Now in its 16th season, the A-League is showing strong signs that it is coming of age.
There have been many occasions throughout the A-League’s short history where the rhetoric among fans and pundits would have led you to believe the competition was teetering on the brink of collapse.
And who could blame them?
With the demise of the NSL serving as a gloomy reminder, the A-League era has seen three clubs kicked out, licences stripped from several club owners or simply handed back, mass fan protests against overzealous security and policing, and consistent anxiety over dwindling attendances and TV ratings.
The onset of COVID-19 towards the end of 2019-20 seemingly brought all the troubles to a head as the league was suspended, players were stood down, sponsors pulled out and the league’s primary broadcaster – probably its biggest source of life support – seemed destined to pull the plug on the competition.
Fox Sports have poured a significant amount of money into the A-League (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Yet time after time, the league has proved its resilience in overcoming whatever is thrown its way. The pandemic was no exception, with the league clinching a new broadcast deal (albeit a one-year contract for nearly half the value of the previous deal) and finishing its 15th season in entertaining fashion.
Rather than crippling it, the challenges and critiques the league has faced over the years have emboldened it, encouraging it to evolve from the novelty competition it began as.
And so it is that now, not long after things seemed at their darkest, we’re seeing glimpses of a new dawn for the A-League.
The competition is now in its 16th season, and if the first few games are anything to go by, it’s going to be a sweet 16.
Time will tell over the next few seasons, but for the first time in years there’s a real sense the league is on an upward trajectory.
Here are ten reasons why the only way is up for the A-League.
Independence
At long last, the great “unbundling” has happened. After an ugly governance war with Australian football’s national association which dragged on for years and stymied the league’s progress, club owners secured independent control of the A-League from Football Australia (né Football Federation Australia) on the last day of 2020.
Adopting an independent model essentially means the owners are properly incentivised to invest in the game. It’s not a particularly unorthodox move – many successful leagues around the globe are independent, such as the English Premier League, the Bundesliga and La Liga.
The A-League club owners – who’ve pumped millions into the game over the years – have long argued that independence would allow them to attract more investment, set up their own commercial deals and better market the league. Well, now that the handbrake is off, it’s time for them to put their money where their mouth is. There are promising signs already, with flashy adverts for the league starting to pop up on billboards and bus stops across the country.
The terms of the league’s unbundling also seem to provide a nice balance of power, with Football Australia retaining just enough say to ensure the club owners’ inherent conflict of interest won’t get in the way of key initiatives such as the league’s expansion, a domestic transfer system, and the possible introduction of a national second division and thereby promotion/relegation.
Expansion
Having just grown to 12, there’s already hunger for more teams in the league, with talk of it eventually expanding to 16 teams.
Following the additions of Macarthur FC and Western United, will we see further A-League expansion? (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
The prospect of expansion can be exciting for many, particularly football-loving residents of unrepresented regions and travelling supporters of existing clubs who look forward to away trips to new destinations.
There are many locations with lots of untapped potential for an A-League team, such as Canberra (surely the nation’s capital deserves a spot), a second team in or around Brisbane (perhaps Ipswich/Western Corridor for a more distinct geographic identity), Wollongong (a region with a rich football history and a picturesque stadium), or Tasmania (which has long been crying out for more sporting representation).
While there have been failed expansion clubs in the past, such as North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United, the success of the Western Sydney Wanderers and early promise shown by Western United and Macarthur suggests the competition has learnt from past mistakes.
National second division and promotion/relegation
Until recently, the prospect of a national second division in Australia was unthinkable.
With A-League clubs themselves often strapped for cash and starved of crowds, it was difficult to fathom how another 10 or more clubs in a lower-tier competition could attract fans and TV viewership, let alone afford the substantial costs of operating a professional football club and traversing this wide brown land with full squads. The mere notion of relegating an A-League club to such a league seemed akin to a death sentence for such a club.
It wasn’t until the bids for the most recent round of expansion poured in that we started to see an opportunity. There were ambitious bids from all over the country, including existing clubs from the NSL era such as South Melbourne and Wollongong Wolves. Crucially, many of these bids were backed by people with deep pockets, and with only two expansion spots available, it seemed wrong to deny so many of these the chance to invest in the local game.
Ryan Palmer of the Strikers in action during the round of 16 FFA Cup match between the Brisbane Strikers and Manly United FC (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
A national second division could provide such an avenue for investment, and now there is serious work underway for introducing one. The lower-tier league could be left to find its feet for a few years, before promotion to and relegation from the A-League is implemented.
