The 1993 hit comedy Groundhog Day is a ripping film.
Starring Andie MacDowell and veteran American comedian Bill Murray, the film centres around the rather far-fetched premise of one day repeating continually on a loop, thus presenting the lead character with the opportunity to relive experiences and hopefully put right the challenging romantic challenges they face.
With the title of the film now part of the vernacular, I couldn’t help but think of it and the associated meaning as I sat and reflected on Round 1 of A-League play. I had just finished watching the gripping second half between the Glory and the Roar at HBF Park.
Despite appearing likely winners as the match drew to a conclusion and with Brisbane creating a number of half chances that threatened the cancel out Chris Ikonomidis’ 34th minute goal, Perth were eventually to be denied at the death.
Interestingly, it was Roy O’Donovan who headed home from close range to snatch the point. It is essentially a brand new squad assembled by Roar manager Robbie Fowler and all the talk up north has centred around the new faces and what they will bring to the orange this season.
Roy O”Donovan of the Roar (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
It was therefore curious that an old face had the last say in what was an intriguing rather than sparkling match.
On the other side of the ball, another tried and tested man was influential in Perth’s play. Diego Castro picked up precisely where he left off last season and looked fit and bubbly around the edge of the box, particularly in the first half.
The fact that he was not substituted in the second potentially says a lot about the pre-season he has enjoyed and the 37-year-old enters his fifth A-League season, once again, as one of the dominant creative forces in the competition.
The more I thought about the game, the more I realised that everything old is new again in the Groundhog Day A-League. However, Veterans O’Donovan and Castro were not alone. Glory goal keeper Liam Reddy commanded his box well and stood little chance of preventing the equaliser in added time.
A quality header from Welshman Aaron Amadi-Holloway gave O’Donovan an unmissable shot from point-blank range in the 95th minute and with another Reddy clean sheet looming, the 270 game and 38-year-old veteran continued the groundhog theme with an excellent performance to start the season.
Somewhat remarkably, the clocks also appeared to be standing still in Wellington, as 34-year-old Besart Berisha returned to A-League play after a disappointing time abroad and knocked in the winner from close range for Western United.
In something of an odd quirk, the eight season veteran scored his 117th A-League goal for the freshest and newest club in the land. I guess some things never change.
Whilst there were flashes of the future such as Al Hassan Toure’s goal on Friday night for the Reds and some of the excellent young talent we saw on display at Bankwest Stadium in the Saturday twilight; where Mitchell Duke’s brace secured the points for the Wanderers against the unlucky Mariners, it is fair to suggest that it was much of the same for the A-League in Round 1.
Despite my fearless and now forlorn prediction of just seven days ago, crowds were relatively poor. After a wonderful run to the FFA Cup Final, the Reds failed to draw a five figure crowd to Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
Even considering some poor weather in Sydney, the 17,091 who showed up to watch the first A-League match at Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta was less than inspiring and Melbourne fans voted with their feet in protest of Marvel Stadium.
The opening weekend Melbourne Derby pulled just three and a half thousand more patrons than could be accommodated at AAMI Park. Unless 40+ file through the gates at the less appealing but larger facility, I’m not too sure if the entire exercise is worth the effort.
Melbourne City fans. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Wellington’s clash with Western United drew in excess of 8,000, and in times past, many would have been cock-a-hoop with that figure.
However, after successful finals qualification last season one could have hoped for better. The same could be said for Perth. On a cracking afternoon, The Shed was in full voice yet just 9,829 made the trip to HBF Park.
So after a muted lead up, poor opening weekend crowds and in spite of all the new faces, a few veterans stole the headlines and the season began just as the previous had ended.
I don’t mind. It is my league and it will entertain me immensely over the next eight months.
