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Opinion
Let’s have a bit of a look of why a winter A-League could work. I will look at the finances in a separate post.
1. The players want a winter A-League
Jason Culina on playing in winter:
“I could play two, three games a week at a high level in Europe but in the A-League, I would lose up to four kilograms after games in the heat and take days to recover.”
“My attitude was always to train, train and train. The more I trained, the better I played. That was how we worked on the softer grounds and cold winters of Europe but I shouldn’t have applied the same intensity daily in the A-League.
“In hindsight, I would have skipped a training session here and there because of my age and the hard pitches. I should have been smarter as a player.”
When Rugby UK moved to summer from winter, injuries doubled.
The total exposure time during this study was 4876 player-hours (winter: 2386, summer: 2490).
The relative risk of injury doubled after the move from winter to summer. Winter rugby accounted for 72 injuries, and summer rugby, for 150 injuries.
If careers last longer in winter, wouldn’t that help the players with getting to an older retirement age than AFL or NRL? A few extra years at a couple hundred thousand dollars isn’t insignificant for the players’ financial well being.
2. The administration wants a winter A-League
Relating to the previous point, the PFA also wants a winter A-League.
“Australia’s players union and a leading broadcast rights expert have urged the A-League to properly explore the feasibility of a radical switch back to winter that would put it head-to-head with the AFL and NRL.”
Football Australia and James Johnson want a winter league, too, according to this report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“To me, it makes sense logically to align our grassroots seasons, where we have the numbers, with our professional leagues,” Johnson said.
Football Australia CEO James Johnson. (Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)
3. The fans want a winter A-League
An article from Western Sydney University discusses the fans’ view on this issue.
“The A-League is believed to be the only professional football league in the world in which the top-level competition plays at a different time of year from its lower-tier league.
“The semi-pro National Premier League currently plays in the winter, from March to October.”
If I was an up-and-coming football player, wouldn’t I want to see players playing at the same time as me so I could implement anything new on the weekend?
From the same article:
“The FFA heat policy mandates a 90-second drink break in each half when the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) is between 26 and 27.9 degrees Celsius, or the ambient temperature is over 31 degrees.”
What’s the average Australian summer temperature? Twenty-seven degrees, making us the hottest summer football league in the world.
Anyone who grew up playing the game immediately feels like it’s football time on a cool winter’s night.
Summer was the time of the dreaded pre-season runs.
That also made little difference to the winter season – what’s the point of jogging 15 kilometres on concrete in January when you sprint on a soggy ground in July?
4. Some club owners could want a winter A-League
A club like Newcastle or the Mariners could want a winter A-League as not many games are actually played out of the stadiums in regional New South Wales, despite NRL teams being based there.
South Australia and Western Australia have no competition from NRL clubs. New Zealand has no AFL competition.
The main teams affected by a winter switch are Sydney, Western Sydney Wanderers and Macarthur.
Should the Sydney FC spokesperson, Danny Townsend, be running these negotiations on behalf of all clubs? Any regulars on The Roar know that there is a strong east coast bias from AA.
A message to Paramount+: if you do listen to the fans, please consider a proper winter switch with a kick-off in early March. Each season from 2021-2022 could kick off later and later until it gets to March.
By the way, a big shout out to the Sydney media, such as the Sydney Morning Herald, for covering this topic. It’s strange how the Melbourne media doesn’t really cover it.
If you want to read about some other arguments for a winter A-League, check out this piece.
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