'If fans don’t come, how can the product improve?': Socceroos implore fans to back A-League after Matildas’ breakthrough

Nick A I’m not convinced these days that many people culturally identify with rugby league either, certainly not the same as 30 ago . It’s a bit of a dip in dip out following, which I find rarely do people talk about the game like they used to . Most nrl crowds are not big. Quite a few under 10000 each round. The tv ratings are only exceptional for 10 games a year , the so called fan fare is mostly a lot of media dribble these days, the so called best athletes etc , when everyone can see their are some great players and a lot of ordinary players making up the numbers. The gambling industry is undoubtedly underpins the tv sponsorship of nrl and this suits the tv networks and so the cycle continues… I also believe that a huge amount of people do identify with football. The game in Australia is older than it is in Argentina etc. the fact we have so many clubs and players makes it harder for people to identify with a a league club. My sons local second tier club in northern Nsw got 1000 to its grand final and those people are local club supporters not necessarily a league supporters …. and that is the case for hundreds of clubs around Australia.

Rabbits I aggree with most of what you said. Although I’d like to know what sport appeals to the greater population. Sports ratings are in multiple hundreds of thousands for some footy codes, Out of 25 million, that’s a small percentage that any sport appeals too no matter what people say. The Matildas at the recent World Cup are the only team in Australia that has a major part of the population interested at all .

Owners sell players not supporters. Would have loved Nabbout to stay . Papps not playing Goodwin was ridiculous.

Rabitz, it is not quite as simple as you describe. You have neglected to mention the vested media interests which results in miniscule to no coverage of the Aleague. If people knew about the games i.e. the mainstream media reported on it fairly and adequately, some will jump on board then be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the product. Obviously the world cup is too big to ignore, yet according to someone on the inside, one major radio station specifically instructed their staff before the WWC started, not to do stories on the Matildas. I suspect they would have reluctantly jumped on board by the semi-final stage. This is one of many examples the game has to contend with. AFLW gets way more coverage in the MSM than it deserves and certainly more than the Aleague, yet the product is crap and this is not my opinion, this is what AFL fans say. I agree with your take that active support is portrayed by the msm as unsafe and dangerous. Why? Because it is different to what they normally see at cricket and AFL. I believe this msm problem will take a generation to resolve, when the kids playing the game now get into positions of power and influence, replacing the dinosaurs that have grown up on a diet of cricket in summer and footy in winter.

Do you go on the AFL stories and say the same thing about most if not all AFL clubs? For example, how many members does GWS have and how many do they get to games? Port Adelaide actually have memberships for pets!!LOL.

Crap reply. You said: "as SFC never get 20k to games or near that unless its a derby." Just admit you were wrong. People making factually incorrect comments just to put the Aleague down is just so annoying.

ahahahahahahahahaha

that's surprising with Corica coaching

They say every cloud has a silver lining, but struth that's a bit harsh isn't.

Mrs FIL also suggested going that weekend. Beverages pre-match??

your are spot on lad. In the UK, the supporters and members plan their lives around football. They live for Saturday when everyone walks down to the ground. The atmosphere, the smell of the Chippy out the front, catching up with mates, it all contributes to the build up to the game. Why because football is life and that regularity of home and away brings a sense of normality and rhythm to life. If you haven't notice that's what human beings like.

you’re spot on lad. In the UK, the consistent home and away schedule permits people to plan their lives around football, because football is life. The supporters, the members they live for Saturday, they catch up with mates at the ground. There’s the smell of the Chippy outside selling hot chips, there’s the sounds and atmosphere of the ground and of course the anticipation of the game. 3 games away and people get distracted, lose interest and say that they might just not go again. The importance of a structured and consistent home and away schedule in my opinion, cannot be understated.

either you have been hanging out with Ange, or your a Spurs fan. Love it.!!

Buy that man a cleansing beverage

Even you say off the bench, Ninkovic is 38 turning 39, so he will be as old as the oldest ever regular season players Diamanti and Del Pierro this season. Rudan started him whenever he was fully fit last season and did so in the pre season cup so I assume he will be starting him again. Ninkovic he didnt do enough in attack , and he was the weakest Wanderers player without the ball . Del Piero was useless without the ball , but he did score 14 in his first season with only a few penalties. Second season he scored 10 and half were penalties. Diamanti he had a improvement last season over 2 really poor ones, but in the end 2 early season match winners coming off the bench was all he did and nothing the rest. The odds are Ninkovic will be a burden but even then Rudan might give him another year where he can become the first 40 year old outfielder since Romario as a guest all while dragging Wanderers out of contention.

