Is History Repeating With The A-League?

Is it a case of history repeating when it comes to football in Australia?

For many football fans in Australia the Hyundai A-League was going to be a new beginning for the sport. Football was finally going to become a major sport, receive the coverage it deserved and rise up to sit alongside the other major football codes. Seventeen years on the game is once more teetering on a precipice.

With the owners of the A-League clubs having taken over management of the competition we were told that they would spend much needed money to market and promote the competition. Yet the opening round came and went with many not even realising that the new season was underway. There was next to no presence anywhere promoting the competition. Having a social media account is not marketing.

The opening round of the A-League Men’s season saw an average crowd of 10,543. This wasn’t helped by the fact that Macarthur had to play in Newcastle. It was however boosted by some questionable marketing by Perth Glory who featured their big name signing Daniel Sturridge on all of their social media promotions for their opening game against Adelaide United.

When the teams were announced Sturridge was named as a substitute and those who went along to Perth Oval – sorry the sponsorship changes so often it’s best to call it that – looking to see him play were far from happy. He did come off the bench in the 85th minute and was in the action for 11 minutes in total. Whether that will be enough to inspire many to return when the Glory are back from their marathon road trip is yet to be seen.

This situation sadly shows how ill-informed most football fans in Australia are. As explained in Sturridge’s Game Time May Need To Be Managed Carefully the player has not been playing football for 18 months, he has also been plagued with injuries in recent years. The chances of him starting in the opening game were extremely remote. Sturridge, despite training and trialling with a number of clubs did not sign for Perth Glory until 01 October 2021. He did not arrive into Australia until the beginning of November and then had to endure two weeks hotel quarantine. His first training session with the club was on the 15th of November, the opening game was five days later. Unless he was in prime fitness there was no chance of him starting that opening game. Was the club wrong to promote him as the face of the team knowing that? Or is the onus on the fans to realise he was unlikely to start in that match?

The second round of the 17th season of the A-League saw those disappointing opening round figures drop even lower with an average crowd of just 6,533.

To add to the sport’s woes the new TV deal is likely to see even fewer people tuning in to watch. The numbers on Fox were falling rapidly with some games attracting less than 10,000 viewers. Channel 10 and Paramount apparently only attracted 146,000 viewers over six fixtures, so an average of around 24,000 per game, which will be well below what they were expecting.

Once again many ‘fans’ were unaware that the A-League had switched from Fox to Channel 10. Then many of those who were aware did not realise that only one game was free to air, and that they were going to have to subscribe to yet another service provider to watch the A-League. For many it is one platform too many, and the product doesn’t warrant the cost.

The broadcaster did itself no favours either having issues delivering the games to those who did pay for it, and also with the quality of the production. If this new deal was supposed to kickstart the A-League it appeared that someone had taken the spark plugs out. There was absolutely nothing new in the presentation, it was flat, and dull.

For several years Australian football has had a problem with its pundits. In the past that was partly because the FFA – now Football Australia – saw the broadcaster as a partner and expected them not to be critical. Yet fans want to hear the truth, they want to hear the experts have an opinion. If they don’t have one and are simply going to trot out trite observations there is absolutely no point in them being there. They add nothing to the viewer experience. Sadly that sums up many who have graced our screens, as they try not to offend and look to keep their role for the next season. This is not what the viewers want, and not what the game needs at this point in time.

Yet so much of this is deja vu.

The national soccer league was formed in 1977 and there were 14 teams in the league, most based on the East coast of Australia. The national competition was the dream of Alex Pongrass of St George and Frank Lowy of Hakoah Sydney, both based in New South Wales.

The A-League’s first season was 2005 and eight teams from major cities including one from New Zealand competed. Frank Lowy was Chairman of the Football Federation of Australia.

The NSL came about after Australia qualified for its first ever World Cup Finals in 1974. The A-League was bolstered by Australia’s first qualification since 1974, when they beat Uruguay on the 15th November 2005 to qualify for Germany 2006.

The opening weekend of the NSL (It was the PSL in that first year) saw West Adelaide’s John Kosmina score the first ever goal in the competition in a 3-1 win over Canberra City. In the opening game of the A-League Adelaide United’s Carl Veart scored the first goal in a 1-0 win against Newcastle Jets. Both were born in Adelaide.

The first year of the NSL Sydney Hakoah were crowned Champions. The first year of the A-League Sydney FC were Champions. Frank Lowy had ownership interests in both teams.

