Is the A-Leagues' Unite Round worth persisting with next season?

I know this is a bit of a devisive issue, but of those who don't think it work, how many actually attended. For me sitting is a train with fans from PG, MC, BR, SFC both young and old having a discussion on the game, how their club is going etc, makes it all worth while. Even walking around the city and being stopped by fans from another visiting club and talking about a game as neutrals because we took the time to go was great as well. For us a great experience and we are already building our travelling group for 2025

SS, I disagree with your take on the finals series and I'm not from Sydney. I'm just so sick of this copy Europe mentality. So you're proposing first passed the post purely because they do it overseas because you think that is "football". That means you want to get rid of the grand final which attracts the biggest tv ratings of the season, the biggest media coverage and in most cases the biggest attendance by far. So if you had your way, there would have been no 50k attendances for GFs in Brisbane and Adelaide, no 57k attendance in Perth, or 55k in Melbourne or even 40k in Sydney etc..etc...You've got to be kidding me!! I can't think of anything more stupid just so we can "copy" Europe. Not everything is perfect in Europe mate. Look at the people behind the super league. They want to copy the American model. What I will say is that I agree the unite round is a gimmick that has failed so far, mainly because of the incompetence of the APL. Having said that, I still travelled with my family and paid a shitload in airfares and accommodation to attend. I might also add that one thing the APL need to do is include this unite round match into club's memberships. That would definitely increase the attendance by attracting more Sydney based fans at the very least. I find it astounding the APL think that people should pay a fortune in airfares and accommodation to travel from interstate to Sydney and then expect them to also purchase match tickets on top of that.

So 3 of us travelled down by car from Brisbane for the weekend. We went Thursday and home Monday. We also knew of other groups heading down and caught up with a lot while there. Friday night we took the free train to Parramatta to watch the 2 games as neutral football fans. Great to see Commbank stadium. Security and ushers were great and nowhere near the over bearing Suncorp staff. 2 Great games, but let down by the non attendance of the local supporters, who it has been rumoured because their team was not the "home" team decided not to attend. The 5.30pm start was hard on working locals to get to the game. On Saturday we headed to Leichhardt to watch Canberra women take on Adelaide another enjoyable game, different crowd but lots of comradary between supports. Roar and Jets were the next game with a good number of fans from the first game staying to watch. On Sunday we went to Alliance first to watch the Women SFC v WU a large attendance of SFC Supporters who mostly left after their game. The Roar v Jets men's game had a bit of everything in pouring Rain. The Travelling Den performed possibly the best of any active support group of the games we went to. However the RBB did well on Friday night. CAN IT BE IMPROVED - Yes and hopefully the powers that be will listen. 1) The whole stadium should be GA. 2) Season Ticket Holders should be given a special price (I know there was a pre sale price, but as low as possible. Remember empty seats don't make any money, so a small price will bring in something and then food and beverage will bring in more as well. 3) Who thought it was a great Idea to put active support for certain games in the corner - Nobody puts the Den in the Corner and they took over the vacant Active Support area vacated by the SFC Womens fans. It is simple there is a large break between games give the first team of active support 1/2 hour to celebrate and leave and the next team active support take over. There is nothing worse than a empty area behind the goal when it could be filled with active support. 4) Travelling clubs should get behind supporters and try and work out deals on hotel and travel. - Even interaction with the teams. 5) There needs to be a active support area set up in the city where supporters can go and watch the game. Even if the games are on replay rotation, along with food trucks etc. 6) Hotels, even those who are not in the A-Leagues preferred hotels should be made aware of the competition so at least have something available for them to give to their guests to spread the word, So we have already started building our group for next season, hopefully we will tripple our numbers and if everyone does that this could be huge.

Actually, WU have said that their 15k stadium will be ready by the 2026/27 season. Jason Sourassis said we can hold him to that.

I've never been to NZ so I'd go for sure.

