FFA not doing enough to promote the game at a crucial time for Australian football, writes Robbie Slater


IT seems whenever FFA are criticised, they batten down the hatches thinking it will all blow away. Well, I don’t think it’s going to this time.

Speaking on Just For Kicks during the week I criticised FFA’s farcical search for a new national coach, as well as the lack of promotion for the A-League’s ‘Summer of Football Festival’.

The reaction to my comments has been overwhelming, from supporters of the game, to coaches and players, but the silence from FFA has been deafening.

People have had enough.

There’s been very little promotion of the A-League from day one of the competition, but what shocked me was that people didn’t even know there was midweek football on during the school holiday period.

WANTED MAN: Plenty of interest in Graham Arnold

HALF-TERM REPORT: How has your club fared so far?


FFA CEO David Gallop and chairman Steven Lowy. AFP Photo / Peter Parks
It was a great concept, kids go free during the holidays, but no one knows about it because it hasn’t been promoted.

That’s FFA’s job; it can’t all be left to Fox Sports.

Then there’s this farcical — and I’m sticking to that description — pursuit of a national coach.

We’re apparently paying consultants to find candidates for the job, which I find ridiculous because it’s really a very simple process.

We have a technical director in Eric Abrams whose job it is, along with Luke Casserly, to appoint a national coach. If he’s not doing that, then what is he doing here?

Why do we have Gerard Houllier and Andy Roxburgh involved in the process? I can’t imagine what they could possibly bring to the table that people in this country can’t.


The Socceroos are still coachless months out from the World Cup. (AAP Image/David Moir)
I think everyone would like an explanation because time is running out. We’ve got games in March, but not even the Socceroos assistant coach Ante Milicic can check on the players because he’s currently with the U23’s in China for a month-long tournament.

I’ve heard a shortlist of six candidates will be announced next week, but I don’t know how it could have taken this long to come up with six names.
Just pick a coach — the World Cup is upon us.

There are so many other issues going on as well, like the issue of expansion which, I feel, is crucial to the future of our game. But no one from FFA is addressing it.

There’s also silence with regards to the salary cap, which many feel should be scrapped, as well as the lack of big name marquees. FFA is still resting on its laurels since Alessandro Del Piero, but that was a long time ago now.

Unable to playback video

An unexpected error has occurred



Slater goes after FFA's 'faceless men'

Another issue is the need to lower the price for kids to play football at grassroots level. If your kid has some talent, you’re paying thousands of dollars to play and one of the reasons that gets on my nerves is because of the money that’s wasted by FFA.

We need to talk about these things, but it seems like everyone has fallen into a hole since the ugly clubs versus FFA dispute began.

It’s unfortunate these are the issues that consume our game at the moment because what we should be talking about is Sydney FC, one of the greatest A-League teams we’ve ever seen, or the incredible revival of the Newcastle Jets under Ernie Merrick.

But we’re not.


https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/football/a-league/ffa-not-doing-enough-to-promote-the-game-at-a-crucial-time-for-australian-football-writes-robbie-slater/news-story/2d423d0136b404b9ec3a27585e637cc4

I would like to know how this ended up -

"As part of the clubs' ongoing pay dispute with FFA, the governing body has all but confirmed its intention to scrap the fund that was hoped to rejuvenate the enthusiasm of clubs signing marquees such as Alessandro Del Piero, Shinji Ono and Tim Cahill. In a letter from the clubs unanimously rejecting the organisation's latest pay offer, it is alleged the FFA proposed to provide each of the 10 clubs a conditional increase of $300,000 for marketing of the league, with the funds to be distributed after the approval of Whitlam Square.

"The inclusion of the $300,000 marketing grant in the proposed 17/18 distribution is the result of the FFA administration extricating itself from the centralised marquee proposition that it sold in the broadcast deal, against the advice of the clubs and in the face of the obvious realities of the global transfer/player market," the letter from the club chairman read."

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/aleague-clubs-allege-ffa-proposes-to-cut-marquee-player-fund-20170802-gxo27l.html

But I think a big responsibility is on FOXTEL and the clubs about advertising. Fans follow clubs not the FFA.

@ plucka Scott21

Marketing for the A League comes under a centralised fund controlled by the FFA. The total marketing spend is reported as $12m which it’s reasonable to assume at least $9m is to be spent on the HAL. That’s $900k/club every season.

Before any club spends extra on marketing they have a right to ask what that $900k is being spent on - outside of social media I don’t see it .... and apparently neither do the clubs.

