The latest instalment of the A-League produced a snore-fest of declining interest culminating in what had to be one of the most boring grand finals in the history of the league.
Make no mistake: the league’s future is at stake. The FFA is terrified its dollars from Foxtel will dry up after it declared that minor sports funding may be at risk, and the league’s tanking ratings are not helping its cause.
So I write today not as a journalist – I am far from that – but in my capacity as a fan and to humbly offer a blueprint for the future.
Very briefly, my entire professional career has been about establishing new company divisions or turning around ailing ones and creating profitable dynamic divisions within a company. It involves understanding a company’s unique value proposition, its weaknesses, the market and how we can grow. So with this I ran my eye over the A-League, and I am sure many fans will echo my sentiments. Some are more obvious than others.
Governance
This has done almost irreparable damage to the game, bringing it to its knees. This brawl between the clubs and the FFA needs to end. We are getting there, but we need to get there faster. People need to leave their egos at the door and clubs need to be incentivised to invest in the game. Clubs are already on record saying that unless there is a clear strategic direction they will not invest further. We have officials both within the FFA and in club management who are clearly not up to the task.
Understanding of the game and its unique value proposition.
We have a board who are more concerned about making football into a second-rate version of the Big Bash than understanding the game’s strengths. Football is about change, equality, dynamism and being part of a global family. We were the first to have a national competition. The first to have the Australian national anthem played at an international. The only international team to send a national team to Vietnam. We learn from others but we shouldn’t follow. We should lead.
Active fans and atmosphere
The FFA have, as Simon Hill put it, slain the golden goose. This was what bought fans to the game. Heavy-handed security has destroyed the passion, and football dies without passion. Fix active support, re-engage fans.
Game-day experience
Have a manager or team dedicated to managing the fan game-day experience. What is the blueprint for a family on game day from the moment they leave their home to the moment they come home? Recognise fans are fans; they aren’t customers. Once you treat your fans like customers, they will treat you like a product. If the product isn’t good, why turn up? Create loyalty beyond results. Use technology and understand people today have more options. In the future we will be competing against such things as augmented reality.
(Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Goodhart’s law
This is the principle whereby a company’s measure becomes the target. This, in short, is bad. Rather than build a strong, dynamic league that will attract investment – of which TV money is a measure of success – the TV money has become the target. As a minor sport compared to AFL and NRL we have got ourselves into a catch 22. We need Foxtel’s money to survive, but the broadcaster’s limited reach means we cannot effectively grow and compete with the big boys. We need to redefine the strategy and have a broader approach.
New teams
Let’s face it. The two new teams are a desperate cash grab for the FFA. Again TV money is driving strategy. In the long term this is bad. We have the vaguely named Western United, who will be playing in a sparsely populated area, and a team from South West Sydney – or, as fans call it, The Team That No-one Wanted FC. Bad strategy leads to bad decisions. These teams will struggle to survive. But we are stuck with them now. Strategies need to be drawn up to maximise their success and the FFA must now not bail on them, as they did with the Northern Fury and Gold Coast United, teams that were also the result of poor due diligence.
A second division
Important, yes. Realistic, no. We are so far away from a sustainable second division it’s not funny. First we need direction and strong foundations, otherwise adding a second division will be another shaky pillar in a house about to collapse. A second division, if done right, is exactly what the game needs, but it must be done right. It will also make for better decision-making as clubs who find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table will now know they have something to lose.
(Matt King/Getty Images)
Lifting or totally scrapping the salary cap
This is contentious, I know, but the simple fact is the A-League cannot rise to new heights and reach its potential in terms of quality of football if it is rooted and anchored to the bottom team and trying to keep it competitive. We need vision. We need to incentivise clubs to manage themselves better and lift the standard, not punish them when they attempt to do so and reward mediocrity. Of course we can complement this with incentives and breaks for smaller teams, but ultimately a rising tide lifts all boats.
