As has been the trend for the past few seasons in the Hyundai A-League this time of year once again sees much debate about the attendance figures at games. Is this really a point of concern?
To the club owners it must be. After all none own the venues at which their teams play, and so have rental or leasing costs, as well as all of the other match day costs such as security, catering, etcetera.
They main source of revenue is the fans. This is why there is such a push for each club to pull in “members,” or rather season ticket holders. If they can get that money in up front it makes a huge difference.
However, if we look at the crowd situation from a realistic perspective the current situation should not really be such a surprise.
The A-League commenced in 2005. This is its 15th season in existence. This makes it one of the youngest professional football League competitions in the world. The J-League has been going 28 years, the K-League has been going 37 years and these are two of the competitions that Australia seems to want to compare itself to. Both have been in operation almost twice as long as the A-League.
The Major League Soccer competition in the USA would possibly be a better bench mark in terms of comparison, but that too has been operating 24 years. It is also a completely differently structured league, which makes comparisons hard.
One of the biggest issues that the A-League has compared to the other leagues mentioned is population. Japan has a population of 126.8million, Korea has 51.47 million and the USA 327.2million. Australia’s population is less than half of the lowest of these figures at 24.6million.
If we look at population density, Australia has 3.3 people per square kilometre. Japan has 336 people per square kilometre, and Korea 527 people per square kilometre. The USA which still works in miles, reported in 2016 that their population density was 35 per square kilometre, and in 2018 was 92 people per square mile.
What this shows is that they have more people and less distance to travel to support their teams. Comparisons with these nation’s competitions, when one looks at these statistics, is unfair, and is like comparing apples with oranges.
The length of time the competition has been going is a very important factor. It takes time for clubs to build up support. Most of the European club sides, just like their AFL counterparts have been in existence since the late 1800’s. Of course there have been new sides crop up, such as Paris St Germain founded in 1970, and in AFL the Fremantle Dockers, Greater Western Sydney Giants and Gold Coast Suns. All of the new AFL teams have been strategically located to pull in fans. Whereas most of the long standing traditional clubs in most sports have grown from that community. This means that there is a connection with the people and the identity of the club is seen as a reflection of that community.
This is where the A-League struggles. With new clubs having been created and placed in strategic areas to pull in fans there is not that sense of the clubs representing a community, a city or a district. Parachuting a club into an area means that the onus is on the club to align itself with that community, its history and beliefs.
Only Perth Glory and Adelaide United had played in the old National Soccer League. As a result they were the only clubs entering the competition with any history. More importantly, and more specifically with the Perth Glory, they had established a fan base.
Perth Glory was established 24 years ago. When it was accepted into the old National Soccer League it was supported by the football fans in Western Australia, because finally after years of trying to be a part of what was claimed to be a National League, it could compete with the rest. Players would no longer have to leave the state to go and play for other teams. Which suited the people of Western Australia who are, possibly because of their geographical location, very parochial.
The team was made up of predominantly local players who had come through the local State League, and it was successful. Both huge contributing factors to attracting fans. It was goals from two local players that helped deliver two NSL Titles, Jamie Harnwell – and adopted South Australian Damian Mori – in 02/03 and Nick Mrdja in the final year of the NSL the following year.
Many of the fans who were taken to games in that era by their fathers are now the Perth Glory stalwarts. They were teenagers at the time and are now in their late 20’s and early thirties. Some may have drifted away, as they now have families of their own, but no doubt they will be back once their children are old enough to enjoy the game.
Of course there are still other fans who go because they fell in love with the team during that era. There are some who go simply because they love the game of football, and this is the highest standard of the game in the country. All come together to make up those crowds.
For many of the clubs around the country it is going to take time to have that generational support, and possibly the club owners and the FFA have been a little impatient in terms of growing their fan base. It will take several generations before there is a strong core base of fans.
However one key component that has been overlooked by many A-League clubs in the franchise model is what do their clubs stand for? It may sound flippant, but it is a crucial part of what attracts a fan to a club. One wonders, with the possible exception of Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory how many clubs in the A-League stand for something in their community.
We all know that many clubs in Europe were spawned from the Church, and as a result they are linked to that faith. In Brazil there is the famous rivalry between cross-town rivals Flamengo and Fluminese. Fluminese is regarded still to this day as a club for the elite, while Flamengo is the club for the people. Almost every club in every league around the world has an identity linked to it, some not always for the best. However that identity means a great deal to their fans. None more so than Millwall, who famously claim, to the tune of Rod Stewart’s “Sailing,” “No one likes us, no one likes us, No one likes us, we don’t care!”
How many A-League clubs stand for their community? How many can say that they truly are linked to their fans and what they stand for?