Promotion/relegation would really ramp up the level of excitement in the A-League and provide it with a real point of difference to the AFL and NRL.
While the jury is still out on whether the introduction of a second division and promotion/relegation will definitely happen, it does now seem to be less of an if, and more of a when and how.
Domestic transfer market
One of Football Australia’s top priorities at the moment is the creation of a domestic transfer market, which could open up a huge source of revenue for clubs from the A-League down.
Australian clubs generated a paltry collective sum of US$1.9 million (A$2.5 million) in international transfer fees last year, far behind the likes of Japanese clubs at US$29.4 million (A$38 million) and Korean clubs at US$26.6 million (A$34 million).
Every year, we see so many Aussie players leaving clubs for free, and clearly this needs to change.
The salary cap is obviously a big factor, but by implementing a domestic transfer market, Australian clubs from all levels of football will be incentivised to develop promising young players and tie players down to longer contracts in the hopes of being able to command bigger transfer fees from clubs at home and abroad.
Competition for broadcast rights
Fox Sports have supported the A-League since day one, but have become increasingly indifferent towards the competition in recent seasons amid poor ratings and falling subscriber numbers.
However, the emergence of alternative broadcasters in recent years may actually put the A-League in a decent position to negotiate a better TV deal at the end of this season when the current contract with Fox Sports ends.
Potential interested parties to rival a renewed Fox Sports offer could include Stan Sport (who recently snapped up the rugby union broadcast rights), Optus Sport (boasts an impressive line-up of Australian football alumni as presenters and may wish to complement its EPL coverage), British streaming platform DAZN (recently launched in Australia primarily as a boxing platform but broadcasts football in a number of other countries) and Football Australia itself (encouraged to set up its own Netflix-style streaming platform for Australian football).
It sets up the potential for a bidding war over the broadcast rights to the league, which could drive up the value of the TV deal beyond its current $30 million per year value.
Boutique stadiums in vogue
When it comes to A-League stadiums, size matters – that is, bigger is not not better.
Too many A-League clubs have been playing out of cavernous stadiums that are far too big for them with fans often surrounded by empty seats. It looks poor on TV and dilutes the unique atmosphere of football.
Despite being one of the most successful and most supported clubs, Brisbane Roar at the 52,000-capacity Suncorp stadium has been a prime example of this. Until now…
Suncorp Stadium was always a bit large for regular A-League fixtures
Roar have made the bold decision of moving their games to a stadium about 40 kilometres north of Brisbane with a capacity of just over 11,000. Their first round match this season, as well as two games at the venue last season, all drew a crowds of over 9000 which looked and sounded fantastic in a ground that size.
Meanwhile, Western United have plans to build a 15,000-seat stadium of their own in Melbourne’s west, which would be a great size for them to grow into. For derbies against Victory or City, this stadium shouldn’t be too hard to fill. If the build turns out to be a success, this could encourage other clubs to aspire to building and owning their own stadiums, instead of perpetually renting state-owned grounds shared with other sports.
Winter switch
The late start to this season means fewer games will be played in the summer heat, which should see a substantial improvement in the quality of the matches.
Watching – let alone playing – matches in over 30-degree heat can be a torturous affair, with the games often played at snail’s pace and players less willing to push forward with speed.
In contrast, matches played in winter, such as those we saw played in July and August at the end of last season, appear to be much more exciting, with the ball zipping along the slicker surfaces at greater speed while players appeared more inclined to make lung-bursting runs forward.
The A-League’s move towards a winter season will also better align it with the NPL seasons and the Asian leagues.
More derbies
As good as the Big Blue, F3 Derby and Original Rivalry (Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory) fixtures were in the earlier seasons, the introduction of Melbourne Heart (now Melbourne City) to the league in 2010 demonstrated the immense value of having real local derbies in the league. The crowds, passion and atmosphere of derbies are on another level to regular fixtures – spectacles that even fans from other parts of the country are willing to travel to to witness for themselves.
The addition of expansion clubs Western United and Macarthur FC to the league has effectively tripled the number of true local derbies from two to six:
•Sydney FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers
•Melbourne Victory vs Melbourne City
•Western United vs Melbourne Victory (new)
•Western United vs Melbourne City (new)
•Macarthur FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers (new)
•Macarthur FC vs Sydney FC (new)
The larger crowds and better TV ratings of derbies should help boost the A-League’s overall average for such metrics.
The kids are alright
An often-heard criticism of expanding the league is that doing so would dilute the quality, since there are apparently very few footballers in Australia good enough to play professionally.
