A Real Struggle for the A-League

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A Real Struggle for the A-League

Post by Beaussie »

Interesting article in todays SMH regarding the potential struggles ahead for the A-League. Whilst they may not want ethnic based clubs and ties, they sure as hell, one would think, need those supporters if the A-League is to be a success. Who knows, perhaps the A-League will be supported week in week out by a new breed of football supporter that does not have a link to an ethnic based club. As the article suggests though, remember the likes of Northern Spirit, Parramatta Power, Collingwood Warriors and Carlton FC. All dismal failures in the end. Heck, I even went to a few Northern Spirit games when they started. Big crowds and a great atmosphere at North Sydney Oval soon disappeared though and the club eventually went bust. Does Sydney FC or any of the new A-League teams for that matter face the same kind of future?

SMH wrote:
Brave new world faces old dilemma
March 4, 2005
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Football/Bra ... click=true


The A-League may not want ethnic-based clubs, but can it get by without their fans? Michael Cockerill reports.

Jensen Park is far removed from Aussie Stadium - geographically, physically and culturally. But if Sydney FC officials need reminding how tough it is going to be to sell the A-League, they should venture deep into the industrial heartland of Sefton on Sunday afternoon to glimpse how the past and the future may yet be rolled into one.

Bankstown City, proud tenants of Jensen Park, host Rockdale City in a match being marketed as "the Derby". It is a derby not in the geographical sense, but in the cultural sense. Both clubs draw their support from the Macedonian community, and this is their flagship occasion.

So much so, that Jensen Park - open on three sides and with a tin "grandstand" along one length of the field - is expected to be filled to its 8000 capacity. So much so, that three television cameras will be set up to record the match, which will be broadcast later in the month on Macedonian television. That's right: a NSW Premier League fixture televised in Europe.

"Local-Vocal-Tribal" is the slogan of the state's leading competition, and it is. The NSW Premier League is a window to the world. A United Nations tucked away in Sydney suburbia. There are 16 clubs in the competition, and nine represent migrant communities: Maltese, Italian, Croatian, Greek, Macedonian, Turkish, and Serbian.

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AdvertisementBut if this ethnic tapestry is a window to the world, is it a window the "new" world of the A-League wants to reopen? Many fans of these clubs - particularly those dumped from the old NSL to make way for the arrival of Sydney FC - feel not.

"My personal view is that I want the A-League to work, because football deserves that here in Australia," says Bankstown secretary, Lou Apostolovski. "But will the fans leave our club to support Sydney FC? No they won't. They have their roots here, they've turned the shovel, if you like, and they feel they belong.

"They don't feel wanted by the A-League. Sydney had a golden opportunity over the last 12 months to get onside with every club in the premier league, but they've gone and clobbered us instead. Every member knows, for example, that they signed Saso Petrovski from us without coming through the front door. They paid no respect to our club, and that sentiment has filtered down to the supporters. They've created a Great Wall of China around themselves, unnecessarily."

Should it matter to Sydney FC if the fans of Bankstown, or Sydney United, or Marconi, or Bonnyrigg, feel aggrieved, apathetic or even angry about the way the A-League, and its member clubs, have gone about the business of establishing themselves?

After all, from chairman Frank Lowy down, the game's new hierarchy has made it clear its core philosophy is to break away from the past.

Inclusive, or exclusive? This is the argument that has raged for months in cyberspace as the mirage that has been the A-League gradually comes into focus heading towards August's kick-off. It has hardly been a reasoned debate. Vitriol has spewed across the deep divide between those who feel the new league is a breath of fresh air, and those who feel disenfranchised by the demise of the NSL. Much of it is unfathomable, unreasonable, and unprintable. Passions are running high.

Sydney FC may not want the support of fans burdened by conspiracy theories, but the real question is, does the club need them? Paying customers in any sport are hard to find, in club football they are notoriously elusive. Sydney FC needs to average 10,000 crowds to break even on opening the gates at Aussie Stadium. The NSW Premier League is averaging about 8500 supporters each weekend - a figure likely to creep past 10,000 when the top-eight series begins at the end of the month.

In other words, if all the fans of state league football were happy to support A-League football, Sydney FC's future would be bright. Or at least, much brighter.

There are lessons of history to consider, as well. In Sydney and Melbourne, previous attempts to establish "broad-based" clubs have kicked off in a blaze of glory, only to fizzle out. Northern Spirit, Parramatta Power, Collingwood Warriors and Carlton FC all foundered, in part, because the "fans" they found they could not keep.

The easy part for Sydney FC will be finding an audience. The hard part will be keeping it. Having one team per city may help, but what about when the novelty has worn off? It is not the first season, but the fifth, sixth or seventh seasons that will determine Sydney FC's fate.

Clubs such as Sydney Olympic have three generations of supporters. Sydney FC needs to generate the same sense of ownership.

How? Ideally, the strongest foundation would be a combination of "new" and "old" fans happy to embark on an adventure without fear, or prejudice.

In a football market as fractured as Sydney's, this has so far proved an impossible goal. No wonder Sydney FC defender Mark Rudan appealed in these pages this week for fans of his former club, Sydney United, to put their reservations aside. Rudan, of Croatian heritage, was also part of the failed Northern Spirit experiment. He understands the divide and knows from experience how critical it is for Sydney FC that it bridges the gap. "New" fans are important and enticing, but "old" fans have a track record of turning up rain, hail or shine.

To his credit, Sydney FC chief executive Andy Harper - a veteran of 321 NSL games as a player - appreciates the relevance. "If you don't have fans who care, then you don't have a product," he says. "Rusted-on NSL fans have proven they care."

So can Sydney FC become the first club to successfully unite football's diaspora in Australia's largest city?

"You have to acknowledge that the heart of a malcontent is never cured, and there will be pockets of people who will resist reform no matter what," Harper says.

"But they, and everyone else, are still welcome at our matches. The PFA [players union] research reported a high degree of interest among NSL fans in a new league, and closer to home our own website has a high proportion of NSL fans. All this leads us to believe that Sydney FC is very interesting to the existing football family. Our job is to make the family bigger."
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