A few years ago, the clubs in the highest football league draw around 3.000 fans, when the A-League came, some clubs drawed attendances of around 15.000, the last season Melbourne Victory had 50.000 fans, Sydney sometimes 30.000 and Queensland too. Will the league keep growing this fast? If it will, it can become one of the best leagues in the world I think
Firstly, its "drew" not "drawed". Secondly, its going to be a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time before A-league even comes close to being one of the top flight leagues in the world. Probably not in our lifetime. MLS has been around for 13 years now, and its just NOW starting to garner alittle worldwide respect/ recognition. Youll get a much better idea of how things are going to play out after about year 10. Even then though, it can still be a tough call. MLS's attendances are still all over the place at times. Its grown yes, but even 12 seasons in its still abit of a challenge to look back at the numbers and see any real trends. 20 seasons will probably give a good bit clearer of a picture.
I think J-league's inaugural season was in 1993, so its not that much older than MLS. I cant remember where I saw it, it was somewhere here on bigsoccer, but thier attendance disparity was pretty amazing. I think the top clubs were getting 40-50,000 (I know Urawa Reds is usually tops in the attendance dept) while the lower division 1 clubs were drawing 4-8,000 per match. I think in terms of A-League / MLS comparisons at least, J-league isnt the greatest one to base those comparisons on. It is a much larger league than both A-league and MLS combined.
So far the only 2 A-League and J-League teams that have played eachother (in actual competition) were Urawa Reds and Sydney. They played 2 games and they both were draws. 2-2 in Sydney and 0-0 in Saitama.
The problem facing the A-League is that there is a shortage of large cities to play in. You can't expect attendances to get that big in places where the population is only several-hundred thousand.
Isn't J-League the 6-7th richest soccer league in the world? At this moment, I would say it is definitely far ahead of MLS and A-League (not talking about quality of play). However, both MLS and A-League seem to have great potential for the future, so who knows. I know the goal for MLS in the short-ish future is to get on par with the Mexican league, and eventually surpass it, which would be quite an accomplishment in my opinion.
Agree, the population is only 20m. But I think eventually we will see around 20,000 average attendances for the season. Australia is a big bandwagon country, if we keep making World Cups we will get more fans.
I don't think the A-league will expand to a large league like the ones in England or Spain. Probably 10-12 teams max for the long term, with more than 1 team in big cities like Sydney and Melbourne. But yeah, population does restrict the scope of expansion, for example, I don't think there would ever be a team from Tasmania, unless it is linked to some Victorian team.
nor should it. I'd rather have 8-16 lions rather 5000 sheep (insert wellington joke here) ATM There are four real strong bids that put in at a proper time frame would no doubt benefit the league without mentioning the 2nd Melb/Sydney (I'm totally ignoring the FC Brisbane bid) teams which are Tropical FC (TFA Bid) Illawarra (IFA/WIN bid) Capital FC (Capital Football bid) Gold coast (GCS bid)
I've often pondered what would happen if the A-League wanted to expand out fully. Far-fetched i know, but here's what i fantasized A-League Adelaide Utd Central Coast Melbourne Victory Newcastle Perth Sydney Queensland Wellignton Townsville Wollongong Canberra Gold Coast A-League 2 Initially no marquees or guests allowed, 20 man squads to keep costs down, only 2 foreigners and must have 5 players under 23 including 3 under 20 West Sydney Blue Mountains Melbourne Utd Geelong Tasmania (games split between Hobart and Launceston) Darwin Sunshine Coast Singapore (big TV revenue to include a SEA team in) And possibly Fremantle Brisbane FC Cairns (growing city, could support a seperate NQ team in not too distant future) Auckland (for the extra TV $, and playing in a less competitive league they should be ok) Promotion and relegation automatic for last in the AL and first in AL2, Play-off for the teams 10 and 11 in the AL against teams 2 and 3 in the AL2. Relegated clubs would have to shrink their squads and fit under a smaller cap, and the promoted clubs would be allowed to up their cap and increase their squad size to fit with AL rules. The Pre-Season cup would have both league's teams all grouped together so everyone 'warms-up' together and rival teams can face off if they're in different divisions, eg Victory vs United in an all Melbourne derby
I see the new found electoral zones being made up due to the crawford report will play a big role in the development of football around the country especially the A-L Victoria for example could be split into 2 an EAST and a WEST for future A-l representation leaving victory as the (whole) Melbourne team i.e WEST (playing at Epping or skilled stadium) - Loddon mallee, Wimmera south coast, Melbourne (north, northwest, central, Western) EAST (playing at Bob jane and/or la trobe) - Melbourne(south, east, south east, north east) Gippsland, Goulburn north east Offer the clubs and their members special arrangements like join one local club and join the other one for next to free or 25 % of membership fee is split between local clubs. Then your on a winner
I'd rather see every expansion city get another team before a second team from Sydney or Melbourne. What is annoying me about the second Sydney team is that it will be based in Western Sydney- which is where I am- and I have already allied myself with Sydney FC (- till I die- ). I'm going to have a conflict of interest.
