A Window To Asia

With just over a month until the start of the new season I thought it about time I resume this blog. I lot has happened in the last couple of months but there are few items I want to mention specifically.

Firstly, congratulations to the Socceroos on qualification to their second world cup in a row (only our third in total). I have been astounded by the criticism of the coach, Pim Verbeek, in the lead up to the last couple of matches. Although I also have been critical of the conservative approach he employs the proof is in the pudding and I would suggest it will be a long while before another Australian coach exceeds his qualification record of 14 games, 9 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses.

Secondly I think overall Newcastle and Central Coasts performance in the Asian Champions League was unfortunately about what was to be expected. Central Coast never looked like they deserved to be there and it was no surprise they failed to win a match. Although Newcastle exceeded my initial expectations of them by making the final 16 round, the way they capitulated to Pohang demonstrated that they probably didn’t deserve to get that far. I think Gary Van Egmond is a huge loss to Newcastle and I fear both they and Central Coast will struggle to make the final 6 this year.

The final item I wanted to talk about is the moment in A-League history that occurred today. What moment am I talking about? Today Melbourne Victory’s recent signing, Thailand international Surat Sukha, officially joined the reining champions. It is significant because I believe he is the first ASEAN player to be signed into the A-League. It is my personal belief that several of the ASEAN countries can and will provide a market for the A-League. Not just in terms of players but supporters, TV rights and sponsors as well.

The population of this area is staggering, Indonesia (220 Million), Philippines (92 Million), Vietnam (88 Million), Thailand (63 Million), Malaysia (28 Million). With this sort of marketing opportunity on our doorstep is seems daft that Australian teams haven’t attempted to tap into this market before. Take Thailand for example. Their capital, Bangkok, alone has a population of over 8 million people and is a football mad country (though admittedly the majority seem more interested in the EPL than their local league). With a time difference of only 3 hours behind Melbourne, it would seem a logical TV market to tap into.

Surat Sukha may just be the thin edge of the wedge into this exciting country and if successful you can bet your life on the fact that others will soon follow. Of course Melbourne have been influenced in their decision to sign Sukha due to the 3+1 rule in the Asian Champions League. For those unaware of the rule, all teams may have only three foreign players in their ACL squad though you are allowed to have a fourth if they are from an AFC Country.

This rule is similar to the one that the J-league introduced this year and as I have commented on before should be implemented here in Australia as well. To allow five foreign based players to be signed by each team in the A-league and not mandate that at least one of them is to be from an AFC country just seems crazy. Other countries in the AFC are following the J-league lead with Saudi Arabia and Qatar both planning to also implement the 3+1 rule next season and I will be very surprised if they are the last.

It seems though at least a few of the A-league teams are now looking to Asia. In addition to Sukha at Victory, Adelaide have picked up Shin In Sup (Korea) and Sydney have signed Byun Sung-Hwan (Korea). And Newcastle of course still have Song Jin-Hyung (Korea) on their books. So our out of the 10 teams, 4 have recruited in Asia. Not great but at least it is a start. The FFA need to implement a 4+1 rule for next season.

36 Days to Season V

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