Lessons to be learned from A-League?

[CollegeTillIDie]

Incorrect.

The longest away trip in Senior Professional Football is the one made by Luch-Energiya Vladivostok to Zenit St Petersburg in the Russian Premier League.

A distance of some 10,500km

Well said that man who correctly pointed out that Russia is the largest territory on earth!
The NZ input into the A-League is not a welcome development at all. Seems to be an attempt to mirror Rugby's Super 12 down in the Antipodes.

[Ash]

I agree defenders have alot to learn (esp at Sydney FC).

Is Ian Fyffe playing for Sydney FC this season?
He was a fairly good centre half with Sydny Olympic and got called into
the Australia U21s while playing for them a few seasons ago.

[hamish]

[QUOTE=Snoop Drog][QUOTE=sirhamish]Don't write off New Zealand. I was checking the attendances for the NZ club in that Aussie league and they were pulling in around 7,000 plus for some games - a lot more than they'd get in their local league.

Sir Hamish,this season has been a complete disaster for the NZ Knights and they are, probably, the biggest disappointment regarding A League. Their attendances average 4,000 (great by local NZ standards but the lowest by far in the A League)

They openly admitted that they had picked the wrong players for the job and hadn't expected to meet such strong opponents in the A League. They have lost four members of their squad including Simon Yeo (the only half decent player they had) and their captain (due to team turmoil- probably because management said the players were sh1t!)

Expect to see a huge reshuffle in the Knights camp before next season (including management)


NZ Knigths Trivia!
They have the longest away league trip (to Perth- 6,000 kms) of any other team in the world (apart from Perth! badly structures sentence there

I think they are the only team in the world to not only play outside their own "national federation" (ala Derry City) but outside their own Confederation (NZ is in Oceania Federation while Australia are now part of Asia)

Take your point Snoop Drog - where did I see that 7,000 attendance figures? Must have lost the site I guess but I do have only two home attendance figures from here

http://www.soccerstats.com/2kteam.as...away=3&round=0

As you can see only two games are shown from this site but I was really hinting at the potential fan base (in any country really) and, as we both agree, the Knights get better attendances than if they played in a NZ only league. As you can see they got 9,827 for their first game and it dropped to 4,938 for the second game.
True too, they have had a woeful league but they must be pleased that they have a healthy POTENTIAL market if they can generate a bit of success.

True, few clubs play outside their country leagues but I believe that the MSL will include two Canadian clubs in the near future.

I'm sure there is much we can learn from other leagues but I'd be inclined to also look at what had been achieved in Debmark and other leagues - before Dublin club fans jump on me I don't think amalgamating Dublin clubs would be successful. Then again, we have such a shower of "event junkies" in this country, you can be sure if a "Dublin United" was concocted you'd have loads of these people jumping on the bandwagon if such a club was successful - soon as things went wrong they'd be first of that particular vehicle and we'd be back to square one.

If you look the likes of Rushden & Diamonds, Thurrock etc in England it has happened where clubs have amalgamated and generated support but I suppose it depends on so many local factors it's hard to compare like with like.

I think the idea of Louth United wouldn't work. One of the two towns might eventually suffer. Here in Beeslow the local rugby club amalgamated with Athlone to form Buccaneers. Eventually, nearly all home AIL were transferred to Athlone and the local rugby club, while existing and fielding a few teams, have sort of dipped below the radar level and have only a fraction of participants that Beeslow Town FC have.

I know it's a lousy comparison but if Athlone and Longford combined to form Midlands United I'd have no interest whatsoever in such an enterprise and I'm sure Athlonians and Longford fans would feel the same. Sometimes, history and tradition are important.

BTW don't worry about badly structured sentences, your message came through loud and clear. You're talking to the master of grammar babble here in Hamish. LOL

[Dodge]

True, few clubs play outside their country leagues but I believe that the MSL will include two Canadian clubs in the near future.

Toronto is fairly definite. Probably won't be another one for a while

[hamish]

Well said that man who correctly pointed out that Russia is the largest territory on earth!
The NZ input into the A-League is not a welcome development at all. Seems to be an attempt to mirror Rugby's Super 12 down in the Antipodes.

Trouble is - as with rugby league and union "down there" Rupert Murdoch's dirty little fingers are all over those competitions and many games in both codes have quite poor attendances as well as big crowds for the big games from what I've seen on Sky.

That man should be locked away from all sport. Can you imagine if he got his sticky fingers on Gah here. You'd end up with All Ireland fixtures like "Wickford" v "Roscomayo". LOL

[Réiteoir]

Toronto is fairly definite. Probably won't be another one for a while

There is talk of the Montréal Impact being admitted to the League in 2 season's time.

I think it's conditional on the upgrading of their stadium

[pete]

IMO talk of the Aussie league being poor quality isn't valid. If they get bigger attendances that will mean more money & over time better players.

I was enthuasistic about an All-Ireland league but after speaking to some Portadown fans recently & also hearing Linfield chairmans comments i don't see a desire for fulltime pro football in NI.

What is the future of the eL? Crowds will always be the primary source of funds so how much do average crowds in say 10 team Premier need to get to be sustain the league?

[Dodge]

There is talk of the Montréal Impact being admitted to the League in 2 season's time.

