It was the US Novelist James Allen who wrote the line “Circumstances do not determine a man, they reveal him.” This has been and will no doubt be the case once we look back on these times.
The A-League in Australia will, you feel be something that will never be the same again.
As those who follow the League have known for a long time the Franchise owners have always wanted a bigger say in how the League that they are invested in is run. That is understandable. FIFA has helped their case by wanting all Football League competitions across the globe to be run as seperate entities from the National Association.
Australia however has some challenges that make it different to many other football playing nations. The first is the size of the country, which brings with it a unique set of challenges. For those living overseas and reading this to give it some context, the distance from Perth to Sydney is 3931km, the distance London to Moscow is only 2871km. Despite the distances Australia does not have a massive population. Australia ranks 55th on Worldometers 2020 population list.
Add to this fact that the country is very protective of the sports its deems as “Australian,” Australian Rules Football and Cricket, even though both fell outside of the top ten in terms of participation numbers in the SportAus report published in April 2019. Cricket came in 14th Australian Rules 12th. Rugby League and Rugby Union did not make the top 20. Football came in sixth, but it still has to fight for every column centimetre it receives in the newspapers and even 30 seconds of air time on the commercial and Government owned television networks news programs.
So there are a great many challenges facing the game. There is no doubt that mistakes have been made since the Football Federation of Australia took over the running of the game. Sadly many of those mistakes mirror those made when the National Soccer League was launched back in the 1970’s; Frank Lowy being a key player both times. Is that a coincidence? Billed as the saviour, on some issues his stubbornness has cost the game greatly.
The Franchise model of club ownership suited the FFA, as it alleviated the risk from them as a governing body. Although we have seen they have had to step in and bankroll franchises when owners have walked away. At one time they were involved in the running of three clubs.
The start of the A-League saw the game supported by strong marketing. The clubs were heavily restricted as to what they could do in terms of marketing their own club, as they were told that it had to tie in the FFA’s campaign. That made sense but in the end the restrictions proved prohibitive. In such a vast country each city is very different from the next and therefore the way you market to those potential fans has to be suited to that market.
It became too hard for some to navigate through what they could and couldn’t do. So they did the bare minimum. The gates suffered.
Then there was the decision that all the teams had to play at the big fancy stadia around the country. This was great when the fans flocked to games and filled the stands, but when they stopped coming it was a very poor advertisement for the game. These stadia also cost the clubs financially. To succeed as a professional sporting club you need to own your own stadium. You must be able to make money from the venue on match days and also on non-match days.
As this was the new age of Football everyone wanted to be on board and many thought that running a professional club was easy and the clubs had no trouble filling positions. Yet did they get the right people in those key positions? If you look at the media output from the clubs now compared to when the League started it is like chalk and cheese. Press conferences in the early days were only held when they club had something to say. Now a Press Conference to reveal a player will be ‘out’ due to an ingrown toenail is billed as a “Major Announcement.” Reminders are sent to the media to attend, which speaks volumes. The real media has lost interest. Why, because many of those who are there to create and share stories with the general media, have no idea how to create interest, or what is in fact a story. This is a highly skilled position and those who are good at it, last the course. Sadly many clubs have a revolving door on this role.
One thing that is baffling in terms of Australian football is why the owners, CEO’s and club Chairman are given so much media attention. Yes, people know that Roman Abramovich owns Chelsea, that Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan owns Manchester City, but how often do we hear them quoted in the media talking about their teams? How many times are they interviewed a season? How many Press Conferences do they attend?
When a player is signed by some clubs in Australia we see the owner of the club posing for photographs with the player. Is that what fans want to see? Surely the coach is the one who decided that he wanted that player, and therefore you want to hear why he signed him and how he sees him fitting into the team.
Another area of neglect has been development. Outgoing Technical Director of the FFA Rob Sherman allegedly tried to have the A-League clubs set up proper academies to develop players, rather than simply cherry-picking local players. He was shot down. The clubs had no intention of investing in such a set-up. Some have said that the lack of support from these club owners on developing the game was a contributing factor to his resignation.
There is no doubt that the clubs have found themselves facing challenges. Many of the club owners should be congratulated for the investment made; however be sparing with your sympathy when they reveal that the club has made a loss. That is not the same as the rest of us making a loss. These losses are often crucial to their overall business interests. A tax right off or a section of their business portfolio losing money can indeed be a benefit when it comes to tax and other fees.
Those challenges are about to get greater. First and foremost is the whisper that is about to become a roar that Hyundai are pulling their sponsorship of the League. Finding another naming rights sponsor at this point in time is going to be very hard. Then if as rumoured Fox Sports are no longer going to pay to air the League more money needs to be found.
If the club owners are to run the league themselves they are going to have to employ administrative staff, and they are going to be responsible for the marketing of the league. It cannot possibly be run by a committee of owners. There will be far greater outgoings than currently exist.
So is it really any wonder that so many have opted to stand down their playing staff and many of their administrative staff? It is no secret that almost every club owner in Australia has struggled to make their club profitable.
A quick look at the share prices of Perth Glory Owner Tony Sage’s companies and you will see just how bad things are.
So how many of these clubs will return once the Corona-virus crisis has cleared and everyone can start trying to return to normal? Will the virus see some clubs die?
There is no doubt that the Coronavirus would give several owners the perfect reason to walk away without too much abuse from the fans. As they too know how these times are affecting their finances.
It could of course also be a plan by the Club owners to throw down a marker and let the players know that come the new age when they run the league that they hold all the cards. They will dictate if there is a salary cap, Marquee players or whether it is an open market. They will certainly determine player wages and some of the higher paid players may well find that what they have enjoyed in the past is indeed that, in the past. What will be the impact of no foreign players? Something that is rumoured to be a very real possibility as the owners all look to save money.
These are undoubtedly worrying times for the A-League. Football cannot afford for this league to go the way of the old NSL. Hopefully those with the responsibility to drive the league forward are using this time in isolation to hold brainstorming meetings and come up with a way to get better and more media coverage, to find venues that the clubs can play at and make money, to plan a marketing campaign and also a pricing strategy to encourage fans back through the turnstiles. Fans who will be struggling financially themselves, and who may be more cautious parting with their hard earned dollars.
If there are clubs that will not reappear after this is over, will new clubs replace them? On the Central Coast the “Gosford Ghosts” may be the ideal name to take the place of the Central Coast Mariners. Perth Prodigy, or Western Marvel? What would you like to see the new team in your city called if the owners walk away?
