What’s the point of forever spruiking football’s participation rates if the A-League continues to struggle and the game’s various stakeholders can never seem to get on the same page?
Surely there’s no better example of the way bad decisions take precedence over sensible ones in the A-League than the fact that Sydney FC will take on a Melbourne Victory side missing Storm Roux, Tommy Deng, Kenny Athiu and Elvis Kamsoba to international duty.
It’s supposed to be the biggest game in Australia.
Can you imagine Manchester City going to Liverpool without four first-team regulars, or Borussia Dortmund travelling to Munich without several key players?
Why is it acceptable in the A-League? Because Fox Sports wants content – or so the rumour goes.
But at the start of the season there was another rumour doing the rounds that Fox Sports wanted out of the A-League entirely.
And when you look at the ratings, which are now so low as to be virtually non-existent, you can hardly blame them.
So which is it? Are Fox Sports in or are they out? Because if they want more viewers to tune in, pointing the cameras at a second-string Victory side running out against their biggest rivals is not the way to go about it.
But let’s forget about Fox Sports for a moment. Everyone watches the A-League on Kayo or the My Football App anyway now, right?
Let’s pretend for a minute that was true, even though it’s not, and throw a little arithmetic into the equation.
If Foxtel’s average revenue per user was $79 in May this year, and a Kayo subscription costs $25, how many extra subscriptions will it take in future to help fund a $750,000-a-season switch from Melbourne Victory to Sydney FC for a player like Kosta Barbarouses?
That sort of move doesn’t happen without a broadcaster like Fox Sports helping to bankroll the league, but increasingly they’re paying for broadcasts only a negligible numbers of viewers watch.
Still, there’ll no doubt be a few extra Victory fans watching the broadcast on Sunday night.
What’s the Cost-a Barbarouses? (AAP Image/Daniel Pockett)
They’ll have to, after seeing their travel plans ruined by the decision to move back what was originally a Saturday night fixture by 24 hours to accommodate Sydney FC’s “returning internationals”.
But that’s okay. For 15 years the A-League has treated away fans as an invisible irrelevance, so there’s no reason to stop now.
And what Victory fan wouldn’t want to see Andrew Redmayne and Rhyan Grant make a frenzied dash back from Socceroos duty to line up for the Sky Blues anyway?
Ah yes, the Socceroos. It’s the fact that they played at three o’clock this morning that has brought on a lot of this mess.
In what other country would a crucial World Cup qualifier against a bogey side like Jordan effectively be treated as little more than an afterthought?
Yes, it’s an inconvenient kick-off time. But I would rather watch a replay of the game and some post-match analysis tonight than a weekend of A-League fixtures blighted by international call-ups.
There’s not even an A-League game on tonight anyway.
But none of this apparently matters, because “football is once again the largest club-based participation sport in Australia”.
Never mind that we seem no closer to connecting those grassroots to the A-League since the day it kicked off.
Don’t worry about international breaks or stagnant revenues or looking for some leadership from somewhere – anywhere – in the game.
Because in a week when Sydney FC’s clash with Melbourne Victory should have been postponed for the good of the competition, all we end up focusing on are things that don’t matter.
Participation rates mean nothing if the A-League keels over and dies.
But that seems the most logical outcome if all our code continues to do is make one bad decision after the next.
Goke
Guest
Learn the facts before you make an uneducated comment. No club has been afforded the privilege of game postponement including Victory, Sydney and every other team, until this season when there was a rule change. This change came before any Australian international player was chosen. And yes only applies to Australian international players to encourage clubs to keep them. So its not an anti-Victory thing, it was a change to try an accommodate this scenario for ALL teams. For example if Robbie Kruse had been selected it would have benefited him too. Victory were offered an alternate date later in the year which they rejected or a delay until Sunday which they accepted. Sydney were agreeable to whichever suited Victory best. Victory could have and should have accepted. So - the game could have been postponed further, except the roadblock was VICTORY not a love of the administration for any Sydney team. Facts matter - your uneducated, biased anti Sydney rubbish does not.
