The Beautiful Game

All sports need fans though the gates and the A-League is no different, however in light of last season it appears the off-field activities of the A-League have over shadowed the on-field improvements. A worrying downward trend in crowd numbers has developed over the last few A-League seasons, one that threatens the financial stability and viability of the young league. However in the face of these looming challenges and increasing pressure from rival codes the FFA have responded with a new multi-platform marketing campaign and a revamped fixture beginning in October. The effects of these measures have been enhanced with the arrival of major Socceroos Brett Emeron and of course Harry Kewell  and crowds are on the rise The A-League currently boasts an average crowd number of 12, 472 a figure only surpussed by the A-League's bumper seasons 2 (12,985) and 3 (14,608) Newcastle has seen crowds rise by nearly 5000 this season However with a number of marquee crowd...

What is football? What does it mean to Australia and what does it mean to the world? The FFA seems to know. 'We are football' were the brave words chosen to lead the a-league into a new season and with some early success. Its been a tough run for football in Australia. From confirming fans to confirming the name, challenges from other codes in the over-crowded Australian sporting landscape has seen football fail to live up to its potential. The 'sleeping giant' of Australian sport has remained so for a while however recent moves from the sport’s governing body suggest the game is 'waking up' to the challenges and expectations of sports fans in the modern world. Looking past the recent few years of the a-league with low attendance and lower media coverage the league still manages to struggle against the major codes. It is not vanishing like the AFL faithful suggest nor is it on the verge of dominating Australia's sporting landscape despite suggestions by C...

This has been a huge off-season for the A-League and the FFA as they prepare for arguably the biggest and most important season of Australian domestic football to date. Fans have been forced to wait over 5 months to see their teams compete in the top domestic competition and with over 2 months to go we must ask ourselves and our governing body, have we done enough? Sadly this wasn't the worst photo we could find. It will take a while to cement  football in Australian  sporting culture All dedicated a-league fans know why the off-season was elongated, the fixture was strategically moved to begin in October but we’re not here to talk about the off-season now, we’re here to ask of the work that has been done during it. We can narrow the FFA off-season work to 3 things: ·          -  New Fixture and league restructure ·         -   Fan forums and communication and ·         -  Marketing The FF...