“We must see progress on all fronts”: An impassioned plea on the state of football in Australia
In the past few weeks we’ve invited Football Australia CEO James Johnson, Australian Professional Leagues CEO Danny Townsend, Australian Association of Professional Clubs Chairman Nick Galatas on The Global Game show.
The reason we’ve invited these guests on the show, is that the game continues to suffer from a lack of proper debate and by extension, accountability. The contrast with other sports is startling. I took a peek at one of the Sydney newspapers online sites – if you are an NRL fan, you are very well served.
You can find articles not just on players and coaches and teams… but also discussions on the money situation in the NRLW, an opinion piece on the Bulldogs betting ban, allegations of salary cap rorting, and the investigation by the ARL Commission into the NSWRL elections. There are magazine shows seven days a week on the sports’ main broadcaster. Radio stations, podcasts, news bulletins on TV, all devote hours to the minutiae of the game on and off the field.
Football? The three top stories on the same site centre on Ange Postecoglou’s 50th game in charge of Celtic, Roman Abramovich’s impending exit at Chelsea and Mark Rudan’s appointment as Wanderers coach. One local story on a coaching change; although there are some others further down. Elsewhere, apart from Stan’s chat show, which I enjoy, and our humble radio program, there is quite frankly, not much.
Of course, there is debate in the milieu of football’s social media circles, bloggers and various podcasts – but proper scrutiny of the issues in mass market formats remains scarce. And let’s be honest, the game has some issues at the moment.
You’ll forgive me for not being able, as an employee of Channel 10, to go into depth into the difficulties with the Paramount Plus app or other facets of the broadcast coverage. But rest assured, I know, we know, they are there. They need to be fixed. It’s frustrating for us too. We want to bring you the best coverage possible.
But longer-term, what about the structural issues that have been around much longer than the broadcast deal? Seventeen years since the A-League started, we are still on occasion playing out of cricket or AFL ovals, or out of town suburban venues. Club infrastructure generally continues to be a rather haphazard affair. Ticket prices remain – to some extent – too high. Active support is still over-policed in places. We still bang on about participation rates, yet resolutely remain unable to tap into those resources and convert them into paying fans.
We indulge in endless rebrands and name changes which confuse punters and mean little in real terms. We tinker while Rome burns.
The leagues meantime, remain too small, the games economy too stunted, our mainstream football media almost entirely evaporated. Expansion plans are shelved until tomorrow in the face of the necessity of struggling for breath today. When it does happen, invariably it’s done too quickly, and for the wrong reasons.
Our stands remain too empty, our TV ratings ordinary, our national teams too reliant on too small a pool of talent, in part because of a lack of an expanded divisional footprint – something at least, that appears close to being rectified. Of course, Covid has impacted. How could it not? But with things returning to normality, it cannot remain an excuse forever.
The Sydney derby on Saturday should be the wake-up call. Once the hottest ticket in town, CommBank Stadium was less than half full for a blue riband fixture that had minimal build up. The once-fiery derby was played out in rather tame fashion – and Mark Rudan’s after-match press conference was attended by (so I am told) a grand total of one journalist. If that isn’t cause for alarm bells ringing, I don’t know what is. The previous week, just 3,262 turned up to watch the Grand Final rematch between Sydney FC and Melbourne City.
Big decisions have to be taken to restore the game to health and especially with regards to getting bums back on seats and to re-infuse identities back into some of our clubs. To name but a few examples – Western United must play in the west of Melbourne next season, not like travelling nomads. Wellington Phoenix must not play in Wollongong for a third season – no, not even a few games - even if the reason for them being there has been beyond their control. If Melbourne City are to be based in Casey, then get on with negotiating a stadium build with the local authorities. Move, or stay put – it’s one or the other, not both.
Questions remain elsewhere too – Sydney FC moves back to the SFS next season – is the upper tier curtain going to be part of the refit as promised to improve the look and atmosphere? Or are we going to have another cavernous three-quarters empty bowl? Whatever happened to the proposed redevelopment of Campbelltown Stadium? Are Brisbane staying permanently in Redcliffe? And when is that damn stadium going to be built in Tarneit, the promise of which was the entire reason behind Western’s inclusion in the first place? Their team is excellent – but if no-one wants to watch the travelling roadshow, the whole exercise becomes pointless.
On the pitch, some teams – not all – are playing slow, predictable football. Without relegation, that should surely be unacceptable in a league desperate for some excitement to sell to the masses.
At national team level, criticism of the national teams must not be taken as a personal affront. Fans and pundits have every right to hold Tony Gustavsson and Graham Arnold to account if results and performances aren’t right. The Socceroos are not playing well, no matter what the coach may say, and the Matildas are not Koalas, no matter how important the Women’s World Cup is to the federation’s finances… they cannot be a protected species.
Football media types of whatever hue – paid or unpaid – need to be encouraged to ask questions – even if Keep Up is the primary focus. Another area that needs plenty of work incidentally.
The game needs discussion shows, magazine programs, podcasts, written articles in much greater abundance, with much larger footprints. Different voices provide flavour, counterpoints, conversation, progress. Without conversation, football is reduced to the periphery, to the margins of water cooler chats. People lose track of the narratives, of the players, of the fixtures themselves. News Corp aren’t going to help – we knew that months ago. But the end result is what we are seeing – a flatlining of interest from those outside of the rusted-ons. That doesn’t help anyone.
From the APL’s point of view - just before Covid struck, Danny Townsend and Simon Pearce sat at the Football Writers Festival and their message was clear – give us the keys to the car, and we’ll show you how it can move through the gears. Well, they have had the keys for quite some time now. They have been allowed some grace because of the pandemic.
Next season at the very latest, we must see progress on all fronts.