Is it time to start the A-League season in September?

NRL and AFL finish late September. Then the A-League can play up untill mid March when the AFL and NRL resume.

Stevo mate I would encourage you to think of The day when the mindset circa 1975, is eroded and all those kids out there who have followed football all their lives are ticket paying football supporters. I believe that as nothong less is giving into the dark side.

If you’re a casual sports fan in south australia who picks up a TV remote on any weekend (perhaps apart from 3-4 weeks of the year), it is hard to miss the wall-to-wall coverage of the AFL .

In dry season winter, sure. Just highlights the size of our country. Down south it's wet, as you know.

Yikes, if this is true, the clubs taking over the running of the game certainly is turning into a Trumpian disaster in the making. The ABC will be paid by soccer to broadcast it's games. May as well shove the games up on Youtube. At least you'd get something back.

I think Ivan’s summation via Twitter is spot on. Yes our offseason is way too long, ground availability can be worked through on a case by case basis and overcome, and clear air, well this is simply a myth. Clear air had never existed, the MSM does not give a stuff about the AL, pure and simple, they’d rather show lawn bowls than an A-league game, because simply there’s only 2-3 channels that have any sort of money to spend, and all of them will spend it yearly (and heavily!) on either AFL, NRL or cricket. There is never ‘clear air’ for us, there never has been or will be! Our product needs to cater to the football folk first, get that bit right, and the rest will follow. Currently only 14% of teenage football players (boys and girls) go to A-League games, if they can increase that to 30%-40% that’ll be more than enough. Let’s see what the incoming independent board do, but I’m tipping it’ll be an improvement on the last 15 years at the hands of the FFA, who’s always been under resource with way too much on their plate.

FiL, born and bred in Melbourne. The image of soccer supporters almost borders on one of hooligans that need to be carefully watched. The over policing that I have observed at some games, police with face shields riding horses as if they’re prepared for a riot was frankly sickening and something I wasn’t prepared for here in Australia. I get that you need security and people have to be safe but I’d say that we have at times seen a gross over reaction that leaves people feeling less safe and anxious.

Here here Griffo I really hope you are working toward a career in Football Administration. As much as we need business nouse we need football noise just as much

Being City supporter I can only presume you are in Melbourne or Victoria and the mindset of the plods is the same as in NSW

Stevo Mate I believe that if Anfield can have the Cop and Old Trafford can have the Stretford End without incident and injury the for crying out loud it should be a piece of cake for us. Problem there are not enough football knowledgeable people where it counts and just like Pollies the vast majority of plods have the same circa 1970s attitude. Thank heavens for Commissoner Jones in Sydney who is a football man. We just have to be patient and pray that the transverse happens faster than we think it will

Waz - You appear to be at an advantage over most of the contributors that write to these columns inasmuch you appear to have inside running into the financial affairs of not only the FFA, but each and every State Federation in the country. Lets get one thing clear. To join the HAL requires the purchase of a licence and it is rumoured this could now cost as much as $15mllion and that doesn't take into consideration the signing of players, staff (football),& staff (administration), and that's before a ball is kicked. If the rumours are correct and wages have to be calculated at everyday wage structures ,it is quite feasible that an investor , or investment group, would have to front up with $23 million just to get started. Now there is one inescapable fact that has to be faced and that is the amount of times in recent years the FFA has called for "new" investors for the HAL, and, without fail, those who have publicly been shown to have an interest, have one by one withdrawn from the scene, citing all sorts of excuses but failing in almost every case to report that it is a financial leap too far for existing NPL identities. Sad, but unfortunately true.

true, but as the finals progress plenty of fans drop out as their team drops out. Some don't even make the finals so interest, while heightening all round, drops for most team fans

As I said once before, we became frightened of our own shadow rather than staring down the 'accusers' and naysayers. By giving in we ended up with riot police on horseback, stifling of active supporters and the FFA's national club identity policy (NCIP).

"They’ll need a whole lot more money, but that’s their aim." - 1) I think that goes for a whole bunch of clubs. 2) Is Redlands a tribal area? It's a bit hidden away and unknown as well as being separated from Logan, so does it have it's own sense of identity?

Cannot see that happening nick its only a 30min show and AFL takes up 25 mins of that.

Agree playing longer is light years ahead of starting earlier...

jb. I would argue there is enough money in the code, it’s just that an incredible amount of it seems to be wasted at the FFA (about $25m/year?) and another $40m wasted running unnecessary state Federations. But yes, expansion is required and ideally to 18 clubs/34 games.

Redlands have stated their vision, play in the Championship B League and make the A League. They'll need a whole lot more money, but that's their aim.

I wasn't expecting ABC to get involved. Hopefully they promote it well in their news bulletins and give it better coverage on Offsiders.

Starting it earlier won't change the league's biggest problem - that is what must be world football's longest off-season. And as somebody else points out above, there is also a question as to whether Australia has the concentration/bandwidth to sustain a 9 month league like they do in most part of the world (why, I don't know). If you aren't going to change that then I don't really see the point in starting one month earlier in September. I know there are a lot of fans that are exclusively football fans so its not a concern for them when it starts. However there are also a lot of fans who also hold a strong interest in AFL and/or NRL. Hence, if you are not going to extend the length of the domestic season, there's not really much point in starting the A-League at what is the noisiest time of year for the 2 x major domestic sporting competitions. When I say that I'm not even talking about in terms of media (who are less relevant and more fluid in its form than the traditional format) - I'm just talking about the fans who are fans of other codes besides A-League.