Are they subsidizing the clubs for the free tickets?

Clubs are used to working under FFA conditions so I don't see the point of them just pulling up the handbrake.


I am however an avid fan of the league becoming independent and all revenue generated by it to stay in a professional tier system.

Just give the money to the clubs and let them market themselves, it is so much easier with a localised market.

Independent league (Y)

IIRC $6m Contra from Fox

I'd like to see the "didn't even know it was on" substantiated

Attendances have been consistent this year and we have seen a small boost as kids have school holidays, and also for Newcastle who are doing well

This means that everybody who has been turning up to the A League or tuning in have not changed their habits. How can anybody claim there was a week of football that Australia had forgotten about just because the FFA didn't run a few ads?

The most important thing for any football fan is fixture. Fans do not watch every game. We know this otherwise ratings would be the same. There is a clear preference for teams and whichever time slots the big teams or big games seem to be on, fans manage to find them

This is only possible if there was a level of preliminary research done by fans. Yes the occasional Thursday game may throw fans off if they check the fixtures on Friday but this midweek fixture was not one that could be missed. It tied in perfectly to a change of scheduling that coincided with Christmas and any fan with any part of a working brain would have known the games would have fallen in an unpredictable pattern


I think we have to drop this "nobody knows" bullshit because it is wearing thin. People didn't watch the games because they do not give a fuck

Pure and simple

Yes advertising can go a long way to help hype a product, which is clearly missing. But given that advertising companies use the A League as an advertising platform, it is safe to say it is not hidden by any stretch of the imagination

If you wait for a TV ad to tell you when your team is playing then you are not a fan

Yep this whole dont know its on argument is rubbish...from a melbourne point of view all the fta news bulletins preview victory and city games, channel 9, 7 and 10 would all be at training the day before a game. If you have fox as well you should pretty much have enough to go on by channel surfing alone. If you're on social media then you have the hattrick. If you arent going you dont care, if you arsnt watching on tv its because something you find better is on. 

Even if you're in the old fart category newspapers have you covered, hell even the ethnic papers covers it all. Its almost impossibls to not know! 

About time Slater starts to talk shit on FFA, even though it's only because he's pissed off they still haven't approached Arnie. In truth he's right on the money, because even if they go with someone else, how on earth do you not atleast approach the manager in the A-league who's easily dominating at the moment. 
But even so good on him. We need more people coming out and speaking the truth about the failures of the FFA, especially players.
The way things are going now you could spend millions on ads for the league, but in my opinion we'd only get a small improvement in crowds. What we really need is a change of board, or if the current board had any brains then atleast make the changes that fans and owners of clubs have been crying out for and ffs get rid of your bullshit dictatorship attitude. 
Crowds have dropped because the most passionate football fans have basically been kicked out and or turned off to the point they're over football in this country, and for that there's only one thing to blame and that's the FFA.

I didn’t know a few games were on on random midweek nights and I’m supposedly a hard core supporter!

So how do you know when your team is playing?

And what about home games. Do you wait until the game starts on Fox and then drive to the game if you see your stadium in the background?

Any fan worth their salt does some level of research. Otherwise fans will just tune in 5 times a week at the exact same times so they can see their team play by accident or surprise. The ratings figures tell us otherwise

You will get Tony Sage sending all his games to Singapore and Griffin then whinging it is not enough. I know anything you say against the clubs is sacrilege but I imagine at this stage the clubs are 'happy' for the marketing to fall over as they can justify club financial independence. All sides need to do more.

@ MichaelB

The FFA need to do more. Either make that $9m spend effective or hand it over to the clubs. And if Sage thinks the best way of marketing his club is to move games to Singapore then let him get on with it ... from what I can see of Glory they did a pretty good job of marketing early Glory games and got good crowds while the rest of the Comp was struggling so I’m not sure why you’d pick on Sage?

As someone who stopped watching FTA (not even plugged in anymore) and doesn't want to pay $500 a year to Foxtel for the rest of the crap they put out, the last piece would be the radio, and you can be sure if it's not AFL then Adelaide media doesn't give a fuck about United let alone the rest of the league.

Leaves me to my own devices, and when I've got other interests competing for my attention, the last thing I do is go out of my way to research whether a game is on Tuesday night.

You're know a thousand people's worth and this doesn't account for those attending. 

