As the door closes on another year, it is important to take a look at 2015 and just how far Australian football has progressed in the last 12 months.
January saw the start of a new era of Australian football as the national side achieved their biggest result to date in the winning of the Asian Cup on home soil. This competition was Australia’s first major international football tournament and as hosts, Ange Postecoglou’s team knocked it out of the park. With approximately 22,000 fans going to each match across the five cities, the cup was a major success both on-and-off the field. However, it will be that magical night of the 31st that will go down in the collective history of Australian sporting lore, as we saw our own team take out the title thanks to goals from Massimo Luongo and James Troisi.
February and March saw the normal resumption of play on the domestic front, with the biggest news being the Wellington Phoenix sneaking past Perth to be on top of the table with just four more rounds to play in the regular season. Wellington would eventually finish fourth after a rough run of results in the final fixtures, but the story of Perth would be a far more interesting one as the season closed.
In April of 2015, Perth Glory were sanctioned by the FFA and given a fine of just under $270,000, plus the club was disqualified from the 2014-15 A-League finals series after it was revealed they had breached the salary cap for up to three seasons, by approximately $400,000 per year. This was major news in the competition, as never before had the league seen such a breach of the salary cap nor something worth punishing through the disqualification of a club. The news sent Perth spiraling and although they would eventually finish third on points, the disqualification meant they would instead finish seventh and Brisbane Roar would sneak into the finals.
May saw the Finals series take place and Melbourne Victory would stroll to their third Championship with 3-0 wins over both Melbourne City and Sydney FC. However, these results were not without some controversy, but interestingly it was for rather different reasons than one would expect. With the FFA seeking to accommodate teams playing in the AFC Champions League, the date of the final was moved to May 17, which meant that if a Melbourne side was to make the final, both the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Etihad Stadium could no longer be used as those grounds had already been scheduled for use in other events. This left the FFA with only AAMI Park and with a capacity of just over 30,000 it resulted in the lowest capacity venue to host a Grand Final to date, a move which draw considerable criticism on the hand of the governing body.
May would also see the Newcastle Jets license terminated and Nathan Tinkler removed as owner after the club failed to settle debts and pay their players. This was massive news and it threw a lot of uncertainty over the Newcastle side, and although they were issued a new license, the club would be looked after by the FFA for the near future in order to make sure there is the foundation to continue.
Throughout the winter months there was not much news breaking the way of the A-League or indeed for Australian football. The biggest newswas Massimo Luongo transferring from League 1 club Swindon Town to Championship side Queens Park Rangers, plus the transfer of Nathan Burns from Wellington Phoenix to FC Tokyo, although the A-League also saw the loss of Mark Milligan, Matthew Spiranovic, Tomi Juric and Marc Janko, among others.
However, it was during these winter months that news started to spread in regards to other A-League clubs besides Newcastle failing to pay their players. This all came to a head when in August, Brisbane Roar midfielder Luke Brattan left the club after it was reported the side had failed to pay the required superannuation amount for more than one year. This news would seem rather small at the time, but it is something that has continued to grow over the back half of 2015, resulting in reports that clubs could be punished through contract terminations and docking of competition points should players failed to be paid by the 1st of January.
Once the 2015-16 A-League season got underway there was a lot more news in the media about the league, but most of it was far from good. Wellington Phoenix were denied a 10-year license extension in October in a move which cast a shadow over their future in the competition and with their current license due to run out at the end of the season, this issue has still not been cleared up. However in November, the league faced its biggest challenge yet. With mounting pressure from police and the media, fans were under the pump and being compared to ‘terrorists’ by media personalities such as Alan Jones and Rebecca Wilson. The lack of support fans felt resulted in mass walkouts and boycotts from A-League supporter groups, sending the competition to one of its lowest attended rounds in years. The FFA and supporter groups would eventually resolve these issues, however, and after two rounds of fan protests, things were seemingly back to normal.
November also saw the stepping down of Frank Lowy as chairman of the FFA after 12-years at the helm. This resulted in his son Steven being appointed as the new chairman, his first assignment being the walkouts which allowed critics to see how the new chairman would react in such a situation. Many regarded his approach as rather lackluster, yet there were a few who believe the new chairman is still learning the ropes.
On the field, however, the sport was continuing to go from strength-to-strength, with Blacktown City taking out the National Premier League title in October with a convincing 3-1 win over Western Australian side Bayswater City and Melbourne Victory taking out the 2015 FFA Cup with a 2-0 win over Perth in November. Brisbane Roar would also be the surprise packet of the A-League season, sitting in first after seven rounds and only displaced by the blistering return of the Western Sydney Wanderers.
December saw the A-League fall even further behind with reports that it was now behind the Women’s Big Bash League in TV ratings, setting off many reporters who believe the league is in real trouble of drawing a crowd. The FFA must have noticed this and by implementing a ‘kids go for free’ offer in January of 2016, they not only seem to be apologizing for the way they have treated their fans over the course of this season, but they are also trying to drum up support as the league prepares to discuss a new TV deal.
As we enter 2016 it is unclear where the A-League is headed. Many issues from this season are yet to be resolved and 2016 will be a big year for the sport, as Wellington Phoenix face extinction and many other clubs face mass player exodus for failing to pay their players. The new FFA board under the eye of Steven Lowy must ensure that 2016 is a more successful year than the previous, both in terms of positive media reception and on the field competition.
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