Roar Pro
Joined February 2017
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It has been some time since the APL’s decision to move the A-Leagues Grand Finals to Sydney was confirmed and despite the continued protests…
When Western United were announced way back in late 2018 as the next A-League expansion side, you would have been hard pressed to find…
Hands up if anyone saw Manchester United as a potential buyer for the Central Coast Mariners? No? Didn’t think so. The Sydney Morning Herald…
When we think of football the first point of reference is rarely with the manager. However, it is without question that the manager fills…
By now, we have all seen the news regarding Newcastle United, and the club’s failure to reach an agreement with Rafa Benitez to manage…
The confirmation of Western United FC and their colours of green, black and white is a fantastic day for the rest of the A-League.…
When it comes to promotion and relegation in the A-League, it is of my belief that this season has affirmed to us that the…
Is it just me, or is anyone else finding the Central Coast Mariners recent performances nothing less than embarrassing? Their loss to Wellington last…
The day Jose Mourinho was sacked from Manchester United will be a day that I will remember for a while. My brother yelled only…
Like many people on this website, I was eagerly awaiting the day expansion was confirmed, however I was controversially campaigning for a third Melbourne…
There is something about the World Cup that is bothering me, and I feel as if it is of crucial importance to write about…
Like many A-League fans, I viewed the latest news surrounding Andres Iniesta's potential move to the A-League with cautious optimism. It is not every…
Let me start off by making this abundantly clear, this is not a debate about why esport is a real sport. I know that…
The Red and Black Bloc has been one of the more controversial organisations in Australian sport. It seems everyone has an opinion on them…
There is only one thing a bidder needs to be in the running for an A-League expansion licence, and today I can present it…
When it comes to sport, in general we as Australians have a very high opinion on ourselves, and for the majority of sports that…
There has been a tidal wave of criticism against Jose Mourinho following Manchester United's 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford to fifth place La Liga…
I recently read the comment section of a social media post regarding the A-League finally being shown on a mainstream free-to-air network. In that…
When European managers come to the A-League, often the first thing they are puzzled by is our persistence in utilising a salary cap system.…
Let me take you back to 2015, when the Wellington Phoenix were in danger of disbanding. The club aggressively campaigned for a new license,…
All good Chris
Glad that you enjoyed it! ?
How the Red and Black Bloc's closure could've easily been avoided
Christo
Those wearing the shirts are a minority, that statement above should have touched on that, apologises if that wasn’t clear.
The majority of the RBB are reasonable members of society, I know this because if you scroll down their Facebook page you can see the charity work that they did in addition to the passion they bring to games, sure they have made some mistakes but the FFA has done so as well.
There are some members of the RBB who are definetly anti social, but the majority aren’t and the FFA needs to stop treating the majority like the minority. This starts with more communication
How the Red and Black Bloc's closure could've easily been avoided
Hi Stevo
Thanks for reading. The RBB however aren’t thugs, for the most part the majority are reasonable people, I believe you are generalising the behaviour of the RBB. The supporter groups can get a fair hearing by the FFA we know this because in 2015they all met to discuss a new banning procedure, the success of that can be debated of course, but the fact remains that the people that the FFA met years ago are the same people campaigng for the FFA to understand what it is they want with active support.
How the Red and Black Bloc's closure could've easily been avoided
Hi Paul
Thanks for reading. Would you still be open to discussing this with FFA? From the outset they don’t even understand “football culture”so they may need some help in this regard. Also it makes sense that there’s an increase in security after the lighting of flares. They are illegal after all but some of the police’s actions such as the eviction of children at sydney games should not have been done and with an understanding of football culture I believe that this could have been avoided.
Hypothetically imagine you were talking to the police, how would you describe to them “football culture” and explain that this doesn’t put the safety of the public at risk
How the Red and Black Bloc's closure could've easily been avoided
Central coast mariners aren’t the Wellington Phoenix nick, they may have played them but perhaps we needed more of the Canberrans to show up and support the mariners to justify their own franchise
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Thanks for the kind words Craig! Interesting to note your opinions on smaller capacity grounds providing better atmosphere, I’d question that wouldn’t provide as much money for the clubs in term of match day revenue but I’d think that in terms of sponsorship and tv deals this could be recouped
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Thanks for reading Tex! Appreciate it greatly. I took a look at the link you provided and these were some things that came to my mind when I read it
I question Canberra’s enthusiasm for an A-League side, however, Capital Football themselves have ruled out supporting an A-Leauge bid, not to mention that experiments by sending Central Coast to play a few home games in Canberra have not been successful. For sure a few Asian Cup games and Socceroos games sell out but they are events, not necessarily teams.
Regardless it was intresting to note Canberra’s population being greater than that of Newcastle, and considering how few franchises exist in Canberra already it could be exploited
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Thanks for reading the article Griffo! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
I’m definitely not calling Newcastle fans casuals, out of all the clubs I’d wager that they are some of the most dedicated. My response was based on tv numbers. I can definetly see how shifting the times would cause conflict between the rugby and the football,
I don’t want to have to say pick one or the other but I cannot see any other possible solution. Perhaps a new stadium in Newcastle is required to stop clashes between rugby and football?
