Socceroos/A-League/FFA Cup/Asian Champions League

[Flanno]

I let out a wail at my tv at that moment. Also Duke missing the sitter. Unbelievable to get that close to beating a stacked team like that.

Arnold is doing a fantastic job.

Wonder how long we can keep hold of him before a European club come calling for him

 

[Mr Ryan]

So what are the goals of Soccer’s governing body in this country?

What is the purpose of the A-League? Is the aim to have a national comp that rivals the NRL and AFL? Or is it to unearth world class players that give us a chance to compete on the world stage.

ATM it doesn’t appear to be doing either of those 2 things.

IMO the goal should be to one day win the World Cup. The best way to achieve that is getting more players playing in Europe.

Someone once told me we should be doing everything possible to get more players into clubs in the Championship in England. A pretty decent standard compared to the A-League and a chance to promoted to EPL.

Does Australia really need national domestic soccer competition?

I would put everything into an Under 23s comp with the aim of getting our guys noticed by the Championship clubs.

Older players can play in State based leagues.

 

[CrazyMatt]

I believe one of AFC and FIFA’s requirements is a national competition in some form. If we want to play in the world cup, we have to make it work and I think we can, it’ll just take one circuit breaker to stop the game shooting itself in the foot. The game participation numbers are too large for it to fail in this country, they HAVE to make it work.

I dont think the A-League will go under, its not in as bad shape as the mainstream media want you to believe, but in the off chance it does, I think new second division will just take its place.

 

[HaroldBishop]

I believe one of AFC and FIFA’s requirements is a national competition in some form. If we want to play in the world cup, we have to make it work and I think we can, it’ll just take one circuit breaker to stop the game shooting itself in the foot. The game participation numbers are too large for it to fail in this country, they HAVE to make it work.

I dont think the A-League will go under, its not in as bad shape as the mainstream media want you to believe, but in the off chance it does, I think new second division will just take its place.

I coached under 8s last season and will probably coach gain this year. Not one of them cares about the A League. None. They all wear EPL jerseys to training or Messi/Mbappe jerseys. With streaming these days they all watch those competitions.

Most kids want to watch the best and I don't see that changing. The A League will never be a big competition, it's where it is and I don't see that ever changing.

 

[CrazyMatt]

I coached under 8s last season and will probably coach gain this year. Not one of them cares about the A League. None. They all wear EPL jerseys to training or Messi/Mbappe jerseys. With streaming these days they all watch those competitions.

Most kids want to watch the best and I don't see that changing. The A League will never be a big competition, it's where it is and I don't see that ever changing.

And yet im seeing an absolute tonne of kids at every A-League game. ****ing loads.

Grown people who arrogantly dismiss the A-League just because it can’t live up to the impossible standard the EPL sets need to stop being so ****ing close minded, look at the bigger picture and give it a chance. Will our national league ever be as big as the massive European leagues? Barring some absolute eye watering Middle Eastern investment, no it won’t. But that doesn’t make it not worth watching and get behind.

Oh and people who complain that the league is of low standard just clearly shows they haven’t actually properly watched it. Sure if you compare it to the EPL the standard is low, but guess what? EVERY LEAGUE BAR LA LIGA HAS A LOW STANDARD COMPARED TO THE EPL! Thats how far ahead it is. People need to get a grip.

 

[HaroldBishop]

And yet im seeing an absolute tonne of kids at every A-League game. ****ing loads.

Grown people who arrogantly dismiss the A-League just because it can’t live up to the impossible standard the EPL sets need to stop being so ****ing close minded, look at the bigger picture and give it a chance. Will our national league ever be as big as the massive European leagues? Barring some absolute eye watering Middle Eastern investment, no it won’t. But that doesn’t make it not worth watching and get behind.

Only three teams average over 10k per game so the 'loads' comment needs to be taken in context.

Don't think anyone is saying it will ever be as big as overseas leagues, of course it won't be.

It's been going for 20 years now, the crowds are poor as are ratings. How much of a chance should it get?

