– with Cristian Filippo (@C_Filippo23)
“I told you so.”
They were the words immortalised by Johnny Warren, the statement which Australian football has adopted as its mantra. Now, after a decade of the Hyundai A-League, what does the future hold for football in Australia?
In its infancy, the A-League has withstood trials and tribulations while welcoming undeniable successes. For every Romario, there was Alessandro Del Piero. For the failed Gold Coast United and North Queensland experiments, there was the birth of the Melbourne and Sydney derbies. For each story pertaining to hooliganism, there were multiple examples of unrivalled passion and atmosphere which sets the league apart from other codes.
Competing against the likes of AFL and NRL, the round ball code has had its detractors and unquestionable complications along the way. Statements surrounding its progression are scoffed at, particularly when it comes to the other established sports.
The inaugural A-League match between the Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory at Allianz Stadium on August 28, 2005.
Head of the Hyundai A-League, Damien De Bohun believes football can become the premier code in Australia in due course.
“We’re convinced we’ll ultimately succeed in becoming Australia’s largest and most popular sport,” Mr De Bohun told the Daily Football Show. Is that comment as outlandish as some would suggest?
The most recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed football is comfortably the go-to sport at grassroots level. Over the time period of 2013-14, indoor and outdoor soccer registered a total of just under 660,000 participants: nearly three times as much as Australian rules football, and over seven times more than rugby league.
The global appeal international football has is obvious, and is a key factor which sets it apart from its competitors. The success of bringing international football giants such as Real Madrid, the Manchester clubs and Liverpool has been evident, particularly with the record-breaking International Champions Cup in Melbourne last July.
However, what does the A-League have in store to take the next step? What is holding it back from becoming the next big thing of Australian sport?
First and foremost, while the grassroots figures are promising, they don’t necessarily result in participation at the highest level. With constant innuendo and growing panic surrounding concussion, football is seen as the ‘safer’ option in comparison to the other codes.
Meanwhile, the very thing which serves as its point of difference – its global standing and appeal – could very well be the factor which holds it back. Fans in Australia have shown their unmitigated passion for big European football clubs coming to town and putting on a spectacle: however, these very fans aren’t members or even supporters of the country’s premier football league.
While the figures surrounding participation at grassroots level are incredibly promising and displays football’s appeal, it’s hardly the be-all-and-end-all. There is still considerable work to be done when it comes to putting fans in seats at A-League fixtures.
Constant media attention which has attached a ‘hooligan’ stigma hasn’t helped. As discussion about the apparently apocalyptic ‘code wars’ rages on, mainstream media is infested with stories pertaining to unruly crowd behaviour.
No-one in footballing circles is condoning the illegal activities of a minority group: that is, the use of flares. Mr De Bohun said the league would continue to support the notion of active support as the league progresses – however, “illegal… inappropriate” activity would continue to be dealt with.
“The practical reality is we openly and continue to say our fans are what provide the unique experiences at football: you think of the goosebumps you get when active supporters and all fans started getting involved and cheer on their feet at our games, which is what differentiates us from the other sports codes,” Mr De Bohun said.
“We’re not standing in the way of active fans being a fundamental platform of the success of this sport.”
However, is it really surprising that casual fans and prospective supporters of the league have their withdrawals when it comes to investing in an A-League club?
In a fluctuating environment, some A-League fans have been dealt a cruel hand when it comes to investing in these organisations. With examples like Clive Palmer’s own Gold Coast United and the two-season failure that was the North Queensland Fury, fans have the right to feel aggrieved and cautious by the league’s lack of stability.
Foundation clubs such as the Brisbane Roar and Newcastle Jets have also fallen on tough times recently: despite being around for a decade, there are still teething problems and ownership difficulties which clubs are coming to terms with. As Mr De Bohun said, “running a Hyundai A-League club is no longer a cottage industry – it’s a very serious investment”.
To put in bluntly, A-League clubs are not profitable investments. In the league’s infancy, most clubs are not economically profitable and turn in losses at the end of the season. When we talk about fan disengagement, the fragility of A-League clubs – not knowing whether your club will be around for the next wave of generational support – is a dominating factor.
Look at the Roar: they’re one of the most successful clubs in A-League history with three championships, the last of which was just 18 months ago. You’d think they would be one of the more healthier clubs in the league.
However, the club has been dogged by off-field issues over the past six months, with their owners – an Indonesian consortium the Bakrie Group – trying to offload the club to new owners. In the process, they failed to pay players and staff for months, leaving supporters disengaged and crowds dwindling.
Top of the league one moment, financially broken the next.