Despite that success and Sydney Hakoah coming second in the second season the crowds were still not coming so they changed their name to Sydney City Slickers. Despite a strong marketing campaign the eight-team A-League averaged crowds of only 10,958 in season one. The average crowd in the NSL’s first season 12-team league was just over 4,000. In the NSL that first season there were 182 matches played compared to 84 in the A-League, which makes the overall crowd figures much more similar.

The average crowds in the A-League have been dropping each year since 2013-14, with the 2019/20 average crowd of 9, 428 over 148 matches the lowest bar the 2010-11 season when 165 matches were played. It is not fair to compare the 2020/21 average of 5,682 as crowds were affected by the Covid 19 Pandemic. The NSL average in its last season in 2002 was around 4200 in a 13-team league where 163 games were played. So the A-League is in a far healthier position, but it needs to stop the decline in numbers.

Interestingly in season two of the NSL a top four finals series was introduced, but at that time the team that finished top of the league was crowned Champions. In year one of the A-League the top four teams would play off, but the winner would be crowned Champion.

In 1980 the PSL clubs bemoaned the fact that they were struggling to gain media coverage, in 1981 they opted to move to a Summer competition. By 1983 the clubs were complaining about the rising costs and the lack of improvement when it came to income. Something the owners in the A-League, which had adopted a franchise model were doing by the end of season three when the salary cap had risen from AUD$1.5million to AUD$1.8million.

The NSL moved to a Conference style league with 12 teams in each in 1984, it reduced travel costs but the fans stayed away. Three years later they went back to a single league competition.

The new look league saw teams from Melbourne and Sydney competing along with Adelaide City. Yet Frank Lowy and his Sydney team decided it was time to walk away. After a similar period at the helm of the FFA in 2015 Lowy was forced to walk away from his role as Chairman as he had served his allotted time; he did however ensure the Lowy name remained in the role having his son Steven elected Chair in his place.

In both competitions teams came and went, in the NSL partly because they had relegation from the League. Some will argue that the NSL tried to expand too soon. The same accusation has been levelled at the A-League, by 2012 three teams had come and gone.

The A-League has now forged a relationship with Channel 10 and Paramount, just as the NSL did with Channel Seven. Free to air television was supposed to put the sport in front of the public. However unfortunately the market has changed, and the number of people who watch free-to-air television today is very small. Which means more money has to be spent on marketing, money the owners do not want to spend. Yet if they don’t spend money the game and their clubs are going to disappear from view.

Reading back on the history of the NSL and talking to those who were deeply involved there appeared to be a complete lack of a marketing plan. In the early 1980’s ASF Marketing was employed, but the best they could come up with was giving the teams nicknames, which the fans never bought into. After strong marketing in the first two seasons of the A-League it is fair to say that there has been little or no marketing of any consequence since. Having the television station with the broadcast rights creating adverts that they run on their own station is not an investment in marketing as they are frequently preaching to the converted.

In the beginning the clubs were hamstring in that the FFA wanted each club to market their team along a strict set of guidelines. Although understandable this was foolish in the extreme, as each city is very different and each set of fans are different. An opportunity to connect with those fans was missed and put the clubs under immediate pressure.

In the NSL to try and bolster crowds clubs signed big name overseas players coming to the end of their careers. We have witnessed the same in the A-league. Has it worked? In the short term yes, just as it did in the NSL. What many fail to realise is it is not just the name player fans want to see. They want to see a player who has pulling power but who can still change a game. A player who excites them. Diego Castro, Thomas Broich and Besart Berisha, none big names when they came to Australia all had a huge influence on the pitch for the teams they played for, all could turn a game, but did they have pulling power? Did more fans go through the turnstiles to see them play?

For Sydney FC’s first home game after signing Juventus and Italy legend Alessandro del Piero an amazing 35,419 went through the turnstiles. Yet in round 4 against the Glory – their next home game – a large number did not return, and only 22,128 took their seats. The following weekend the figure went down again to 21,531 against arch rivals Melbourne Victory. A drop of 13,291.

