The sleeping giant

[GVGjr]

I'd like to discuss the wave of popularity the A League is enjoying.

What intrigues me the most is that it has also gathered momentum at the time when the National team isn't performing that well and is really sliding down the world rankings.

With AFL struggling for crowd attendance (given their lofty standards) and of course the Essendon drug scandal as a major distraction and with the NRL and ARU also struggling (with much of the focus being on the poor behavioral conduct of the players) the A League has just powered along.

I've never been to an A League game and I haven't spent much time at all watching it on the tele either but I'd be very interested to know why it's become such a strong product which must have sponsors lining up to associate with the game?

From what I can gather:
- The venues are first rate
- The atmosphere is a contrast to the AFL with a more traditional club feel to it

But there must be more to it than just that so I'd like to know why?

[ledge]

Re: The sleeping giant

It's a world code and all the migrants we get are already soccer fans. SEN a couple of months ago had a talk about it and the answers to why Soccer will eventually take over.it was based on the amount of new people that come into the country and how do they understand a game so over ruled and grey decisions.
Soccer is pretty simple, about 10 rules all black and white , some decisions are wrong but it's easy to see they are wrong AFL rules are how an umpire interprets, basically it's too hard a game to understand and with soccer already world wide and everyone knows the game they are all ready fans, the kids will automatically be soccer fans.
The only hope AFL has is its now played in the soccer off season, soccer Australia was very clever to make soccer over summer it's really taking off , figures I've heard is soccer is the biggest sport in juniors now with boys and girls.
AFL has become it's own worst enemy as well, food costs the etihad deal, the big brother attitude. People are turning to VFL and soccer. My advice GVG jr would have been go to last nights game it's just awesome the way the game the crowd become one and unite in song and the skills are amazing. To be in a crowd of 44000 and see how a play is set up and scored is just amazing.

[Topdog]

Re: The sleeping giant

The reaction behind the south end 20 minutes after yesterdays game finished shows why the game is becoming more and more popular.

Generally speaking the league don't alienate fans. Got an sms from Melbourne Victory during the week telling me that if I cant get to the game I should lend my membership to a mate. The AFL on the other hand threaten to rip up your membership if a friend is caught with it.

As goals are a dime a dozen in the AFL there really isn't much celebration until the last few minutes of the match. In football scoring in the first minute causes an eruption of emotion.

I actually timed my trip to the toilet yesterday to perfection. Just before 2nd half KO, would only miss 1 minute of the match and no queues. Of course Berisha ruined that but even at the urinal everyone looked around and started asking "shit who scored, damn sounds like Heart"

Last nights game was amazing.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: The sleeping giant

The reaction behind the south end 20 minutes after yesterdays game finished shows why the game is becoming more and more popular.

Generally speaking the league don't alienate fans. Got an sms from Melbourne Victory during the week telling me that if I cant get to the game I should lend my membership to a mate. The AFL on the other hand threaten to rip up your membership if a friend is caught with it.

As goals are a dime a dozen in the AFL there really isn't much celebration until the last few minutes of the match. In football scoring in the first minute causes an eruption of emotion.

I actually timed my trip to the toilet yesterday to perfection. Just before 2nd half KO, would only miss 1 minute of the match and no queues. Of course Berisha ruined that but even at the urinal everyone looked around and started asking "shit who scored, damn sounds like Heart"

Last nights game was amazing.

Agree with all of this.

I walked away thinking that the product of AFL is in more trouble than I originally thought, particularly when you factor in the awful atmosphere at games involving us, Melbourne, St. Kilda, GWS etc.

I was discussing the A-League's progression with a few of the guys last night that I went to the game with. It has been spectacular, and we all said imagine it in another 10-15 years if they keep up this sort of momentum? In contrast if the AFL continues the path it's taken in the last 5 (or so) years then it's in real strife.

I already know a few people (including a couple last night) that now have little interest in the AFL/don't attend or watch the games much anymore, and have converted to soccer/A-League. One of them is a Hawthorn supporter.

