Forum Reaps Little Reward for Glory Teams

Perth Glory fans attended last night’s FFA Fan Forum in Perth but many will have gone home as frustrated as when they entered Perth Soccer Club who were hosting teh event.

One valid question that was raised was the kick off times of Perth Glory games on a Friday evening on the East coast. Some games are being played at 7.30pm on the East coast which makes it hard for fans to either get home or to a pub to watch the game as with daylight saving it means kick off is 4.30pm in the West. Head of the Hyundai A League Damien de Bohun, simply stated “There is not a lot we can do about it.”

As for all games in the final round being played at the same time and ensuring that no fixtures in that final round is deemed ‘dead’ due to an earlier result. Mr de Bohun, did not see any merit in this and stated that not every league in the world follows this format so it was not something that the FFA would be looking at in the near future.

Another suggestion from the floor was that the first round of the finals games be played over two legs, home and away ensuring that all teams in the finals receive a home final. Mr de Bohun said that discussions on the finals format had taken place at length, but that this format would not be seen in 2013/14 as the fixtures have been locked in and will be revealed this week.

When it came to the finals Glory fans asked why a finals game would be scheduled for a Friday night as was the case with the Glory’s game against Melbourne Victory. They stated that this gave fans extremely short notice to get across to the East coast to support their team, and affected the amount of fans who could go, as they would have to take time off work, again at short notice. The questioner never really received a definitive answer on this issue. The one thing that became increasingly clear is that Fox Sports scheduling dictates the fixture times far more than the game’s governing body.

It was also asked whether Perth Glory home games could be shown as a delayed telecast in Western Australia as a tool to encouraging fans to attend the games. The response to this question was that ‘with teams from different time zones this is very difficult, as people want to watch live action.’

One thing that was positive for Glory fans was the chance of seeing either Youth League or the W-League teams playing as curtain raisers to the main team next season look a real possibility. It was also good to hear from Peter Hugg CEO of Football West who run the W-League side, that Glory members can use their membership to attend W-League games free of charge. This was something that many fans were unaware of, and will hopefully grow the W-League crowds.

Head of the FFA David Gallop stated the he had met with the Western Australian Minister for sport and stated that he felt the opening game at the new stadium in 2018 should be a Socceroos game. The last time that WA hosted a Socceroos game was in 2004. Although he also stated that to host a Socceroos game the FFA required government support, which seemed a strange situation. It was made clear that with this being the case the everyday fans need to lobby the government and make them aware that they want such a game to happen, and that they would support it. The fans will do this because they want to see our national teams playing, but this seems a strange approach by a governing body which has so many participants and followers, and surely it should be a case of asking them to lend their support to the FFAs approaches.

When it came to the running of the Youth and the W-League teams – which must survive – Tony Sage stated that these two teams cost him in the region of $600,000 per year and that was why he had withdrawn from supporting the W-League side. A question was raised as to whether it was appropriate that the state bodies should have to take on this financial burden, Football West CEO Peter Hugg stated that ‘fans do not need to know who is paying the cheques.’ If these teams are to be run by the State bodies around the country then surely money should be coming from the top to support the league rather than the state bodies having to find the money to do so? If the money is not available to filter down to the top level of Women’s football in the country what hope is there of money coming down to the NPL?

There were some excellent questions raised but unfortunately many of the answers simply raised more questions.