Our youth system
Sorry, but it’s broken. Key elements of defensive play and a rigid system has led to severely deficient players, as has this whole youth academy proliferation that fleeces parents of their money for little gain. We also need to connect the grassroots to the rest of the game. Haven’t you heard this argument for the past 40 years?
Futsal
Create a system where players can drift in and out of football and futsal, providing them with skills and vision desperately needed. I was in talks with an A-League team about setting up a profitable futsal competition and they were all for the idea – until management changed. This is a big wasted opportunity.
Incentive clubs to have their own stadiums and revenue streams
This is an area where people immediately say that it can’t be done. Well, if you have that attitude, it will never be done. Credit to Western United for making this happen. Like in the US, you can lobby the government to encourage investment from Asia to build new stadiums in exchange for citizenship. These are high-value investors. People are afraid of Asian investors buying houses and agricultural land. They may not be too concerned if there is an investment in stadiums.
Marquees
Again, this is based on having a clear strategy that will make A-League owners want to invest in the right marquees, confident that they aren’t throwing their money away. One thing feeds off the other.
A football lobby
This is something we are terrible at. Create relationships with business and community groups and leverage this to influence the government. We need access to the upper echelons in the corridors of power.
Finally, remember that people are drawn to football because it is a community and a family. That primitive tribal instinct is still strong in all of us. Utilise it to make our great game grow. Fan ownership of clubs – as a certain percentage – should be considered in the medium and long term.
This is the way forward. But to do this the reality is the game first needs a huge clean-out before a football-centric model – as opposed to a business-centric model – can be implemented. Get the football right and surround it with proper strategy and all else will fall into place.
Onside
Roar Rookie
So the ideal A league team criteria from quotes above: "have their own stadiums and revenue streams" "a community and a family" "primitive tribal instinct is still strong" "Fan ownership of club" "football-centric" Sounds like South Melbourne FC to me !!!!!
Harry Selassie
Roar Rookie
I agree with Tyke, both new clubs will help create more interest. Why? Because of more derbies which will increase local fan interest and will make the suits at Foxtel happy.
Tyke
Roar Rookie
Oh true, thanks for clarification
Tyke
Roar Rookie
I also got to disagree about the new teams going to have a tough run. Western United has placed an emphasis on community engagement and identity, has signed a bunch of young talented or good potential aussies, want to play a pleasing style of football, signed a coach that fits that mould, has stated they believe in the talent in the NPL, are going to build and own their own stadium. MacArthur has also made the argument of their NPL representation as part of their worthiness, and from what I can see identity and community is going to be important to them as well. WSW is going to be moving into their beautiful new football centric stadium, and already has the traditional football culture that people say the the a league is missing and needs. So if the new teams also find success whilst establishing a football culture, the rest of the a league is going to try to replicate that success, as I hear so often “all ships go up with a rising tide”, so a football culture could happen more organically in our top tier. I’m quite new to football, and a league fandom. I started playing this year and was appalled at how much I had to pay in rego, yet as is pointed out there is no connection between grass roots and HAL. So where does that money go? My my POV it seems to be lining the pockets of greedy suits at state and FFA level, all the money is going up the ladder making self centred individuals profit, instead of funneling down and investing and growing the game. They are taking advantage of the fact it will always be healthy at grassroots, instead of nurturing that, they milk it for all they can. What is the point of the state governing bodies and the ffa at all? They seem to just be there to make profit
David V
Guest
The winds of change were blowing in those sports by then as there was a talent drain to Sydney and Melbourne respectively. That's what caused the switch to Origin rules for state representative games. In the 1980s the VFL and NSWRL began their transition to full-fledged national leagues.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Aussie rules, rugby league, etc, still had state leagues when the NSL was founded in '77.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
