The A-League

[stevieontour]

Living in Sydney at the moment, and watching in amazement at the success of the A League.

Now don't get me wrong, the standard of football is terrible, especially the defending.

But why I love seeing is the way in that the league has been promoted.
Not with big money, but just slickness.
Crowds are flocking to it.
Central Coast (Gosford) and Newcastle both almost sold out their home games over the weekend in stadiums over 20,000.
It's nothing short of phenominal the support some teams are getting, Melbourne are even getting over 50,000 some weeks!!!!

The real irony here, is that alot of the press is still negative to them, but they're winning the press over. All about professionalism and promoting the league together.

The FAI really needs to take a look at the way Aussie Football association has run its recent affairs. These guys were considered a joke here only a few yrs ago.

[steno]

Their good run in the World Cup probably helped as well.

[OneRedArmy]

In many ways, although its counter-intuitive, promoting football as a "new" sport in any given country is an easier task than weaning supporters off foreign teams and getting them away from the comfort of their barstools/sofa to watch a live game in the EL.

I agree though that professional marketing (along with decent facilities) is a must.

Here's hoping.

[pete]

How are the Aussies marketing domestic soccer? Few examples...?

By and large irish people are lazy & I think Aussies have much better live (non-pub) sport attendance culture?

[oriel]

I lived in sydney in 99 and went to see Northern Spirit play most weeks at home, they got between 10 and 18,000, were the biggest Sydney team at the time, but the standard was appaling. I remember saying then it was like watching a good irish side playing in a summer touranment. Thats it. zero tackling, awful defending, loads of goals. a bit of fun really but it didnt really matter. A lot of players from eng lge div 1 and lower went out to play out their careers.

good beer and burgers though at the matches. was like a b-b-q atmosphere.

[SligoBrewer]

How are the Aussies marketing domestic soccer? Few examples...?

By and large irish people are lazy & I think Aussies have much better live (non-pub) sport attendance culture?

irish people aren't lazy.. look at the attendances the gaa (football) championships are gettin for their sh!te

[pineapple stu]

That's only a few matches a year though. The Aussies do at least have a tradition of attending a regular AFL season in large numbers which (I think?) has games every week similar to football.

[1 9 2 8]

irish people aren't lazy.. look at the attendances the gaa (football) championships are gettin for their sh!te
In general Irish people are only interested in big events like the GAA Championship, Word Cup etc

[Tazskool]

the marketing dept of the Socceroo's are good.. they take players and teams and make them bigger than what they are...

They make it look like a good family day out and the sunshine helps alot..

Over here and in Ireland ppl see everything as sittin on the edge of the pitch under no shelter and freezing whilst poor football is played in the rain.

The league does not see every team as a seperate thing..it views the league as a marketable item and goes all out..

Also sport in Oz is huge.. its in schools and all kids are pushed to do more than 2-3 sports.. I grew up there for 13 years.. and did 4 sports.

So kids get into the sports easier... and I dont think there are many ppl in the FAI or whoever markets the leagues enough balls and get up and go to walk tall and shout about the game within Ireland.. and get the deals done!

[barney]

Even last year the A League got good attendances. They targetted an average of 10,000 a game and reached it, despite the New Zealand Knights only getting 2,000 - 3,000 every second week. And, like the eircom League, there are very few internationals playing in the league. So while the success of the international team didn't do any harm, it certainly doesn't account for the success of the league.

Firstly, there are only eight teams in the league and they are geographically well spread out. I know most people will point to Dublin City and say that franchises wouldn't work in this country but if you started say 8 teams on an equal footing (all new clubs), it might take off. However, that would take the relinquishing of history and tradition and most of us, me included, would be reluctant to do that.

Also, the A-League has Foxtel behind them and the other media give the league some great coverage. The Aussie's also have the cloud of The Premiership hanging over them, most football fans there support an English club and they get 5-6 live games a week and numerous highlights shows.

The facilities at the grounds are also fantastic, but they use existing multi-sport stadia. Eircom League clubs will never have that luxury.

I don't think we are comparable because I don't think we would ever take a risk and start from scratch. However, good, solid, consistent promotion of the league in the media is one facet of the Aussie approach that we should foster. Hopefully the FAI will help us in this regard.

