With yesterday’s announcement by the FFA revealing the rejection of the Phoenix’s 10-year license extension application, the arguments both for and against Wellington and their inclusion in the A-League were relaunched.
Firstly, a big negative against the Phoenix is the fact that they are a New Zealand side playing in an Australian competition. While this is not an entirely unrecognisable concept (take Swansea playing in the English Premier League despite being from Wales, for example) what is unusual about this particular arrangement is the fact that Australia is an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) affiliated country, whereas New Zealand is an Oceanic Football Confederation (OFC) affiliated country.
The AFC has been pushing for the A-League to get rid of the Phoenix, since they were first brought into the competition back in 2007 and this has caused a bit of tension among the FFA and the club, especially in recent years as the Phoenix has gotten dangerously close to the title. Whether the potential pushing out of the New Zealanders will cause the country to finally leave and apply to be a part of the AFC is yet to be seen, but this issue could be a major sticking point in the Phoenix’s long-term viability in the league.
Another negative against the club’s tenure is their less than stellar attendance and the fact that the television deal that they bring in through Sky in New Zealand is less than appealing. The most recent agreement that Sky signed with the FFA was only for a measly $180,000 per season, a far cry from the $40 million the league brings in thanks to the deal with Fox Sports in Australia. Compare this to the $16 million that Sky pays to the NRL, another Australian-based competition with only one side from New Zealand and it is pretty clear why the FFA are not happy with the financial impact the Phoenix are making in the league.
The attendance that the Phoenix bring in is also of some concern. Despite having a market that theoretically reaches all of New Zealand, Wellington itself only has a population of approximately 398,000 and this naturally results in the Phoenix having less than impressive turnout numbers. With an average of around 7,500 fans coming to home matches over the last three seasons, they have had the lowest attendance rate out of all A-League clubs in two of the last three seasons, their highest attendance in the past three seasons has been just over 18,000. While it can be argued that clubs like Central Coast do just as poorly, it must be noted that Newcastle has had consistently decent numbers (with the outlier of last season) while being of a similar size to Wellington.
However, not everything is a negative in regards to keeping the Phoenix in the league. There has been huge steps taken over recent years in terms of developing football at the club and also New Zealand as a whole. In the last two years, they have entered in partnerships with Wellington United and have created footballing pathways in New Zealand schools in order to find the next generation of talent. Investing in training and youth development has paid dividends for the Phoenix in recent memory, with players like Louis Fenton and Tyler Boyd rising through the system to star in the squad.
All of this has been under the watchful eye of their manager Ernie Merrick, whose appointment is arguably the best decision the Phoenix has made to date. Merrick’s arrival at the end of the 2012-13 season has seen the club make a turnaround on the pitch, going from finishing last in 2012-13 to being within touching distance of the title in 2014-15. The on-field revival has seen names like Nathan Burns and Roly Bonevacia reborn to achieve a heavy uptick in form, with Burns returning to the Socceroos side to become a regular in the last year, a move that has no doubt benefitted Australian football as a whole.
That itself is something worth discussing. The FFA in the past has claimed that the Phoenix has not brought anything to the league, with poor attendances and the club being somewhat of a financial burden, but if recent seasons are anything to go by, they have upped the quality of the A-League and Australian football as a whole. The 2014-15 campaign was one of the most competitive in recent memory, with five clubs fighting for the top position just weeks out from the end of the season – including Wellington. Burns was equal second on the Golden Boot chart and ended up taking home the Johnny Warren Medal in one of the most successful seasons for the Phoenix and the A-League to date.
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Another issue that needs to be discussed in regards to the potential removal of the Phoenix is their replacement. With rumors circulating that the league is looking at a third Sydney team based out of Sutherland, they would be taking a huge risk to push the New Zealanders out in the near-future, as there would not be enough time and resources available for any new franchise to create a competitive side in an already competitive marketplace. This may lead to the reasoning behind the FFA’s offer to renew their license through to the end of the 2019-20 season, which would allow enough time to prepare anywhere between one and three new clubs – depending on whether the proposed expansion in 2017 takes place.
Can’t understand why @FFA would not grant a very well run club @WgtnPhoenixFC an extended licence in the @ALeague. TV $$ isn’t everything
— Jonny McKain (@JonnyMcKain) October 26, 2015
But to remove the Phoenix would be to remove a big part of the league as a whole. Many fans of the A-League would often jokingly refer to the club as their second side, with value always being founf in the underdog story. Looking at social media in the past 24 hours has confirmed this, with significant backlash against the decision made by the FFA coming from fans of every side in the league. While Wellington has done well to make something worth watching on the pitch, it may be the negatives in the back rooms that will seal their coffin.
Thus, this season is a crucial one for the Phoenix. Fans need to rally and attend their games in order to show the FFA why they are still worth having in the competition. Wellington have been put in a corner, and now they need to fight out of it and show why the entire A-League is behind them.
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