I was surprised by Ray Gatt's 'A-League Falling Short of NSL: There's not enough talent to expand' (The Australian page 37 November 25). Perhaps sparked by Culina's post match comments about the quality of A-League teams, Gatt has gone for the jugular of the A-League.
I wonder what he will be able to write about next week?
Perhaps cricket or the offseason drivel the reading public is being feed about union, league - and the sport where nothing is actually happening now (ie not even internationals), AFL.
Gatt's comments really highlight the FFA's problem. The public face of promotion is media management. And it has been a discouragement to fans. The FFA have lost the ability to influence it except at Fox Sports.
In any case, I think Gatt is wrong. The standard of play is as good or better than last year. But the up has been anti-ed. I think he is very wrong about the problem being the quality of players.
The problem is that the FFA has not been able to put together a strategic marketing plan and has relied on the 2005 World Cup qualification to relaunch the sport. The 2009 qualification process - via pay TV - left Australia as the only national not celebrating its qualification. Have a look at New Zealand or even the lengths France went too.
And a quiz:
What does Melbourne Victory, Melbourne Heart, the 15th union team and Melbourne Storm have in common?
5 comments:
You are so right - the league is getting better every year even though players are leaving others come in and the standard has never been higher.
Think the A-League needs to get its claws into the asian market - here in vietnam there are at least 5 channels playing football at any given time of the day - you can watch russian league, cech leauge, J-Leauge, V-League, highlights from most asian leagues but no A-League - not a whisper.
One off the big things the a league has got going for it is the excellent footage and camera work - it looks better on telle than many of the asian leagues, not so much because of the quality of the play but the quality of the broadcast and the production. It would go down very well here I am sure.
Not sure re the quiz.
Thanks Ed.
The answer is all 4 teams will play at the new Melbourne Stadium.
Hi John, Hi Ed,
I thought the answer was that they all needed foxsports money to survive ... i hope the other boys don`t tear up the grass too much.
Hey Ed, are you getting your A-league fix atm off the internet? The AFC`s streaming service isn`t too bad.
I think the A-league missed a chance when it created an extra foreigner spot rather than an AFC foreigner spot. Victory haven`t done too badly with their Thai imports - football wise (and I am guessing here) exposure wise.
Clayton
Hi Clayton san
'I thought the answer was that they all needed foxsports money to survive'
The Storm are owned by News Corp, or should I say being sold by News Corp. More on that story later.
The problem with ACL players is their cost. Squad players in the top tier Asian countries make way more than The best in the A-League.
Yeah, your`e not gonna get "top tier talent" from west asia, korea, japan or china. You could get 2nd tier talent from these countries who want to use the A-league as a chance to play against bigger physical players before trying their luck in europe.
But Newcastle got their hands on Song, a couple of clubs have had chinese imports, there is a Japanese right back on the bench at NQ. It is possible.
There is more chance of getting players from the non-heavyweight countries. Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam ... and yeah, we won`t get "Top tier" talent from there either, cos we can`t match their salaries either.
Looking forward to hearing about the local footy over there in Vietnam, Ed.
Clayton
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