What’s more valuable to an NPL club these days? Winning their state league title or the national exposure that a run to the FFA Cup semi-finals affords them?
For the first time ever the FFA Cup’s final four will play host to a club from Queensland after Brisbane Strikers saw off Moreland Zebras 3-2 in a dogged battle at Perry Park on Wednesday night.
The win looked a sure thing for the Strikers when they went in 2-0 up at half-time, but the second tier Victorian visitors clearly hadn’t travelled for a holiday.
On the whole though the Strikers were decent value for their progression to the semi-finals, having already knocked out Wellington Phoenix in the Round of 32.
That said, it begs the question of a side that finished fifth in the league and missed the NPL finals by 11 points whether they didn’t feel like it was more worthwhile to mount a lengthy national cup run than fight for local silverware.
And a couple of other incidents at NPL grounds last week are worth revisiting if a proposed second division is ever to get off the ground.
One was at Perry Park, where the Gold Coast Knights stunned local heavyweights Olympic FC to win the Queensland grand final just a year after being promoted.
The win was a deserved one for the Knights – who finished four points behind table toppers Lions FC in the league – however one incident in particular caught the attention of several observers.
It came with Knights players celebrating on the pitch as a few kids ran on with flags, in scenes we’ve seen countless times across the globe.
That was until one member of the crowd took it upon themselves to launch a flare from deep within the Olympic supporter section onto the pitch.
Long-standing Olympic fans were quick to denounce the actions of the mystery flare-thrower and claimed he wasn’t a regular, but the damage had been done.
And it’s hard not to wonder what exactly is gained by lobbing a flare onto the pitch in the first place?
Of course, that wasn’t even the worst incident of unruly behaviour at an NPL ground this week.
That’s right Hume City, we’re looking squarely in your direction.
It must be said Hume City chairman Steve Kaya swiftly condemned the troublemakers who threw bottles and cans at Central Coast Mariners players in the wake of the Gosford side’s 1-0 victory at ABD Stadium on Tuesday night.
And it’s a shame the Hume fans couldn’t control themselves at the final whistle, because from all accounts they had provided a raucous atmosphere throughout.
But once again the image of fans lobbing projectiles at players is the last thing football needs, especially from a game televised nationally on Fox Sports.
So do those who threw things care about the reputational damage they’ve done to their own club and the game in general?
The FFA Cup requires collaboration to succeed. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Probably not. For one thing most of them looked barely old enough to even be out on a school night.
But there’s an elephant in the room surely worth discussing if a proposed second division is ever to get off the ground.
And it’s this: how many fans of NPL clubs actually want to see the A-League succeed?
It’s a genuine question.
It sometimes feels like A-League clubs spend half their time trying to appeal to a mainstream Australia that has no interest in football, and the other half trying to appease fans of traditional clubs who feel like they’ve had the door to top-flight football slammed in their face.
We can tut-tut all we want about kids lobbing bottles of water at the Mariners, but it’s hard to see why they’d care if they don’t feel any connection to the A-League in the first place.
That’s yet another conundrum football’s powerbrokers need to address.
It’s all well and good to start a second division, but considerably less useful if fans simply use it as another excuse to demonstrate why it’s us versus them.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
@ Waz - that is the best summary I've read on here, ever! Well done.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
The next 5 years of watching football on a monitor in a loungeroom or sports bar will no doubt change dramatically for most people. For us oldies, not much will change, we will follow the A League to what ever format hosts it. If Fox sell it off then the wife and I have a decision to make, do we keep Fox for the other content we enjoy or not. Do we over lap with content on multiple hosts? We currently have both Fox and Optus for our football fix, but have noticed that many of our favourite shows are also on Fetch, so do we ditch Fox all together or stick with what we know and trust.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Interesting comment. Maybe we're fortunate as Adelaide has only the one A League club, and will remain so for the foreseeable future [I hope], so making that connection was easy for me and my entire family. Foremost, we all love the game, yes we all follow clubs in England [my heritage] but none of us have that connection to our English clubs as we do to Utd. We still follow our local community club and the clubs in the Amateur League where we played, but the A League is the pinnacle of our sport in Australia, for us it was a no brainer when it came along. PS we have never considered our club just as a business franchise that happened to play football, it has always been and will always be so much more.
Nemesis
Guest
Current deal with Fox Sports ends in Jun 2023. And, who knows what the world will look like in 4 years, let alone the sports broadcasting world. Netflix only entered Australia 4 years ago, same as Optus Sport. Both these organisations have completely destroyed Foxtel's business model. I'd be surprised if Foxtel as we see it today is still alive in 2023. There are strong rumours Optus Sport is going to make a big play to take over all Foxtel's football content: ALeague, WLeague, FFA Cup, AFC content. beIN Sports is already aligned with Fetch TV, which is another platform used by Optus Sport, so it would make sense for be IN Sport to also disengage from Foxtel & move to Optus.
