The inaugural A-League Unite Round captivated football enthusiasts with its dazzling display of brilliance: six intense games, one vibrant city, and an astonishing 28 goals that painted the town in excitement. The official word from the APL highlighted the event’s success, with 47,425 fans flocking through the gates across its 12 games. As the league gears up for the next season, here are some strategic changes that could enhance the Unite Round experience for fans and teams alike.
1. Centralise the action in one stadium
Consolidating the Unite Round games in a single stadium over three days would create a focal point for fans, intensifying the atmosphere and fostering a sense of unity among supporters.
This centralized location would amplify the spectacle, making it a must-attend event for soccer enthusiasts.
2. Feature headline fixtures daily
To sustain the excitement throughout the event, designate a headline fixture for each day.
This would ensure a consistent level of anticipation and provide fans with the opportunity to plan their attendance around marquee matchups. For instance, a Friday clash between Adelaide and Melbourne Victory, followed by a Saturday showdown between Sydney and Western Sydney Wanderers, and concluding with a Sunday spectacle featuring Brisbane Roar against a formidable opponent.
3. Affordable ticketing
To encourage widespread attendance, consider offering affordable ticket options.
By making tickets more accessible, the A-League can attract a diverse audience and fill the stadium with passionate supporters. Affordable pricing would also create a family-friendly atmosphere, fostering the growth of the sport among younger generations.
4. Boost advertising efforts
Amplify promotional efforts leading up to the Unite Round.
Increased advertising across various platforms – social media, traditional media, and local communities – will generate more buzz, attracting not only devoted soccer fans but also those curious to experience the excitement of the A-Leagues.
(Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)
5. Incentives for out-of-state fans
To draw supporters from beyond the hosting city, provide additional incentives for out-of-state fans to travel.
This could include discounted travel packages, exclusive merchandise, or even meet-and-greet opportunities with players. Creating a welcoming environment for travelling fans will contribute to the nationwide unity that the Unite Round aims to foster.
6. Members enjoy free access
Reward loyalty by allowing club members free access to Unite Round games.
This gesture acknowledges the dedicated fan base and strengthens the bond between supporters and their teams. Members attending the event for free would likely result in increased attendance and a more passionate atmosphere.
In conclusion, the A-League Unite Round has the potential to become a pinnacle event in Australian soccer. By centralising the action, highlighting marquee fixtures, offering affordable tickets, boosting advertising, incentivising travel, and providing free access to members, the league can elevate the overall experience for fans and solidify the Unite Round as a standout moment in the A-League calendar.
high horse
Roar Rookie
didnt know it was on
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
There has been an explosion of independent A-league bloggers , I was suprised how they have one for each team almost. They had a meeting of them at Unite round.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
This unite round palaver is doing my head in...yes the A-League needs to fix itself, but surely the best approach is move towards what works for football everywhere else in the world. So...just give us an even number of teams in the competition, with alternating home and away fixtures. Add in pro/rel when appropriate to refresh the comp each year and punish underachievers. Add a proper transfer system. Embrace active support. This all works everywhere else - why would we be any different? You can embellish that with Aussie trinkets, like a finals series, without seriously affecting the integrity of the competition (because you still have a league champion anyway). But, seriously, the unite round is just a weird Aussie invention that works for the AFL and NRL solely because fans of those codes have nothing else to watch that weekend, or any weekend, anywhere else in the world.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
I have written to Richard Masters, CEO of the English Premier League, suggesting he implement a unite round for the EPL. Not because it would be a good idea for football, but because the outraged articles and associated comments would keep us entertained for decades.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Point 4 you got to be joking. The only way they got a crowd to the Sunday games was having Sydney Fc women 4k, the other crowd was pathetic but even that of the 1500 it looked mostly Wanderers. If you wanted to register crowds of couple of hundred each on the Sunday then follow these suggestions.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
You fell asleep during the weekend? The theme of the weekend was the APL not content with millions from the NSW government but trying to squeeze every cent out of it and resulting in rubbish crowds, they tried to resell everything, sponsors, season corporates of the clubs excluded. What success did they have its harder to work out at Allianz but at Commbank they didnt get any takers.
AR
Roar Rookie
7,000 WSW fans turned up. Maybe all teams need their own new stadiums with retractable roofing.