Support one and have a soft spot for the other. A double treat of football, what more could you want?
Yeah they keep trying to push another Melbourne and Sydney Team I would rather another team in the State of Victoria before another team in the city of Melbourne eg: Geelong or a regional team that covers a few Vic towns. And after they put in a team like that I will be happy to have another Melbourne team in so we can have a derby....
What about it? Mate their is more than 20 places in Australia with a bigger population than albury and wodonga combined. I'm unsure why you would even suggest it?
I think in terms of playing standard improving. I think it will continue to improve at the rapid rate it does now, for the next 2-3 seasons, then may stabilise somewhat, especially when the 2 expansion teams come in. But certainly as the leageu finds it's feet, we'll see the league continue to improve, as better imports come in, more returning Socceroos, the development of youth etc... The next wave of improvement may come in 15 years or so, once the recommendations of our technical director have been implemented, the batch of 15-19 year olds who come through 5-10 years since the changes may be slightly better for it. Though the development of our coaches may certainly take a while. It certainly helps being in Asia, developing our game at all levels. Crowd wise, many factors come into play. But certainly Sydney and Melbourne even in the very worst periods, should both draw 20k atleast to a home game. Though Sydney apparently still has some way to go, in engaging it's grass roots. A 2nd Western Sydney team could also adversely affect their crowds, but surely by time the 2nd team comes in, they will have established themselves more in Sydney. The rest of the A-league teams I see will hopefully sustain their crowd levels atleast. Most of the other clubs, apart from Adelaide, have not been that successful on the park so far in the A-League, so A-League success will certainly help crowd wise. I can certainly see Perth improving, given the Administrative side of things was finally sorted out. There's more finances and security and this should mean moving forward is easier, including better marketing and sponsorship. In regards to locations for future expansion, with the next A-League expansion lined up for around 2009/2010, there will be 2 additional teams, taking the league total to 10 Franchises. The very early leading candidates so far are Townsville, Wollongong, Gold Coast and Canberra I think, in about that order, at this very early stage. Franchise bids by Townsville and Wollongong are more highly progressed, while the likes of Gold Coast and Canberra are more in their eary stages. There's still plenty of time. In regards to having a 2nd Sydney or Melbourne Team, both current teams have an exclusivity licence for around 5 years. So I think expiration of that licence is around 2010/11. In regards to Melbourne locations, Geelong may be a good option, or South-East Melbourne, though NOT the current South Melbourne team, rather a new franchise. With the likely Sydney area of expansion it's Western Sydney without a doubt, just where could be the question. Telstra Stadium has put it's hand up. Further west out, Parramatta way, could be an option too. But having in total 5 NSWs teams, 4 located around Wider Sydney Metro, could be getting a bit much. But given the locations of most of the teams, only Sydney and the future West Sydney team would in theory be competing for the Majority of the Sydney market. With Wollongong perhaps encoaching on the Southern Sydney area and obviously Central Coast already actively looks to spread it's reach as far as the North Sydney area, the old hunting ground of Northern Spirit. I think if Townsville and Wollongong are the franchises that join in, in 2010/2011, then the possibility of a 2nd Sydney or Melbourne team won't come in till probably at the earliest 2015/2016/2017 or so. The FFA are very keen on expanding regionally too, so Canberra with Bruce Stadium will definately get a look in, within the next 2 expasion windows. It very much depends how successful the 2 new inclusions in 2010/2011 are.
