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Opinion

The newly independent A-League failed its first test

2nd October, 2019
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Expert
2nd October, 2019
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On Tuesday I wrote with overly optimistic positivity in regards to potential crowd figures for the opening round of A-League competition.

Rather pleasingly, that positivity appeared to be shared by many and there will be something like 100,000 collective Australians and Kiwis in attendance for the opening five matches of the new A-League campaign.

All clubs have the right to believe in season 2019-20. Some will no doubt fall well short of the mark, however, at this stage of the build-up one can only imagine the energy and enthusiasm bubbling away on the 11 A-League training tracks.

As if to ruin the week of all A-League supporters and suck a great deal of the hopeful wind from this writer’s sails, Australian football’s recurring problems came to life during the week, via two significant events.

Firstly, Foxtel launched their promotional campaign for the busy summer of sport ahead. Melbourne’s Herald Sun carried a full page advertisement, designed to drum up interest and attract a few new subscribers, with the promise of more content than ever before.

Australia’s greatest cricketer Ellyse Perry featured prominently, as did fast bowler Pat Cummins and One-Day International opener Aaron Finch.

The advertisement also included the Shell/Penske number 12 supercar of Scott McLachlan, rugby union’s Kurtley Beale and basketball’s LeBron James.

An NFL quarterback also appeared. Logic told me that it was most likely All-American boy and Patriots star Tom Brady.

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Frankly, I couldn’t have cared less, so enraged was I at the broadcasting giants’ snubbing of football.

Craig Goodwin

Where’s the promotion for the new A-League season? (Photo by James Elsby/Getty Images)

While advertising always relies on the use of the most palatable, popular and recognisable images, and media organisations will always feature stories and visuals most likely to produce clicks, reads and views, Foxtel is supposed to be different when it comes to the beautiful game in Australia.

There are A$346 million reasons why it should be different. That was the investment made in the game. Recently, we have seen a cutting back of personnel and resources within Fox’s football department and heard rumours of the potential on-selling/off-loading of content to save some pennies.

The Herald Sun advertisement suggested something far worse. Fox Sports has completely given up on football.

With a clear emphasis on the summer of cricket to follow, the advertisement also featured the competition logos of a host of sports to be covered live over the summer.

Astonishingly, the A-League emblem was nowhere to be seen, despite the official images associated with ESPN, NBA and NFL all featuring.

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You paid for the rights Rupert, could we at least tell people that the league will be on your network over the summer? Please?

The second rather sad and pitiful news that came to light during the week was the failure of the A-League clubs to come to a formal agreement in regards to a radio marketing strategy.

Time appeared to be well and truly slipping away in any case, and the chances of using some powerful sound grabs in an effective radio campaign were looking quite slim with the season so close to a start.

However, it would have been nice to see the first ever challenge faced by a uniformed A-League coalition of clubs, overcome with unanimous agreement and subsequent strategy.

A brisk but powerful A-League radio awareness campaign over the final 14 days leading up to the season would have been something of a symbolic gesture of hope, with the clubs’ unity reflecting a collective understanding that the newly independent league can only prosper with a common goal and direction.

Instead, it appears to have been more a case of Bickering 101, and the first opportunity to represent change to the Australian sporting public was tragically missed.

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Sadly, the impasse came soon after an impressive teaser was uploaded onto the A-League’s official home page.

George Blackwood

Why aren’t we telling more good A-League stories? (Photo by James Elsby/Getty Images)

The 41 seconds appeared fresh and potentially more noticeable that anything I have seen for some years. With a powerful radio onslaught as a follow up, the clubs would have been awarded a firm tick in reference to what loomed as their first test as a collective body.

However, as is often the case in the game many long to see become bigger, better and more united, it is once again a case of two steps forward and either two or three steps back, depending on your view.

I’ll stick by my bold and hopeful prediction of record-breaking crowds on the first weekend and I may well be right. However, the A-League is not off to a good start in the pre-season.

I’m pretty sure we have all heard that before.

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