Music during goal kicks and corners at matches and even controlled use of flares will be on trial during the A-League season's first month to attract fans.
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A-League chiefs will trial a suite of new entertainment across the first month of the season to win fans back to the competition.

Safe smoke from flares in the stands, fan-zones modelled on the World Cup and lights and music during play are all on the agenda.

The league's Big Bash-ification is aimed to lure young families to the football after a year of declining crowds and television audiences.


A-League head Greg O'Rourke spent the off-season working with clubs and stadia to develop the plan to cash in on spiking interest from Russia 2018.

"We're fully aware of what the Big Bash entertainment product is and how it attracts young families. We need to make sure we're not closed off to that," O'Rourke said to AAP.


"But equally we need to make sure the things in our game that we hold unique will be maintained. We'll be treading carefully towards this to get the best of both worlds."

O'Rourke is adamant the new bells and whistles will be no substitute for what the sport does best: singing and supporting from the stands.

"We want to see the return and growth of active fans that have a large boisterous entertaining, standing, singing, chanting culture," he continued.

"We've been doing a significant amount of work with the clubs, the police and also the active fan representatives about what would be important to them to attract them back and to allow them to grow."

It's understood authorities and officials on both sides are keen to lift some of the more draconian security measures to make active support appealing again.

A new Melbourne Victory active group to replace the disbanded North Terrace would be a huge boost.

For those less rusted on fans, O'Rourke wants to make matches more entertaining.

Central Coast and Wellington matches will feature safe smoke after their stadiums agreed to trial controlled flare releases from the stands.

Other stadiums will follow suit should those trials work.

Most controversially, there will be music played with accompanying video during goal kicks, corners and substitutions.

"The plan is based on what fans felt was missing out of an end of season review," O'Rourke said.

"Fans wanted more pre-game entertainment, more in-game entertainment and more at halftime.

"Football globally has about 30 minutes when the ball is stopped or out of play. Some of those gaps can be filled.

"But not in the big derbies when you've got big active fans because the natural rhythm of the supporters is the strength of the game.

"When we're at smaller stadiums or bigger stadiums with smaller crowds, we'll use them."


https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league-to-trial-controlled-flares

Big bashification.

Trying to out plastic the big bash league is hilarious, those who want music during play and flashy gimmicks will go to the cricket regardless, you are not bringing 1 extra person through the gates with this nonsense.

“ when we are at smaller stadiums or bigger stadiums with smaller crowds”. Umm isn’t that most games? Lol

Oh you blind, bloody fools.

Music during goal kicks and corners? Seriously? 

Who did they interview that said what we really want was music during corners and goal kicks? Seriously who? Where did you get these rubbish findings from O'Rourke?

If you want music at a football game put your fucking headphones back in

Apparently fans said they wanted more in-game entertainment.

What do you suggest? Bigger goals? A big beach ball?

Looks like i found who he interviewed. 

So what are your suggestions again?

If people aren't entertained every 5 seconds they'll lose interest you fools! All we need is lasers and dozens of mascots and cheerleaders. Literally dozens of them, one every 5 metres shooting streamers into the crowd while screaming like a banshee. Have clowns and fortune tellers next to the food line. Everyone must be high on dopamine by kick-off! And make sure those kids are loaded with sugar, we want them enthralled to the point of cardiac arrest. 

He was on the right track with the active support, less restrictions in attempts to win back actual football fans. They'll create all the entertainment and atmosphere you need, but apparently the solution to this is to have the PA play some music and probably try to start some cringe filled chants.

But really it is the classic case of the FFA trying their best to piss off football fans to attract people who don't give a fuck about the sport because apparently they get too bored watching the game. Well that attitude has been a massive success so far with plummeting attendances.

Also if they want more families to go to the game like in the Big Bash, cheaper tickets wouldn't hurt.

I can't believe what I'm reading, music to fill in the gaps during the game????

You may be right with your first para (or maybe not), but the second really assumes all fans are like you. As for the third, not sure what difference it would make if the product is lacking for them to begin with.

