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.
Frankly, I couldn’t have cared less, so enraged was I at the broadcasting giants’ snubbing of football.
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.
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.
Sadly, the impasse came soon after an impressive teaser was uploaded onto the A-League’s official home page.
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.
Nick21
Roar Pro
Incorrect. Foxtel have made streaming figures available as have other platforms on occasion and they are by no means anywhere close to making up the numbers that have been lost. Second the ratings in the back end of the season collapsed by up to 50% on Foxtel (traditional platform). This dynamic here is what people don't understand. The streaming platform even if it can somehow make up for the declining ratings (which it is not for the A-league) will not be sufficient to financially cover the loss of TV audience on the traditional platform. But let's leave all that aside for one second assuming you don't accept any of that. Let me ask you this. If things are so rosy why is Foxtel so keen to offload the rights/ pay significantly less than the current deal? Shows you something is seriously wrong. But don't take my word for any of this. What is currently been played out is vindicsting myself and many other fans and unless there is a serious change of direction I am sure you would agree we are sin serious trouble (the latest blunder being the poor TV deal with the ABC to show 5 pm games - a significant number of Wellington Phoenix and CCM games)
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Punter What is wrong with riches of half million a year for playing nrl or a million for rugby Seriously No amount of unlimited riches brings greater happiness in life . Chris opinion thst rugby league is dying is not shared by this soccer : rugby league fan The A league needs to get better and stop hoping rugby league will die Simple .
Punter
Roar Rookie
I agree this comment is so wrong. Kangas even mentions 'riches by playing rugby in Australia or Europe', well there is greater riches in football that any football code in Australia or cricket can ever dream of. So not sure why the top athletes would not pick football.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
“Old Mans sports pure and simple “ So the hundreds of people in their 20 s thst I work with , about 90 percent follow nrl and a handful soccer and cricket also . Small sample , but an average sample in northern nsw at least imo If Sydney has little 20 year olds that follow nrl I be surprised. Cricket has gone 20/20 for the young people too . Just saying soccer is not massive compared to other codes otherwise they would be making some difference to crowds and ratings. If all these people under 55 follow soccer , then why the heck are they not watching the game . Even if just free to air. Even the multiple hundreds of people in my kids soccer club, you can barely pick 5 people who can chat about the A league out of the under 35 parents ,,, but they know about the Newcastle knights or the nrl or the cricket It’s just the way it is . As a huge soccer fan I don’t have the head in the sand approach that rugby or rugby league are dying . Re the talent .. The Pacifica population demographic that is especially taken to nrl lately are freakishly talented by the way . Can soccer appeal and find a new Tim Cahill. I would like to think so .
chris
Guest
They are an old man's sports pure and simple. Kids these days follow football and basketball. In the US the under 30s choose soccer as their number 1 sport. The average white aussie male over 55 doesn't give 2 hoots about sokkah but relishes league, cricket and AFL. That is changing as these dinosaurs drift into the sunset.
chris
Guest
"The very talented athletes are still choosing to play the crickey and rugby codes" That comment is so outdated and 50's thinking it barely deserves any response.
Tyke
Roar Rookie
“Australia’s greatest cricketer, Elyse Perry”... righto
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Tell me a week that there has not been negative media and how many Jack Debelens have there been over the years. Plenty!!!! Cahill Kewell Bresciano Foster, all the way back to Warren, Baartz and older there is absolutely no comparison. Have you thought about applying. to be Trump's media manager!!!
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Randu I agree but the trouble is that the good guys are rareer than a good openet in Aussie cricket team
reuster75
Roar Rookie
Agreed. Even the English have belatedly realised the importance of good coaching and are starting to invest more money into this area. A huge factor that helped Iceland qualify for the last two major tournaments was they made it free to obtain UEFA coaching licences.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The free to air ratings being up while Foxtel crashed means only one thing that people left Foxtell . those who went to MyFootball then watch the Free to air match. Then you have the ones who went to Kayo. If people lost interest in the A-league then free to air would have gone down as well. NBL has its own streaming service,so their viewing would be also spread across various platforms, the quality of the NBL is at is highest point now, Baseball have a Korean team in the league , even though Australia is actually one of the better baseball nations, there is hardly any following for the sport now.. the one common theme is the media coverage, both basketball and baseball were once more popular when the media was not as controlled by the AFL. The AFL considers those sports to be a threat, though not in the category of the A-league and gets their media coverage pulled, NRL is the one sport AFL likes the most and wants the media to cover because its rough and people dont get their kids to play it, the players are worst behaved than AFL players and take more drugs. So NRL now gets 6 pages per day in the paper in Sydney, AFL gets 2 and they keep everyone else out.
matth
Roar Guru
Bemoaning how Australian's stereotype football players and followers, while simultaneously stereotyping NRL players is actually quite funny.
matth
Roar Guru
That's the method cycling has used when they created Green Edge (I think it was called?)
matth
Roar Guru
Free to air TV is a factor. they see it on the screen at a young age, because their parents are watching
matth
Roar Guru
Can only have one team because the Broncos made a deal with the League when they came in to limit their competition. Pre Broncos the BRL had an 8 team competition and (I think) a 16 team state league as the top tier league competitions.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
Because you mentioned League in the UK earlier, this article is about Footballs lack of self promotion and lack of promotion from its host broadcaster.
Randy
Roar Rookie
Not all League players are thuggish boofheads, that's just a stereotype. Yes there are some bad eggs (Lodge, Packer), both are trying to turn their story around. But you got the well spoken gentlemen like Cooper Cronk and Cherry Evans. A lot of the pacific islander players are quiet and gentle by nature and are very close to their families.
Punter
Roar Rookie
By some bloke called Jimmy; 'When I lived in Leeds The Rhinos and LUFC got along famously'.
Punter
Roar Rookie
I love our (football's) conspiracy theories. Here is another one from Peter Filopoulos, the CEO of Football Victoria. I know the discussion of flares is close to your heart AR. “Clearly a different perspective by media on AFL fans celebrating with flares and fireworks in public streets to soccer fans doing similar in the past. One’s a ’party getting started’ & the other is ’soccer fans rioting’. The headlines are starkly different. #FairGoForFootball”.
Nick Symonds
Guest
A-LEAGUE TV RATINGS: In February, there was an article on the ABC News website saying that the highest rating match in round 17 had just 36,000 viewers on Fox. But Greg O'Rourke said that ratings on FTA were up by 18 percent year-on-year, for 75,000 combined per game. The ABC story also says that the Australian Basketball League grew its TV audience on FTA to 30,500 per match; but was down on FOX to just a mere 12,700 for a combined total of 43,200 per game. 135 matches x 36,000 = 4,860,000 (A-League on FOX) 135 matches x 75,000 = 10,125,000 (A-League on FOX + FTA) 112 matches x 43,200 = 4,838,400 (NBL on FOX + FTA) By comparison, a separate news story said that the Australian Baseball League was able to increase its ratings by a whopping 667% off the back of an international broadcasting deal bringing its viewership to 19 million across the season. - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-10/too-much-sport-ratings-attendance-cricket-football-basketball/10792710