PLease remember America has 300 million and "Soccer" is just one of 5 "Major League" sports NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS. Plus it has Lacrosse, Nascar and any other sport to compare with. In Japan, baseball is clearly #1. It has a population of 130 million and the population is on the decline. Australia has JUST over 21 million. it has AFL, NRL, Super14 (Union), Cricket, A-League That being said, Cricket and Super14 might compete during summer Union in only a few states / territories. Just be patient. Melbourne has 4 million people supporting 1 team and 55,000 showing up to a game is still not what one would call a large %age of people. 410,000 people watched the Australia VS Japan game on Fox 2 the other week. Just be patient, and let the game develop. Liverpool FC has been around since 1892. That's older than the Federation of Australia (1901)
I guess what you said may largely not be directed at my post. But I must clarify, most of what I stated is fact/from statements in the media coming from the FFA itself and from some of the bids. If you guys remember, we heard alot about them, around the time NZKFC were in demise, in regards to possibly Townsville being an option, though Wellington Phoenix ended up pulling through late on. I also must clarify, I doubt the league will expand past 16 teams at the very most. But they will more likely settle on 12-14. The league will be quite responsible, as it has been soo far. It knows it's market share and to a fair degree it's growth potential. They know their limits. It's business. The A-League will only make the move when it's right. There's no hasty or foolish decisions these days. It's a highly professional environment. Also, any concept of a 2nd Division, per say, is long down the track, if at all, and may in all likiness not neccessarily be a traditional 2nd division, but possibly involve promoting teams from some kind of intra-state league playoff or something perhaps, for instance. But the whole concept is not feasible for our country anyway, both commercially and culturally. A 2nd division will not work culturally, just like how, unfourtunately, a 'first past the post,' instead of a 'finals system,' doesn't.
Yeah it was. Considering it was pay-tv 410 000 is very, very good, not to mention all of those who don't have Foxtel who went off to a pub or RSL to watch the game, god knows how many did that.
I wasn't sure where to post this, but this seems one of the best threads for the subject. Especially in regards to comparing the calibur of Marquee Players, season to season. I'm not entirely sure about all of the following, but I'm pretty sure. The list looks ALOT better, with the recent additions of Juninho and Jardel. Infact by far the best Marquee list in the A-League's short history. A-League Marquee Players - 07/08 Adelaide - Paul Agostino Central Coast - Tony Vidmar Melbourne - Archie Thompson Newcastle - Mario Jardel Perth Glory - Stan Lazaridis Queensland - Craig Moore Sydney - Juninho Wellington - Unsure/None? I'm unsure with previous seasons but: season 1, 05/06 featured: Sydney - Dwight Yorke Melbourne - Archie Thompson Newcastle - Zelic? Perth - Brian Deane Adelaide - Fernando Rech? Central Coast - None NZ - None QLD - Brosque? Season 2, 06/07, featured: Sydney - None/Carbone (Guest) Melbourne - Archie Thompson Newcastle - Rodriguez/Covic Perth - Stan Lazaridis Adelaide - Fernando Rech? Central Coast - Tony Vidmar NZ - None QLD - Milicic? I think looking at the massive improvement in this area for season 3, one can definately see how the playing standard has lifted. And it's good to see most clubs have Marquees now, who may actually be worthy of the 'Marquee Tag.' Though it's too early to tell how the likes of Jardel or even Agostino will go. And I'm impressed how some clubs essentially have two or more Marquees with Melbourne having the likes of Carlos Hernandez, Kevin Muscat and Ljubo Milicevic under the cap. While Sydney has the likes of Tony Popovic under the cap and Brisbane has Danny Tiatto under the cap. Cassio may well be a fred-like, Marquee-like acquisition for Adelaide, given the impact he's had so far. Newcastle has some interesting acquisitions too, with my bets on someone like Drovandi having a successful impact aswell, perhaps going some way to help contribute fillling the Carle-void. Those youtube highlights of his looked interesting. They've also moved Covic back under the Cap. Boy the standard has improved, esponentially really.