I've only been in Australia for a few months and I've been in touch with football in the country for even less of that time, but that has been enough to see some of its internal "diseases". The viruses that are eating it from within, keeping it trapped in the past while at the same time showing complete disrespect towards the roots of the sport and don't allow for even the tiniest sense of optimism for the future. Australian football, even within those in the Asian Federation where it now belongs, is mid-tier at most, and with the way that everyone is behaving, trying to protect their own self-interests instead of moving forward together for the good of the sport, it will only get worse.
But why is this? There are some good players in the A-League, the teams are making investments and surely some young players are coming up, right? While that is true, that's unfortunately just a drop in the ocean of all things wrong with football and these "investments" could also be seen as a means of averting attention from the real issues.
The true problem here are the A-League clubs themselves. Their behavior is abhorrent and is holding the sport back. The people in charge have been constantly difficult when it comes to the league expanding (the presence of the two Melbourne and three Sydney clubs were a deciding factor for who would win the bids for the A-League expansion, rather than actual merit). In fact, they pushed so hard against it to the point that the Football Federation of Australia (FFA), while initially planning to add both these two new teams to next season's championship, have now changed their decision for one per season so that they don't "upset the balance".
Meanwhile, those in charge of the clubs claim that the FFA has been "holding them back, putting their own self-interests first rather that the good of the game" (which is partly true since the Lowy administration wasn't known as making the most positive changes to football) and have gone as far as to create the "Australian Professional Footballers Club Union", who's sole purpose is to break off the A-League from the FFA and make it an independent entity. But in which country, the world over, has this ever been seen? The way it works is that all leagues are run by their federation. That federation is part of a wider collection of federations, known as a con-federation (some known examples are: AFC, UEFA and CONCACAF) and all those confederations are under FIFA, the worldwide football organisation. If a league is NOT under a federation, then it is NOT recognized by FIFA and subsequently all its confederations, which means that if the A-League clubs do decide to go independent, they will lose all rights to play in the AFC Champions League, not to mention any other demerits FIFA, who are already watching developments in Australia very closely, might impose on them.
But that doesn't seem to bother the boards of these clubs. After all, they're running businesses and the number one priority of a good business is to keep up revenues. Who cares if bringing in certain teams to the league might be good for the sport in Australia, when it could cost them their (already hard to find) precious customers. The narrow-mindedness of those in charge of the A-League clubs and their inability to see beyond what's in front of them even brought forth the revelation that although there are "ongoing discussions" for a "second division", there will be no form of promotion or relegation. Which automatically removes all meaning for it, since the National Premier Leagues and the Y-League are in place.
If they had true intentions of going through with both a second division and an expansion of the A-League to "even up to 20 teams", as FFA chairman Mr Chris Nikou claims, then it could've very easily been done by establishing the second division first, selecting up to 20 teams for that league, then for the first few seasons allow only promotion towards the A-League and no relegation. However, the fact that they've chosen this roundabout method is evident of their intention to buy as much time as possible so that they can show FIFA and everyone else watching that "hey, look, we are taking steps forward", but at the same time maintain the current status quo for as long as they possibly can. With only one team added per season (the fate of the Wellington Phoenix is unknown at this point), somehow that doesn't seem like much of an "expansion" and the second division discussions have been "ongoing" for a while now and don't show any signs of going anywhere anytime soon. Even for the announcement of these two new teams, the FFA was unsure until the last few hours of when the announcement would be made.
It's clearly obvious we're dealing with a very closed club. A few people who don't deal nicely to outsiders coming in and taking all these things that they have fought to have. A highly privileged group that consider football to be their own market and that they have every right to be "independent" to do whatever they want with it. Should the A-League clubs gain their highly sought-after independence then there will most definitely be no expansion and no second division (at least none tied directly to the A-League). At this point, maybe it would be a safer bet for the FFA to turn to the teams of the NPL and create a different top-tier league for Australia all together. However, considering what happened with the National Soccer League and the "cleansing" of the stadiums from all teams of ethnic background (denying Australia's football heritage in the meantime), that scenario seems really far fetched. But should the boards of the A-League clubs remain on their current positions to putting their own self-interest before the good of the game, then, unfortunately, football won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
But why is this? There are some good players in the A-League, the teams are making investments and surely some young players are coming up, right? While that is true, that's unfortunately just a drop in the ocean of all things wrong with football and these "investments" could also be seen as a means of averting attention from the real issues.