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
Well we'll see what offers come in when when the bids are called for, that's the main issue
Nemesis
Guest
We don't have enough data to accurately assess if viewing has fallen on TV. What do we know? 1) We know viewing has fallen on Foxtel's traditional platform. 2) The A-League CEO reported, TV viewing on 10 BOLD for 2018/19 season up not down. What do we not know? 1) Viewing numbers on Kayo Sport 2) Viewing numbers on Telstra's My Football App. Foxtel TV ratings have dropped from ave viewing per match of 63k to around 38k. Massive decline in percentage terms. In terms of people, it's a decline of around 25k. So, the unknown question: have those 25k viewers switched to Kayo Sport or Telstra My Football? Maybe, yes. Maybe, No. A recent survey conducted on Twitter indicated 1/3 of ALeague fans who had Foxtel in 2017/18 switched to Kayo Sports or Foxtel Now. Add in the number who switched to Telstra and it's possible there has been no decline in A-League viewing. There could even be an increase in A-League viewing since more than 13 million Telstra mobile phone customers, who might never have purchased Foxtel, now get free access to A-League.
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
Well put it this way then - The A-League would not function in its present form without the revenue from TV- the TV audiences have shrunk drastically. That was my point. Lets hope they are restored significantly this season.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
How much of that would be because Victory played some games at York Park and the Twin Ovals (both horrid venues for the sport, but Tasmania completely lacks for rectangular fields)?
Nemesis
Guest
So, you really don't get it? I have zero connection to Celtic & United, other than I picked them as teams because British club football was the only club football I knew as a kid. There wasn't even NSL. When NSL started, if there were a club - like Melbourne Victory, where I felt a connection via geographical proximity, I'd have immersed myself in the NSL, instead of English club football. If I belonged to any of the ethnic communities who fielded an NSL club in Melbourne, I'd have also immersed myself in the NSL. As soon as I found a club in Australia, my interest in English club football plummeted. And, if there were an A-League club in Tasmania, I'm sure the same will happen. All those allegedly thousands of Tasmanian fans following Melbourne Victory will likely embrace the local team, and the local Tas team will also attract new local fans. I'm surprised people don't understand the basic concept of following a sport club.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
So a plastic United and Celtic fan. You realise you lost the argument? You follow 2 teams from cities you don't live in. You have a connection, albeit one not as strong as MV. I know a number of Tasmanian with that same connection to MV. They follow them . You follow United and Celtic
Nemesis
Guest
"Revenue from T V is the main source of income for the A-League not membership receipts." Based on the information we have, this is a myth. It's not reality. If we assume average ticket cost for A-League is $15-20 for Home & Away attendance and $30-40 for Finals, The biggest source of revenue for A-League is Ticket Sales. Over 14 seasons of A-League, revenue would be: TV revenue = $230-300M Ticket sales = $350-450M
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
Abandoned in big numbers by television audiences. Revenue from T V is the main source of income for the A-League not membership receipts
Onside
Guest
The conveniently anonymous 250 aren't anti A League Waz, they are contrarians, who derive pleasure from us responding to their largely irrelevant niggle .
Nemesis
Guest
There's a big difference between following a team overseas & locally. If you don't know the difference, I can't help you. It's a personal emotional connection that you have with your local community. The community could be based on: ethnic connections, religious connections, geographical connections. So, if you think following my emotional attachment to Celtic, or Manchester United is the same as my connection today with Melbourne Victory, you're greatly mistaken. I like when those teams win; and I've bought a shirt from those clubs. When Celtic played a friendly against MVFC I certainly didn't go to the game. Nor when Man United played here a few years back.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
You've gone off on a tangent. Which local teams play in summer? All club football is played in the winter months, bar the A-league
Fadida
Roar Rookie
He says people aren't following "plastic franchises". Yet membership numbers are very stable, members being those generally living close to these plastic franchises. I'd argue this counters the argument
Fadida
Roar Rookie
You're saying if you didn't live close to an A-league team you wouldn't follow them. From memory you follow Man U? I'm pretty sure that neither Melbourne, nor Eastern Europe are in Manchester...
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
I'd rather look at the TV metrics and attendance figures. They tend to paint a fairly good picture on the health of an elite competition. If the A-League presented to an ED, I'd be prepping the defib ASAP.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Local clubs is not mutually exclusive to the NPL. I know my tennis club is full of a rank amateurs ranging from division 1 to 14. Doesn't stop 100s of members watching division one each week because it's the best. You've missed the entire premise of my comments.
Nemesis
Guest
"In your world only people who live in a city with an A-league team should follow it?" No. Never said that. What I said was that, if I lived in regional Victoria or outer suburbs of Melbourne, I'd not be following either Melbourne Victory, nor City. I'd have zero connection with the team. Just as when I live in the inner suburbs, I'd have zero connection with a team from Geelong, or Shepparton, or Team 11 in the outer SE Suburbs. And, we know I'm not the only one because this is exactly what the football community are telling us. The casual community might be drawn to just picking a team in a city but, after 14 years, I reckon we can safely say the casual fans aren't picking anything in A-League. A Team in SE outer Melbourne will engage 10-20k people at the minimum who will never ever connect with City, or Victory.