The Beautiful Game

State Leagues provide an important yet unappreciated service The recent announcement of the FFA’s $160 million deal has satisfied fans and guarantees the financial sustainability and media interest of the game for at least another four years. Many people are happy to see the FFA get their top order prime product in order in the A-League and the Socceroos, but what about the rest of their operation? Working down the pyramid leaves us in the awkward world of state leagues... and yes, we really do mean awkward. Not only do many teams feel disillusioned by the Soccer Australia’s negligence and the fall of the NSL but many are fighting for financial stability and relevance in a world that sees A-League teams poach their top talent for free if they aren’t ignored completely! The rise of Victory cult hero Andrew Nabbout is a high profile example of the potential riches that lie hidden in the murky waters of State Football so what can be done to bridge the gap between...

Each new season brings a number of changes with it. Players and managers are constantly under pressure to perform or face the looming threat of contract termination. The countries two biggest clubs (market wise) Melbourne Victroy and Sydney FC currently find themselves without a coach after inconsistent seasons. Following the success of Central Coast and Brisbane Roar the A-League has learnt the value of good coaches and what they can do to a club. News sites suggest Sydney may be close to signing Graham Arnold and that Melbourne Victory  is also making a play for Ange Postecoglou.  These bigger clubs have traditionally relied on proven personnel to satisfy the high expectations of their fans and rarely take risks in fear of failure. However given the youthful nature of the a-league should smaller clubs be shielded from larger clubs in order to be allowed to grow and develop? Specifically should the F FA  introduce rules to protect sma...

Perth Glory owner Tony Sage is currently facing off with the FFA over the future of Perth Glory's W-League and National Youth League teams. Sage has recently come out saying that the future of the two teams is uncertain and that he may pull both out of official competition to reduce losses he has incurred during his time at Perth Glory. It is understood that Sage will stand to save up around $100,000 by cutting Perth's relatively unsuccessful w-league team. The FFA have since responded with a clear message to the Australian football public. “Football Federation Australia remains firmly committed to an elite pathway for women’s football in Australia and this includes the Westfield W-League,”  stated head of the A-League Lyall Gorman. Further comments from Perth captian support the idea that the W-League team is well placed in Perth. “Maybe some of his comments are to try and get FFA to help out a little in the way it’s run and for sure the travel costs are a bi...

Ben Buckley has come out saying a decision on Gold Coast United's future may be 3-4 weeks away. Will we see Western Sydney in the A-League next year? It is widely believed the FFA will hold a 10 team A-League next year, however the whereabouts of that 10th team appear to be disputed. Speaking to FoxSports on Tuesday Ben Buckley commented, "What we've said over the last three weeks is that we'd assess the future viability of Gold Coast United over the course of the remaining weeks towards the end of the season." Buckley made the FFA's intentions regarding weste rn Sydney quite clear, stating  "We've got a number of our staff working diligently on putting together a business plan for the club - a community engagement plan - to work very hard with the local community in the western part of Sydney, should we pursue that for next year or the year beyond."

Not good enough - actual screen shot of the FFA website. With the future of Gold Coast United in turmoil many fans have protested to keep the league cellar dwellers in the league. Their efforts were to be shown on the 18/3/12, Gold Coast's home game against Perth Glory. The Gold Coast ran out 3-0 winners however for many this wasn't the most important statistic, what many people wanted to know was the crowd figure. Unfortunately, fans were let down with only an 'approximate' figure provided on the FFA website. The figure, as well as inaccurate, was low (2000) which begs a few questions. Why wasn't an accurate figure provided? Does this compromise the accuracy of attendance figures in the A-League? Why was the attendance so low - why won't the Gold Coast public support their team?

The last few weeks have seen the Australian football community shaken to the core. Clive Palmer's shanaigans have up until recently always been a bit of a novelty, a side-show in the wild ride known as Gold Coast United. Many fans laughed off these little acts of rebellion, such as the crowd cap and the closure of 'the beach' active supporter area, thankful that their club wasn't effected however as we all know Palmer's act soon came to effect more then the fans of Gold Coast and turned heads in the mainstream media. I'm not going to describe in detail how Clive Palmer has and plans to challenge the FFA I simply want to raise a question that has been on my mind. How will football fans be effected? Palmer's FA threatens not just the FFA's credibility but everyone else involved in the game in Australia. Should Palmer decide to launch the 'Super A-League' its players are at risk of losing FIFA recognition and the chance to play in FIFA r...

Lets put a side the removed team and financial issues and just enjoy the football and I'm not talking about the a-league! The a-league's lesser known little sister the 'w-league' kicked off this weekend with a grand final rematch between Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar. Thought the quality may have been less then what many of us are used to it proved to be an entertaining match and was broadcast on free to air TV. Many of us have flicked the channel to a w-league match on a lazy Saturday arvo and women's football is reaping the benefits. Though ratings have decreased due to the rise of the new digital channels the w-league continues to pull sizable tv audiences comparable to many a-league matches. However the off field success of the w-league has been surpassed by its on field success. Finally Australia has a stable women's football competition that is not only domestically competitive but at an international standard. We may not see the Martas  of tom...

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...

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. How will the FFA combat the A-League's long off-season in the future? 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 ...