“A lot of people forget very quickly just how much our club owners and club chairmen invest in football to ensure we have clubs in the first place. There’s no question the Bakries failed to meet obligations in recent months, but we worked very closely and hardly with them to get that back on track. They injected a seven figure sum into the club last month (September), are doing so this month and will again in the coming months to make sure the club is back up to speed,” Mr De Bohun said.
Thankfully, the owners have got their act together and settled their debts, but it’s a perfect example of the fragility of A-League clubs. While most fans are ignorant to the rigours of owning an A-League club, it’s a situation that has been all too common in the league.
The Central Coast Mariners, the Jets, Perth Glory: these are just some of the other clubs who have experienced similar woes in recent years. Now, add the Wellington Phoenix to that list.
Established in the A-League in 2007, the Phoenix have been New Zealand’s only professional football team and have been one of the more financially stable clubs in the league over the years. While their crowds and TV ratings haven’t been great at Westpac Stadium and their membership numbers below-par, they have undergone a steady rise, particularly under two-time A-League winning coach Ernie Merrick.
On Tuesday the 27th of October, the FFA announced the Phoenix’s application for a 10-year A-League licence renewal was rejected, with the club having the option of applying for a four-year deal. With all other nine A-League clubs having licences expiring in 2034, the Phoenix wanted a 10-year licence going forward: with their current license expiring at the end of this season, there are serious question marks over their future.
It has been reported that in order to entice a mega commercial TV rights deal, the FFA have earmarked a third Sydney team to replace the Phoenix from next season: a team which would automatically pull in bigger crowds, more members, more eyeballs on television screens around the country and thus more dollars.
When asked about the future of the Phoenix, Mr De Bohun was rather coy about the FFA’s motives.
“We’re working with Wellington: it’s an ongoing discussion but the practical reality is we’re still working towards a position that works for everyone. We’re clear on the sorts of things we need to see: at the end of the day, Wellington continue to be a great part of the league and add a different dimension, and it benefits New Zealand football enormously. We’ve made it clear to them directly as well as the NZ Government that they need to invest in the club to the same extent Australian football is,” Mr De Bohun said.
Many Australian football fans and other A-League clubs have rallied behind the embattled club, with Sydney FC particularly very outspoken in supporting their Kiwi neighbours. A third Sydney team in the league, set to be in the Sutherland Shire, accounts for 20-30 percent of the Sydney FC following, and is a notorious supporter heartland of the club. Nevertheless, Sydney has been vocal in its support for the ‘Nix’.
“I was there when Wellington got the last extension at five years: I think they’ve got a role to play. They’re a financial club, they make it a 10-team competition, they’ve got passionate fans and there’s a lot of Aussie boys playing there as well,” Pignata told the Daily Football Show.
“I’d like to see them stay in the league and get that extension for at least the next five years, and then seen what happens after that.”
The survival of Wellington is pivotal to the future of the A-League and New Zealand professional football, which is currently on life support. If the league harbours any serious hopes of expanding the competition, then the Phoenix must survive. Australian football needs to be about expansion, not contraction.
While there are constantly calls to expand the A-League in terms of creating more clubs and installing a promotion and relegation system, the competition has shown the need to get their own backyard right first. The league has already had the unfortunate predicaments of Gold Coast and North Queensland, booted out after only a couple of seasons following their inception for not being financially viable.
The opening ten years of the A-League was documented in the book ‘A-League: The Inside Story of the Tumultuous First Decade’, written by John Stensholt and Shaun Mooney. The book documents the difficulties the league had when it came to getting off the ground, with a lack of “due diligence” in the early going according to Mr Mooney.
“John O’Neill realised to fund the A-League he needed private equity money, and with that he went looking for these wealthy individuals to fund the teams. There weren’t a lot of applicants: there were only 11 applicants for the eight licences, and it was a real rush job right to the end. There wasn’t great due diligence from the start although there was meant to be,” Mr Mooney told the Daily Football Show.
“Looking at North Queensland… it was a rush job because they were trying to stitch up stadium deals for the World Cup bid, so they went to those markets in terms of Townsville and the Gold Coast.”
What the A-League has done for the development and progression of Australian football is evident: numerous Socceroos have been given their starts in the league, Ange Postecoglou has gone from A-League mastermind to a trophy-winning national team manager while membership sales and participation continues to grow.
While a 10-team competition isn’t a sustainable model for the long-term, stability at club level is vital for the longevity of the league. The gulf in quality between A-League sides and teams in the National Premier League has been showcased in the Westfield FFA Cup, which – despite its early stages – has been a “tremendous success” according to Mr De Bohun.
“At the moment, the Westfield FFA Cup is a great way to connect the A-League clubs with the National Premier League clubs with the community clubs. In that context, that’s the best we can hope for in connecting those tiers of clubs, but in the long-term there’s no denying we want to see an expansion to the Hyundai A-League,” Mr. De Bohun said.
