How far has the A-League come since year one?

How far has the A-League come since year one?

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When Kevin Muscat’s Melbourne Victory dismantled Sydney FC at AAMI Park to win a third A-League title, it brought an end to the competition’s tenth season and left the majority to cherish the memories and ponder what the future holds.

If the past is anything to go by, there is a bright future ahead for all involved in the A-League. This season, records were broken as the Western Sydney Wanderers claimed the coveted Asian Champions League title and the FFA Cup was born, whilst a new breed of youth and European pedigree had Perth Glory on course to make history; that was until the West Australian side was expelled from the finals for breaching the salary cap.

Despite the aforementioned saga and the circus at the Newcastle Jets, season 10 was the A-League’s most successful yet. Memberships were higher than ever along with TV ratings, while the quality on pitch is alien to the football we saw back in 2005-06.

A-League community over the decade

The catalyst for a successful league in the modern world revolves around viewership both in a physical presence pitch-side and from the comfort of a couch, and the A-League over the past decade has grown at an incredible rate in both.

The 2014-15 season saw almost two million patrons walk through the turnstiles to support their respective team according to Ultimate A-League. Grand finalists Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC headed the list of average attendances while the Central Coast Mariners recorded the lowest with a figure of 7,585.

Today’s A-League is approximately 300,000 to 400,000 up from the standard set five years ago and if you were to go back to the inaugural campaign in 2005-06, the number escalates to just over 800,000.

In October last year, the A-League reached 100,000 club memberships for the first time in the competition’s history, an 11% increase on that period last season. Champions Victory and the Western Sydney Wanderers boasted the highest.

Perhaps the most recent evidence of the A-League’s growth was in the grand final on Sunday afternoon which was televised to almost 100 countries. Head of A-League Damien De Bohun hailed the reception and estimated the match had a global reach of somewhere between 250-300 million people.

Youth is thriving in the A-League

There is a wealth of quality youth making a name for themselves in the A-League, more so this year than any other. In just about every team there is a youngster rewriting the rules and carrying more and more responsibility.

Connor Chapman was exceptional for Melbourne City, Daniel De Silva will take his allusive aura to Serie A giant Roma while Terry Antonis and Tomi Juric are touted as the future of the Socceroos. That, however,  is just a mere scratch on the surface.

The A-League’s representation in the Socceroos scene was at its strongest throughout the 2014 Brazil World Cup which saw seven players travel to South America and the figure was repeated in January during the successful Asian Cup campaign.

By comparison, only three A-League players were selected by Guus Hiddink for the 2006 World Cup in Germany: Michael Beauchamp, Archie Thompson and Mark Milligan. That number dropped further for the 2010 edition in South Africa, where only one home-based player was selected – Jason Culina from the now `defunct Gold Coast United.

Calibre of players is becoming literally A-League

We have seen some big names grace football stadiums around Australia in an A-League jersey, from the likes of former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke to the legendary Liverpudlian Robbie Fowler at Perth Glory and the extinct North Queensland Fury.

Although those players were in the twilight of their stellar careers and on the verge of retirement, we have seen more and more imports from Europe and abroad joining the league, at a younger age with a competitive mindset rather than their swimmers and sunglasses for a holiday.

The biggest example this season had to be David Villa, formerly of FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and still at the peak of his game after being one of Spain’s best in Brazil. Even though he only played four matches for Melbourne City, it placed a huge spotlight on Australian football globally.

In addition to the Spaniard, we saw an Irishman named Andy Keogh raise the bar for Perth Glory and Marc Janko and Jacques Faty hoist the Sky Blues into the grand final, only to be halted by Fahid Ben Khalfallah and Besart Berisha.

To think names such as Robert Koren, Miguel Palanca and Roly Bonevacia are absent from the above list is a statement in itself.

The standard on the pitch has risen to a level that would pose a challenge to a handful of leagues around the world. Obviously the English Premier League and Bundesliga are still a class above, but some of the lower to mid-table teams in Spain and Italy would be dealt a run for their money.

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It is only up from here for the A-League. There is a loyal and ever growing supporter base backing the competition and an incredible pool full of future Socceroos for Ange Postecoglou to dive into, and they are learning and developing under the watchful eye of the increasing foreign talents calling Australia home.

The scariest and most exhilarating part of all is we are only ten years old.

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