The true problem here are the A-League clubs themselves. Their behavior is abhorrent and is holding the sport back. The people in charge have been constantly difficult when it comes to the league expanding (the presence of the two Melbourne and three Sydney clubs were a deciding factor for who would win the bids for the A-League expansion, rather than actual merit). In fact, they pushed so hard against it to the point that the Football Federation of Australia (FFA), while initially planning to add both these two new teams to next season's championship, have now changed their decision for one per season so that they don't "upset the balance".
Meanwhile, those in charge of the clubs claim that the FFA has been "holding them back, putting their own self-interests first rather that the good of the game" (which is partly true since the Lowy administration wasn't known as making the most positive changes to football) and have gone as far as to create the "Australian Professional Footballers Club Union", who's sole purpose is to break off the A-League from the FFA and make it an independent entity. But in which country, the world over, has this ever been seen? The way it works is that all leagues are run by their federation. That federation is part of a wider collection of federations, known as a con-federation (some known examples are: AFC, UEFA and CONCACAF) and all those confederations are under FIFA, the worldwide football organisation. If a league is NOT under a federation, then it is NOT recognized by FIFA and subsequently all its confederations, which means that if the A-League clubs do decide to go independent, they will lose all rights to play in the AFC Champions League, not to mention any other demerits FIFA, who are already watching developments in Australia very closely, might impose on them.
But that doesn't seem to bother the boards of these clubs. After all, they're running businesses and the number one priority of a good business is to keep up revenues. Who cares if bringing in certain teams to the league might be good for the sport in Australia, when it could cost them their (already hard to find) precious customers. The narrow-mindedness of those in charge of the A-League clubs and their inability to see beyond what's in front of them even brought forth the revelation that although there are "ongoing discussions" for a "second division", there will be no form of promotion or relegation. Which automatically removes all meaning for it, since the National Premier Leagues and the Y-League are in place.
If they had true intentions of going through with both a second division and an expansion of the A-League to "even up to 20 teams", as FFA chairman Mr Chris Nikou claims, then it could've very easily been done by establishing the second division first, selecting up to 20 teams for that league, then for the first few seasons allow only promotion towards the A-League and no relegation. However, the fact that they've chosen this roundabout method is evident of their intention to buy as much time as possible so that they can show FIFA and everyone else watching that "hey, look, we are taking steps forward", but at the same time maintain the current status quo for as long as they possibly can. With only one team added per season (the fate of the Wellington Phoenix is unknown at this point), somehow that doesn't seem like much of an "expansion" and the second division discussions have been "ongoing" for a while now and don't show any signs of going anywhere anytime soon. Even for the announcement of these two new teams, the FFA was unsure until the last few hours of when the announcement would be made.
It's clearly obvious we're dealing with a very closed club. A few people who don't deal nicely to outsiders coming in and taking all these things that they have fought to have. A highly privileged group that consider football to be their own market and that they have every right to be "independent" to do whatever they want with it. Should the A-League clubs gain their highly sought-after independence then there will most definitely be no expansion and no second division (at least none tied directly to the A-League). At this point, maybe it would be a safer bet for the FFA to turn to the teams of the NPL and create a different top-tier league for Australia all together. However, considering what happened with the National Soccer League and the "cleansing" of the stadiums from all teams of ethnic background (denying Australia's football heritage in the meantime), that scenario seems really far fetched. But should the boards of the A-League clubs remain on their current positions to putting their own self-interest before the good of the game, then, unfortunately, football won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
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