Official Broadcaster now puts the boot in as well

https://tendaily.com.au/views/a180510dus/why-youre-not-watching-the-a-league-20180513

The product and its narrative have, at times, seemed dull, boring and stale.

The final whistle has blown on another A-League season.

The final series provided much of what you want and expect from sport -- unpredictability, skill, drama, surprise and, ultimately controversy in the biggest game of the year.

But for all of that, the weeks that preceded the finals series highlighted a competition battling for its place in the Australian sporting landscape. As the season progressed and both crowds and television ratings dwindled, the season seemed lacklustre and, at times, dull.

The biggest problem troubling the A-League is that their message is continually swamped by other sports. Playing in the summer months was designed to give them clear air from the AFL and NRL, but in reality, the summer sports calendar is now as jammed packed as it’s ever been.

Since its inaugural season in 2005-06, the competition to the A-League has come thick and fast -- in particular from some of Australia’s most historically and culturally significant sports. The AFL has continued to grow its product well beyond the final siren of the Grand Final. Trade Week has become an event. So, too, has the draft. They’ve also added AFLW and AFLX to the mix and their pre-season competition starts in February.

Cricket has added the Big Bash, which has grown year on year. Next year, the Big Bash will add an extra 16 matches to its fixture, ensuring its season will extend into February.

This is all extra competition for the hearts and minds of Australian sports fans who only have so much time, energy and money to spend.

But the competition comes from within the game, too. Advanced technology, particularly in the form of digital platforms and streaming services means the world has never been so small. We can now access overseas sports with ease, meaning international products, such as the English Premier League (EPL), now legitimately compete for our attention.

Top flight European leagues are immensely popular here in Australia -- so much so, many football fans follow it more intently and passionately than our local competition. The action in these leagues is truly elite and can act as a stark reminder that the A-League is not the premium product of its sport.

What is the A-League’s identity? Is it the best competition in the region? Is it the breeding ground for future stars? Whatever it is, the game and its marketing team need to sell it to us.

All of this is a reminder of how difficult it is for the game to ingrain itself into Australia’s sporting culture. At the end of the day, the AFL has the advantage of the fact that its game has been around almost as long as the city of Melbourne itself. This historical significance of this today should not be underestimated.

Make no mistake, the A-League has rusted on fans, and the final series was a reminder of just how exciting the competition can be. But significantly, it appears they've been unable to grow their supporter base, or at the least grow it at the rate they wanted.

Keep in mind, the current sports landscape is tough. There are more teams, competitions and events than ever. Traditional sports such as the AFL and Cricket Australia are continually trying to extend their seasons and their relevance and continue to go back to the same 24 million Australians and ask for more.

So, perhaps not all sports are going to prosper. In fact, some may fall by the way side. It’s up to the A-League to make sure it’s not them.

The product and its narrative have, at times, seemed dull, boring and stale. Perhaps it’s because it’s a long season and every team has to play the other teams three times. This can become monotonous.

Perception is everything -- low crowds and poor television audiences manifest the problem. Average crowds dropped to less than 11,000 this year, down around 13 percent. There were times throughout the season where the AFLW, a competition in just its second season, was generating higher TV ratings than the A-League.

Not helping is the fact the EPL is no longer available on Fox Sports, with Optus now its exclusive Australian rights holder. Football fans who simply can’t afford both a Foxtel and Optus subscription are now forced to choose between the two, with many choosing the EPL over the A-League.

And there it is 

So a quick search finds that the Author of the article, Sam Duncan is (obviously) an AFL person (https://tendaily.com.au/authors/sam-duncan) and (https://twitter.com/samkduncan). Seeing as his main talking point is the strength or other codes and completely fails to mention the core issue facing the HAL at the moment being the FFA and the congress restructure indicates his knowledge (lack of) of the HAL is based on very little. 

Whatever it is, the game and its marketing team need to sell it to us.

Why does he think he is the target audience here? Why should AFL people be the target audience for marketing? Surely, they would be the single toughest audience to encourage to follow football. The HAL needs to market to the football fans (and participants) who don't follow the HAL.

It is interesting people from other codes keep talking about football. I mean there are a few journos who cover different sports and this is understandable but could you imagine Craig Foster discussing the merits of AFLW, AFLX etc. It just makes football fans more suspicious. In saying that though football should see it as a challenge we have alot of football fans out there but many grew up or stuck with a steady diet of European football. It needs to be bridge by the majority, we have done it from time just not consistently enough. Too much in fighting not enough focus on improving the game.

Well what differentiates football from other sports all over the world is promotion and relegation.Games at the lower end of the table become as exciting as those at the top.It's the link to football fans that is missing .It's why football fans all over the world stay interested in football eventhough their home team spends its life rooted in lower leagues.Because there is always the chance for the fairy tale.
By fans/registered players having a link to their local team,invaribly they will be engaged to the game and pick a second favorite team in the top league.If there is no link, we have Australian football.Most of the football fans have no interest.They have no inclination to follow a franchise team that has no real base and for the vast majority of fans don't represent their region.

