- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Aside from executing the carefully planned ambush of FFA CEO Ben Buckley, the SBS Fan Forum did little to shed new light on the problems plaguing Australian football.
For those who missed ‘The World Game’ on Monday evening, here’s what you missed:
– Craig Foster and PFA chief Brendan Schwab, who took time out from re-inventing the AFL finals wheel to attend to the game that pays his wages, lambasting an unprepared and ill-equipped Buckley.
– Journalist Seb Hassett chiming in with some considered points, David Zdrillic on the end of the panel with a familiar look of confusion on his face and Adelaide United’s little-known chairman, Greg Griffin, meaning well but saying nothing of significance.
– The parlous state of key markets such as Sydney was symptomatic of a a league in decline, we were told.
– An alignment of the “participation base” with a “streamlined, and efficient, and effective governance structure” was apparently the “hallmark” of a strong domestic league.
The solution to the sparsely populated stadiums? Lower costs for grassroots footballers, lower ticket prices!
A complex, clever and no doubt considered strategy. Once the fan-driven model had been correctly implemented, we could look at moving forward, Schwab opined.
Nevermind that Sydney FC have, over the past few seasons, built their team around the likes of Terry McFlynn, resulting in some of the most unattractive football ever seen at the A-League level, even in periods of success.
Forget that eight of the nine NRL clubs based in a traditionally stable Sydney market ran at a loss in 2010, with several of those clubs operating at seven-figure losses.
Ignore the continuing 30-year battle the AFL has waged in the Sydney market through the constant financial support of the Sydney Swans, or the handful of clubs in a strong Melbourne market that exist only from annual grants from the AFL.
We were to model our competition around the “structure” of English and Spanish competitions, or closer to home, the success of the likes of Richmond, Collingwood and Carlton, who have developed membership bases of over 40,000 through more than 100 years of VFL/AFL competition.
Buckley didn’t seem to be able to articulate any argument against this, but the simple, and obvious fact is that the A-League is not England, or Spain, and not even close to the monolithic AFL.
Look at any sport in Sydney; it is unquestionably the most competitive market in Australia, and nobody, absolutely nobody, has a dominant, stable foothold.
Those supposedly in the know can talk about structure, streamlining, engagement (I’m still waiting for specific, detailed examples of exactly what this translates to in a real world example, beyond the ubiquitous ‘in-school visits, gala day’ reference that is constantly bandied about) until they are blue in the face.
But unless we can all look at Sydney and other markets that are struggling, and recognise the need for tenacity, the need for a long term view, and the understanding that short term losses are inevitable, there will be no long term solution.
Particularly if those clubs entrusted with making good on-field decisions continue to spend good money producing garbage on the pitch.
But hey, never let the facts get in the way of the lynch mob….
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.