However, it would be nice to see some change, growth and something new. I guess all that remains is the task of checking the television ratings from Round 1; to confirm that it is well and truly Groundhog Day for the A-League.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I admire your tenacity in trying to find the answer to mystery of life 101! How about people in NSW play sport and then adjourn to pubs and clubs with pokies or home to sit on the couch rather than go to live sports... how does that stack up as a hypothesis?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I would be concerned for Foxtel, they are stuck paying for the A-league for 4 seasons including this one. Even if the ratings reduce to almost zero they still pay the money, The A-league clubs with 6 years of security embarked on a destructive campaign to wrest control. I did notice however Foxtel despite all the bluster were still covering the FFA cup, they are just desperate because of their massive failures with the cricket and afl. They cant afford to lose more suscribers. News is just as responsible for the A-league decline and as they are the ones that need to make money off it how dumb are they because they are the ones bailing out Foxtel. In fact News abandoned the A-league because they though they finally had their golden ticket in a few T20 and one day international domestic games being exclusive. The decline in AFL ratings on Foxtel after games of throne tells the story.Sure some went to Kayo where they can subscribe and leave so easy ,
Stuart Thomas
Expert
I agree.
Nemesis
Guest
I've not spent a lot of time interstate in Australia the past 10 years to observe sports participation differences, but Sports Australia does regular analysis of sports participation across all the States & Territories. Looking at the data for people who participate in organised sport at least once per week, there's insignificant difference between NSW and Victoria. NSW slightly higher percentage of population participation for kids - defined as aged up to 17 years. Victoria slightly higher percentage of population participation for adults (ages 18 and over). So, participation taking punters away from watching certainly can't be the reason.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
And so it should but in this city the only way I can describe it is each weekend you see the parks and recreation fields are filled up with people playing sport not watching it!
Nemesis
Guest
Aussie Rules in Melbourne between 2 Victorian clubs the attendance is probably split: Home: 40-60% Away: 55-35% Neutral: 5% ALeague Derbies between City & Victory would probably be MV: 70%, City: 20%, Neutral: 10% All other MVFC matches the split would be: MVFC: 95%; others: 5% So, having the opposition team within the same city definitely attracts significant number of opposition fans to watch sport in Melbourne.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Nem - in the nrl things are slightly different. A derby as we know it doesn’t really exist and historically, the whole competition started off as Sydney teams. The expansion to Canberra, Melbourne and Qld has made it look a bit different but it is still Sydney centric and there are a few games that have good old fashioned rivalries similar to what football fans think of as derbies be it A League or other well known ones around the globe. However, you do get a fair sprinkling of fans from both sides in attendance but so many NRL fans I talk to express a preference for watching the game from the comfort of their lounge rooms......It is something to do with the officiating, the bunker as well as the fact it is winter time!
Buddy
Roar Rookie
As someone who attends Eels and Wanderers games, you’ll hear nothing to the contrary from these parts. I’ve often expressed the view that the figures were highly overstated. I went as far as suggesting that if it was just about numbers, I couldn’t see a justification for a new stadium but I’m very pleased with the outcome. I believe the potential is there for WSW but it requires a lot of work from the club and on field performance from the team. Eels in a similar boat in many respects. The potential is huge but on field performance needs to be consistent. The semi finals were a good case in point or were the Broncos really that bad?
Jimmy
Roar Guru
I agree 100% about Sydney, almost all crowds are fickle. And I’m not saying the crowds are a crisis, it’s just something for the League to focus on as falling crowds are a sign generally of a deeper problem (agreed as far as Sydney is concerned it’s part of a deeper problem that the City is going out less overall and becoming less social) things can be done, just look at the uptick in Crowds in the NBA
Nemesis
Guest
Basketball doesn't have a TV deal. It's got more participants in Australia than Aussie Rules, or Cricket, or RL, or RU. It's highly likely Foxtel will fall over before the next A-League broadcast deal. Either Foxtel will be bankrupt, or it will be a shell of the organisation it is currently. The biggest losers financially from a Foxtel demise will be: AFL, NRL & BBL.
Nemesis
Guest
I don't follow NRL, but I presume The Eels home games are mainly all Sydney Derbies? I know Sydney sports fans are fickle, but is it fair to say at least 1/3rd of The Eels home crowd would be away fans? Next season if Wanderers play SydFC & Macarthur twice at home, I'd expect WSW home crowds will rise significantly.
