Is a switch to winter the key to unlocking the A-League's potential?

I agree 100% with you on all points. Some how, we have to convince club owners to build/buy their own stadiums. easier said than done, and I'm pretty good at spending other peoples money. You are right when you said that 11k isn't bad by world standards, considering that, in general, the main stream media has a vested interest in ensuring the game doesn't prosper at the expense of either the NRL or AFL. I wonder what it would be like if all sporting codes got equal space in the dailies or on FTA tv. Simon Hill was right when he wrote 'that' article about them "smelling the fear". Just imagine if the FFA backed active support, to generate that missing atmosphere at grounds, something simple like allowing safe smoke, as they do in the MLS and even encouraging it. Oh to have a venue, any venue, that actively welcomes their customers and asks them to get involved in creating an atmosphere that draws others to the game. There it is in a nutshell, it is the fans and the supporters who create the atmosphere by doing so gets others involved.

I think if you look at attendance figures from more established football leagues around the world, you’ll realise that 11k per game isn’t actually a terrible figure. Even here in Australia, it’s only few thousand short of the NRL, but then consider that we get 10%-20% of their media coverage in NSW & QLD, if that. It’s only when you put that up against the AFL, where that figure looks quite small, but good for them. The biggest factor for me in that respect, is that we need to be playing in boutique rectangular grounds. For example, Brisbane has to stop playing at Suncorp, Sydney shouldn’t play at their new stadium, and Wellington should also move to a smaller ground. Most grounds should be 30k max capacity. Even if it means they’re suburban, with slightly less facilities. We need to build the product first, football people will come, then be smart enough to lobby governments for upgrades of those grounds or even new ones. Playing at smaller rectangular grounds are a no brainer. This improves the overall product, and 15k looks and feels like 30k-40k in the right setting, as the atmosphere is awesome, case in point is Coopers Stadium.

Kruse went for nothing because he had a great season when he was going out of contract on a 2 year deal. Same happened with Rojas and Traore's first stints at MV. If you want to ensure clubs receive transfer fees then we players to be under contract and for longer and clubs are only going to do that if we ditch the salary cap.

I think we need to harness the youth and have some ruthless agents that demand higher values for the kids once their moving abroad. Kruse, Mabil and many more went for next to nothing. It’s not If, but when we have a collection of teens going for $5- 20mill transfer each to a PL club or any of the big leagues this will bring in the fans and will be the best marketing the league can have. Maybe Covid 19 has actually harnessed this opportunity. As no player gets paid this money in any other ball sport in Australia. This is what the clubs need as well to be profitable.

In a word... No.

Our league must align with Japan and Korea dates. Our dismal performance in ACL will be driving this move somewhat. Success in ACL will drive ASIA sponsors. That's the big unlocking of revenue. We can't be playing ACL games out of season.

There maybe some benefits in a switch to a winter football season once major A-league re-structuring has been addressed. A lot will need to happen under James Johnson CEO of FFA to bring about an improved football landscape and matching product.

my two cents... at the start of the a league there were only 4 games per round, meaning it was relatively easy to schedule matches outside of the hottest parts of the day whilst ensuring every game could have it's own live time slot for tv. With the A league moving to 6 and potentially 7 or 8 games per round, unless games are scheduled simultaneously (not appealing to broadcasters), there would need to be multiple day games in the heat of summer if the comp remains in Summer. Do a google search of 'a league heat' and it becomes clear this is not tenable. Long term it is hard to see the A league remaining with Foxtel and the mainstream media ignores the A league most of the time, so why not give Winter a go. Perhaps it would be more appealing to Optus to have year round football content, particularly during the european off season?

It’s OK to call it ‘football’ but apart from that I agree. The HAL’s best attended seasons were when the comp started in August, at the pointy end of the AFL/NRL seasons!

Agreed Stevo. I think it's a poor excuse. Mind you there arent that many league juniors so parents etc arent going from a local footy game to an NRL match.

Yes let's go winter. The games have been much better quality. The soccer needs to stop hiding from afl and NRL and take the bull by the horns. The summer is not only dousing the quality is the sort but it is holding back stars from going to Europe because the scouts that come here are seeing sub standard games by tired players and they are comparing them to European players who are playing in winter. Stop this stupid decision playing in the summer from continuing and let's go back to where this sport belongs... Winter ..!!!

As much i respect the ex stars of the game,and i watch every single game on foxtel,the coments during the game are extremely boring.It looks as the comentators were paid to have a conversation over a cuppa and don't add passion to the game.Look a the other games across the globe, forget about the south american.They make a game interesting even if the players are sleeping.We need a Pascalidis tipe of comentators,someone that make us jump on the couch when there's a gooooooooaaaaaallllllll score.This is not a criticism, only a constructicve comentary that cood attract more viewer's to the game.Chears!!

