Brisbane Roar’s gritty 2-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners in Gosford on Sunday afternoon had just about everything – except, crucially, a vibrant atmosphere in the stands.
After downing Bali United 2-1 in energy-sapping conditions in Bali in the AFC Cup on Wednesday, it was always going to be tough for the Mariners to back up again on Sunday.
So it proved, as they went behind to an early Florin Berenguer opener that was not without a dash of controversy, as Nikola Mileusnic only just kept the ball in by a matter of millimetres to cross for the Frenchman to lash home.
Yet the defending champions found a way back when Marco Tulio’s peach of a pass found the marauding Alou Kuol, and the fan-favourite kept his cool to beat Macklin Freke in the Brisbane goal.
But the Roar under Ross Aloisi are made of sterner stuff and deservedly re-took the lead when teenage striker Tom Waddingham side-footed Kai Trewin’s cross in at the far post.
Trewin thought he had given away a penalty only moments before – only for VAR to inform referee Jonathan Barreiro it was Mariners midfielder Christian Theoharous who initiated contact inside the box.
And if Barreiro thought that was to be the end of the drama, he was sorely mistaken.
The Roar were rightly reduced to ten men when holding midfielder Joey Caletti received two yellows for a couple of cynical fouls, before Mariners substitute Harry Steele saw a straight red four minutes after entering the fray for a studs-up challenge on Jay O’Shea.
Neither player could have any real complaints about either decision, and while the two sides went at each other hammer and tongs in search of another goal, it was the visitors who clung on for a deserved victory.
It was a fantastic advertisement for the competition and one that only the diehard A-League fans seemed to watch, both in the stands and at home on TV.
The A-League Men is failing as an entertainment product because it’s missing the key ingredient that compels us to tune into football leagues around the world – atmosphere.
The tens of thousands of empty seats that greet fans at every A-League Men game these days are a turn-off for the fans who actually do show up, along with those watching on TV.
(Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)
We had another stark reminder of that in the earlier kick-off on Sunday when Melbourne City came back from two goals down against Macarthur to secure a 3-3 draw in a clash that produced all the atmosphere of a trip to the library.
Since the City Football Group took charge of Melbourne City in January 2014, they’ve done virtually nothing to lift attendances at AAMI Park.
More parasites than powerbrokers, it’s hard to pinpoint a single decision they’ve made that has actually benefited the competition – let alone one that should see the Australian Professional Leagues continually turn to the City Football Group for guidance.
Yet the APL appears to be stuck in a permanent state of catatonia – incapable of making the decisions that need to be made to lift the A-League Men out of its malaise and get football fans turning up and tuning in once again.
So it is that we’re stuck with dodgy decisions like trying to advertise the league with a 3pm free-to-air Sunday afternoon fixture that hardly anyone attends.
The only must-see timeslot in the A-League Men is always the Saturday night fixture – not least because the night-time temperatures mean those games aren’t played at a walking pace.
Sydney FC’s 5-1 demolition of Adelaide United in Ufuk Talay’s first game in charge won’t have pleased the locals on Saturday night, but at least it was watched by a bumper crowd of 12,859 fans at Coopers Stadium.
But the lack of atmosphere at A-League Men games is genuinely hurting the competition.
Here’s hoping fans start to find their way back into stadiums organically.
Because if the start of the season is anything to go by, our administrators sure don’t have the answers.
chris1
Roar Rookie
Alan agree that Ch 10 have blundered with some of their decisions. To be fair though, no streaming service publish their figures so you can’t single out Ch 10 streaming for not doing this. SBS are not the football network they once were since the LNP turned them into basically another Anglo TV network that basically is starved of funds. I mean from a network that used to have 10-12 hours a week of football programs to basically 0 says it all. And you have to feel for the people of Victoria. I mean how much coverage can you stomach for a game that has 8 games a week GLOBALLY for only 6 months of the year. I mean at what point does it become nauseating?