OK so you don't watch FTA or Foxtel. You don't follow social media or subscribe to your team's newsletter. You don't read the newspaper. The only sports related websites you go on is this forum with a few vertical bars pasted across your screen so you only read every second forum post. And the only radio you listen to is everything except the sports report which would have told you the results of the Monday game and hinted there would have been a game on Tuesday

Your only means on finding out about a game is your own devices as you say and you didn't have any interest in checking up on the A League - and you blame the FFA for what? Not knocking on your door and telling you there was a game on

The A League is not hidden away by any stretch of the imagination. Not only that but this is the 13th consecutive year it has been in operation and nearly every one of these had midweek fixtures over the Christmas period. Your knowledge of it is reflected by your interest and effort

How do you get by without TV in the 21st century?  No news, series, documentaries, sport, nothing? No wonder you don't know when the a-league's on. I imagine there'd be many other things you miss out on by choosing to live like that. Must be terribly boring. It's not really something you should be proud of. I advise plugging your TV back in. Foxtel is insultingly expensive, but at least get Netflix or something!  

The bottom line is people are bored and aren't following when games are on.All of the usual reason explain why.But promotion is clearly a big driver.
I can honestly say i have been following games much less than ever before.I have actually missed Roar games ,because i wasn't investigating when the games were on.Yes i may be busy with other things and i default to checking game times when i think they would be on.
Even following the forums here ,I sometimes have no idea when a game is on unless i happen to check in on game day, close to game time.
I can say i rarely ever find game times from advertising,because its non existent,even on 442 or World Game.
People can say diehard fans should know when games are on.However who were all those fans that got ratings from 30k to 70k plus?I am sure they are fans ,but they have a life and unless there is a compelling game to watch,it's a case of I will do something else,because i have many options and catch the score later.
Football needs hype to build interest.That can come in many ways.Winning like the Jets ,drives interest and having rubbish teams losing all the time like Roar,Phoenix and Glory can drive apathy.
I can tell you from experience,when ADP hype was everywhere i managed to convert some rugby fans and make them Roar members for a few years.These days they have lost interest and dont even watch on tv very much .Are these people we should care about?I say yes because it doesnt take much to drive interest if you have a good plan and can market it.We have neither and don't deserve those people.How could anyone take them to watch Roar anyway and there is no other team in Qld to follow.

I watch no fta not listen to radio. I get the club and A-League newsletter but if I’m not at work I miss them. I’m not on any social media inc twitter and facefuck. I view this site and the roar. Half the time I only know who’s playing who checking out Sportsbet. Where I live in the Illawarra the A-League is invisible.

I live in Wollongong and can report that the a league is certainly not invisible in the Illawarra. You do have to watch TV or at least listen to the radio occasionally though. I have no idea how else you're expecting to get info. 

Maybe you could try this link:-

A-League

The same old ten team comp is boring and uneventful.

The reality is that everyone knows how to find out basic Match info (try the HAL website) but they don’t cos they don’t care.

There is less interest in the HAL now than there was a few years ago. And that is pretty fucking unbelievable.

Very easily. FTA is pathetic and foxtel is a waste of money in the streaming age.

The most effective marketing is high profile players and quality players, that $9 million would be far more effective if you just gave $1million to each club and either raised the cap or said everyone has to get a marquee.

Lol

That's what the clubs want, more money..... But but but da poor grassroots.

Even so, it's good to watch a current affairs program or, I dunno, a nature documentary once in a while. Or tennis, cricket, premier league, whatever. It seems unthinkable to never watch TV. Just sounds a bit anachronistic. And judging by their posts, I doubt Coverdale and red shirt Willy stream much either. One has unplugged his TV, and the other has no presence on social media nor even listens to the radio... 

I used to know a girl who rarely watched anything. At first I liked that she was different to everyone else, but I soon realised that not knowing the names of The Simpsons characters was more annoying than cute.

See I had no idea who was playing today. And one game was my team! I knew they hadn’t played yet but wasn’t sure if they were playing tonight or some other random night this week. I do now, just checked Sportsbet! Low and behold two games today. Great!

Just on the whole boring and uneventful topic.

It’s January yet you rarely hear a transfer rumour that generates headlines and interest.
With a salary cap in place and no transfers between clubs our clubs can only organise “trades” by mutually agreeing to release players for a swap which rarely happens.

It would also generate some off season headlines when the league needs to stay relevant and build up to a new season in the headlines.

@derider. ACA!?! You’re avin a larf