One other aspect that has undoubtedly harmed attendances is that link between local clubs and the players playing in the A-League. Now with most A-league clubs having sides playing in the National Premier Leagues across the country at various age levels, players are cherry-picked and taken from the local clubs to play for the A-League’s junior sides.
This has been harmful on so many levels. First and foremost those selected believe that they are on the path to a career as a professional footballer, the truth is very few if any will ever realise that goal. Secondly, they do not learn what it is to be a part of a club, and work their way through the ranks, to have aspirations and work hard to achieve them. Many when released from the A-League clubs return to the NPL, some fit in, some come with an attitude, drift from club to club and are lost to the game completely. These players again do not do the A-League club any favours when it comes to winning fans over to come and watch.
The biggest loss though is the link between the local clubs and those players who are fortunate enough to make it into the A-League. When they were plucked from local sides there was a reflected glory at that local club in the player’s success, and as a result many associated with that club would go and support “their player.” That has been lost.
To be fair to the A-League coaches and clubs, the gap now between the A-League and the NPL, certainly in several states, is now a gulf. When it comes to fitness and strength, most NPL players are going to need six months or more to get up to that level.
This is where the NPL model is greatly flawed. If it was truly about ‘underpinning the A-League’ it would be of a standard whereby players could step up and in a few weeks be ready for a starting position in an A-League side. This is why the points system based on a players age and loyalty to a club has to be scrapped. All teams must be picked on merit. If a young player is going to make it, he or she has to prove it. They must force their way into the starting line up on merit alone.
With NPL sides not seeing the best players selected, their crowds too have dropped. Which means if a player was to make it at the A-League club there are less fans to attract to the A-League game to see them play. In addition with A-League clubs poaching the cream of the crop, there is no longer a link that was a crucial component to pulling in fans.
Fans want to see their side successful, but they want to feel connected to their club. Therefore they want to see players that they can relate to representing a club that is linked to their identity. Of course there will be players brought in from other places, that is a given. But across the A-League the recycling of players who have struggled at other A-League clubs is one of the most demoralising to fans. Many will tell you that there are players locally who could, if given the chance fill that spot. In many cases they are right, if the club was prepared to invest the time to lift their fitness and strength. Sadly most are not prepared to do this.
It is however not just all about players. Sport is now about entertainment. It now competes with other activities to make us spend our hard earned cash. That is why it is so important to get your merchandising and ticket pricing right.
The biggest problem facing nearly all of the A-League clubs is, as mentioned, that they do not own the grounds on which they play. What that does is limit the money they can make from that venue. Whereas clubs overseas can rent out space for conferencing during the week, and offer tours of the stadium, Australian clubs cannot derive any revenue from such events. Professional sports teams are now also in the hospitality business, whether they realise it or not. On a match day they must offer a great experience to their corporate box holders, and to their season ticket holders. By having to outsource, or being tied to the caterers at the stadium makes it very difficult to create something unique to their brand.
It was interesting to read that in a survey of British Football clubs only 53 per cent of senior marketing executives at the clubs saw identifying customer needs as important. Yet this is paramount in the leisure and entertainment industry. How many A-League clubs have done this, and has the A-League management carried out such a survey?
In the same survey only one in five clubs said that marketing was a guiding philosophy for the whole club. A quarter of the clubs believed that marketing was of lesser importance than the club’s administration!
To be fair this survey was around 20 years ago, just around the time the Premier League started to soar. It is however a perfect indicator to show how the clubs had to shift the way they operated in order to remain competitive.
At that time one of the failings of football clubs in the UK was the belief that football clubs were “passion brands.” In other words brands to which consumers would show unerring loyalty. Football is not alone as a sport in believing this. As a result of this misguided belief the clubs had failed to treat spectators as customers, and failed to implement pro-active marketing. Which needless to say lost them fans, or customers. Could the same allegation be levelled at A-League clubs?
There is no doubt the crowd numbers are a concern, but is important to remember that the A-League is still a very young league. It is still in its formative years. In fact it is in its teenage years, so there are bound to be problems.
Certainly with no relegation the League would be helped by teams playing more attacking football. After all they have noting to lose. Watching a team that cannot be relegated come and “park the bus” is negative in the extreme in such a competition. Fans would much rather see them have a go and try and win.
Geography in Australia is always going to be a massive issue, along with the population base and density. Interestingly there are some who believe that the A-League would in fact benefit from going back to being a winter sport. Sure it may struggle to gain television air time going up against AFL and NRL, but it could be the move that saves the clubs. Without that air time fans may start going back through the turnstiles?
The ill feeling between the local clubs and the A-League clubs has to be addressed. The best way to do this is to revisit the current make up of the NPL, which the FFA’s new Technical Director Rob Sherman is looking at. Feeder clubs with coaches supplied by the A-League sides would be a far better option than the current model, as it would raise the standard of the competition and re-establish links between the clubs and the highest level. However, certainly in Western Australia, the clubs would need to start being a great deal more professional in the way they operate!