If possible, I’m happy to hold the event in Melbourne. Would the crowds be bigger? I think so.

The Round can work, but a lot of thought of getting fans there must happen. not only the APL, also the Club’s and Active Support Groups. It’s been 2.5 seasons (maybe 3) since i last went to a game…are there any TIFOs anymore, like the Ono 21st minute choreography or The Asian Champions League Banner…anyways I know the Wanderers had a 5 on 5 comp going this year. This would require each club to run a tourney too. What if the winners of each club’s tournament played too, with the final on the Sunday? There are ways to get fans interested, it requires more than just…i don’t know maybe buses for those diehard fans and some sort of cheap accomodation

Clubs are built off the towns or the suburbs so people have an immediate connection...

I think I am the only one to travel from Auckland for the Unite round. Thought it was an excellent concept and booked the trip straight away. Went to Leichhardt Friday, Allianz Saturday and Comm Bank Sunday. Had a great weekend! Worth pursuing next year - maybe Melbourne, or Brisbane?

...Not to mention expensive airfares and accomodation for those travelling in peak season in January from interstate.

Hi Mike, I was there and attended the double headers at Allianz as part of Unite Round. So saw it all with my own eyes. Let's start with the positives. Holding in Sydney is fair enough (Brisbane has NRL magic round and Vic is AFL-mad). I am not against Sydney as the host city. The action on the field also was very entertaining at times with some great games. But...the crowd. Of big concern was Sunday night's crowd for the Newcastle-Brisbane game at Allianz. 4-5000 people at best! In a stadium that holds 40,000 that's lots of empty seats. All in all the crowd seemed to be behaving well. The anti-Sydney FC chant is cheeky. Except when it's metres away from your 10-year-old and swearing on rotation not ideal! (Might be turning some families away?) The entertainment cheap and cheerful also. How much to put on a band at halftime during the Sat night event? Just saying. I want this sport to succeed. I really do. But organisers should listen to fans and a lot more promotion needs to go into the event for next year. Otherwise ignore what the fans want at your peril.

oh, ok

I'm also not a fan of superficial special rounds and other so-called marketing initiatives that are not focused on regular competition rounds and growing club memberships. I've said before, there are five key issues holding back the A-League from reaching its potential as a financially stable and growing league with consistently growing crowds and sought after broadcasting rights: 1. Stadiums that are fit-for-purpose to the clubs using them and their fan base; 2. A sound and fair league structure with promotion and relegation that connects through the pyramid in the same season, preferably winter; 3. Media support that provides equivalent exposure to that of other major sports in Australia; 4. Growing the grass-roots football community, grounds, facilities and resources enabling participation at the lowest cost possible. 5. Get more Money. This is the most important issue requiring maximum effort to tap government, corporate, football and sporting organisations both onshore and off-shore to maximise the funds available to support items 1 to 4 above. Every waking minute of the FA and the APL should be focused exclusively on these five issues. They should not be distracted by low return superficial events that only distract officials and add more cost and complexity to what should be an exciting, thriving football league capable of standing on its own legs based on the quality of the competition, its clubs, its players, the games, the arenas in which the games are played and the marketing of those ingredients.

SS. I think you have to be open to new ideas at least. But maybe run them by fans for a view on what might work? The football on the pitch has been pretty good so far this season but people aren’t turning up in great numbers. Unite round was a compromise as we all know. Maybe next year more ppl will plan for it and make a weekend of it.

So is it a stronger cultural connection to football that makes it so popular and well attended over there compared to here? Certainly talked to team mates from England in the past that were religious on their attendance regardless of weather, competition standing or even league level. What do you think drives the obsession there that doesn’t translate to the Australian population? If Unite style round for say 8 teams was held in England would it sell out or struggle to raise the pulse? Is it too far/expensive for ppl to travel between cities in Australia that stops all but the most passionate away crowds from showing up too? The games here are pretty one sided from a supporters point of view.