But the start to this season is proving that there are a lot of talented young Aussie footballers out there that can match it with experienced foreigners in the competition – they just needed to be given the opportunity.
The likes of Calem Niewenhof (19), Lachlan Rose (21), Josh Nisbet (21), Alou Kuol (19), Ramy Najjarine (20), Dylan Wenzel-Halls (23), Noah Smith (20), Connor Metcalfe (21), James Delianov (21) and Mirza Muratovic (21) have been up there among the best players we’ve seen in the first few games of this season.
Such players are likely to give Graham Arnold an Olyroos selection headache when he picks his team for this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
More local coaches
Aside from Carl Robinson at Western Sydney Wanderers, every A-League team currently has an Aussie citizen as their head coach. This represents the highest concentration of Aussie coaches since the league’s inception.
In the past, there was a tendency for clubs to go on a worldwide search for a new manager, but perceptions seemed to change following the dominant successes of Aussie coaches such as Ange Postecoglou, Graham Arnold and Tony Popovic. Many clubs have ostensibly come to realise that often the best coaching talent is right under their noses.
While CVs of highly-credentialled managers from overseas still tend to come flying in for every A-League coaching vacancy, many of these are now getting snubbed in favour of local candidates who tend to have a better understanding of Australian football and more respect for it.
The list could go on and on, which underlines just how promising things are for the A-League. Some other reasons for optimism worth mentioning include:
2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand
This is going to be huge, and will surely dominate Australia’s sporting headlines from July to August in 2023. All that extra media attention on women’s football should hopefully draw more fans to the W-League and the A-League, especially if the Matildas perform well.
How much impact will the 2023 Women’s World Cup have on Australian football? (AP Photo/Claude Paris)
Growth of Asian football
Football in Asia is rapidly developing – probably more so than any other region – and Australia is blessed to be a part of it. With the extraordinary amounts of money being spent on football by the likes of China and Japan, we’re seeing many more stars of world football making the move from Europe to Asia. The standard of football in Asia is growing fast, and this should challenge A-League clubs to improve to be more competitive in the Asian Champions League.
Devoted fans
How is it that despite barely any marketing or media coverage – not to mention pandemic fears, crowd limits and mask-wearing requirements – fans are still showing up to this season’s A-League games in their thousands? Perhaps it’s because the A-League has a core base of rusted-on devoted fans that can’t be shaken off. This core base – which has proven to be incredibly engaged with digital media – does not rely on mainstream television to know whether or not a game is on.
The sizeable A-League fan communities on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit provide all there is to know about the league, in addition to the wide range of well-produced Australian football podcasts. It’s a strong base to build upon, with many of these fans likely to pass their fanaticism onto their children and grandchildren, fostering a multigenerational fan following.
No doubt there will be further challenges ahead for the A-League, but given what it’s just been through, there’s now a sense of invincibility about it. It may not have the best football players in the world, but it has a unique Australian flavour that should be embraced. It’s Australia’s best football competition, and it’s only going to get better.
criag
Roar Rookie
A big problem is lack of support from commercial channels. Very little mention in sports news. I watched Channel 7 the other morning bang about the big bash for 10 minutes and ignored everything else (just a coincidence that they're broadcasting it now).
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
i love how you both try and justify yourselves with names of 3 or 4 players, the fact of the matter is sydney fc have used the least amount of youth since the a league started. No indigenous players have ever played for the club, no african australian youth (which every other club seems to have in abundance) for over 10 years to come through. I've alluded to the current coaches opinion on players of a certain skin color and i think that runs deeper through the club and coaches they've had, based on what has been obvious by the players who have played/been recruited for anglo saxan fc, i mean sydney fc
Punter
Roar Rookie
See Grem's post above!!!!
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
Sydney fans make me laugh, how can you use trophies as a yardstick when you spend the most amount of money in and outside the salary cap every year?. lol You're expected to win it every year with what you spend, if you don't win it each year its deemed a failure. its that sense of entitlement with being a "top club", makes fans of the club oblivious to alarming issues that conviently get swept under the rug. if you're going to use something as a measuring stick, it needs to be fair to all parties. It needs to be something that every club can do regardless of theier finances or trophy cabinet, lets say..... youth? every club has a youth team, every club has youth that should be brought into the first team. Stats show kids dont get a chance at sydney fc (you've got no hope let alone if you're african australian or indigenous) its the only club out of the nsw a league clubs that doesnt have either. Over 7 million people in the state with the largest registered pool of football players. Surely a club as big as sydney fc would have such a sophisticated scouting network they would be able to cherry big the nations best talent? yet you don't have a single player of that background? (every other clubs in the a league does) there is a much bigger problem that all the Anglo Saxan fc fans on here and ones i have spoken to keep over looking with there club.............