I could touch on a number of areas, but crowd engagement really stood out to me last night. It felt like a footballing family - the AFL feels generic.

[Remi Moses]

Re: The sleeping giant

It's better organised as well. ( btw the dogs can't be blamed for Etihad)
Got an SMS advising to get there early expecting sellout.
Got there early sat on the ground floor in the General Admin area. The Afl level 3 is the only G/A area.
Why not have a ground level G/A area, instead of the bleachers?
If it was an AFL sellout I'd be expected to buy a seat on top of my membership!!
Mates kids took a horn to the GWS game and were told by the security it would be confiscated if they used it.
Just sterile

[Twodogs]

Re: The sleeping giant

I think the AFL jumped the shark when they rationalised the grounds. They sacrificed all that atmosphere and sense if place for a generic experience at a ground that is exactly the same as it is at any other ground in the country. No other code has effectively homeginised footall grounds like that. AFL has become the Macdonalds of football leagues.

[Rocco Jones]

Re: The sleeping giant

I think a few things are seeing a rise the A-League. There include.
- A MASSIVE thing for the A-League is that now that it has been around for awhile, it is starting to produce it's own household names. Guys like Berisha and Brioch are now known names. They are worth more to the league than the vast pool of superior players overseas who are only known by the most sophisticated of fans in Oz.
- I think the struggles of the Socceroos has ironically helped the A-League in a way. Our lack of quality/depth means a lot more locally based players are making the squad, which enhances the players and in turn, league's reputation. Players like Milligan, McKay, Valeri and Spriranovic have been in the squad for ages now.
- Moneyball/clever signigns. The league is moving away from being a retirement home and actually signing non-big name, quality players who want to come to Australia for one reason or another. Keogh, Delpierre, Jaliens and Janko are examples of this.
- City. It has hurt the passion for my club but no doubt it has been good for the league overall. It has created lots of promotion for the league and no doubt added to the fan base of the club.
- Victory. Just amazing. Legitimately a bigger club than a few AFL clubs now. Just getting stronger and stronger.
- West Sydney. Enough said.
- Contrast to the bland AFL experience.

[chef]

Re: The sleeping giant

I think a few things are seeing a rise the A-League. There include.
- A MASSIVE thing for the A-League is that now that it has been around for awhile, it is starting to produce it's own household names. Guys like Berisha and Brioch are now known names. They are worth more to the league than the vast pool of superior players overseas who are only known by the most sophisticated of fans in Oz.
- I think the struggles of the Socceroos has ironically helped the A-League in a way. Our lack of quality/depth means a lot more locally based players are making the squad, which enhances the players and in turn, league's reputation. Players like Milligan, McKay, Valeri and Spriranovic have been in the squad for ages now.
- Moneyball/clever signigns. The league is moving away from being a retirement home and actually signing non-big name, quality players who want to come to Australia for one reason or another. Keogh, Delpierre, Jaliens and Janko are examples of this.
- City. It has hurt the passion for my club but no doubt it has been good for the league overall. It has created lots of promotion for the league and no doubt added to the fan base of the club.
- Victory. Just amazing. Legitimately a bigger club than a few AFL clubs now. Just getting stronger and stronger.
- West Sydney. Enough said.
- Contrast to the bland AFL experience.

Yep. Well put.

I think being a summer code is a huge advantage too and isn't far off being the number 1 summer(for interest and spectators) sport.

Any other Heart supporters struggling to warm to City?

[Remi Moses]

Re: The sleeping giant

Might have something to do with the gimmicky circus around it .
The a- league plateaud a few years ago with North Queensland and the Gold Coast fiasco.
I think the biggest threat is to cricket to be honest, but let's all live in harmony

[ledge]

Re: The sleeping giant

Personally I think the AFL is surviving on the children of old supporters it's not grabbing a new audience, migrants might like it but only as a way to fit in.
Soccer is even making AFL supporters interested because of the way the AFL has treated it's public fans over the last few years, fixture times a huge mistake . Sunday afternoon at 4.40 ? Sold out to foxtel, now even commercial tv is chasing the VFL because AFL is so unfriendly and commercialised.

