Last Wednesday night, the Wellington Phoenix played their match against the Melbourne Victory behind closed doors.
It wasn’t a private affair due to a COVID outbreak, or a COVID lockdown. The reasoning behind the move was not COVID-related at all.
It was a commercial decision, Phoenix general manager David Dome said, that would “save the club thousands of dollars.”
“We are absorbing the whole costs of playing games in Wollongong for the men’s teams, and it is expensive to open up the stadium because I’ve got to be honest with you, the ticket sales for the men have been abysmal,” Dome told New Zealand media outlet, Stuff.co.nz.
“We’re not even in the ballpark of being able to cover the costs,” he added.
It was a move that was in part induced by the COVID-19 situation, which has prevented the Wellington-based side from operating out of New Zealand for the past two seasons.
But it was also symbolic of a larger issue that has been facing the A-League Men for the best part of a decade.
The competition cannot attract commercial interest or the interest of the fans.
The commodity of eyes has become elusive for the A-League Men, and this season, that has been shown clearly.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
This has been glaringly obvious to anyone watching or attending matches over the last month, where you’re more likely to find an empty seat than a full one.
Of all the A-League Men matches played over the weekend, the highest recorded attendance was when 7181 people attended the high-flying Melbourne Victory’s loss to the Newcastle Jets.
The rest of the matches were attended by less than 5000 people, with one – the Wellington Phoenix’s 1-1 draw at ‘home’ to Adelaide United – attended by 797 people.
Extend the analysis of attendance figures back to the start of this season, and there have been seven games to break the 10,000-attendance barrier, and one – the Sydney derby in Round 1 – that has broken the 20,000-attendance barrier.
These figures are appalling for a league that is reliant on the fans more than anything to be the main attraction.
Former FFA boss David Gallop said as much as this in 2015.
“Let’s be clear – the fans make the A-League what it is today; a vibrant, exciting competition that is the powerhouse driving the game’s growth in Australia. The atmosphere still gives me goosebumps.”
The A-League Men is in a unique position. It is a competition where the commodity sold by the administrative body is not what we see, it’s what we hear.
And as far as product management is concerned, the A-League Men – in particular the administration led by Gallop – has performed atrociously.
The alienation of fans as far back as 2015, when the Western Sydney Wanderers’ active support group, the RBB, boycotted a match against the Brisbane Roar in protest of the way the game in Australia was run.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
It extends right up until as recently as last year, when a member of the RBB was kicked out for not sitting in his seat and their capo received a 12-month ban for swearing.
The poor administration of the A-League Men and the additional presence of exuberant numbers of police has created the perfect brew for fan disinterest and disengagement.
And the numbers showcase this.
During the 2020-21 A-League Men season, ten of the 12 A-League Men teams recorded their lowest seasonal average attendance ever. Only two sides did not achieve this feat.
One was Macarthur FC, who were competing in their first ever A-League Men campaign.
The other was the Central Coast Mariners, who recorded their lowest seasonal average attendance the season before, during the 2019-20 competition.
A further look into the seasonal average attendances of the competition’s biggest sides paints a more troubling picture.
In the five seasons since the 2016-17 season, Melbourne Victory have had a drop of 17,000 average weekly fans, Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers have had a decrease of approximately 9000 while the Brisbane Roar have had a drop of over 50 per cent in weekly average attendances.
Even with the addition of two new sides, Macarthur FC and Western United, the A-League Men has seen its average attendance drop from 12,294 in 2016-17 to just 5682 during last season.
The figures are torturous for any passionate stakeholder who is desperately gripping on to the hope that the league may be able to return to its early-2010s peak, when active support was alive and thriving, creating a rambunctious attitude in stadiums across the country that was akin to scenes seen throughout European football.
It was a time when atmosphere and fan culture was allowed to grow and mature. It was a time when the attraction off the pitch drew people to the play on it.
It was a time when the league’s hottest commodity was not suffocated, and had not succumbed to draconian police and administrative measures.
