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Opinion
The latest A-League Men (ALM) club instalment should be a team managed by Josip Šimunić, assisted by Carl Valeri, and captained by Tom Rogic.
A quiet, overachieving breeding ground for respectable footballing figures, Canberra has once again emerged in headlines as a candidate for expansion.
The names above, Canberrans themselves, represent a community of talent, ambition and sporting pedigree.
A city that has reached the lofty heights in rugby league and union alike, the ACT has long stood among the giants of Australian football. Indeed, the Canberra Cosmos, a former club of the National Soccer League (NSL), dissolved years before the NSL itself was ultimately replaced by the now ALM.
Canberra’s absence from the top-tier of male football spans more than two decades.
Despite the exclusion, Canberra has maintained its footballing growth in other areas. Canberra United of the A-League Women (ALW) has competed in the top tier of women’s football for 15 years, conquering multiple seasons and claiming silverware.
The growth of the game increased by three per cent in 2020 – a COVID season – alone. And frequent featuring of Canberra-bred footballers at national level continues for both male and female teams alike.
The ascendancy of Canberra’s ALW side is most curious. Canberra United’s existence – let alone its deserved success – makes for a unique situation whereby the pathway for female footballers in the ACT is clearer than for males. This is an experience not shared in other states.
Michelle Heyman of United looks on during the round four A-League Womens match between Canberra United and Brisbane Roar at Viking Park (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
The ALM’s inevitable expansion invites communities to bid their case. Canberra’s footballing community have a circumstantial advantage that should raise more eyebrows than most: football’s rectangular field cousins in the Canberra Raiders and Brumbies happen to be in the midst of discussing the prospect of a newly built stadium with the ACT government.
The topic has generated an expression of interest by Senator David Pocock, who considers the federal government as the entity responsible for taking the lead. Should such a project eventuate, then any concerns relating to future facilities would be dashed.
Additionally, Canberra offers the ALM a means of tapping into the surrounding region – namely, the Riverina and South Coast NSW, with both neighbouring regions combining for a quarter of a million in population.
With Canberra’s population augmented by its immediate neighbours, you would have communities who could not only identify and support its nearest club, but share the responsibility of hosting matches. In the same way that the city of Wagga Wagga now hosts an annual Canberra Raiders game, so too could ALM matches be played in the Riverina and Shoalhaven on occasion.
Finally, is the Canberra community’s ability to inject refreshed passion into the league.
With the ALM drawing fierce criticism for its dubious governance and poor relationship with fans, Canberrans offer a fanbase that would exude energy and relief in its overdue arrival. A multicultural fanbase whose active support group named ‘Capital Punishment’ travelling the road is what the league needs.
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