Punter
Roar Rookie
Grem, stop using commonsense in this debate, you will upset (I think already did) fans from clubs whose trophy rooms are a bit small.
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
3/4 of the league operate with a budget nowhere near Sydney's, so everyone else is already at a disadvantage. The fact sydney keep finishing in the top 2 every year in a salary cap league should also not be happening, it defeats the purpose of a salary cap which is meant to make it fair for every team. Everyone can say sydney have the best administators in the league, i still would like to have an independent panel of financial experts go through there books each season. I highly doubt perth were the only club to have rorted the system, i suspect Sydney have with how prolonged there success has been ongoing. Sydney are paying such high wages to O.A.Ps, there talented kids haven't got a hope of succeding. They're only getting a semi look in this season because the heirachys hands have been tied with covid. If not they would've bought a couple more 30+s to add there total of 11. There have been no african australian players through there system in over 10 years, there has been no indigenous players either. if you are a talented kid, sydney fc is not the place to be especially if you're not anglo saxan! People seem to be sweeping these facts under the carpet. Must be that typical easten states mindstate of not looking at the facts
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Augers well for the future of the game.
chris
Guest
Micko - let this sink in. Football has by far the highest participation rates across ALL age groups. Key word is ALL.
chris
Guest
goaltending? Big fan of football I see
NoMates
Guest
With the general public preferring Rugby and WAFL + WBBL plus netball the A-League really does not stand a chance in winning ratings or getting new fans to cum and watch it.
Igor Litvinyuk
Guest
I am sorry but you are wrong. Your arguments look plausible only until you watch a few A-league games. And then you realise that it is a rubbish product. It is just not attractive to watch even in comparison with last year's. There is no flow to the game due to frequents turnovers caused by poor ball control and errand passes. Scoring with rare exception is tortured and a bit random. Tackling and aerial game are subpar and often dangerous. The only part of the game on par with international competition is goaltending. But that is probably because the keepers are used to playing behind poor defence. You cannot go back on quality of play and say that the state of the game "improved". Nor can you sell more tickets and attract more viewers to a lesser product. I am sorry, but I predict that this new look A-league will fail, no matter how much enthusiastic promotion and cheerleading it gets in the media.
forevervictory
Roar Rookie
I get your point but I do believe the kids are alright..imo, teams today are just obsessed with buying, buying, having Massive playing squads, with many more players sitting on the outer picking up huge wages. Money and greed has taken over the game today..I really believe kids just don’t get the same look in as they once did..I’d go as far to say I would wonder how Kewell, Viduka and all the other successful aussies would go in today’s football? It’s whole different football era. Also I believe coaches/managers are put under a lot more pressure for results and performance and don’t have the same patience to nurture kids..they either fit in now or play someone else..like I said that’s just the way I see it. It’s a full on Money driven game (unfortunately)..
Micko
Roar Rookie
The point is top level athletic talent goes to other football codes and sports in Australia. My two nephews played as juniors because that's what mum wanted. Both are teens and don't play soccer anymore because they don't want to.
pacman
Roar Rookie
Dominic, your headline "The kids are alright" begs the question "alright for what"? EFL tier 3 or 4? The demise of our top players turning out for EPL (or any other European/South American top level) first teams should be ringing alarm bells. Quite simply, our "kids" are not alright. They occasionally turn up at overseas top level outfits, only to be rejected, or if they are fortunate, loaned out to tier 3, 4 or even lower rated clubs. How is that alright? My experience of coaching young Australian players at a high level goes back some 20-30 years ago, and the conduct of "elite" level coaches was deplorable, with self-serving individuals convincing sycophant parents to spend more and more to assist their offspring reach the pinnacle of football. What a farce! These coaches had more certificates than Pep or Jose, similar to driver licences eh? And some of them progressed to highly paid positions with FFA or state associations. A reliable pyramid relies on solid foundations. The ones presented to us contain a surplus of rusted reinforcing material. The end result is one of questionable quality. This reminds me of an incident in Melbourne involving two football greats, Ferenc Puskas of Hungary, and Denis Law of Scotland. Puskas was conducting a coaching clinic with some teenagers who, because of ignorance, were giving Puskas a hard time. Law was passing by, picked up what was happening, and lambasted the teenagers with the details of some of the achievements of the legendary Puskas. Now, this should have been unnecessary, as the local organizers should have presented this information to said teenagers before the clinic. Observation suggests to me that little has changed. Love to be proved wrong, but I am unable to identify any signs.