[dcfcsteve]

Firstly, there are only eight teams in the league and they are geographically well spread out. I know most people will point to Dublin City and say that franchises wouldn't work in this country but if you started say 8 teams on an equal footing (all new clubs), it might take off.

Dublin City was the opposite of a franchise.

An existing Dublin club staying in Dublin, though changing its name and kit and creating a 'Year Zero', does not constiture franchise football. Had they moved to Mullingar or Letterkenny or Tralee then yes - it would've been franchise football.

I assume there's no promotion or relegation in the A League ? Which if so, will see it stagnate a bit with time (though it won't kill it - look at the stagnation in GAA, Aussei Rules, Super 12 Rugby etc).

Bottom line is that the A League is a well-marketed product with appealing modern facilities. We have neither.

[barney]

Sorry, you're quite right, it wasn't a franchise. What I should have said is that critics would use Dublin City as evidence that the franchise system wouldn't work (i.e. clubs with absolutely no history and tradition). I don't think that analogy would be fair or correct for the reasons you stated amongst others.

Agree with the rest of your post. Marketing and facilities will go a long way towards improving our lot.

[endabob1]

The facilities at the grounds are also fantastic, but they use existing multi-sport stadia. Eircom League clubs will never have that luxury.

This is a salient point but I know that in Melbourne they moved from the old small ground at BobJane Stadium (Capacity Circa 10k) to the Olympic Park ground which must hold around 20k and are now playing games at Telstra which is huge 40k for a game with Sydney in a country where Soccer was the joke sport shows the real strenght of the marketing and promotion.

I also think that if the clubs/FAI had any foresight they would have got involved with the IRFU for developing dual use grounds, Limerick are shuting up shop while Munster Rugby are planning to expand Thomond Park, The Dublin clubs are lurching from one ground crisis to another while Leinster are planning the redevelopment of their Donnybrook ground.........
Surely the sensible approach would be to try and have dual use grounds, ok the GAA are not going to get involved but as provincial rugby is drawing the sort of crowds that EL clubs need to aspire to they should be looking far more closely at how the provinces are marketing their game and developing their support & grounds.

[CharlesThompson]

That's just what the FAI need - a junket to Australia! While I'm happy for the Aussies that they are getting good publicity and good crowds, as has been stated, they have the weather and the facilities.

What we need is lots of publicity over here. The eL has to be presented as 'sexy'. Andy Gray needs to tell Irish people that football in this country has come on in leaps and bounds. Oh, and it would help if we got a couple of teams into the latter stages of European football.

[pete]

I wouldn't oppose a LOI franchise league if was big increase in attendances & quality. Too many vested interests in Dublin to allow it to happen. Only Shamrock Rovers have attempted to move their ground to where the potential spectators live. Bohs moving out of the City but little surrounding population in new location. Only Drogs are catering for the new population centres in the surrounding counties of Dublin.

[passerrby]

well what do you all expect the FAI cant even organise something simple like good weather you would think with jd walking on water and all that it would bew so easy.

[CharlesThompson]

well what do you all expect the FAI cant even organise something simple like good weather you would think with jd walking on water and all that it would bew so easy.

Exactly what I wanted to say! With big JD in the job for over a year now, why the hell haven't they looked at making the sun shine every weekend!? It's so fücking obvious it's incredible!

[passerrby]

that raises another point if jd thinks he is god and ollie believes he also is god (ollies wage and revenue payment make the loafs and fishes look simple) can we under any law cruisify them both

[CollegeTillIDie]

The Premiership was a marketing re-invention of a league, which had been in serious decline brought about by decades of neglect of facilities, stadium disasters and hooliganism. Fuelled by TV money the FA turned that game around. Yes the Australians a re a good example , one would argue a better example, but just to remind people attendances were plummeting at Big games cross channel as relatively recently as the 1990/91 and 1991/92 seasons.

[pete]

We often blame the Premiership for the decline in LOI attendances but i think crowds have been low for decades now. If you turn on the tv in europe will often see more Premiership live games than available in Ireland. I know JD is just a politician but I am reasonably optimistic that there is genuine interest from the FAI in the LOI now & funds available in the state to improve facilities gradually...