It was a time when fading into obscurity was a nightmare and not a reality.
Bryce Jamieson
Guest
The elephant in the room throughout this discussion is WHY people are abandoning soccer in Australia. Sadly for the round ball game, despite its popularity throughout the globe, the rest of the world does not enjoy having a choice from between no less than four football codes to sink their attention, attendance and money into. Australians are conditioned and innured to tough, physically uncompromising contact football codes which feature high scoring and abhor the 'diving' and feigned agony so prevalent in soccer. Its un-manliness detracts from its appeal. Despite more children playing soccer than our own magnificent, spectacular and high scoring game, soccer simply does not inspire the conversations in offices, factories, schools and other locations as do AFL and rugby league. The same can be said of the US and Canada who also have their own tough, physical contact codes (which are the complete opposite of soccer). In those countries, soccer is not the main dish. More of a side buffet, occasionally visited during a World Cup or other similar event. Sorry, but it's true. And the numbers, both at games and watching on TV, simply prove my point.
apaway
Roar Guru
I agree that the fee is far too much. However, sports like cricket, rugby league and Australian Rules heavily subsidise junior registration costs as part of their huge TV rights money.
apaway
Roar Guru
The irony of the Wanderers situation is that they were at their very best when they were owned and run by FFA.
Foot and Ball
Roar Rookie
Johnson, Townsend and co need a couple more seasons to drive the code into the crowd. I've decided to boycott the soccer untill there is a second tier comp, transfer fees and expansion which leads to 30 matches per season, premiership matches alone, besides Australia Cup matches. I figured if I know what is right for soccer, the board must know what is right, so implement it! Plenty other options.
Randy
Roar Rookie
I'm not bashing soccer lol I played it from age 7 to about 13. Played lots of indoor in my adult years. I wanted to play League as a kid but my mum wouldn't allow me, i was a very skinny kid though so i can't blame her. I am saying that soccer's high participation rate doesn't mean much in the scheme of things. Toyota Corolla is the most popular car on the road, doesn't mean its the one everyone wants and loves the most.
Westy boi
Guest
The problem with finding good Australian players is that the athletic ones gets plucked away by the bigger codes. I'm a rarity in that I love football as much as league. I've trained Harold Matthew's and SG Ball. The problem is the sporting high schools cater more for league and union. Sure they have strong football sides and give out football scolorships but the general attitude of the school is league/union rules. This causes the kids who are athletic to change over. I've witnessed it over and over again. League scouts also watch the kids that have athletic scholarships like hawks. The Harold Matt's team completely changes when they become SG Ball cause all the football and athletic kids have switched over. They usually say stuff like only one in a million make it in Europe and the profile of the NRL compared to the A league is another strong factor. The FFA just sit back and let it happen. It definitely hasn't slowed down
David V
Guest
The community clubs were a product of their time and failed to move with the times. Furthermore, the migrant communities which built those clubs no longer really exist in the form they once did. They've long decamped from their enclaves. This isn't just an Australian thing but has happened elsewhere too.
James584
Roar Rookie
There is massive interest in football in Australia. Just not much interest in the A-League. Football fans watch their own family and friends play in local competitions, from Autumn to Spring, you know, the actual ‘football season’. Then in the ‘off-season’ they watch and follow the EPL, the Champions League, and other European leagues. A-League should be in winter, so it doesn’t compete directly with the European season and so it coincides with our other local football activities. A-League can’t complete with the EPL. The summer season has to go.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Simoc, It’s not the EPL. Many games a pretty good, I should know I watch just about every one.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Appreciate your thoughts Sheffield. A lot in what you say is true. But unlike the Australian insular sports Football is a world game. A world of football supporters interested in seeing the ALeague content and our players. You don’t need to be big to be competitive. There are small countries that compete at top level, it’s the process that gets us that point, that’s the FFA’s job. There are enough juniors coming through the system, but we must ensure some these become world class players. Maybe it’s just me , I’d rather see a high tempo 1 all draw than an AFL game where a team is flogged by 80 points, but I guess that’s an inconvenient truth.