AR what are you talking about...Football (Soccer in your terms) can be played in what ever season it wants to be played in..but yes it is known as a winter sport and always has been here. Although years ago NSL played in Summer for reasons stated in the article, then A League just continued on. There's so many advantages now to move to the A League to winter..There's so much more to think about with making our A league clubs successful etc Asia, NPL and grassroots. It's well past the old days of NSL competing against Aussie codes, Like I've said on past forums..It's competing and being successful in Asia now, which hopefully thats success snowballs and bring out the potential in all football matters here.

Does the football fan take their kids to the local junior games or go and watch professional football, e.g. A-league? When you get to this kind of argument, well, I don't know what to say. Honestly, as if it's only a dilemma for football and not for other sporting comps, here and OS??? AFL runs its junior and top tier comps pretty much in parallel and it hasn't stopped, apart from the current health crisis, attracting tens of thousands to weekend AFL games. Probably similar for NRL. Anybody else exhausted with this silliness?

I agree with your 5 points and a very Interesting take on it all. Would you be prepared to say that if all of those ideas were implemented that the 'culture' and nature of the game would change? Would we get an average of 11,000 people or more, to the A League? Would we appeal to all demographics? the teenagers, the old 'farts' the mums and dads with young families, the corporations and local businesses, because if you could guarantee all of that, then I'd agree with your timelines and financial call for the 2nd Div being semi-pro. But if you leave any of those behind by making these dramatic changes, then the 'cure' may be more lethal than the disease. But we can always blame the FFA.

I must be getting old. For years I have been reading these same comments on endless rotation. Nothing changes. Football ground hog day.

Great article Mike. I’d say the wheels are in motion now, at least, as opposed to the last 15 years on these important fronts. The move to winter alone will not unlock anything on its own, but I believe that a combination of a number of important factors, if they’re implemented in the next 2 years, then we will unlock what we need. And these are; 1. winter season 2. second division 3. Transfer System 4. promotion and relegation 5. an OTT platform, preferably our own, where we can charge a monthly fee for all football around OZ - AL/WL/NPL/state league/women’s football/juniors/state championships/FFA cup, Futsal etc Now granted, P&R won’t happen overnight, but if we can establish a second division, we’ll be almost there, even if that’s semi pro for the first 2-3 years with a plan to make it professional as soon as possible. We need a football pyramid, it’s what makes the game strong the world over. Now I know the naysayers will say there’s no media space or Enough grounds, but at the start we’ll have to fixture very smartly, depending on ground availability and dates, but we can also use this issues to play in smaller stadia where necessary, work hard to fill those grounds, which in turn will create demand and build the league. Media is non existent now anyway, if we sit and way till the MSM even notices the game, we’ll all starve and it’ll be too late. FFA needs to setup our own media arm to set the narrative and tell those awesome stories that are out there all over the country. Another huge factor is government relations, FFA and state feds should setup teams in each state to lobby local and state governments for further funding for smaller suburban stadia, be it for community football, NPL, W-league and A-league. More infrastructure is great for the entire sport, not just for the top tier. In terms of the A-league, the biggest issues for suitable grinds are Brisbane and Wellington, but we shouldn’t worry about our cousins from NZ for now, let’s fix our own backyard first. Victoria only has AAMI Park, but there’s now many NPL clubs grounds which could be transformed with some further investment down the track, ie; Hume Ciry, Heidelberg, South Melbourne, Melbourne Knights, Bentleigh Avondale etc. Also, the FFA and the clubs (who almost killed the game off in the last 24-36 months infighting RE independence and others) now have a clear window (12 months or so) to get an OTT platform off the ground and perfected. This could show all parts of the game, have weekly debate shows, pre game, post games, awards nights, HofF nights etc, make it a One stop Shop for any football event and that way it can be monitored properly. The sky is the limit here guys, the glass is definitely half full from where I’m standing, but a lot will depend heavily on who, when are how these things are all developed and done...

The A-League isn’t there to produce Strikers, or any other position for that matter. That’s the job of youth development. (And if you want to know why we’re struggling to produce strikers go and read what the National Curriculum says about “Strikers” ...... zip basically)

Thanks LH, yeah funny old season, bit of a hollow victory with the break in the season, but like you said a few factors, plus Australia being a finals country, takes away what I believe is the more important victory the premiership, winners first past the post.

congratulations Punter, too,. on your boys clean up. Not getting much publicity, but I guess there's a lot of factors not least Corvid 19