The news that A-League fans have long been waiting for has come – the competition will finally expand to include two more clubs in 18th months time.
But an even bigger can of worms has been opened as to who Football Federation Australia (FFA) will actually green light to join for the 2019/2020 season.
Since the introduction of Western Sydney Wanderers in 2012 the A-League has remained with just 10 clubs. North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United were axed from the competition eight years ago and Melbourne Heart, now known as Melbourne City, and the Wanderers were brought in to replace them. But the A-League has now become stale, with crowd attendances and TV ratings down, and fan antipathy at dangerous levels. Australia’s football community has been crying out for expansion for years, and finally it will get its wish.
However which bid FFA chooses, and who it ignores, could become an equally polarizing issue. Bids are mounting up to become part of the country’s top football league and the competition will be fierce. Will it look to the past, or try something new?
Arguably the two front-runners are the Southern Expansion and South-East Melbourne’s Team 11.
The Southern Expansion have high-profile backers in former Socceroo and TV pundit Craig Foster and ex-NSW Premier Morris Iemma to form a new club. They represent the southern part of Sydney and the Sutherland Shire, as well as the Illawarra and South Coast region. They have support from NRL club Cronulla Sharks and plan to split their home games between three stadiums – Kogarah Oval, WIN Stadium and Southern Cross Group Stadium.
Team 11 has local and state political support and covers the populous southern-eastern part of Melbourne, with the aim of a new side playing in a boutique stadium in Dandenong. Ex-Socceroo Vince Grella is their ambassador and current national team members Jackson Irvine and Bailey Wright, who both hail from the region, have given their support.
Given FFA chief executive David Gallop’s past comment that the A-League needs to “fish where the fish are”, putting a third A-League club into Sydney and Melbourne and creating more derbies would seem to be their favoured move.
But that could ignore former National Soccer League giant South Melbourne’s legitimate claims to enter the competition. They have a great history and their own ground, but for FFA to reconnect with the past would seem a huge break with their normal strategy. Usually the governing body has been loath to embrace football’s history or have any links with the old NSL.
There are also bids from Australia’s third biggest city, Brisbane, with another NSL outfit in the Brisbane Strikers staking a claim. Brisbane City, coached by former A-League boss John Kosmina, are also in the frame in the Queensland captial. Gold Coast United have reformed and want back into the A-League, while Far North Queensland Heat want to bring the competition to Cairns.
The Wollongong Wolves, backed by South Coast Football, are another old NSL side attempting to get back into the top-level competition. Then there are new bids being put together by groups and clubs in Tasmania, Canberra and Geelong
There are no shortage of those wanting in to the A-League. So far FFA’s track record on expansion is mixed at best. The chance is there to get the competition back on track and make the future bright once more. It needs to get this decision right, and not alienate those bids that miss out, so that an already fractured sport doesn’t become even more divided.
