A few days ago Luke Patitsas wrote on The Roar about his idea for a Big Bash-style tournament for the A-League.
Given past crowds and TV ratings for the BBL and the relative lack of interest in the A-League last season it isn’t hard to see why the sTwenty20 cricket format appeals as a model.
In fact a number of sports have created new versions of their own codes that are faster paced, freer flowing and higher scoring. Cricket has T20, rugby union has rugby sevens, rugby league has rugby nines, AFL has AFLX, tennis has fast four, golf has golf sixes and so on.
But unlike Luke Patitsas, I don’t think a new form of the game needs to become a separate sport with its own league.
Another article written by Chris Edwards in 2017 might provide a better option. Instead of a whole home-and-away league, he looks to the annual Hong Kong Football Club Soccer Sevens tournament, which is mostly contested by academy and under-23 clubs from around the world.
This version of the game was created after rugby sevens first took off internationally and follows a similar format. The main differences are that there are only seven players allowed on the pitch, there are rolling substitutions, there’s no offside rule and the games are 15 minutes in length during the group stage and 20 minutes long in the knockout rounds.
Tournament director Chris Plowman is enthusiastic about the concept, saying, “It’s a fantastic fast-paced format of the game which kicks up some amazing action.”
Hong Kong Football Association CEO Mark Sutcliffe is even more upbeat, saying, “I’d like to think that eventually it will come close to rivalling the rugby sevens!”
A number of well-known and distinguished clubs have sent sides to compete, including Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, Aston Villa, PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, Kashima Antlers, Chelsea, Birmingham City, Glasgow Celtic, Newcastle United, Leicester City, Ajax, Urawa Red Diamonds, Olympique Marseille, Sheffield FC, Cagliari Calcio, Manchester City, Atlético Madrid, Liverpool, Stoke City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sunderland, Bayer Leverkusen, Fulham, Brighton and Hove Albion, Glasgow Rangers and West Ham United.
A-League sides Newcastle Jets, Central Coast Mariners and Wellington Phoenix have also taken part in the tournament. It’s clear that all these clubs must see some sort of benefit in participating.
The HKFC Soccer Sevens format would lend itself well to an eight-team, one-day State of Origin tournament as it allows the use of a full-size pitch and standard-size goals as well as a regular ball, unlike futsal, but it would be played at a similar pace and be higher scoring, so it fills a niche between the two.
An eight-team State of Origin tournament could consist of teams representing New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Australia, copmrising North Queensland plus Northern Territory. The six matches in each group of four plus the two semi-finals and the final would make 15 matches all up. Even with the longer 20-minute running time for finals would mean the tournament would be only 300 minutes, or five hours, in total.
If you had an average of three goals per match, that’s around 50 goals in a day’s viewing.
Apart from State of Origin or preseason display matches, the HKFC Soccer Sevens format could also be a good way to give more people the chance to play on a limited number of fields. While you can divide a full-size pitch into four smaller ones, you can also divide it by time. With four football Sevens matches having about the same duration as a single 11-a-side match, 80 players could use the pitch in the same amount of time, including substitutions.
Overall, though, I don’t think a new form of the game will greatly improve crowd sizes or TV ratings for the A-League. I think it’s worth noting at this point that the futsal F-League folded in 2017 due to lack of player applications. In total there were 17 teams that took part in the league over its brief six-year history, with nine of them folding. The chances for a new form of the game aren’t good.
But maybe a HKFC Soccer Sevens-style tournament could still manage to fill a small niche.
At the very least a preseason State of Origin tournament could provide a good opportunity for FFA to do an official season launch as part of a fan-day type festival. So, at least that’s something.
Evan Askew
Guest
I know Hermiston as in terms of qld football he was the Thomas Broich of the 70s and early 80s. (in terms of being possibly qlds greatest ever import) And I know Marley, if I remember correctly he played for Thistle before playing for Brisbane City in the NSL and in the very good North Star teams of the late 80s that had McDonaugh, Mulvey, Swann, Hadow and Paul Fagan among others.
jbinnie
Guest
Evan - The games between a Qld eleven and an opponent (usually an overseas visitor) used to be an annual part of the Brisbane football calendar. Recently I was talking to a fellow fan and happened to mention a game that was played at Perry Park on a weekday evening between the Australian 1978 World Cup squad and a Brisbane side ( less any Brisbane City players ). They were due to play in a National Cup Final the following Sunday. This fan I was talking to had no memory of the game whatsoever despite it being one of the best football matches ever played at PP. The crowd were quiet at half time for the Socceroos had scored 3 unanswered goals but the second half changed all that with Queensland scoring 4 goals before the Aussies got an equaliser. Eddie Spearrit (who had played with Carlisle in the English top league) stated afterwards that Queensland would have won if the game had lasted 5 minutes more. The Socceroos,who were being coached that night by Ronnie Smith made no such comments. The Queensland team that night will bring back memories with Spearrit,Potter,Hermiston ,Neale,and Morris all started from Lions,made up with players like Charle Runje,John Patterson,Alan Marley,Ron Millman,and Barry Kelso added to make up the eleven. Cheers jb.