I'm not saying it should be disbanded btw, I'm just saying plenty of people prefer watching the overseas leagues because they prefer watching the best. The A League obviously can't compete with that

 

[CrazyMatt]

Only three teams average over 10k per game so the 'loads' comment needs to be taken in context.

Don't think anyone is saying it will ever be as big as overseas leagues, of course it won't be.

It's been going for 20 years now, the crowds are poor as are ratings. How much of a chance should it get?

I'm not saying it should be disbanded btw, I'm just saying plenty of people prefer watching the overseas leagues because they prefer watching the best. The A League obviously can't compete with that

People might need to readjust their expectations as far as crowd figures go. If you look around the world at leagues that compare to the A-League, attendances are more or less either on par or even higher then what the figures are. Football is a world game. When it comes to football, people need to take a look outside of the Australian sports landscape bubble and take a broader view. Like I said, bigger picture.

Hell even the Scottish Premier League, a league that is somewhat a higher standard, but the A-League is becoming more closer with as the SPL increasingly becomes a pathway for A-League players to get their foot in the door in the Europe, outside of 5 clubs that have over a hundred years of European history, attendances dont break 7k on average:

 

[HaroldBishop]

People might need to readjust their expectations as far as crowd figures go. If you look around the world at leagues that compare to the A-League, attendances are more or less either on par or even higher then what the figures are. Football is a world game. When it comes to football, people need to take a look outside of the Australian sports landscape bubble and take a broader view. Like I said, bigger picture.

Hell even the Scottish Premier League, a league that is somewhat a higher standard, but the A-League is becoming more closer with as the SPL increasingly becomes a pathway for A-League players to get their foot in the door in the Europe, outside of 5 clubs that have over a hundred years of European history, attendances dont break 7k on average:

View attachment 30300

Scotland is obviously a footballing country but it's population is 20% of Australia's so those figures aren't surprising to me.

Also, must suck following a team in that comp outside of the big 2.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Scotland is obviously a footballing country but it's population is 20% of Australia's so those figures aren't surprising to me.

Also, must suck following a team in that comp outside of the big 2.

Scotlands population might be lower but like you said, football isnt competing with other sports like the A-League has too. I can try to find some other better examples later if your interested.

As for following a team outside the big 2. I’ve got a heap more to say on that and some of it does link to the evolving mindset more A-League clubs are taking, including Sydney FC. But I need some time to collect put my thoughts down in a post that its not gibberish. Im not too good at articulating my thoughts on paper or in a forum post sometimes so I don’t think I can really explain it properly at the moment unless I spend some time trying to put it together. If that makes sense.

 

[HaroldBishop]

Scotlands population might be lower but like you said, football isnt competing with other sports like the A-League has too. I can try to find some other better examples later if your interested.

As for following a team outside the big 2. I’ve got a heap more to say on that and some of it does link to the evolving mindset more A-League clubs are taking, including Sydney FC. But I need some time to collect put my thoughts down in a post that its not gibberish. Im not too good at articulating my thoughts on paper or in a forum post sometimes so I don’t think I can really explain it properly at the moment unless I spend some time trying to put it together. If that makes sense.

All good mate, I'm certainly not an A League hater, it would be great if it was bigger.

Serious question, is it competing with other codes given it's in summer? I know there's still some overlap but not a lot.

I think streaming is an issue. You couldn't access much overseas sport when I was a kid. I'd watch the weekly one hour wrap of the EPL back in the day and that was it, you couldn't get anything else.

I wonder if the A League started 20 years earlier it might have got more traction here.

 

[Gards]

The biggest and best comps (with the financial resources, talent and branding behind it) around the world are nearly always going to be the most popular.

NBA over NBL, IPL over Big Bash, NFL over Candian football ect.

Australia is a relatively small domestic sporting market and population yet we have the 4th highest (attendance wise) domestic sporting code in the world with the AFL although AFL does not have an competing league internationally.

Soccer just isn't as popular as a spectator sport in Australia (despite strong participation) but we are not alone and it's a similar thing in the USA.