I appreciate your intent but I think you confuse Football with the A-League. The first is a mass participation game and the second is a business. They are related but they are not the same thing. That will remain true for as long as the A-League remains detached from the rest of Football in Oz. So, for example, while youth development and Futsal are relevant interests for Football in Oz, they are only tangentially relevant to the success or failure of the A-League in its current form Similarly, your spiel about ‘value proposition’ is about Football, not about the A-League in its current form. I guess that highlights the conundrum facing the FFA and the A-League club owners: if the A-League had emerged organically as the highest tier of Oz Football then it would simply be the highest value way of monetising the whole of Oz Football. But, as a standalone product based on franchise clubs, the A-League has only itself to monetise. That means it relies on drawing attention away from better, richer Football leagues in other countries, as well as other commercially strong domestic sports. The A-League will never win the contest with overseas leagues, and in its current form will struggle against other domestic sports. The disconnect between the A-League and Football has side-effects that directly and indirectly impact on the league’s viability. The obvious one is the large pool of potential customers whose first sport is Football but who have no direct connection with the A-League. Disengagement from that natural customer base means the league has had to go looking for customers amongst those who are not natural Football supporters. That’s why active support has been suppressed. But suppressing active support is also a denial of Football culture. It ignores a critical dimension of Football’s success, one which is about being part of a group centred around your team, as opposed to being a mere spectator. For the spectator the quality of the entertainment is the only measure of value. For true supporters there are many other ways of measuring value as well. That’s why WSW was such a hit early on - it didn’t need to be based on great football. The A-League/Football disconnect also creates a false impression of youth standards. We don’t see our best youth footballers because they disappear overseas as soon as they show any talent. That’s because they have no place to play between state leagues and A-League. That further diminishes the connection Football fans see between Football and the A-League. Unlike you, I think a second division is critical now. It would refocus the A-League on its real value proposition - its natural fan base and its youth talent base. It would shift thinking away from competing on terms set by the AFL and the NRL, which both have barely visible lower tiers. It would also shift thinking away from the US franchise model, which works for MLS in the US because of the size of the market, but is a shaky basis for the A-League in our tiny domestic market.
Nick Symonds
Guest
NEW TEAMS You might be right that the new teams will fail to attract many fans, but even just 5,000 fans in Sydney or Melbourne will bring better atmosphere during a derby than 5,000 at home in Townsville. The other thing is that the news media really like derbies, so they get headlines. In any case it's what FOX wanted and FFA had to do what they told them to.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
"a snore fest of declining interest " It's amazing how many people run with this narrative. Boring? Yes, there were some boring games. There are in every league. The A-league is no different, or worse. Declining interest? Despite WSW and SFC being homeless, despite one of the best supported team's having a nightmare (Roar- and WSW actually ), despite monsoonal storms knocking 20k off the first Sydney derby, despite WSW dropping 5k by playing at Mudgee, despite Nix dropping 5k by playing in Sydney, despite so much negative media, crowds were essentially the same. Down by about 180 or something per game. That's not declining interest. Viewing figures? We have no idea. Fox figures are way down, but that is like saying DVD rentals reflex no one is watching movies. Do we actually have figures on My Football app? There is a constant narrative that the end is nigh, driven by the likes of Tuckerman. Yes, it's certainly plateaud, and there is reason for concern, and for actions, but let's not pedal false info . The final was dull, but it happens in every football comp around the world. The difference is they are mature enough not to read anything one game. The rest of the article I quite enjoyed!
Ad-O
Guest
The A-League's popularity will probably continue to rise and fall with the success of the Socceroos, especially at World Cups. That's the only football brand in the country that really has any cut through with the average punter. Unfortunately I don't see us ever being consistently successful as a nation, so the sport is up against it.
Waz
Roar Rookie
I started reading with low expectations only to find a very good article. As an earlier poster said, plenty of “we need to’s” which is fine, but someone needs to address the how to bit .. at some point anyway. The only bit I disagree with is the Futsal part - there’s plenty of mutually exclusive skills learnt in futsal and (speaking as a junior coach) it’s not all that helpful to have kids playing through the summer. We have 20-22 games a season and is much rather have 10 more games than futsal.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Theres too many "we need to's" in here and not enough "how to's". I agree that the new teams are a cash grab but I think they'll both be successful.
Tyke
Guest
Great article l, but what do you mean we were first to have a national competition? In Asia?