Sydney FC were not alone in these crowd drop-offs, the Marquee effect on crowds shows a definite trend. Perth Glory went from 16,019 to 12, 031 in their first two games with Liverpool great Robbie Fowler, their highest two crowds that season. Melbourne Victory had 40,351 for Harry Kewell’s first game in their colours. There was only a small drop in the next game, most likely because they played cross town rivals the then Melbourne Heart (39,309), but more telling was their next home game when only 24,820 turned up! Does this show that many fans turn up just to say they saw this former star play, and that is enough? Or are is it because these are discerning fans who know football and they see that these former stars are well past their best? It would be interesting to be given an honest evaluation on a return on investment, but that will never happen as no one wants to admit that the league is in trouble.

One of the reasons the league is in trouble is that many in the media today have become sycophants. The hardened knowledgeable football journalists have almost become a thing of the past. How many will openly admit that they are fans of the A-League team they are covering? Some even wear that team’s colours to a game! What happened to impartiality and objectivity? Some clubs now gag players from talking to the local media outside of an arranged press conference, which is madness when you are trying to obtain coverage. Some of the clubs themselves churn out their own propaganda, and one wonders to whom they are trying to appeal with these self-indulgent and irrelevant video clips and interviews. Is this content going to bring fans through the turnstiles? Is it going to sell more merchandise?

In fact one CEO asked one journalist why he did not have a membership to his hometown club, and failed to comprehend when the journalist explained that he covered their games and wanted the club to do well, but was not a fan.

Too many in the media today seem more focussed on ‘protecting the product,’ and ensuring that they continue to be invited to key events than giving honest assessments of the goings on. Many sadly feel that their job is to promote rather than report. If they are not asking questions who will? If the paying public don’t see their concerns being raised they eventually speak by simply turning their back on the clubs and the game. So the media has unfortunately played a part in the decline.

Like many other media outlets Not The Footy Show repeatedly requested an interview with former FFA CEO David Gallop, only to be told in the end that he did not do one-on-one interviews. Why not? Here was the CEO of the Game who was being paid well to lead the sport. Yet Gallop was not alone, many in positions of influence within the game now reject interview requests for fear of being caught out. Many want the questions in advance so they can prepare their answers. Which is like asking for the answers on a test before you take it.

Many of those who have been employed in football for the past 17 seasons have sadly been there for the wrong reasons, and they have not helped the game. The first wave were there to further their own careers, they came from lesser positions in other sports and hoped to raise their own profile and worth by being a part of ‘New Football.’ They had a total disregard for all that had gone before. They knew best, and were quick to tell you that the sport’s history was what had held it back. They foolishly failed to realise that without acknowledging your past your limit your future. It was understandable that the sport wanted to have a higher profile in the media, but they threw on the scrap heap many people and organisations that had kept the game alive around the country before their existence. Now as interest wanes amongst the big media organisations, as it was always going to do, the sport needs those people or similar to once again keep it alive.

The second group to come into the game were people who were often quick to tell you what big fans they were of football and that they were now in ‘a dream job.’ The minute anyone gains a job in sports administration and tells you that they are obsessed with the sport, alarm bells should ring. History will show that these individuals lack vision, and are often far too close to the sport to make objective decisions that need to be made for the good of the sport. Now we have a combination of the two, except now they are people that struggled to make it in a higher profile sport. They are still fans of the game, but are prepared to work for a far lesser salary, simply because they claim they love the sport. Once again are they the right people for the job? Just because they cost you less doesn’t mean they are, just as just because you pay a big salary to another staff member , it doesn’t mean that they are the best for the job either.

Of course in amongst these people we should never forget that there are still some very good operators. The sad fact is that now they are heavily outnumbered and frequently their voices are never heard. Hopefully someone somewhere is listening, as there is still time to right the ship, but it is going to take some radical changes and some will no doubt make the owners feel very uncomfortable.

Another sector of the game that has been in the main ignored but raped and pillaged in terms of talent, development and fees are the clubs outside of the professional game, the NPL and State League clubs. These were the lifeblood of the game in the past. Now any talent they have is snatched away from them by the A League franchises junior teams, and not only do they miss out on the talent playing for their club, but also future development fees if they progress to the professional ranks. They too are now in dire straits. So a group that should be a captive audience for the A-League clubs has once again disconnected from the competition.

Perth Glory revitalised the ailing NSL and the club was a reference point when the A-League was created. It is interesting to reflect on the words of Co-owner of the Glory in those formative years, Nick Tana, who said 25 years ago “all the major decisions we have taken have been ‘left of field’ and unexpected.” One feels quarter of a century on it is going to take a similar approach to revitalise the league once again.