The light at the end of the tunnel for fans of Australian football over recent years has been the committed move towards a men’s National Second Division.
Without such an entity, the game would simply remain fractured and unable to eliminate the chasm between the traditional clubs still competing at NPL level and the A-League clubs, some of which have only existed for relatively short periods of time.
Sadly, Football Australia’s hurried planning of the NSD and subsequent announcement of its commencement early in 2025, fails to deliver on the spirit of precisely what the competition should be.
Based on the information leaked and available thus far, the new league will essentially be an ‘East Coast’ one, with the vast majority of the clubs rumoured to have been granted acceptance into the NSD emanating from New South Wales and Victoria.
The worst-kept secret in football is that the new competition to be officially announced next week will feature ten teams, three from Victoria, five from New South Wales, one from the Sunshine Coast and a team from South Hobart.
Whilst the Tasmanian presence is a wonderful addition to the Australian football landscape at a higher level, ideally, a second-tier would include clubs from across the nation more broadly.
Of course, each club deserving of entry into the competition must come with a decent supporter base and the medium-term financial backing required to hang on long enough to eventually live the dream and be given the chance of advance to the top tier and then give the A-League a real shake.
Yet, a NSD without a Western and South Australian presence is simply unacceptable, especially considering that all the clubs involved, like their A-League counterparts, will not be making any money at all.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Moreover, the long-term good of the domestic game through an altruistic lens should be the all-encompassing ambition behind the institution of such a league, with everyone battling to stay alive in the short term a simple reality and the clubs, just like their A-League counterparts, struggling to make a buck.
In fact, they are all certain to lose plenty.
The travel and logistical realities of the new competition make Football Australia’s entire venture into the space as nothing but altruistic in nature, with absolutely little to do with numbers and viability.
The clubs brave enough to hitch their wagons to the governing body should be applauded for their courage and integrity in doing so, despite the fact they will all be well aware of the difficult road to be hoed ahead.
However, if altruism is indeed the underlying motivation and the profitability of a National Second Division closer to a joke than reality in the short term, why on earth would Football Australia not seek to present something more nationalistic and less east-coast centric to football fans across the nation?
With the majority of the teams rumoured to be invited based in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as one of the most consistent and historically significant clubs residing in Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, the competition looks frightfully like more of the same.
Five teams within two hours of the Sydney CBD already exist in the A-League competition and fine competitors they are. However, along with three Victorian-based teams, they comprise two thirds of the competition.
If not for the Reds in Adelaide, Perth Glory, Brisbane Roar and our friends from across the ditch, the A-League competition would be essentially a state of origin battle between New South Wales and Victoria; something the rest of the nation is simply sick of and bored by.
I would suggest that the NSD in the form rumoured to be announced next week is nothing more than an extension of the security football feels in the two most populated cities in the land and far removed from what will advance football in the long term when teams begin moving between competitions in the medium term future.
It will not be advantageous for the A-Leagues should promotion and relegation eventually see teams from Perth, Brisbane or Adelaide replaced by east coast mobs. That, by definition, does nothing for the game in Australia.
For years, people involved with football in Australia have longed for a second tier below the ever-improving A-Leagues, in order to build a sustainable pyramid that will eventually see the game secure itself as a dominant code.
The solidity of the pyramid depends on making the game financially sustainable right across the country and not just in Melbourne and Sydney, where admittedly, the task of surviving financially has been a little easier than in other parts of the country throughout the history of the A-League.
Whilst a second tier is a wonderful idea, I’m not sure the announcement to be made next week is precisely what the domestic game in Australia needs. Admittedly, it might just be the best we can manage at this point in time.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The only clubs to be succesfull financially in the history of the A-league were Melbourne Victory when they were under Lord who kept a tight rain on expenses and they had the big crowds, Wanderers in their hey day at the old stadium before they went on spending sprees and lost the crowds. Adelaide and CCM have been frugal and used transfer fees to make money in years where they have sold players. There is a difference between Western United and Macarthur who have never gone to the APL for a single dollar , unlike Fury who were asking for cash early in their first year, and then were taken over in the second. The one rich backer Queensland have had the Qld gov went on a personal crusade to sabotage them running Gold COast. What your proposing is both the APl pay for QLD clubs and the FA pay for QLD nsd clubs. Pay for something yourselves even know your relying on an Indonesian to pay for your only team. The FA did step in to bail out Roar as well. Its quite the only criteria now is money for both the APL and the NSD. Thats give them money not the other way around.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
I have a slightly different opinion on this setup. Many of you won't agree with me. And that's OK. First of all, I have always believed in clubs being able to sustain themselves at this level. So, if clubs in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and other regional centres i.e. Canberra believe that they cannot afford to participate in the NST then all credit to them. Clubs should know the difference between Ambitions and Capabilities. This is my sole reason for not wanting to impose PnR on the A-League clubs. If I had a say in how this issue should be approached I would suggest this. In 3 years, or after the first three years of the NST, the FA introduce a PnR set up into the NST via a play-off system. Each championship-winning team from each state, enter a play-off, for an 'opportunity' if they can afford it, to play off against the bottom-placed NST club. So you get in effect, a national state champion playing off against the bottom-placed club in the NST. We do this to see how great the gap is between the state leagues and the NST. I understand many will be saying at this point if it is good enough for the NST to have a 'kind of' PnR why can't the A-League have the same? The answer is simple but also unpalatable. The system is a trial-and-error system, let's see how this works first before imposing it onto the A-League. I suggest doing it this way rather than a straight PnR system, is thus, the outcome for a local community club going broke is far more damaging than if a 'club' backed by businessmen goes broke. The ultimate position for our code would be that we have a two-division 'National' competition, complete with PnR that is both viable and entertaining.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Pokies my biggest bugbear!! ..shouldnt be in pubs and the amount in NSW clubs is excessive