Like the USA we have alot of other domestic sporting leagues competing for attention and interest.
Not every footballing nation has to compete with cricket, league, union (lol), AFL, basketball, baseball ect ect.

Ok so the English have football as No.1 but the game basically originated there and alot of English EPL fans would consider anything outside of the premier league as a farmers league which is disrespectful and ignorant. Not all EPL games are high quality and nor are all the teams and they have their own issues with officiating, middle eastern money, breaches of financial fair play.

It's also funny cause the countries that have been winning the world cup are the ones that don't have the EPL as their domestic league.

A-League has it's place but without significant investment and alot of patience we need to be realistic about it's scope in terms of quality, attendance and commercial appeal particularly in a market like Australia.

Plenty of domestic Australia players have gone from A-League -> Socceroos -> Overseas League or any other combination or order of and these A-League players have played for us in World Cups.

Football in Asia is starting to build a bigger and more respected profile and our domestic league despite poor attendance and lack of general interest still has a role to play.

 

[Flanno]

The biggest and best comps (with the financial resources, talent and branding behind it) around the world are nearly always going to be the most popular.

NBA over NBL, IPL over Big Bash, NFL over Candian football ect.

Australia is a relatively small domestic sporting market and population yet we have the 4th highest (attendance wise) domestic sporting code in the world with the AFL although AFL does not have an competing league internationally.

Soccer just isn't as popular as a spectator sport in Australia (despite strong participation) but we are not alone and it's a similar thing in the USA.

Like the USA we have alot of other domestic sporting leagues competing for attention and interest.
Not every footballing nation has to compete with cricket, league, union (lol), AFL, basketball, baseball ect ect.

Ok so the English have football as No.1 but the game basically originated there and alot of English EPL fans would consider anything outside of the premier league as a farmers league which is disrespectful and ignorant. Not all EPL games are high quality and nor are all the teams and they have their own issues with officiating, middle eastern money, breaches of financial fair play.

It's also funny cause the countries that have been winning the world cup are the ones that don't have the EPL as their domestic league.

A-League has it's place but without significant investment and alot of patience we need to be realistic about it's scope in terms of quality, attendance and commercial appeal particularly in a market like Australia.

Plenty of domestic Australia players have gone from A-League -> Socceroos -> Overseas League or any other combination or order of and these A-League players have played for us in World Cups.

Football in Asia is starting to build a bigger and more respected profile and our domestic league despite poor attendance and lack of general interest still has a role to play.

Good post but I would argue the bits in bold.

EPL most games and teams are of a high quality. Even the likes of Nottingham forest, Bournemouth are spending big money on quality imports. The only team in the PL who play dire football is Sheffield and they should be going down soon.

As for World Cup winners not coming from EPL, you would be right from 2002 - 2014. But looking at argentinas starting line up from their World Cup win suggests otherwise

Martinez- Villa
Romero- Spurs
Enzo- Chelsea
MacAllister- Liverpool
Alvarez- City

Only 4 of the starting 11 had never played epl

If we look at 2018 winners France, it’s a similar story. This is where the players were playing when they won it


Lloris - Spurs
Varane - Madrid (now Utd)
Pogba - Utd
Kante - Chelsea
Giroud - Chelsea

 

[CrazyMatt]

Serious question, is it competing with other codes given it's in summer? I know there's still some overlap but not a lot.

Sorry I missed this.

Its not just competing for bums on seats, its also competing for mainstream media coverage. Outside of the Matildas or Socceroos at a major tournament, the main stream media hate football in this country. Its nuts that even during the NRL and AFL off season, they’re still getting far more coverage than the domestic football competition, mens and womens, I mean I havent even mentioned the Womens A-League yet, the same competition thats produced almost every single one of the Matildas that the media seem to love now. Including Sam Kerr, Mary Fowler and Caitlin Foord. The media in this country are more interested in whether or not Nathan Cleary scratched his arse during his time off then who won the Australia Day Big Blue.

