Too Long
Last year today, the A-League was only 2 months away from kick off and a number of big teams including Everton and Celtic were on there way down for friendlies.
This year fans have been forced to wait 6 months for any A-League action with the season announced to start in October this poses a number of problems for the clubs, fans and possibly the A-League its self.
The April to October football free marathon is frustrating passionate a-league fans with lack of A-League play and news and though the A-League needs this recovery time it must make sure that this never happens again.
Clubs stand to lose both attention and focus.
It is a tough job for fans to get their footballing fix and the forced searching of news for 6 months will tire fans out.
Teams have also taken their eye off the ball having longer breaks, some teams are only ending their post season this week!
This begs the question, how will the A-League avoid this in the future?
If all goes to plan future A-League seasons will begin in October and end in late April/May giving clubs a 5 month off-season period, however elite European seasons like the EPL only have a 3 month off-season and start in August.
It is understandable that the A-League shouldn't be able to match this due to squad size and number of teams and of course the fact that football isn't the number one sport in Australia but surely the FFA must try find a way to plug the gap!
The EPL will start 2 months ahead of the A-League and finish a month later other Australian Leagues (the AFL and NRL) have off seasons of 4-5 months but have significant media creating stories and keeping them in the news.
So how can the FFA plug the gap?
The FFA cup could be vital here with preliminary knock out stages between state league clubs to act as a pre-season football fix.
The news would be local about local clubs and will unite community fans towards the eventual of facing off with an A-League club, thus keeping the national league in the picture!
How ever the pre-season in shortened it is important to realise the problem is there and puts the A-League season behind on an international scale.
This year fans have been forced to wait 6 months for any A-League action with the season announced to start in October this poses a number of problems for the clubs, fans and possibly the A-League its self.
The April to October football free marathon is frustrating passionate a-league fans with lack of A-League play and news and though the A-League needs this recovery time it must make sure that this never happens again.
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| How will the FFA combat the A-League's long off-season in the future? |
It is a tough job for fans to get their footballing fix and the forced searching of news for 6 months will tire fans out.
Teams have also taken their eye off the ball having longer breaks, some teams are only ending their post season this week!
This begs the question, how will the A-League avoid this in the future?
If all goes to plan future A-League seasons will begin in October and end in late April/May giving clubs a 5 month off-season period, however elite European seasons like the EPL only have a 3 month off-season and start in August.
It is understandable that the A-League shouldn't be able to match this due to squad size and number of teams and of course the fact that football isn't the number one sport in Australia but surely the FFA must try find a way to plug the gap!
The EPL will start 2 months ahead of the A-League and finish a month later other Australian Leagues (the AFL and NRL) have off seasons of 4-5 months but have significant media creating stories and keeping them in the news.
So how can the FFA plug the gap?
The FFA cup could be vital here with preliminary knock out stages between state league clubs to act as a pre-season football fix.
The news would be local about local clubs and will unite community fans towards the eventual of facing off with an A-League club, thus keeping the national league in the picture!
How ever the pre-season in shortened it is important to realise the problem is there and puts the A-League season behind on an international scale.
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