There's a follow up article after they had the meeting. They seem pretty set on trying and are actively recruiting teams from outside Victoria to join them
The clubs have now officially come together as 'The Association of Australian Football Clubs.' First meeting is next Monday, and will include teams reps from across the country. Priority of the meeting is to secure formal representation, as a Special Interest Group, at the upcoming FFA General Congress along with permanent representation.
Bad news that wasn't totally unexpected; A-League expansion has been delayed to 2019 rather than 2018. A-League expansion further delayed as FFA focus on operating model Yay to another two seasons of 10 teams playing the same teams in a such short time /s. On the bright side, it'll give all potential bids more time to prepare. My favourite bids ATM are Dandenong-Casey (SE Melbourne), Tassie, Victoria Patriots (Geelong) and Wollongong Wolves. The Brisbane and Ipswich bids are all over the place rn (Brisbane Strikers, Brisbane City and Western Pride), so hopefully this delay can help to clear things up. I'm not a fan of the South Melbourne or South Sydney bids, but the former is banging on the door hard while the latter has a gained lot of support from notable figures.
Another reason why I've stopped going to A-league games and prefer to watch NPL games. I'm not going to support a league that is closed off and run by FFA who don't give a crap about our opinions as football supporters in this country.
Tbh with all the changes that several of the teams are going through during the break (especially CCM), I'm excited again for the next season. Furthermore, the FFA Cup has been very exciting so far. I was at the Heidelberg United vs Perth Glory game last night (my first ever match with an NPL team, and was one of the very few non-Greek spectators there!) and the atmosphere was amazing even for an non-A-League match and a crowd of +2,800. Nearly dropped my souvlaki and beer in excitement when King Kenny Athiu scored the winning goal for Bergers! I'll be sure to attend more NPL matches in the future. Might catch the upcoming Hume City vs Bentleigh Greens FFA Cup game
I just don't like the fact that the A-league is closed off. I was a Sydney FC member for many seasons but with what has happened (potential bids have been rejected, clubs have been booted out and potential clubs like South Melbourne continuously being rejected because of their ethnic origins, not letting clubs introduce a second tier), I can't support a league that treats football supporters that way. The FFA doesn't own football. Our opinions as football supporters matters. I won't come back until I start to see inclusiveness. I'd rather support NPL football. I rather way a game like the NPL NSW final last year in a small stadium packed with over 4000 people than sit in the SFC with 15000 people. Promotion/ relegation for me is a must. It should be survival of the fittest. The cream will rise to the top and that can only be a good thing for football in Australia.
I think the closed system is for two reasons: 1 and the most important is to insure that no bad bids get accepted to make sure the league doesn't have to bail another owner out. A League is about where MLS was in 2006 timeframe, very precarious and I think they are prudent for proceeding slowly. 2 I don't fault them for steering clear of South Melbourne and other "ethnic" teams. Its a slippery slope and while I agree a pro/reg would solve the issue of the cream rising to the top I don't think A League is in a position to have these teams come into the league and have an issue that would reflect negatively on the sport.
J-League already provided a template for this. They set up an affiliate program that allowed teams to apply for J-League membership. The teams that applied were sent through a rather indepth review process that ensured they were ready for promotion into J-League. Once the review was completed, they were either accepted into the affiliate program, or rejected from it and, if they were accepted, they were eligible for promotion. Only teams that were pre-approved could be promoted and they still had to earn promotion by finishing in one of the top 2 (or 3) spots. If a non-J-League affiliate ended up in one of the top spots, it's promotion was rejected. You mean an issue worse than the issues they've had with a small percentage of the WSW fans?
Yes. Imagine if you invite multiple "ethnic" clubs, things can go bad really quickly. I know it was 16 years ago but the South Melbourne (or was it Melbourne Knights) vs Perth would be even bigger if teams were on a bigger stage and played each other (think a Greek team from Melbourne vs a Turkish team from Sydney). I know its far fetched but everyone knows how things like this can go down and its just too much risk to bring forth.
I am strongly against the South Melbourne bid, as we already have two teams based in Melbourne's CBD. Dandenong-Casey bid on the other hand is a much more appealing bid to me than SMFC, as it's based in SE Melbourne and one hour from the CBD. The area is growing very rapidly and is very multicultural. It's an ideal place for expansion and I like to think of the bid as Victoria's WSW for those reasons. I will admit that SMFC really are trying to tick all the boxes about being a professional club which can't be said about other NPL clubs, but luck is not on their side.
