A League. Lessons for the EL?

[endabob1]

Not sure if anyone else caught the A League "Grand Final" in the early hours of Sunday morning from Melbourne but it made me think.
I was out in Oz 3 years ago when they were in the process of binning the old National Soccer League and replacing it with the Shiny new version. The growth has been spectacular, Melbourne have gone from playing in front of circa 4/5 thousand as South Melbourne to an average crowd of 31,000 last season and a sold out Telstra Dome of 55,000 for the final.
I know there has been changes, the Melbourne Victory club now is actually a totally new club from the old South Melbourne club, but some of the old NSL clubs have survived, Perth Glory for example have remained and interestingly their crowds are pretty stagnant despite the shiny new league.
The league has been a resounding success and although it's still in its infancy there are a few serious lessons to be learned.
The big thing for me is that the Australian FA sold the rights to the league as a package with the Socceroos games, so Fox Sports (Their Sky) shelled out about €50M for the rights to International and A-League games, by tying it in with the Internationals they are guaranteeing exposure to the league. Couple this with some serious marketing the old league was seen as a joke by AFL ARL & Super 14 fans, they have lured sports fans from other codes by seeing how their games work and marketed the league to suck in the neutrals.
They lured ex-pats home, the likes of Kevin Muscatt, Tony Vidmar & Stan Lazaridis were all journeymen pros in England but as internationals their return has meant recognisable names are now playing in the league.

They are already planning on expanding the league to bring in new teams and while its franchise style will not be to everybody’s taste I think the FAI could do a lot worse than look at some of the methods the Aussies have used.

[BrayUnknowns]

Yeah i saw it myself, looked quality i have to say.... standard of footie was no bettef then the EL but the packge they offer to the public is on par with the EPL. It couldn't do the FAI any harm into looking into the A League...

[WeAreRovers]

Sounds great, we should definitely copy that idea. How about new franchises like Dublin City and Cork Celtic? What? Oh right....

KOH

[endabob1]

while its franchise style will not be to everybody’s taste I think the FAI could do a lot worse than look at some of the methods the Aussies have used.

I agree that the Franchise route is not the way to go but there are serious lessons to be learned from the way they have set up, marketed and operate their league.

[MariborKev]

I'm in Melbourne at the minute and was at the last few games of the season, as well as both leagues of the semi finals. Wasn't able to get a ticket for the final as it sold out in under 2 hours!

There are some lessons we could learn, but it not all rosy in the garden. Most of the clubs are running at a large loss and are being sustained by the FFA. Indeed the franchise for the New Zealand side has been withdrawn and new bids are being invited for it.

As the interest grows out here more "money men" are becoming involved. There are several interesting points to note from the Melbourne experience. The demographic of support that they initially attracted was the 18-30 male one, families etc are only starting to join the party now.

Many of the older fans have resisted the urgeand remain loyal to their VPL clubs such as South Melbourne, Geelong, Heidleburg etc. They don't particularly care for the Victory. However the two seasons run at different times of the year,so fans can support their local clubs while also supporting the single Melbourne side.

The manner in which the League has been marketed has been brilliant. Given the crowded market with the presence of rugby(both codes), cricket and particularly in Melbourne the AFL the League has been marketed very impressvely.

The performances of the "Socceroos"(if you think that is annoying there is also the Olymproos, Matildas and various other monikers for different sides) has ignited the interest in football out here and the A-League has capitalised well on it.

Furthermore competitive ticketing prices. $30(€18) for a ticket to the second leg of the minor semi final between Melbourne and Adelaide at the brand new 55,000 Telstra Dome. This got me a seat on the lower level, in the curva as it turned out. They offer family packages for adults and kids as well making it a good day out.

Also, the media have really used the atmosphere that the fans bring to the game as a heavy selling point. The Victory lads are known as the noisiest fans with the best displays etc and the marketing of the league plays to this strength.

A lot of Aussie I hae spoken to who have attended the recent games couldn't get over the singing, the flags, the constant noise, the bouncing up and down in tandem. The League has sought to sell this as a live occasion, something that no other Australian sport can offer. Indeed you know it is working when the pro-AFL media start printing scare stories about hooliganism, only for the police and others to say that football fans are the best behaved in any sport in Aus.

There are many other things we could learn from the A-League in terms of their off the field setup, what cmmunity activities the players must perform, how they are targeting the kids, the use of the salary cap, the TV coverage.

[endabob1]

Maribor, Having spent some time in Melbourne I know the similarity between the pro AFL media there and the pro GAA Media in Ireland which is why I am so impressed with how succesful it's become and why I think the FAI should be taking notes.

Clearly there are differences in circumstances and with a couple of exceptions ;) nobody would like to see the demise of long standing LOI clubs but the league needs to make changes if it is to become successful, the demise of Shelbourne is overwhelming testimony to that.
The progress of Derry in Europe last season and the movement of players to the higher echelons of the EPL & SPL shows the standard on the pitch has improved it's up to the FAI & the clubs to make sure that it is improved off the field aswell and lessons could be learned from the A League.