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Apologies to hijack the discussion but has anyone seen the RBB’s announcement today? This is exactly what I was speaking about when there is a disconnect between owners and fan base. I’m not saying that this is going to mean that members of the RBB are going to join Sydney, but surely this will dent their enthusiasm for the Wanderers and now our entire league will suffer as a result.
All because the FFA, board members of clubs can’t seem to understand the importance of communication…
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Appreciate the kind words Post Hoc! I’m actually still in high school at the moment looking to get in to journalism so this feedback means a lot to me ?
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
If people shouldn’t change who they follow then what is the point of expanding in cities with A-league clubs already there? We want inner city derbies but we don’t want to change the club we support. How do you get new fans into these clubs?
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
I’d have to disagree kangajets. I would maintain that you would get the same number of tv audiences watching the A-league in the winter as you would in the summer. Mind you that isn’t a large number anyway.
Having said that, I can understand how there would be greater competition for the demographic that FFA are trying to gather, casual sport fans
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
I personally do not like South’s stadium, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not going to be a leading bid. Isn’t having a stadium better than having to wait a few years to build one up and continually moving from stadium to stadium? (Looking at South Sydney in particular)
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Hi Fadia
Thanks for reading the article. You are correct in saying that anew franchise would not want to have fans that would leave after one bad season. However it’s the clubs responsibility to ensure that when things aren’t going right on the pitch they keep their fans. This is why I think that many Brisbane Roar fans are considering changing clubs. It’s not “one bad season” it’s the continued mismanagement of the club by the Barkie Group. The way that the club has treated the fans has been considerably poor
And even if there is still loyalty in the Brisbane Roar, then this just means that another Brisbane franchise would be doomed to fail. Let’s assume that all football fans in Brisbane follow the Roar, where would the new franchise get their fans from? Or how are they going to convince current Roar supporters to leave?
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
I’d have to disagree with this. Diehard A-league fans would watch the A-league at anytime summer or winter. It’s the mainstream audience we are trying to grab through playing in the summer but that doesn’t appear to be working any more. If insanity is doing the same thing again and again, then it would be insane to keep playing in the summer
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
I actually watched a video with Bozza the other day and after being initially sceptic of the idea, I am in favour of a winter competition but only if we can supply our own stadiums. Both Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth and Central Coast share their stadiums with other codes. We would have a logistical nightmare like the A-league grand final a few years ago if we did move it to winter without accounting for this.
This is why it’s crucial expansion clubs must have their own stadium prepared
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Thanks for reading the article Buddy!
I wrote something a year ago about the expansion criteria (before the EOI) and all of it came back to the Wanderers and how the community was continually involved in the decision making process. This is why I am cautious about some bidders, I hope that they can be involved in future discussions with the clubs.
What do you think they should do to involve the community in supporting the new franchise?
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Thanks for reading Rolly, glad to hear you enjoyed it! ?
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
I don’t think I made it clear Rolly in my comment, I also agree with the fact that three stadiums for a club is ridiculous but I think the FFA will still let them in because of money
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Completely disagree with the idea of playing out of 3 stadiums mwm, I would like to think however that the FFA would not sanction there acceptance until they have confirmed their main stadium or have got a new one ready, however with the money behind it, unfortunately it wouldn’t surprise me if the FFA let them in with their 3 stadiums.
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Hi Kangajets
Thanks for reading the article. I remain sceptical as well of Southern expansion although this is purely out of spite because I don’t want another sydney based team in the league. What bids do you think are going to be successful ? You’ve already mentioned Wollongong but aren’t you concerned that as a regional area they may not gather as large a following? I know that there would be a passionate fan base for the wolves but will that be a large enough base?
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Hi AR
Thanks for reading the article, glad to hear that you enjoyed it! I had some ideas on what an “ownership” of a club could look like in Australia, specifically adopting either the German Bundesliga approach where members hold a majority of a clubs voting rights, do you think that could work here and turn customers into members?
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Hi Waz
Thanks for reading the article, I’m glad to here that you enjoyed it! As for Brisbane City representing the north west, that was where their official bid said they would be based. I think though that you are correct in stating that there are massive problems against a Brisbane bid. The roar are already struggling for crowd numbers, I don’t know where else they should be based to get people to support them.
Having said that I’m not a Queenslander so I wouldn’t know where the best place would be to base them, are there any areas in Brisbane where there is a large football following (similar to Paramatta in Western Sydney?)
The only question A-League licence hopefuls need to answer
Hey Grobbelaar
Not sure if your being sarcastic or not but personally seeing as how teenagers make up one of the larger demographics that go to A-league games, I’d believe that my opinion is quite valid.
How the Red and Black Bloc's closure could've easily been avoided