A New Start

One of the points in Frank Lowry’s speech I failed to touch on in my last blog was the idea of moving the start time of the A-League Season to the first week in October.

After a honeymoon that was the first three seasons it has become blindingly obvious in the last two that the A-League struggles to make any impact in the mass media in the August/September period. With the AFL and NRL ramping up to finals mode it seems every spare inch of newspaper space and every second of TV coverage is devoted to the two sports.

Crowds have been disappointing nearly across the board in this period and something has to be done to either raise the profile of the A-League start or to avoid the issue altogether and move the kickoff of the season. It seems the FFA has waved the white flag and chosen the latter.

But is this really going to solve all the issues or are we just moving problem to the other end of the season. If the FFA had of started the League on Thursday 08th of October rather than the 06th of August, we would have to add a total of 9 rounds to the end of the current season. This means that the regular season would have finished on the 24th of April and we would be looking forward to a final been played on 22nd May.

Up to now the FFA has taken the approach that it was better to schedule the backend of the season in the best time slot (ie no AFL and NRL) to promote the finals series as much as possible. This new approach however will see the last five rounds of the regular season and the finals going head to head with the two codes.

I agree with the FFA that this is worth trying for a few reasons.

There is a argument that the A-league will have a much better chance of securing media time/space in the business end of the season and that crowds will “stick” better during the run to and through the finals. It will also allow our players a competition that keeps them playing right up to world competitions that are generally held in June. It even works better in regards to current timing of the Asian Champions League where our teams would be fully match fit heading into the initial group stage matches. Though the early knockout rounds could see us very underdone.

The October start also fits nicely with the January transfer window, which currently falls at a crazy time (ie The lead into our finals) and causes so many problems in terms of players joining for practically just the finals. Finally by moving the start to October it may allow some room for a cup style competition to slot nicely into the August/September period. The FFA need a cup of some sort and I am in total agreement with Adrian Musolino that the cup competition should be the focus of the FFA rather than a second division.

There is a significant risk though in changing the timing of the season. Teams that are not playing well and have little to no chance of making finals may see their crowds suddenly evaporate come the start of the AFL/NRL seasons. If the FFA cannot convince media to come on board or afford to saturate the airways with the promotion it hands the competing codes an opportunity to smother the A-League at its most critical time.

The October start also limits the A-League to 26-27 game season. Anything longer than that and the FFA would be again forced to bring the start date forward defeating the purpose. Personally I don’t see this as a bad thing. A 14 team league, 26 game season is in my opinion the right size for Australia. There is also of course the question how to fit a Cup Style competition fits into this timing (midweek vs preseason).

The move to October to the right decision. Whether it will be a successful one however will remain to be seen.

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