Chop
Guest
The competition has become a complete farce and it is heading slowly but surely into oblivion thanks to the ineptness of the last two administrations. They have given fans precisely nothing to enthuse about whilst making decisions that are inconsistent and inequitable.
Pete
Guest
maybe the game of the weekend was BRISBANE v MELB and not Syd v Melb. Who cares what the other game was. Not me
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
“Looks” like it.
Brian
Roar Rookie
The appalling way the governance has been run over the decades has been nothing but a complete shambles. You might be right about arrangements being in place for this season but that is part of the problem, it is just another year of opportunity slowly slipping away. So now we have to hold our breath and wait for a new "golden" age to start mid 2020.
qingdao16 .
Roar Rookie
What is it with sports administration in this country? Rugby is a shambles, rugby league admin is a joke and it seems football is also run by morons. Cricket is not far behind but may be on the improve and the AFL admin is going ok but has its fair share of critics. The big losers, as always, are fans of these sports. How did we end up with idiots running our precious games? More to the point, what can be done about this sorry state of affairs?
Sunshine Tiger
Roar Rookie
Vested interests is why
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I believe you'll find this year's draw and commercial arrangements were all well settled prior to the change in A-League governance structures.
Brian
Roar Rookie
After the promise of changes with the A-League gaining independence from the FFA it seems that football just continues to shoot itself in the foot. I sometimes wonder are there other factors at play we are unaware of as people always have the games "best interest at heart" but continually fail to do the bleeding obvious for years. All the promises going back to Arthur George until today make you wonder why is it so hard.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
That’s your “Expert” opinion is it? :laughing:
Beach
Roar Rookie
It is becoming very, very difficult not to see the A League as having reached a point of no return. Rank mismanagement, a death spiral of disinterest and the only broadcaster previously willing to pay for for the product making it clear they're will not be renewing. I really don't see how the League comes back from here. As this broadcast deal ends, it will be interesting to see how the clubs deal with what will certainly be an existential crisis. How do they're interest potential buyers in a product that is measurably and conspicuously failing in it's marketplace? Fox in part invested in potential. What do the clubs sell now that the potential is no longer there?
Beach
Roar Rookie
Brutal but so very true. And, frankly, Roux has been horrible this season too.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
I think you should jot down your proposed solutions in order of personal preference and email them to Greg O’Rourke.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
LOL - so your ‘expert’ status is for...what, exactly? MV players don’t want to travel on Christmas Day? So fly up on Boxing Day morning! And the proposal was weeks ago, hardly late notice.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
This may come as a surprise, but I'm not actually paid to provide solutions for the A-League's myriad problems. That would be the job of the administrators who are paid to run the league. Melbourne Victory said no to Boxing Day because their players didn't want to travel on Christmas Day, which sounds like a reasonable enough position given the late notice. So maybe just break for internationals and avoid this whole problem entirely? Sounds like a sensible solution to me.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Exactly. The rise of the Matildas and the commencement of support by active supporter groups of the W-League, means the girls will be bringing in the dollars just as much as the guys. Just wish it was like that when childhood friend Cheryl Salisbury was playing incredible football for the Matildas
Admiral Ackbar
Guest
Joke of a round. 1) It shouldn’t be happening because of an international break. 2) There’s only two days this week (Saturday & Sunday) where A-League games are scheduled. 3) There’s only two days this week (Thursday & Sunday) where W-League games are scheduled - if you can’t schedule men’s games then surely you can make the women’s games easy to watch!
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
You've just complained without coming up with any suggestion about how it could have been handled. You also don't mention that SFC lobbied for the date to be changed to Boxing Day and MV said no. You sure you're directing your tantrum at the right people?
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
They could have made the W-League clash between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory the match of the round. Why didn't they?
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Exactly.