The key part is that Australians do not culturally identify with football. The irony is that there are many incidents in other sports with crowds & alcohol that are not put into the spotlight like football incidents are (granted the Melb Derby incident was an abhorrent exception to the rule) and to be honest, I think this is a symptom of Australians not culturally identifying with football – a combination of the fact that football is ‘unaustralian’ & many supporters do not act ‘Australian’ – and I think crowd incidents provide an excuse for the media to crap on the sport & validate those ideals. This has been undeniably portrayed and perpetuated by the Australian media for the last 50 years & beyond. That’s not to say that the violence does not exist – I’d be the first person to point it out, especially with ethnic-based local clubs & I would agree they – not a small number of ‘fans’ of pretty gentrified A League clubs – harm our reputation. Badly. My number one concern for the national second division (aside from financing) is the behaviour of those clubs. In any case, focus should not be on non-football fans – or on bandwagoners like yourself, really. Focus should be on football fans & getting them to respect the product (which is actually very good considering the environment). If every Australian who got up at 2am to watch the premier league picked an A league team & supported it in the same way, god help AFL and Rugby. As an aside – do you think AFL & Rugby would attract the same amount of fanfare if 80,000 weren’t going to a match? Are you telling me that atmosphere has nothing to add to the enjoyment of the spectacle? If crowds were 2000 instead of 60,000, would you enjoy it the same? I doubt it; but would you still say that the product is good and people should better support it? Absolutely you would.

I have never claimed any inside knowledge what about the inside knowledge about the VAR how did that play out.

thats the coaches job and ex players, you dont need to keep an old player on for that purpose.

Adelaide play youth only because they get paid peanuts. In fact Irakunda was not on a proper contract and he was out of the squad because he was on a 10k scholarship contract his first season even after scoring so they could save money. The money goes to the older players. Ibusuki is a joke for the money he would be on. Isais and Lopez are well over the hill gettin to the bottom of the ditch at the bottom of the hill. Halloran has slacked off since he returned he is getting on as well. Zac Clough he can be decent in the first half but needs to be replaced in the second. The youth policy is play the oldies till they are losing and get the young players in to win the game in the last 10 minutes. So you can basically guarantee that those players mentioned plus the new English signing are taking 60% of the wage bill at Adelaide. This season their peformances are going to be worse than last season and they weren't any good last season. The only chance for Adelaide will be their minimum wage youth players like Yull perform incredibly to compensate for the older dead weight.

Let me preface this by saying I am very much a bandwagonier - I jump on and off the bandwagon. However, I suspect that makes me one of the folk the game seeks to retain. I think the premise of "we need a crowd before we can make the game improve" is completely back to front. Professional sports are simply part of the entertainment business and after 40 odd years in and around the music business it appears to me that there is some sort of hubris around football that is based on completely different markets and that administrators and supporters seem to believe that "their" game has universal appeal. To put it simply, the product must be attractive and must make punters want to get off their backsides and shell out cold hard cash to attend. Football simply doesn't do that for many. Making the excuse that you can only improve if folk come to the game is fallacious - imaging a band saying "we'll learn to play better if people turn up to the gigs"? It's not going to work. As an occasional watcher, the focus on so-called "active supporters" and this seeming fascination with making it all feel like it does "overseas" is a barrier to many becoming supporters. Why is that? It is quite a simple thing, that has two issues at its core: 1) The average sports follower in Australia goes to watch the game and the product on offer just doesn't appeal to many. 2) The focus on "active support" is a negative to many, as there is a perception that the game is secondary to the supporter shenanigans and if you are there to watch the game it takes away from the entertainment value. The fact that the active support occasionally spills over into "crowd incidents" also plays a very negative part. The need for a product that people want to follow is paramount, so that needs to exist before people will follow, not the other way around. I know some people are happy with the product, in fact, I suspect most of those who will now attempt to vilify me are of that belief, but attendance numbers and ratings would suggest that for the greater population it is just not that attractive.