Evan Askew
Guest
I used to enjoy watching the Qld football team play against New South Wales in the 80s. I even saw them play against Charlton athletic after they had just being relegated from the English first division (EPL) in 1990. A qld team made up of players from the Brisbane Premier league XXXX league, bolstered by Danny Wright from South Melbourne and Steve Jackson from Preston Makedonia drew 2-2 with Charlton. But this was mostly in an era where Brisbane had no NSL team. ( I was mostly too young for Brisbane City which as a proud north sider is the team I would have went for) Once Brisbane Strikers came along then Qld games gradually lost significance. State games may be a feature of Cricket, rugby league and rugby union but Football has other priorities, other cares in the world. I guarantee that a state of origin in football would do absolutely nothing to improve the popularity of football in this country. Having a well run league which would include crowd friendly kickoff times, less heavy handed security, open active support areas, and increase salary cap or better yet, no salary cap, transfer fees between teams and in time promotion and relegation are some things which will improve football in this country. State of origin and a football big bash are just gimicks.
Nemesis
Guest
I'd never heard of this Hong Kong tournament, so I just had a look. West Ham's squad they sent had only 4 players (Johnson, Coventry, Holland, Powerll) who were part of the WHU senior EPL squad. Of those, only 1 player actually played a match last season in the Premier League - Johnson, who had 1 match playing 63 minutes for the entire 2018/19 season. Seems like it basically a summer vacation tournament for youth players.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"I’m also not convinced that the clubs would be willing to release their players in such a way, but if it could happen, I’m sure it would be great." - Plenty of English clubs have sent sides to Hong Kong, so they don't seem to mind. I just wonder if it would be more successful in England where their home fans are, so they don't need to travel.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Shared with the NT
Nick Symonds
Guest
"Thanks for the callback to my earlier article." - No problem. It helps to have that kind of first hand experience and perspective. By the way, the main reason I went for a SOO format was because I've seen a lot of comments by AFL fans saying that AFLX would be a good opportunity to bring back their own SOO. Also, I went for a one-day tournament since the the NRL series drags on for too long 3 with matches, similar with the BBL. It doesn't have to be SOO for an FFA Sevens though, a club based version might be OK. It's just that an FFA SOO would be something a bit different from the usual club based competitions. As for the eligibility rules and the selection process I'd leave that to the federations.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"Tasmania , who many believe deserve an A-league spot, don’t get a team of their own?" - FROM THE ARTICLE ABOVE: "An eight-team State of Origin tournament could consist of teams representing New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Australia, copmrising North Queensland plus Northern Territory" FROM JK "NSW metro (Sydney), NSW country, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, ACT, NT/TAS" - Both mention Tasmania having a SOO team.
At work
Roar Rookie
I would have zero interest in such a gimmick. One only needs to look at other sports where they are desperately chasing people with no attention spans to see how they're going. Even the BBL which the nation apparently loves is going backwards. Yes it still has huge ratings and solid crowds, but it's dropping each year as people who are attracted to such entertainment (not sport), just get bored of the product (again not sport).
Nemesis
Guest
I'm an avid football fan. A regular A-League watcher. A member of an A-League club. I have zero interest in any State of Origin rubbish & I'm confident the players have zero interest & the coaches have zero interest. We need more competitive football for A-League players, not nonsensical gimmicks. We wonder why Australia is falling behind the rest of the world in Football, maybe it's because we don't look & learn how the best in the world go about creating great footballers.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
How many footballers are from Tassie. Josh Hope?
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Tasmania , who many believe deserve an A-league spot, don't get a team of their own?
Chris Edwards
Guest
Thanks for the callback to my earlier article. I've missed the last two Soccer7s due to other commitments, but am keen to go back next year. In terms of a State of Origin Soccer7s, I think there's merit in the idea. One question I would have is the definition of "state of origin" and what do you do about the overseas players? Do we create teams for those players as well? I'm also not convinced that the clubs would be willing to release their players in such a way, but if it could happen, I'm sure it would be great.
matt quigley
Guest
80 players all on a pitch, albiet subdivided, at the same time? What a viewing mess!
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
I might do.
Nick Symonds
Guest
Will you be going to the Mini Football World Cup? They'll be building a temporary 5,000-seat stadium at Langley Park for the event from Oct 1 - 11. Australia made the quarter finals last time round, in Tunisia. - https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/stage-is-set-for-perth-to-get-its-very-own-mini-football-world-cup-20190403-p51ahg.html
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
I’d love to see it. But these would be my states. NSW metro (Sydney), NSW country, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, ACT, NT/TAS