Sounder-Down-Under: A-League has expansion issues too

Australia’s football has hit a wall.  There will always be great players to see and the derbies both interstate and inter-city will never die, but until the league has more teams Football Australia will continue to need to seek out players abroad for the national team.  This is not just the youth will always seek out the elusive European contract, but also the lack of domestic options.

Australia faces several obstacles in the growth of their domestic league, mainly population and the lack of major cities.  Don’t get me wrong, there are nations with smaller populations that have thriving domestic leagues and regularly field World Cup squads, but the game in those countries has been in many cases the only national sport.  Australia competes with a myriad of other sports, both international and domestic.  You cannot force a sport on to a people like you cannot force anything on to a population (ask me about the time America tried to go metric).

Like the MLS, Australia’s A-League is not just limited to one nation.  Wellington Phoenix rounds out the league to ten teams.  But the country has few cities, and even fewer that in the middle of an Australian summer can put a team on the field in the late afternoon or evening that won’t require an IV at halftime to replenish liquids lost.  So that takes out Alice Springs (I don’t care if it is a ‘dry heat’) and Darwin (cyclones tend to be detrimental to getting fans to attend matches).  This leaves very few options to FA to gain a grassroots market and generate a fan base to sustain a professional side.  Like the MLS and its failed attempt at Chivas USA, the A-League saw North Queensland Fury bow out due to lack of supporters and funds.  I am also ignoring the obvious choices of just adding a second team to pre-existing markets.

The Candidates

Canberra ACT.  It is after all, the capital of the country, it only makes sense that there would be team there, doesn’t it?  Politicians need a chance to yell at someone besides each other, and a referee makes an excellent target.  The official national holiday of Australia falls during the season so a game in Canberra would just seem fitting!

Pros:

• It has its own Rugby (league version) team so the supporter base is there and the two seasons barely overlap.
• Plenty of international presence in the city as it is the capital and most everyone knows soccer.
• Canberra has a team in the W-League, the women’s professional league, so the fans are there for the taking.

Cons:

• During the summer the Australian government (and the rest of the country for that matter) shut down. Summer means school is out so families head off on vacation, and Christmas so most everyone else is either visiting family or abroad.
• The city’s population has a high turnover with government employees and people seeking jobs in Sydney and Melbourne after graduating from university.

Geelong (pron. jee-long) VIC.  The city situated just west of Melbourne, Geelong is the working class counterpart to high society Melbourne that provides most people a good place to have lunch as they make their way to the Bells Beach for the surfing or down the Great Ocean Road.  The mayor is a former paparazzi photographer turned politician who is doing his best to make the city a destination instead of a places to stretch your legs before getting in the car again.

Pros:

• It has its own AFL team so the supporter base is there and the two seasons barely overlap.
• Geelong is also in the state that hosts the most sporting events per year in Australia, so how can they NOT want another sporting event!
• The A-League is already showcasing a match there in the 2015-2016 season

Cons:

• The nearest major airport is an hour away without traffic, and those poor players are already getting off a jet where they had comfortable seats, nice meals, and drinks that didn’t come in oversized shot glasses. Haven’t they suffered enough through the flight?
• There are already two teams in Melbourne so the fan base is fairly limited as it is.

Wollongong NSW.  The city is located just south of Sydney is the third largest city in NSW (Sydney has two teams, Newcastle has one) and the tenth largest city in Australia. The area is known as a nice escape from the Sydney for those who do not want to go to Parramatta or Newcastle and the memories of the Cronulla Riots are still fresh.

Pros:

• It has its own Rugby (League) team, Basketball team and only the basketball season would overlap.
• Wollongong FC has been playing in the NSW Premier League, so there is a fan base and a club.

Cons:

• There is an airport in Wollongong, but it has no control tower, so teams would need to fly to Sydney and navigate the nation’s worst. Again, haven’t those paid athletes suffered enough?
• There are already two teams in Sydney already plus a side in Newcastle and on the Central Coast (based in Central Coast between Sydney and Brisbane), so another side would just cement NSW as football state.

Tasmania (that other island).  Tasmania is the forgotten part of Australia, even to the point that in many graphic designs and advertising campaigns used in the country, the small southern island is just left off.  The island is famous for its scenery and the idea of making a weekend out of the trip to cheer on your side would appeal to a lot of fans.

Pros:

• The state has only two professional cricket teams that play in any form of professional level.
• AFL teams play at least two matches every season in Tasmania, so a following would exist that needs a sport to use as an outlet.
• The island was once called “Van Demon’s Land”, so there is a great chance the team would at least have a Demon mascot or even better, be named Demon FC.
• Tasmania has produced several popular sports figures to date.

Cons:

• Cricket season and soccer overlap, so you would be competing for fans.
• The population is just over 500,000 and spread out across the island.
• There is no city in the center of Tasmania, so the choices of Hobart or Launceston would leave the team on the other side of the island and one fan base needing to drive two hours.

Noumea (pron. neu-mi-ah) New Caledonia.

Few people know of the furthest western island group of French Polynesia, but the main island is a tropical paradise that rivals any other in the South Pacific, with the food of France.

Popular with the French as a cheaper version of Tahiti and a shorter flight.  The island is surprisingly well off with the copper mines and does not have the stagnant feeling of an island nation, provided you can dodge the cruise liners.

Pros:

• The country has a high level domestic league already and has challenged others in the Oceania Champions League and faced off against Sydney FC before the FA moved to the Asian Confederation.
• Fans can make a long weekend out of the trip and enjoy the sun, sand and surf, a boon for the tourism industry.
• From Sydney to Noumea it is a four hour flight, same as the trip to New Zealand so it isn’t too far.
• The National Team has beaten World Cup contenders New Zealand and Confederations Cup qualifiers Tahiti the previous year.

Cons:

• New Caledonia is French, which means to live/work there you need to be on an EU passport or permit.
• The population is just under 300,000 and though mainly near the city of Noumea the rest are spread out across the island.
• South Pacific Island in the middle of summer, though not as muggy as parts of Australia, it can still get hot and can still see the tails of cyclones around November.

The winner?

Auckland New Zealand.

The natural rivalry of pre-existing Wellington would provide a great derby, not only for the A-League, but also for football in New Zealand as a whole.  There is no visa requirements for Australians and New Zealanders to live and work in each other’s countries, so players can freely be transferred at the club’s desires.  The fan base already exists with Auckland FC.  They have competed in the FIFA Club World Cup, taking third in 2014, the only amateur team in the competition.

Of the current squad, six have caps for the Kiwis.  It only makes sense that they be part of the upcoming expansion to not only expand the league, but to bring up the level of competition.