There are some very valid points in this article. The A-league needs to have a good look at itself because not only is it not gaining supporters but it's starting to lose the ones it's got. Like mentioned above it does not mention the fact our biggest problem in the in fighting which is historical in our sports.
Also the channel 10 broadcast of one game makes it difficult for anyone to really follow. They would have been better off telecasting all of one teams games than a game of the week. To be honest most non football people have told me that they would rather watch a highlights show than a match of the week. At least with a highlights show it cuts out what non football people find boring and they get to enjoy the goals, action and the gossip of the game.
As stated before for me 2018/19 will be the year I decide whether to bother with the A-league anymore. I am soccer mad fan but recently becoming very upset with the way our sports here in Australia is run and may decide to watch a overseas league instead. These day as stated in the article access is very easy so why not watch a more premium product.

Does this opinion piece represent TEN?  If so, can't see where the A-League goes from here re FTA

Their news website kicked off today

Bingo, the game needs to find a unique selling proposition. 

Some kind of point-of-difference from other codes 

No, they become much more exciting than the ones at the top, since the top is bought in advance by Arab sheikhs and Russian ogliarchs. It's an awful state of affairs, yet football people seem to think that's how it should be. Well I don't think that's how it should be. European leagues have become dreadfully boring. It's the height of idiocy to want to import that system here wholesale. I mean, the champions of all the major Euro leagues were pretty much decided and known before a ball was kicked this season. How doesn't this bother anyone else? 

It's terrible the way PSG have got that Marquee Fund available

You're 100% right

The AFL tried a national cup and it failed. They tried the all stars at it failed (worse than ours). They have tried marquee or guest players and its failed. Derbies have failed. International rules has failed. The short sided games have failed...

Similarly we have tried a single tier salary capped stand alone league and it has failed

When people go to a pizza place they expect pizza. When they go to a chicken place they expect chicken. Nobody goes to the A League to see the AFL. That's why the EPL is more popular amongst Australians than the A League despite it being everything people think will fail here

The FFA have failed because they have taken the "how do we make soccer more interesting approach". Even with NSL players and only 8 teams we managed to see 50,000 at a single A League H/A game. The thing about football that was broken was the administration part of the game. All we have ever asked for was a serious professional competitive league. Not some kind of circus

The FFA need to go back to its roots and deliver what we asked for. When it fails, then they can tweak it. If they cant deliver it, then they should stand aside and let somebody else have a go

If City win the premiership and championship unchallenged for the next 7000 years then so be it. Football is a global game with big name teams. Every A League team has had their turn in the bottom 3

Ugh, that sounds so fucking dull. If it ever turns into that, I won't be watching. 

Honestly, I disagree with your attitude and outlook so much that I think I may actually hate you a little :(. I don't think you're an irredeemable moron like TheSelectFew, but you go on and on and it's all just nonsense... 

So I'm gathering there's nothing in this article that hasn't already been discussed to death on this forum.

Next...

This bit does bother me actually.  Even in the European leagues they're looking to restrain spending so they also see it as a problem.

It must have been something back in the day when the team you followed was actually made up of local lads you would see working and walking about in the town where you lived.

Having said that though what we have now can't continue. 

   

If you're not a troll, I pity you. If you are a troll, you are not worth my time

Either way you'll be doing us both a favour if you just ignore my posts

TL/DR summary:

Article first:
AFL is the shit.  AFL AFL AFL AFLW AFL AFL soccer AFL AFL AFL AFL AFL AFL AFL

Responses:
It's the FFA's fault.
Pro/Rel yeah!!!!

3+1 rule would prevent that from happening anyway.

AFL trade week and the draft don't even create a ripple outside of the AFL states, so I think it's very much an AFL-centric article.

accurate

In response to the Euro leagues being one/two team affairs. I don’t like that part of it either. But I’m surprised how little we look to Korea and Japan in these instances. They were in the same situation as us, top tier closed league, and then opened up a second division. Yes, there are some teams frequently at the top end but no one really running away with the league every year. The 3+1 rule is a decent leveller.

Some blokes on here have it in their heads that no salary cap = Runaway champions ala present day Scottish/French league 

The marketing has to change. It use to concentrate on the players, then it started on the crowds which worked for a while as active support went through its fad stage then dropped off, next we were told we had to have a team for no apparent reason and this year we featured a whole heap of players who left the A-League saying they used to play here but went to somewhere better.
Why don't they just show the best bits of the previous and current seasons featuring players that are actually playing here? Market the game you have.

I struggle to find interest in the champion$ league for thi$ rea$on

We have a round ball

Said the multi. 

Something that guarantees interest across the league .

Everyone rubbishing this article as AFL AFL AFL have rocks in your head. That was a well written article that doesn't claim to know the answer, but points to some of the problems. At no point does it say that AFL, NRL or Cricket are better sports in any way.

I've said in other threads that I think AFL, NRL and Cricket got a head start that Football simply cannot compete with - they had years on FTA to develop a solid supporter base. I have no doubt that their moves to PayTV will hurt them, but they still got a massive head start. There is no way the A-League will go full FTA now, but at the very least they need an affordable stream option that'll work on my TV at a decent cost to make it family friendly. What's the best I can get with Foxtel, $45/mth? Stuff that.

Ignoring promotion and relegation for the moment, one of the things Aussies love is an underdog. An Aussie in the EPL is generally an underdog, and it's double-underdog time when they're playing for Huddersfield and Brighton. Some more financial imbalance in the A-League wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing IMO, although P+R would top it off nicely.

AFL mouthpiece dumping on football because he's shit scared of the day we get our act together

Here's another article: why you're not watching the AFL

Siege mentality
Bullying culture
Mono culture
Domestic violence
Rampant drug use
Sexual violence
Rigged
It's boring as