However, the Head of the A-League admitted there was still considerable time before a promotion and relegation system could be considered.
“We’ll certainly be looking at different clubs that can come into the competition – whether it comes from promotion and relegation is a whole separate question. I think it’s more an issue of bringing clubs in and even if clubs need to go out in due course then we would deal with that, bringing them in-and-out rather than promoting and relegating from different leagues,” Mr De Bohun said.
As the A-League worries about expansion, discussions over the collective bargaining agreement between Football Federation Australia and Professional Footballers Australia have dominated headlines for the past six months.
If the A-League is to expand and be in a position to attract household names, sorting out the salary cap is vital. With names such as Del Piero, Villa and Kewell all featuring on Australian shores in recent years with varying success, the prospect of the marquee has to be addressed. With crowd sizes and television ratings decreasing relatively to start this A-League season, who is the next big name to generate a buzz for the competition?
Tim Cahill seems the most realistic option. In a local sense, the ever-present Socceroos talisman coming home for one last hurrah before retirement writes its own headlines. Sydney was confirmed to have made a play for Cahill during the World Cup in Brazil, with Mr Pignata admitting the record goal-scorer would be a formidable acquisition to any side in the league.
“It would [be a tantalising signing]: he’s a great player and a great Socceroo who never stops scoring. It would be great for any team [to sign Cahill], but at the moment we’re full on the roster with our marquees so there’s no opening with us,” Mr Pignata said.
The A-League and its clubs need to determine whether or not it looks at Major League Soccer as a model to follow. With household names like Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo, Didier Drogba and David Villa plying their trade in the United States, interest in the league in a local and worldwide capacity has never been greater. Is that the next step to generate interest and take the A-League to the next level?
The league is on the verge of signing a new TV rights deal: something which many respected football pundits in this country say is the one element that is preventing the sport from exploding. The current four-year $160 million deal expires in 2017, and is currently a joint venture between Fox Sports (who have exclusive rights to broadcast every A-League and Socceroos match live) and SBS on free-to-air (who broadcast Friday night matches on SBS 2).
Part of the move to evict Wellington from the league is to attract a much bigger TV audience by having a third Sydney team, with the NZ Sky Sports deal worth a meagre $180,000. The FFA are believed to be in negotiations with several commercial free-to-air networks, including Channel 10, and it is believed the deal is highly dependent on the Phoenix situation.
Wellington manager and A-League stalwart Ernie Merrick said sorting out the next television deal was pivotal for the league and game’s progression.
“The A-League is climbing the ladder in competitive leagues, certainly in this region. I think the major detail that has to be fixed now is a good television deal to help pay for the player’s salary cap. That’ll reward the players and the cap will no doubt will go up,” Merrick told the Daily Football Show.
A better TV deal will make allowances for the club’s salary cap, which in turn will allow clubs to attract international marquees to their clubs who have an all-encompassing effect on the league. Increased membership, larger crowds, more eyeballs on TV both locally and abroad would mean more dollars in the FFA’s back pocket – a new deal is paramount to the growth of football in Australia and the longevity of the league.
The importance that a hefty TV deal can have on the competition is evident, with the sheer figures showing just how far off the pace the A-League currently is. Compare the current A-League deal to its counterparts: namely, the one which the AFL recently secured for 2017-2022, which will net the AFL $2.508 billion over a six-year time period.
Mr Mooney mentioned how important a new TV rights deal can be, given the A-League had to deal with a lack of TV-generated revenue in its earliest stages. “There wasn’t the revenue stream coming through like the TV money you see today: there was no TV money in year one and next to nothing in year two.”
As further interest is generated and the A-League continues to progress, there will be more fans glued to television screens and a greater amount of seats being filled at games. The Melbourne Victory is the prime example of a club potentially becoming too big for their current logistics: their home of AAMI Park holds 30,000 people, yet their membership tally sits just shy of 27,000.
With the threat of them potentially outgrowing their home ground, a greater portion of games may have to move to Etihad Stadium. The league received backlash earlier this season when the Adelaide-Melbourne round one fixture was played at Adelaide Oval in front of 19,000 people, with ground maintenance also an issue.
However, Mr De Bohun said the league would continue to have the bigger games at larger capacity stadiums, especially given it could foreshadow how the A-League is placed once it generates greater interest.
“There’s work to be done there’s no doubt: we’ve always said as the A-League grows, the biggest fixtures should be played at the biggest venues,” Mr De Bohun said.
There is still work to be done, issues to be addressed and questions to be solved as the A-League enters the next stage of its development. The groundwork has been laid and now, the decision the league makes in the next decade – both on and off the field – is just as important for its progression.
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