Costa Karaolias
Guest
I still think alienating community clubs for new franchises which have no soul is still biting the league where it hurts, bums on seats. You just can't leave a plethora of real fans and their clubs out in the cold.
chris
Guest
FIL I'm sure Mike won't believe you and it's all propaganda. Only the AFL tell the truth. Seeing is apparently not believing for AFL zealots like Mike.
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
I am going to state the obvious and call out the massive Elephant in the room. The general masses in Australia are just not into football. It's that simple. Yes we have had periods and gold patches where the public gets behind it, but in general perhaps "She is just not that into you" is a phrase we need to get comfortable with. I know everyone is going to go on about the huge participation numbers in jnr sport and the fact that it is massive everywhere else, but there are reasons football is popular as juniors but not in seniors. Football is our mums' preferred sport. It is contact enough to keep the kids happy but safe enough that they will not break their neck. It is very social and generally has a strong family vibe that respects women. That is whey we have so may kids playing. That doesn't translate into the senior game as the game itself just does not appeal to the Australian public who want to see high score lines and big hits. I get this from my father in law who hates the game because of the misconception that it is slow, not contact enough, or that there just aren't enough goals. Throw in the odd diving player rolling around on the floor and the general public's immediately dismisses it as they find "soft, and boring". Period. In a country that is used to sports with high score lines and "tough" play they just cant bare watching a game and walking away satisfied with a 1-1 draw, or understand how a weaker team can employ complex tactics to clinch a well earned point against a vastly stronger team (the glory that is football). I think Rugby League even changed rules a few time to make it impossible for teams to finish a game in a draw, and changed rules to scrums to get the ball moving quicker to result in more tries?? Until we convince them otherwise, or we make the games for commercially exciting for them to attend, you are not going to see increased fan at stadiums or tv viewership. Maybe we should increase the size of the goals, or reduce the numbers of players on the field? Do you reckon Infantino might be up for that?
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Good Call Chris, in Newy, RL has lost a considerable number of fields to football. When I was a kid, RL fields as far as the eye can see, now your're struggling to find them. For a supposed RL town, one of the biggest licenced clubs in NSW outside of Sydney, now supports Lambton Jaffas from u/7s to NPL. The club has 73 Junior teams and they used to be an RL club. They didnt even talk to the Knights. You drive around and there's signs everywhere on the roadside, junior RL players needed. the Speers Point football centre, is about to be expanded with a multi-millon dollar investment, but hey..........it's not real!!!
chris
Guest
Mike - I'm not interested in proving anything to you. If you believe something else I'm happy for you. What I do know is that the sporting fields are packed with soccer players. Blind freddie can see that.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Chris Again - - not wanting for the big statement "Millions are involved in the game week in week out." Is this based on the FFA Census or surveys like AusPlay which in 2018 asserted more than 1.1 million Australians played club football (soccer); when - the FFA's own stats showed half that number. Must be a lot of unregistered players!!!
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Chris Okay - let's try this. Chris - can you provide your evidence for making this assertion. "football remains the number 1 participation sport across ALL age groups – including adults." And don't reference a survey based on 3,000 respondents who happened to have someone home at the right time of the day.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Chris Not at all what I said - - however - - if you live in Sydney then that's what you'll see. Sydney IS the particpatory capital of soccer in Australia. Therein lies part of the problem - because culturally/historically it's the capital of Rugby and in particular League in this country.
chris
Guest
FIL just ignore Mike. All those playing fields you see on a Saturday and Sunday morning filled with soccer players are just figments of our imagination. They aren't actually playing soccer, they're playing AFL! lol
chris
Guest
"But once they turn into teenagers they abandon football. " And yet football remains the number 1 participation sport across ALL age groups - including adults. How do you explain that? So your statement should actually read: "But once they turn into teenagers they abandon sport".