chris
Guest
JB if footballs pyramid is "crumbling" as you say what does that say about the other sports pyramid? Football has more participants at every age group including adults. I'm not sure if you are talking historically but I'm talking about today. Not sure what your point is?
jbinnie
Guest
Chris - Your venture into mathematics is an interesting trip. The numbers game!!!. We have been listening to the pyramid theory for years now "we have the greatest number of participants at the base so we have to have highest peak to our Pyramid". Now I suspect you know much better than that . Here are just a few things that destroy that thinking. Junior football is regarded by many parents as the safest exercise for their youngsters and so they attend that age group between 5-12 in huge numbers. That group is affected by many outside influences such as electronic devices etc. Come the next group 12 to 16 and those same kids are now being attracted to other sports mainly because, up till now, those codes have presented a better chance at a career, earning good money for doing what they enjoy. With growing bulk and muscle they are obviously attracted to AFL and RL both of whom spend millions on advertising their wares. So the structure of our pyramid is being eroded quite dramatically. It is in the next age group 16-upwards that we run into trouble with other attractions that you know well ,and we find the high level of skills being developed overseas is leaving our local players "behind the 8 ball". Now the tragic thing, this flaw in our system has been known since 1975 and yet ,despite millions of dollars being spent, the shrewd judge of players can still pick a local from an import, based simply on how they perform. I could go further and suggest that the A-League clubs, with their almost daily procurement of overseas "stars" are acutely aware of the crumbling top to our pyramid. Cheers jb.
jbinnie
Guest
Grem -I was sorely tempted to ignore your comment but let me add my tuppence worth to your observations. I can produce figures that show ,without argument, that wherever Del Piero played in the A-League the opponent had their record crowd for the year, there being one exception Adelaide pulled their usual number. Now I would go further and say that ADP is without doubt the highest qualified player ever to grace the A-League. You state that I'm wrong so would you care to nominate your choice in that department? You mention ,Grant, Brattan and McLaren as "rusted on A league players" though what that means is beyond me, Two of the lads you mention have "been around the clubs" and both of them have ventured overseas only to return for whatever reasons. Perhaps you can let us in on that factor too. More recently we've had well qualified players "come and go" from our league with little or no explanation, Polish, Swedish,Japanese and Brazilian internationals have come and gone from our game after the shortest of stints. Ever wondered why???? Grem ,get real ,the standard of import has dropped, there is no denying that, and as a result so has our football standard suffered accordingly. Sure we have created space for youngsters but please , get off their backs, and let the experience they are enjoying make a difference to their learning curve. jb.
chris
Guest
Exactly right Grem. People criticise the standard of A-League but then exalt league, AFL and cricket. And pure mathematics tells you that if football has 3x 5x 10x the number of kids playing it, then yes, its the number 1 premium sport in the country.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
From an outsiders perspective - - I'm not sure "death spiral" is the right term. However - this article does appear to be innocently optimistic. First and foremost - - with revenue severely in question - - more teams, moving more to winter and a P/R system which would mean more teams at the level below with a self interest. The problem is...........this isn't a Euro nation. This is Australia. There's 4 professional football codes vying in what is far from a sporting vacuum. In effect the A-League has failed - - it's primary goal was to become the summer sport of choice; because there WAS a vacuum; cricket and tennis had irregular and patchy offerings to the TV/attending public. There was tremendous opportunity out of the shadow of the NRL and AFL across winter. And........it's a fail. Cricket came along with T20s and rather than just the Friday night and weekends; the BBL runs nightly. So - while I admire the dreamers - it seriously looks like hard slog ahead for the A-League. How do they create not just a currently sustainable broadcast revenue model but a growth model moving forward? The problem is that the "pie" hasn't seriously grown in Australia. Viewing numbers haven't really gone anywhere. Granted - moving out of the shadow of the EPL and Euro leagues might make the local offering more attractive for the "Euro-snobs". However - the notion of a 16 team top level with P&R really looks like dividing the existing pie into ever smaller and smaller pieces. So good luck with that.
Grem
Roar Rookie
You're wrong - simple as that. The overseas players who have been brought in are good signings who have played at high levels overseas. The youngsters - many look talented and have a strong future. And there are still our rusted on very good A League players such as Ryan Grant, Luke Brattan, Jamie Maclaren, etc. When you have over 2 000 000 participants to choose from throughout our country (more than any other sport) then Australian football is the premium sport in our country. That's just simple mathematics.