I think it's conditional on the upgrading of their stadium

If there's any new teams they'll be brand new franchises. The Toronto team will be run by the Maple Leafs organistation.

[sonofstan]

[QUOTE=sirhamish][QUOTE=Snoop Drog]

I know it's a lousy comparison but if Athlone and Longford combined to form Midlands United I'd have no interest whatsoever in such an enterprise and I'm sure Athlonians and Longford fans would feel the same. Sometimes, history and tradition are important.

as I wouldn't in any Shelhemians/ Bohbourne abortion; that's not the point tho' - Delaney and prospective media partners aren't interested in the couple of thousand lunatics who for some unaccountable reason watch often dire football in sh!tholes up and down the country and frequent message boards; they want the people who DON'T go already - so what you and I and everyone else here think of the idea is irrelevant.

[Réiteoir]

looks like a bit of fan disenfranchisement going on with Delaney there

[Snoop Drog]

Is Ian Fyffe playing for Sydney FC this season?
He was a fairly good centre half with Sydny Olympic and got called into
the Australia U21s while playing for them a few seasons ago.

Fyffe has been a first team regular but there is talk of him being dropped to allow Mark Rudan back into the team. His defending can be a bit dodgy but has a good work-rate.

[Mayo Red]

Granted it was only one game and it was pre-season, but I was at the Pre-Season Cup Semi-Final between Melbourne Victory and the Central Coast Mariners back in August and the standard was very poor even with Kevin Muscat playing for Victory, who by the way lost 3-1. God knows I've seen terrible football matches in the EL, and it is unfair to judge on just one game but the defending was comical at times and it was a very poor game. In my honest opinion, Shels, Cork or Derry would have had no problems with either team on the night. My girlfriend was with me and even though she has no great interest in football, she has been to a few Rovers matches and she reckoned it was worse than at home!

What I did find impressive however was the way the whole event was run. The game was played in front of a crowd of about 6,000 or 7,000 in the Olympic Park Stadium, which I'd say would have a capacity of around 20,000, and while it is dwarfed by the likes of the nearby MCG, it is a top class ground with an excellent pitch surrounded by a running track. Everything from ticketing to security, stewarding, fan amenities and facilities was excellent, and is definately something that the EL has to improve on. We are light years behind in that respect, although I doubt we'll ever be able to buy beer inside our football grounds!

The Government and the FAI have got to get together and provide more funding for infrastructure and facilities to attract more fans and especially families through the turnstiles. If the GAA can get my money as a taxpayer, surely domestic football in this country deserves more Government investment. It's back to the same old problem again, the EL is a viable product but it just needs this investment and a better image and marketing to attract the barstoolers and overcome the ignorance and apathy of the likes of some of my mates who think I'm crazy going to EL games!

[Snoop Drog]

mayored:The pre-season cup was one of the first games for alot of these teams so the standard was to be expected. The standard has improved since then.

I agree with the rest of your post. And buying beer at games (and drinking it in your seat as oppossed to behind the stands as in England) is the best- Combing football and beer, my two favourtie hobbies!

[hamish]

[QUOTE=sonofstan][QUOTE=sirhamish]

as I wouldn't in any Shelhemians/ Bohbourne abortion; that's not the point tho' - Delaney and prospective media partners aren't interested in the couple of thousand lunatics who for some unaccountable reason watch often dire football in sh!tholes up and down the country and frequent message boards; they want the people who DON'T go already - so what you and I and everyone else here think of the idea is irrelevant.

Dunno about that sonofstan - new fans are welcome but the bedrock - ie US - will always keep footie going. Delaney is only as important as we let him be. We cannot depend on event junkies anyway. I'm open minded about all this - maybe you're right,

I suppose we'll see as things pan out.
Actually, that Shelhemians has a nice ring to it.LOL

[Mayo Red]

And buying beer at games (and drinking it in your seat as oppossed to behind the stands as in England) is the best- Combing football and beer, my two favourtie hobbies!

Throw in a Chicken Schnitzel and Chips washed down by a cold Touheys or VB, all in the comfort of your seat and you really have a winner alright!

[Snoop Drog]

Exactly Mayored!

btw- I think your sig is somewhat relevant to this thread.

[stevieontour]

Throw in a Chicken Schnitzel and Chips washed down by a cold Touheys or VB, all in the comfort of your seat and you really have a winner alright!

Mayo, you can't really mean that .. I mean, 90% of Aussies beers are p*iss, but Touheys or VB are really shocking.

They give you a worse hangover than Chang Beer.

The beers are so bad here, I can't understand why they have drinking problems at all.

[Snoop Drog]

Boags, Cascade, Little Creatures, Coopers pale ale, Extra Dry- And a decent pint of Guinness at The Welcome Hotel in Rozelle if you are really stuck

[stevieontour]

Boags maybe ,,, I do like Jimmy Squires ...

All the rest are p*ss

[Snoop Drog]

25,500 at Sydneys game last night. Franchise or not, it is drawing alot of punters...

Ash- Ian Fyffe came off the benc hfor the last two minutes.He was one yellow short of suspension so he had two mins plus stoppage to stay out of the book.

he was booked after 90 secs to a reckless challenge. One match suspension