Keep in mind too, football is a WINTER sport, we have to play it in the summer heat here or it’ll be absolutely buried and they’d have no venues available, even if they did, they’d be in no state to host football games with the Rugby League and AFL tearing up the fields beforehand. Playing it in summer affects the quality, the quality of foreigner that clubs can recruit and in some ways the crowd numbers.

As for summer competition, you’ve of course got the cricket, but outside of the Big Bash, I dont think that affects the A-League too much given how little of it is played compared to a full A-League season.

Also don’t sleep on the NBL. The Kings are selling out their home games pretty much every week, that league is back in force and that is competing with the A-League.

 

[HaroldBishop]

Sorry I missed this.

Its not just competing for bums on seats, its also competing for mainstream media coverage. Outside of the Matildas or Socceroos at a major tournament, the main stream media hate football in this country. Its nuts that even during the NRL and AFL off season, they’re still getting far more coverage than the domestic football competition, mens and womens, I mean I havent even mentioned the Womens A-League yet, the same competition thats produced almost every single one of the Matildas that the media seem to love now. Including Sam Kerr, Mary Fowler and Caitlin Foord. The media in this country are more interested in whether or not Nathan Cleary scratched his arse during his time off then who won the Australia Day Big Blue.

Keep in mind too, football is a WINTER sport, we have to play it in the summer heat here or it’ll be absolutely buried and they’d have no venues available, even if they did, they’d be in no state to host football games with the Rugby League and AFL tearing up the fields beforehand. Playing it in summer affects the quality, the quality of foreigner that clubs can recruit and in some ways the crowd numbers.

As for summer competition, you’ve of course got the cricket, but outside of the Big Bash, I dont think that affects the A-League too much given how little of it is played compared to a full A-League season.

Also don’t sleep on the NBL. The Kings are selling out their home games pretty much every week, that league is back in force and that is competing with the A-League.

Yeah all good points.

There must be a reason why the media doesn't report much on it? Mustn't get many clicks? Dunno.

 

[Mr Ryan]

Even mentioning the A-League in the same sentence as the EPL is laughable.

They can’t even compete with the big guns in this country - AFL and NRL.

And they’re even behind their summer competitors - Big Bash and NBL.

10 years ago they were at least competing with those 2, if not beating them.

 

[bort]

Even mentioning the A-League in the same sentence as the EPL is laughable.

haha

 

[CrazyMatt]

Even mentioning the A-League in the same sentence as the EPL is laughable.

They can’t even compete with the big guns in this country - AFL and NRL.

And they’re even behind their summer competitors - Big Bash and NBL.

10 years ago they were at least competing with those 2, if not beating them.

No ones saying the A-League should compare to the EPL, thats kinda part of my point. People that try to either dont know any better or are actively trying to **** on the league unfairly.

Hmm, not the NBL, I’d say they’re on par with each other at the moment. Although the NBL is back with a vengeance, which I do like as I’m a big Kings fan. But I wouldn’t say they’ve jumped well ahead of the A-League. Not yet.

 

[Mr Ryan]

Can anybody get the broadcast deals up for Aleague, NBL and Big Bash.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Can anybody get the broadcast deals up for Aleague, NBL and Big Bash.

A-League: ViacomCBS (Channel 10 & Paramount plus) - $200m over 5 years.
NBL: ESPN - $45m over 3 years.
Big Bash: Channel 7/Foxtel - $1.51b over 7 years.

By that metric, as expected, the Big Bash is ahead, no one was arguing it wasnt.
A-League a clear second place over the NBL.

That is a massive point towards the A-League over the NBL but broadcast deals are not the only metric though. It’s a key one, but not the only factor.

 

[bort]

No ones saying the A-League should compare to the EPL, thats kinda part of my point. People that try to either dont know any better or are actively trying to **** on the league unfairly.

Hmm, not the NBL, I’d say they’re on par with each other at the moment. Although the NBL is back with a vengeance, which I do like as I’m a big Kings fan. But I wouldn’t say they’ve jumped well ahead of the A-League. Not yet.

My sense would be Wildcats easily outdo Glory but I could definitely be wrong.
I'm probably around far more people that have some involvement/interest in bball than soccer