Laughing stock. Globally.
Seriously you go to a football game to be entertained by the team you support winning games and maybe playing attractive football. If 90 minutes of that isn't enough for you then you're into the wrong sport...and that would include O'Rourke.
If they genuinely want to spice things up introduce really competitive games affecting promotion or relegation at the end of the season.

It sounds like a good move.
No need to worry that it won't attract NPL club followers or Eurosnobs, they're not really football fans anyway, and they'll stay away from the A League no matter what.
The aim must be to get some of the 'non-football followers' from the real grassroots clubs to take their kids to A League games and this sort of bogan marketing might just do that.

Well the second paragraph isn't completely baseless. You can start with how attendances and ratings have completely plummeted from about the time they alienated active support, unless the solution to the fallen ratings is blaring music through the screen too. But no, the fact ratings have fallen along with attendances indicates a complete apathy and dis-interest in the league has occurred with an issue more serious that playing music every minute won't fix.

After this realisation that people don't care about the league, the next step is to analyse is the reason people don't care about football in this country the reason for the falling ratings/attendances? Well the answer to that would be no, all you need to see are the attendances of when the big clubs come visiting, or ratings of all the matches of the world cup and EPL matches in the middle of the night to realise that there are so many football fans in the country, but aren't interested in the A League for some reason. And these people will be very well accustomed to european footballing culture too and what to expect from a league.

So instead of pissing the remaining A League supporters off with gimmicks to try and entice people who aren't fans of the sport at all, how about we try and get actual football supporters back or to the league.

This is actually why Dean Bouzanis was yelling gypsy on the pitch. He was articulating a new marketing strategy for the game, and he got banned for it. FFA holding up progress, only for them to then turn around and claim it was their idea all along.

We need gypsy fortune tellers.

"There will be music played with accompanying video during goal kicks, corners and substitutions."

Why cant we have both? (Vibrant active support + flares, and some video/music)

Surely if the active part is sorted (which it sounds like they are trying to do), a bit of music isnt going to turn those off, and can also appeal to the fans who want that kind of thing.

You're the perfect example of the "fan" whom if we were to move you on 2 more fans would come back

Sounds like are trying to turn it into an NBA / NFL type deal.
Some wanker on the PA yelling out "Lets get looudd''
DE-FENCE...DE-FENCE. chants are soon to follow.

Seriously why the fkc do we wanna join this crap!

Music after a goal could work sometimes. As much as I hate dance music, late NSL days at South would rip out Zombie Nation over the PA after we scored and the crowd would join in chanting.
Hey look at that, another thing we innovated with soccer in this country :hehe:

Greeks invented dance music 

Thats the only time it makes actually sense because the crowd are already jumping up and cheering for the goal so they will either enjoy the music or at least tolerate it if its something they don't like. But then again fans can't even celebrate a goal now thanks to the VAR. 

Now music being played during goal kicks, corners and subs is plain stupid and embarrassing, hearing this shit makes me not wan't to attend a game.

Once again its the same bullshit that will keep the real fans not turning up while trying to appeal to people who don't give a shit about the game. 

Music after a goal in football is something you see the world over and is not something I have an issue with as long as its something that the home fans have chosen/asked for. 

Because you won't have a vibrant active support with this, they wouldn't come in any numbers. Even O'Rourke's recommendations are counter-intuitive to eachother as he understands that it is completely redundant if their is a big crowd or in other words a better atmosphere that the music will be completely pointless. So by this recommendation it must mean that his research unveiled the music during the game is not what will draw fans to the game but rather the atmosphere and the sport itself. 

So in "smaller games" if you don't piss off the active support, the atmosphere will be good and by his own stance in another situation it is therefore the core reason he wishes to implement this as for whatever reason he thinks it'll improve the atmosphere.

No issue with goal music. But corners. WTF. Who celebrates a corner?

"When we're at smaller stadiums or bigger stadiums with smaller crowds, we'll use them."

Thought WSW were supposed to be a big club?

If you believe that's the only time they will use it, then you are delusional.

I think the statement that "in smaller games if you dont piss off the active support, the atmosphere will be good" is a little simplistic.

Not at all, if there is a big active support presence the atmosphere at matches will be good. It really is as simple as that.