Clearly though the most important focus for all clubs in this decade is to work out what image they wish to portray to their fans. What do they want to stand for in their community? The clubs that nail that will reap the rewards.
As clubs across the globe have discovered the football fan has changed. The younger generation follow specific players rather than clubs. If that player moves, so too does their allegiance. The modern-day fan is far more discerning when it comes to spending their earnings on entertainment. If they are not entertained they will not return. That may go some way to explain the drop in viewing figures on television and also attendance at games.
As covered in podcast #65 (Marketing Sport) most sporting organisations and clubs are ill-equipped in terms of the Marketing nouse to adapt to the ever-changing habits of their customers. Unless they adopt a more market-led approach their earning potential will continue to diminish.
If the clubs in the A-League can address these issues they should come through these tricky teenage years and establish themselves as a bona fide national competition that is sustainable. If they do not, then the A-League could face a similar fate to the NSL at the end of the next 15 years.
In respect to the code bringing in “outsiders” to administer the game. Ash’, they had to do something different because the game has been in turmoil and held back since the 70’s because of the selfish, unprofessional and at times corrupt administrators who only had their own clubs/Sates objectives in mind and refused to work for the overall good of the sport. We as a code have done more damage from within than the biased media and other codes could ever have done.
Yes the likes of Gallop and John O’Niell didn’t have the faintest about our game but both of them could hardly be at fault for the quality of the product they were desperately trying to market. Let’s be fair here, even the average A League punter admits the quality is very poor.
The other dilemma is there is no depth and the overall code is hugely disjointed.
You have the A League – then a gigantic expanse – then the appalling rubbish that are the individual State NPL’s – then a gigantic expanse whereby the great majority of young footballers leave the sport – then junior football.
But never fear, our very own Tony Sage reckons he has the panacea for the game – playing H.A.L games in South East Asia.
Yes, I can hear you laughing….
F, Thank you as always for your comment.
I totally agree with you. I felt that the A-League peaked around 2009/10 or 2010/11 and has regressed ever since. The saddest thing is Football brought in outsiders to run the game, because they could not trust the people within the game to run it. Those from outside did not have a clue as to the culture of the sport. They sadly thought signing a big name, a la AFL would be the big fix, but when that player is over the hill and in fact impacts on the performance of the team, they are more harmful than beneficial.
As you say the NPL is appalling. I have only seen one player in the past 3-4 seasons that I would pay any money to. Yet the clubs continue to pay players who would not have got a game in some reserve teams 20 years ago. Is there a player in the League that would win a place in the Western Knights or Perth SC teams in 2000 or 2001?
You raise a very good point in relation to the Grand Final, where are all those fans? What has the club done to pull them in?
Very sad times and as you say, you cannot put a positive spin on it.
Interestingly there is a running thread on the Australian football Forum (442) regarding the general decline of football on and off the pitch and the members debate everything and anything that they believe has been/is a contributing factor. It was only the other week however that a comment captured my attention because it really, absolutely, nailed what I had been saying for years. It claimed – “Could the problem with Australian football be the football itself?” Yep, bang on.
I have commented a number of times that myself and a handful of passionate football loving friends regularly attend both A League and NPL games – as neutrals – year after year. We do so as we love the game, we do so because we understand the importance of supporting the code, we do so in order to catch up, we do so to get out the house and do so to get away from our missus’s. In fact we attend football games for a number of reasons other than “We’d like to see some great football being played”. You see the sad reality of this ?
The NPL is garbage, let’s be honest. It has been for so long that the pittance of a crowd is now 99% made up of people directly involved with the clubs or players and 1% us neutrals. It’s embarrassing especially given the staggering financial cost to field these teams which are fundamentally amateur.
The A League however is a professional football league yet the standard, as many of us members would tell you and the stats attest to, is 9 times out of ten awful, just plain awful. The last Glory game vs a Newcastle Jets team that was no better than Noranda’s U14 boys team was an embarrassment to the game. We had a relative over from the UK who follows his local Non-League side and I think he was genuinely embarrassed for us.
Jets aside, this is a Glory team that are current premiers who contested a home final before 50K+ fans yet their average home gate this season is 7 800, they managed just 6100 for the wanderers game and the crowd for the Jets game was, from our view at least, even less. The club chose to not put the attendance up for both the Wanderers and Jets.
This is in a rapidly growing city of 2 000 000 with football participants and followers numbering in the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS.
Sydney FC – Average Hm gate, 15 to 16 thousand…. Two of the 3 Melbourne clubs, under 6 000. Roar, Phoenix, CCM, Jets… All these years on and there’s not hiding the fact that the league is regressing, not growing.
No matter what the codes spin doctors tell us……..