There are clubs all over the world that were formed by migrants. Most issues have vanished or aren't any bigger than some of the issues we see with fans in the A-league. Clubs should be evaluated on their merit. This ethnic thing is a load of crap. The strongest teams should be allowed to rise to the top. Having a club like the Mariners for the past two seasons is embarrassing and a slap in the face to clubs that are better like South Melbourne, Blacktown City, etc. Those clubs would be more competitive if they were given the sort of money that CCM get from the FFA every season.
I'll believe expansion and pro/rel is happening when it happens. The way football is run in this country is a joke.
Expansion, yes. I still say forget about pro/rel; if it's still not possible for USA to implement pro/rel then it's definitely not happening here anytime soon.
I think the best model to have promotion and relegation would be to wait until the national league expands enough to support two divisions.
America have pro/rel in the lower tiers. They CAN implement it from top to bottom but the powers that be CHOOSE not to. I personally believe we are ready for pro/rel. We just need to implement a B-League, and every year promote 1-2 clubs until we get 16 teams in the A-league. Promote 1-2 teams from the NPL finals series into the B-league until there are 16 teams. After both tiers have 16 teams, relegation may be added to the system.
Someone over at r/aleague did an awesome and well-detailed write-up about a long-term plan to expand the league to 32 teams across two divisions. I don't necessarily agree with all of it (I don't think Adelaide or Perth are big enough for two teams, excluding Fremantle, and I don't want any more NZ sides; let alone Phoenix). https://www.reddit.com/r/Aleague/co...stralia_wall_of_text/?st=j8psltxy&sh=099c3ee1 https://imgur.com/a/qnOTA https://imgur.com/FpjD2SY See the above response I sent to @almango. NASL and USL do not have pro/rel system. However, MLS often expands to allow in USL/NASL clubs that have met the criteria; such as Orlando City, Portland Timbers, Minnesota United, plus Atlanta United though they were not affiliated with the Silverbacks). A system like this can be implemented in Australia without the use of pro/rel; we definitely do need a B-League.
The only pro/rel in the US is at the youth and adult rec league level. There is no pro/rel at the professional level(MLS, USL, NASL) or the semi-pro/amateur level(NPSL, PDL). Teams do move between the leagues, but it isn’t something that is done via pro/rel. Additionally, the powers that be (USSF)aren’t necessarily choosing to not implement pro/rel. The leagues simply do not want it. Even NASL doesn’t truly want it, despite all their kvetching. NASL is only interested in pro/rel with MLS because they want the stability that would come from having MLS clubs join their league and they don’t want to pay MLS’s 9 digit expansion fees. NASL has absolutely no interest in pro/rel with USL, NPSL, or PDL. Several years ago NASL’s GM said in an interview that NASL was in discussions with NPSL to implement pro/rel. This was apparently news to NPSL, but NPSL was also quick to say they were in complete support of implementing pro/rel. NASL didn’t waste any time to say the GM mispoke and they weren’t actually interested in pro/rel.
I actually think it would be easier to do pro/rel in Oz because the A-League will reach its saturation point faster than MLS.
I don’t think so, especially considering that many NPL stadiums are not A-League quality and just would not have the money or fanbase to survive in the A-League. With two divisions, it’d definitely be easier to cover most of Australia’s major cities than USA. I agree there, though we don’t necessarily need to implement pro/rel (again, much like MLS, NASL and USL in USA).
The AAFC has released a blueprint detailing a national second division "The Championship", which aims to be set alongside the 2019-20 A-League season; with pro-rel to be implemented after 2024. Clubs are required to have boutique stadiums (minimum 3,000 capacity). One small step for clubs, one giant leap for football PROPOSED TIMELINE 1 December 2017 AAFC calls for expression of interest from clubs interest in participation in The Championship 2 February 2018 Expressions of interest close 2 March 2018 FFA endorsement required 29 March 2018 The Championship Bid document made available on payment of $10,000 fee 25 May 2018 Bids close May to July 2018 Bids assessed by Nous Group August 2018 Nous Group report to AAFC Board September 2018 Successful bidders notified October 2018 Licenses issued October 2019 Start of The Championship
I don't think it is perfect but a second division is needed. I'm not a fan of the clubs changing their names (e.g. APIA will be applying as Inner West Sydney FC Tigers), foreigners rule needs to be universal throughout all the leagues and not allowing more then 3 A-league players from the to join.
Where did you see that clubs would change their names? I’m most definitely for teams like Sydney Olympic, Sydney United 58, Melbourne Knights and Adelaide City changing their names to represent their specific areas, though APIA Leichhardt becoming Inner West Sydney is a bit overkill. I agree it’s not perfect either but we really need a second division. Welp, FFA has shot the idea down. Second division plans not realistic, FFA insist