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
SBS has no money. There is no way SBS can fork out anything like the $200m over 5 years which the Aleague needs to survive.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
A lot of what you say is true for many games especially Macarthur and WU but many other games are not like that especially Melbourne Victory, Adelade United, Sydney FC and WSW. I guess what I'm saying is there are some bad spectacles but there are some games that are great to watch. Coopers Stadium matches are a prime example.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
Valid points jamesb. Ch10/P+ squandered a golden opportunity by not winning the rights to the EPL then squandered another huge opportunity by not outbidding Optus for the WWC rights. Sometimes I wonder if the people running that joint have anything between their ears. I mean, why would you bid $200m for A-League tv rights over 5 years then let Optus outbid you for all the WWC matches then when Optus sells a 15 match FTA package they let Ch7 secure it for around $5million? Makes zero sense to me. Then they wonder why they don't get better ratings and/or subscriptions. Geez.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
Midfielder, I agree entirely with your proposal on match scheduling. The Americans have got it right and we need to replicate that here. I do hope you're though about the Aleague folding or clubs going to NSD. I don't see the latter happening anyway as I think the NSD will get zero coverage in the msm, and fans will dwindle to barely above NPL level once the novelty of a new league wears off.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
Alan, the answer is in spending more on marketing and promotion by hiring top notch people in those departments for each club and the APL, while at the same time pushing the narrative by producing content e.g. Irankunda's story. Unlike the AFL, NRL and cricket, there is no visibility of the A-League in the mainstream media.
Alan
Roar Rookie
The AFL is a well oiled machine they "own" the oxygen in Melbourne , Adelaide and Perth. The media in those markets don't report on anything else much. I guess its up to the Governing Body to get behind their product and market the game. Channel TEN have a lot of issues - remember this is the Network which had just 12 people tune into a news program in Perth. I think the game needs to go back to SBS. TEN is in trouble and when the contract expires will be surprised to see them bid again. People need to support the game if not in person then on tv and streaming. The fact that TEN doesnt publish the figures says a lot.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
But GWS have no fans, just an imaginary membership that never turns up.
AR
Roar Rookie
Punter's go-to argument about falling ALeague crowds basically amounts to: my favourite sport is bigger globally than your favourite sport. It's an inane observation. It has nothing to do with the article or the discussion. The discussion is about the declining crowds at ALeague games and what can be done to bring fans back to the game. As we know, a few years ago, there was a crowd of 60k to an ALeague game. Around that time, WSW was attracting 15k+ to home games. Today, that fan support support has almost halved. Your argument infers that the lack of quality marquee names in the ALeague limits interest in the competition: "imagine if we had Messi, Neymar etc". It's a bogus argument because those names have never been in the ALeague, even when crowds & interest were peaking. As for JoshW, his go-to argument is to breathlessly mention GWS (as though the Giants are some sort of benchmark for WSW), blame club management, and cite 26 degree weather as being too stifling to go outside. Again, none of these are real arguments.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Let me explain again as you misunderstood. AFL is King in Australia & football is no 4 at best. AFL is the best competition in the world & all the best players in the world play in the AFL. The likes of Dusty Martin, Patrick Cripps & Nick Diacos (I had to goggle, so sorry if I got it wrong) are the best players in the world & playing at GWS every other week together with the greatest teams in the AFL Collingwood, Carlton & Richmond & GWS averages 9K. The A-league is nowhere the top of the best football competitions in the world nor does any of the top 500 players in the world play in the A-League & WSW does not get to see the best of the best & yet they average 9K. If the likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool or Bayern Munich played at WSW, I do wonder what the average would be. Comprehende!!!!
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Down here in Melbourne, we're getting excited and gearing up for the AFL draft. It's a wiz bang affair where the media is salivating over the propect of conveying the excitement of the draft to the masses - moment by moment, punch by punch. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/why-chaos-could-reign-at-this-year-s-afl-draft-20231113-p5ejiw.html At the centre of the AFL universe, even in the off season when there are no games to talk about, the AFL still keeps itself at the centre of sporting attention. It is so, and it always will be so.