338
Roar Rookie
I was disappointed the round ball rules didn’t come back this year. It was nice to het a bit of midweek A league jibba jabba.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Who said the APL needs to take the money?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Wow they released the number for Sunday. Sydney vs WUtd women 4039 Wanderers vs City 1515 Newcastle vs Brisbane 3948 Phoenix Perth Glory 1632 So how did they detect anyone left the Sydney womens game, maybe the ground members section explains that. In reality it looked like about 500 stayed at Allianz and 200 at Commbank and half left after the first half. No more evidence needed Unite round is done, stick a fork in it, do you need any more evidence this will never work. Newcastle Jets fans they are slack at the best of time but this is a new low even for them.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Do you need a magic round to promote football? Hell no, football is very popular in Australia now. Hell yes you do. Football has been very popular for the past 50 years. Enjoys lots of support from a huge cross section of Australia. Millions of fans in this country will (depending on their state) have a favourite NRL/AFL team and support the Socceroos/Tillies and will have a favourite team in Europe (or more likely the EPL). Just look at the videos of people in stadium bars in AFL matches watching the Australia v France shootout. You can't fake that type of passion for football. It's the A-League that is not popular. That's the hurdle that needs to be overcome: how to turn an obvious national liking of football into liking the A-League. And so they do need to explore initiatives to get people though. Personally, I thought Unite Round was the right idea. 46k is not a great, but not a bad turnout over a few days. Room for improvement. In the absence of Saudi money and being able to pay billions for fading European stars to kick start a very sanitized competition, Australia just has to explore ideas like unite round. But to be fair to the APL, the same situation can be said in large swathes of Asia. Aside from Japan, most Asian countries adore football but have almost zero time for their own leagues. People in Bangkok will spend hundreds of dollars on tickets to watch the European teams on their exhibition summer tours, but couldn't be asked to spend $2 to go to a Thai premier league match. Same in Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Singapore, and arguably even Korea. Column inches in the sports sections in these papers are not focusing on local leagues, it's all Europe. It's not that they don't love football. They are fanatical about it, hence the pages of European league analysis. They just aren't fanatical their own national leagues.
Brendan
Roar Pro
There was a lot of rain hanging around on the Sunday afternoon. Credit to the fans who showed up. Maybe BankWest needs a retractable roof?
Brendan
Roar Pro
I would expect an internal audit of the APL. Is there a paper trail? It sounds like all aboard the gravy train.
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
A-League All Access was already kind of half-dead prior to this news. It went from 30 min features covering gameday each week and published on P+ last season, to little 7 minute snippets on individual players published on YT (and presumably KU) only. The writing has been on the wall with that all season long. Similarly channel 10 had a preview show called Round Ball Rules that didn't come back for this year. Clearly, no one apart from diehards really cares about the AL in it's current guise.
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
Yep, I am one such participant and that was my immediate thought. This developing news could be the tip of an iceberg.
338
Roar Rookie
Hope they don’t kill off the A league fantasy football comp that runs through the KeepUp platform….that would annoy around 7000 current participants (in ALM) not sure on fantasy numbers for ALW but I’m sure there are many also.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
They spent 40 million so far on keepup? Thats absolutely insane good to get rid of it and why is it employing so many people. When Silverlake go to find out where their money is it will be all gone and they can have the back catalogue of A-league access if they like. The bizzare thing they are saying now Canberra is coming in. The more you wish doom on the A-league it keeps growing somehow.
Brendan
Roar Pro
This is kinda’ scary. Around 50% of APL staff will lose their jobs. Plus, Keep Up is on the chopping block.
338
Roar Rookie
Applaud the effort to make positive suggestions.
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
Yeah if you look at any individual (mens) game over the weekend, it is likely to be more highly attended if the designated home team just actually hosted.. This was not the case with what NRL Magic Rd was born out of, which was Manly taking their home game v Broncos to Suncorp because they could sell more tickets playing it there than in Sydney. Then it spun out to a double-header (which I attended regularly) always featuring Manly v Broncos, and now we have all 8 games a week over the weekend. One of which is always that original Manly v Broncos match. It was born out of a somewhat proven concept. That concept would be likely the same for any Sydney team playing a team from QLD, or indeed the Storm or Warriors.