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
that's the official projection based on current and projected migration rates. You are right about the growth areas, not outskirts but the areas between Brisbane and the two coasts north and south, in Logan, Moreton and the like. That's why the label SEQ is used. As to crowds, read the thread, see Waz's comment below, check the FA participation rates yourself, get out and about, research.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
What did he achieve at those clubs. He was at Cronulla as well. So at all rugby league clubs that used football clubs to get a new or upgraded stadiums. Rabbie Krayem leaves NQ as soon as the new stadium is announced. He seems to be some fixit man for rugby league to get government funding out of football.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
South East Queensland population is 4 million most of which is in Brisbane. A lot of the so called growth in Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are the parts on the outskirts of Brisbane. Where have we heard these projections before 6 million in 20 years? Most of this is Brisbane who cant get crowds with 2.5 million, and Redcliffe is close to the Sunshine Coast anyway .
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Channel 10 promoted the melbourne cup and f1 well their promotion of the A-league is miniscule . AFL pay less than the yearly cost of the giants for the AFLW because it gets billion from state governments that it would not get as a male only sport even though it goes he money goes to the men only anyway.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Before the new stadium Storm were losing over 10 million a year. That new stadium meant they could attract more spectators corporate money but still they would be losing money. NRL most teams lose money but they are backed by the pokies. If you look at AFL apart from Giants they have partially funded expansion by getting pokie palaces from the most succesfull local AFL teams first. Expansion has been a waste of money and the NRl central body dont have the money, the clubs pokie palaces have the money.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
I don't subscribe to the Courier Mail but apparently they're running an article at present on Sunshine Coast FC's plan to play interstate.
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
The only reason I can see as to why Fire would be willing to play in Melbourne next season is because they have been accepted into NSD but NSD is not due to start until 2025.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
NQ Cowboys and Melbourne Storm are probably Rabieh's best known club achievements, highly regarded
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
v good friend of my Ausy family in the UK is now a tractor girl.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Fire's website mentions they may have to travel off the coast and interstate to compete next season. They'll surely find life difficult if their other teams can't participate in any FQ programme. I did see, on social media, an extract of a FQ ruling that basically said that any (non-NPL) team which gets relegated from a NSD would have to start at the bottom, not NPL.
Garry
Roar Rookie
"The NSD will initially launch as a standalone competition, with FA expecting questions of promotion and relegation to and from both the A-Leagues and the NPLs in each state to be addressed later. While the exact format of the competition will be unveiled by FA on November 20, it’s expected that clubs will utilise a mix of full-time and part-time players, supported by a broadcast contract that FA is currently seeking along with new TV deals for the Socceroos and Matildas."
Garry
Roar Rookie
"The introduction of the new National Second Division will be put back until March or April 2025, with Football Australia (FA) poised to reveal its founding members later this month. The successful applicants were advised on Monday morning that they would be part of the NSD’s inaugural season but that the competition’s kick-off would be delayed until 18 months’ time to allow them to prepare for the commercial and sporting demands of a league to be pitched at a level between the A-Leagues and the National Premier Leagues (NPL). On November 20, FA CEO James Johnson will reveal the number of teams expected to be in the NSD and their identities, once those clubs have signed the required documentation including bank guarantees." "The revised timing of the NSD is to make it complementary to the Isuzu UTE A-League and allow players from the latter to play in the NSD on loan during the A-League’s off season."
Garry
Roar Rookie
basically two things-- more opportunities and, hopefully, a link with the ALM drawing more fans back.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
SW - the way your team is performing this season, there could be reason to panic! My brother in law is a long suffering tractor boy so I have been following Div 1 and now championship quite closely in recent seasons. I think I would like to have been Private Walker out of that platoon….could get you just about anything…perhaps even a national second division with promotion and relegation!
Redcap
Roar Guru
Not really - league is what it is. I love both football and league, but I don't see any sense in comparing the two - mainly because they're not really comparable.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Adelaide was a silly idea to begin with - small population and very little local interest. Perth did at least have some prospects - expat population, a small local league, small but decent crowds - and it's always actually made a lot more sense than Melbourne - but travel costs (including covering their opponents' costs) killed off the ARL/super league team of the '90s.
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
My understanding is Wynnum have money but lack facilities and Strikers have Perry Park but are broke and have been for some time plus Wynnum and Brisbane United are run by Rabieh Krayem who was involved with Fury and Macarthur in the past and was the former chairman of AAFC.