Nice To See You Again

Like an old friend you haven’t seen for a few months it is invigorating to see that football is back (even if it is only the preseason). It would be nice though if we, the supporters, could actually get some coverage of the matches.

Once again No TV, No Radio and now Melbourne Victory seems to have dispensed with their text Updates. In this Information Age it is unacceptable that a football club like Melbourne Victory (or any A-league Club for that matter) could not organise for somebody to post live text updates onto their website. The FFA are missing an opportunity here, they should be embracing the internet as a form of media and using this preseason comp to build interest in the season proper.

As we have seen throughout the first three seasons of the A-League the first two months of the season can be a challenge in getting the traditional media outlets interested. With the AFL, NRL and ARU all building towards finals the build up to the new season gets lost in the clutter and we are lucky to get a small article here and there.

But rather than use this to explore other avenues the FFA seems determined to sit back and wait for the ‘winter’codes to finish. They seem to accept that the media is not interested and are willing to allow this quiet build up.

Surely the internet presents an opportunity to self promote the game. With a few small initiatives we can build our own buzz. Why not :

1. Allow all clubs more creative access to their Websites.
With the need to brand the new leaque, the heavily controlled websites were a nessescity. It ensured a common approach and look across the league. But it is now time to hand back some of the control to the clubs. Still mandating a template and style is a good idea but clubs need to be able to add media and club content.

2. Media Content
If the media are not interested with what is going on within a club the fans sure are. All clubs need to have a media plan for their internet sites. Lets get some player interviews up there. What about a manager’s weekly chat or maybe even a fan’s corner where some supporter created content could be published.

3. Match Reports
In this information savvy world surely the FFA and clubs can do better than a plain old text match report. Let’s get some reasonable cameras along to the games and get some footage of the preseason. Just because Foxtel chooses not to cover the game surely that shouldn’t stop the league at least getting some highlights up to the sites.


There are probably several other ways that the FFA could explore to increase exposure . They just need to get off their butts and go to it.

In the meantime I look forward to Sunday morning when I will get to read about Melbourne Victory’s latest preseason match against Perth. With a bit of luck their might even be a small article in the Age Newspaper. We can only hope.

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