Antman
Roar Rookie
No meant the other night in terms of weeks ago. I’m a United fan as well, but had to forgo my ticket for the last game. Was going to see them play. On a positive note it would be great to see FCK (Copenhagen) get out of the group stage.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-League_Men_attendance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_A-League_Men_seasons
AR
Roar Rookie
I agree. If Ronaldo, Messi, or Neymar signed for WSW it would definitely bring the fans back.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Mike, surely we all know that A-league average attendance peaked in 2007-08 and has been edging lower ever since. The number of patrons through the gates during the regular season (excl finals) peaked in 2013-24. Of course you can ague, validly, that the league has been diluted with extra teams over the years. Just putting the data out there. Season Teams Average Total attendance in regular season 2005–06 8 10,956 920,318 2006–07 8 12,911 1,084,550 2007–08 8 14,610 1,227,244 2008–09 8 12,180 1,023,151 2009–10 10 9,793 1,322,004 2010–11 11 8,429 1,390,844 2011–12 10 10,497 1,417,084 2012–13 10 12,347 1,666,875 2013–14 10 13,041 1,760,508 2014–15 10 12,511 1,688,951 2015–16 10 12,326 1,653,025 2016–17 10 12,294 1,659,854 2017–18 10 10,671 1,440,031 2018–19 10 10,411 1,407,148 2019–20 11 9,428 1,073,309 2020–21 12 5,682 850,442 2021–22 12 5,353 818,988 2022–23 12 7,553 1,178,245
Punter
Roar Rookie
The GWS has the best players in the world playing at the Giants every other week, if the like of Ronaldo, Messi, Haarland & Neymar were playing in Parramatta every other week I would think they would be getting bigger crowds than 9K.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Feels great!!! Not interested in anything on Foxtel & so much cheaper. Have no desire to get Fox or Kayo I have Optus, Paramount & Stan still cheaper than Foxtel for all my football fix.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
yes, with WSW having a great stadium, i am amazed they do not get bigger crowds (problems or not).
Garry
Roar Rookie
"other night when Bayern played FC Copenhagen in the champions league." as a Man Utd supporter :crying: this game was played on Oct with the return fixture 29 Nov did you really mean this game ??
Antman
Roar Rookie
Hi Garry, Regarding pt 3. I do see these as being part of the same umbrella but the promoting of the 2 in my view should be kept separate. I did prefer it when it was the A-League and the W-league. It did not eat into each others identity. I think it can happen eventually but the league is too immature at this stage. Active fan groups, with families would help both. The fans are key to a better selling product as you are aware of. We all know that if we want to be a part of the raucous we sit behind the goal mouth of the home team. It is a spectacle like I witnessed live the other night when Bayern played FC Copenhagen in the champions league. We can choose if we want to be an active supporter or a sideline positioned supporter (which I prefer). As you see the width of the field better and movements of players with and without the ball. To answer your question we can have both. I love seeing the giant tiffo’s being rolled out mocking the opposing team. This all adds to the fun. What I think the APL could try in partnership with Isuzu is, that every millionth ticket sold the person of that ticket wins an Isuzu car, cash or some club experience. Or even best dressed fan for that game or fan engagement on Apps/ before the game to vote on best dressed. This would also harp back to the fact that the fans can experience more if they participate. Also the media could also announce this with their sponsors. This would be win win, for all parties, with the chance of rewarding everyone to get through those turnstiles. I also d like the carnival atmosphere (for kids) pre game entertainment outside of the grounds, where football games (like shooting a target into a hole/target), can win that clubs products. Make it great for the family but also exciting for the hardcore active fan. I still haven’t bought the tickets yet as I need to check how many friends I can take with me. I normally take a few, who love football but only see the games when I’m around. It’s always a fun day with banter and hopefully a good game of football. I am an optimist and I believe we can have both - active and family support. This works. The aim is to get those future kids to either play and stay in the game or to become an active member.