[LostDoggy]

Re: The sleeping giant

Clubs get fined for tanking, then get their fines paid off, priority picks and over-compensation, coaches paid for. Clubs get into performance enhancing drugs and still get blockbuster games, whilst decent, hardworking and fair clubs get shat on, all for bucks. Gambling is rife, corporates own all the good seating and the general atmosphere at the game is to fit in, don't get too out of line, don't wear a Mohawk or blow a horn or shout too loud! I get that last one a lot, I have damaged quite a few eardrums.

Interstate teams have to travel every second week but the biggest clubs like Collingwood barely travel at all. Every single decision that comes through the doors of AFL House has a dollar tag attached to it. Every. Single. One.

It's not surprising that fans are switching off, and I think football is just lucky to be in the right place at the right time, to take these fans who don't want to follow rugby like the northern states.

I also think there are plenty of fans who still like both, and perhaps it's not a matter of one sport ‘winning’ at all.

[jeemak]

Re: The sleeping giant

Some very good points above.

I take the view the AFL will only benefit from the impending threat of the A-League. The AFL has turned into a bastard of an organisation that has pretty much sold any shred of integrity it ever had down the river because there was a commercial gain to be made. On the one hand it has done well to make the most of the opportunity, on the other it has left itself completely exposed to a competition like the A-League chipping away at its slice of the pie.

There's no doubt the AFL understands the threat at its door step, and I think it realises it has gone too far in the way it treats fixturing and the overall experiences at games (timeslots versus cost of attending etc.). We'll all see some differences in the coming years to improve the value given to supporters.

The A-League, irrespective of some momentum is still a Mickey Mouse competition that puts out a very ordinary standard compared to what can be sourced overseas on television, there's been sold out events at Etihad in the past for this competition and you can be sure as shit if the Melbourne based teams fall away they'll struggle to be relevant in this town once again. On the flipside, if they are successful I struggle to see how the A-League will gain critical mass considering there are only two teams with relatively small supporter bases in Victoria, much of which is comprised of supporters that already have strong AFL allegiances.

With that in mind, as long as the A-League is a summer competition (which is a very big concession to the AFL in itself) there's going to be many people that will have their cake and eat it too when it comes to supporting football codes.

As for the rest of the country, I'm very sure the A-League represents a bigger issue to the Rugby codes and cricket than it does in Victoria, especially if it's the non-Victorian A-League teams doing well.

Yes, most migrants will identify with Football more so than they do with the AFL, but the AFL has a very strong foothold in the mainstream media and nothing will influence new arrivals to the country like the media does.

[Topdog]

Re: The sleeping giant

I can't see the A-League ever going to a winter sport, there is just nothing to gain from doing so. So the whole "threat to the AFL" thing is well overplayed.

The league continues to improve not only in it's professionalism and getting fans involved but also in the quality of the play.

I think another big selling point for them is that the league is generally very open from season to season. Brisbane who have dominated recently sit dead last without a win from 3 games.

[FrediKanoute]

Re: The sleeping giant

It's better organised as well. ( btw the dogs can't be blamed for Etihad)
Got an SMS advising to get there early expecting sellout.
Got there early sat on the ground floor in the General Admin area. The Afl level 3 is the only G/A area.
Why not have a ground level G/A area, instead of the bleachers?
If it was an AFL sellout I'd be expected to buy a seat on top of my membership!!
Mates kids took a horn to the GWS game and were told by the security it would be confiscated if they used it.
Just sterile

Yep.....look I live overseas, so haven't seen a game live since the 2010 finals, but even listening to it on radio or watching on the ESPN feed here in the UK, I often walk in and out of the game and miss nothing.....at a football game (soccer), I don't. I love AFL and love watching it, but I am not surprised that Soccer is catching up fast. The biggest issue for me is the contrived draw and that each team don't play home and away. Sorry that is pretty poor.

[hujsh]

Re: The sleeping giant

Mates kids took a horn to the GWS game and were told by the security it would be confiscated if they used it.
Just sterile

Good.