Randy
Roar Rookie
Eels average was over 18k last season, just sayin... where are all these Wanderers fans that were going to pack out this new stadium? If they can average 17k that would be good though.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Personally, I’d prefer to focus on the quality of the product on offer as I’m inclined to believe that as it i,proves, so it will attract new fans or a return of fans from the past who maybe have dabbled in the league but never got hooked. Even then there are other factors to consider. In Sydney, crowds are fickle at the best of times and even winning teams do not necessarily attract a large following. GWS haven’t hit any great heights in terms of attendances - even their derby at Spotless isn’t filled and the Roosters, despite back to back premierships don’t attract huge numbers. There were GF tickets available throughout the week leading into the showpiece at ANZ which kind of surprised me given that it is “event city” so there must be plenty of other influences that determine why people do, or do not attend live sport in Sydney. Different cities, different cultures and different factors to consider. I’m not a big fan of the one off marquee player but I do wonder whether or not it would be different if each club had a “Zlatan” or equivalent and what that might do to attendances. Our only real experience of that phenomenon was in the Del Piero period at SFC. Undoubtedly he attracted publicity galore and put bums on seats. At the time, the product wasn’t as good as the club has produced in the post Del Piero era so maybe it only attracted a very specific type of follower? So many things to look at......we need better qualitative research!
Jimmy
Roar Guru
I guess some could argue that it’s a worrying sign that even with the addition of Bankwest Stadium and such a strong Perth Glory crowds are still decreasing, I’m not saying it’s a huge negative just that it is a little worrying for the new A-League.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I’d be pretty happy if WSW had 17000 + for each home game and a full house for the 2 matches against SFC. That would mean their best crowds ever. I’m inclined to think that if you want to argue a case about crowd numbers it needs to be dissected and analysed club by club. Take Wellington; crowd recoded as 8254, again if they could hit that for most of their home games and maybe a few more against sides that have travelling support, that would be pretty healthy. Perth Glory on the other hand would hope that there is potential for higher numbers given their status and type of football being played but the crowd was still fairly typical,for one of their regular home games.
Winnie the Pooh (Emperor of China)
Guest
If the A-League falls over then it is the Australian soccer follower who is to blame. Maybe they are better just watching something from Europe on subscription instead of having their own teams. Ultimately it also means the sport's participation will fall off a cliff when there is no pathway at home. And before people start talking about 2nd divisions and the old clubs. Just remember they had that exact setup up until the late 1980s in the NSL and hardly anyone showed up. It is hard enough to get two sets of supports from the same city to show up, let alone getting them to travel 8 to 12 hours away. It just is never going to happen. People like the populist Craig Foster should put his own money in and see how long it lasts. This next tv contract could become a nightmare for Australian domestic soccer I suspect.
anon
Roar Pro
Unfortunately I don't see any hope on the horizon for crowd numbers. For me, the crowd figures were predictable. It pains me to say it.
Waz
Roar Rookie
The simplest step is to acknowledge there is a problem; somehow football (fans and administrators) have hidden behind a “she’ll be right, next year” mentality and clearly she hasn’t been right the next year. APFCA don’t yet have full control, a sign of the complex mess behind the scenes, and the start to this season is perhaps a sign that they weren’t quite ready to take control. Writing off another year don’t be fatal but it will be costly It’s concerning they haven’t done any fan consultation and whatever plans they have are their’s, and not “ours”. The story out today on the future of the W-League highlights this - some very good points in there and yet it’s been met with concern by very passionate and core fans. APFCA can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of the FFA imo.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Well said LH
Fadida
Roar Rookie
The biggest shift in the league's history occurred a few months ago. How this affects the league we won't know until into next season and beyond. There hasn't been time for many significant changes (bench sizes shows the type of thinking we'd exoect). Nothing will change much this season. Writing the A-league off every week is akin to moving a struggling child to a different school only to declare after the first day of term "he hasn't gotten any better!". What were you expecting, particularly given the failure to promote the upcoming season at all is akin to the child going to school without pen, paper or laptop.