. Or, even a similar "Championship round of 6 matches each" for the Top 7 teams. Lots of possibilities for administrators who have vision.
pauly
Guest
They won't get rid of the finals. Don't forget even the NSL had a finals series.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Here is a thought: So if choosing 2-4 bids from the expansion tender is delayed by one season, why not offer the Grand Finalists of the NPL Championship a one season pass to play in the A-League as an interim measure? South Melbourne and Wollongong maybe? It might ignite interest (and help the FFA's metrics if that is important) while giving the 2-4 teams that extra season to be ready. And you would have potentially two teams ready for Division 2 after a year of A-League action if they choose to...