Wolves to showcase A-League claims against Mariners

Retired Wollongong A-League star Mile Sterjovski and fellow former Socceroo Paul Okon during the FFA Cup draw on Friday.

FOOTBALL

It's been playfully labelled the Mile Sterjovski Cup.

With the draw live on television, South Coast were one of the last to be drawn from their pot, as they booked an FFA Cup date with former A-League champions Central Coast Mariners, likely to be played on Tuesday, August 19.

The clash may not have the pulling power of the rabid support of Western Sydney Wanderers' Red and Black Bloc, or the navy blue army following Melbourne Victory.

But there is no questioning the Mariners' credentials as an Australian football powerhouse and a model for success for any future South Coast A-League franchise.

After completing his official duties with the draw on Friday, Sterjovski admitted he enjoyed the prospect of his two former clubs meeting in the round of 32.

"It's pretty funny," he said of the Sterjovski Cup reference.

"I knew as soon as I drew it out that it was the Mariners and I had the Wolves in the back of mind during the draw, waiting to see when they would come out.

"It was an honour to be part of the first ever draw, it's a great initiative and helps close the gap a bit between the A-League and the semi-professional clubs.

"It's also perfect timing for the FFA to capitalise on the growth of football in Australia, with the World Cup, the A-League and the Asian Cup to come.

"Hopefully it will be a stepping stone to promotion and relegation in Australia and it would be great to see Wollongong back in the elite competition."

Injured Wolves captain Jacob Timpano, a former Sydney FC and North Queensland Fury defender, admitted holding his breath as it became clear the team would be drawn against an A-League club.

"It's a great result to play an A-League club, it's a chance to show the strength of South Coast football," he said.

"It would have been great to have the Wanderers or Melbourne Victory here, just because of the amount of crowd support it would attract, but it's fantastic to be playing the Mariners.

"They're a hugely successful club in the A-League and all the boys can't wait to take them on."

It was Sterjovski - who developed through the Wolves system and won the 2013 A-League grand final with the Mariners - who pulled the Central Coast ball from Pot A to lock in the WIN Stadium showdown.

And being played on a Tuesday night in Wollongong, when the Mariners are just weeks into the pre-season preparations for the next A-League season, Timpano is bullish about the Wolves' hopes.

"It's a good chance of getting a result," he said.

"When I was playing for Sydney FC, we would play against state league opposition during the pre-season and we got beat on numerous occasions.

"At that stage of the year, there's not much difference in terms of standard, because we're well into the NSW Premier League season and are well conditioned."

Two years ago, Dapto Dandaloo played out a draw in a Central Coast pre-season encounter, while experienced midfielder Steve Hayes has trialled with the Mariners and Wolves product Josh Bingham is in their youth system.

Timpano, who played for Australia at under-23 level and was with Fury prior to the demise of the club in the A-League, said it was an opportunity to show he could still handle the national elite competition.

"I still feel like I'm up to that level when I'm fit."

Timpano points to Illawarra for next A-League expansion


Jacob Timpano

South Coast Wolves captain Jacob Timpano has urged Football Federation Australia to ensure the Illawarra is the base for its next expansion move, or risk the region facing elite oblivion for decades to come.

On the back of the Wanderers' success in the A-League and the World Cup in Brazil, FFA officials want to capitalise on the groundswell of support for the code by establishing another team in NSW.

FFA officials are studying the feasibility of building a southern Sydney outfit, based at Kogarah or Cronulla, which could also play games at WIN Stadium.

However, fears have been raised about the prospect of Wollongong, who last played on the national stage in 2004, being squeezed out of the process by rich Sydney backers.

A former Sydney FC and North Queensland Fury defender, Timpano said the FFA simply could not turn its back on the Illawarra region in preference for another team in the Sydney market.

"If the Illawarra doesn't feature in those plans it would be a massive blow for the region and its supporters who have long fought for a return to the national fray," he said in his weekly Illawarra Mercury column (page 31).

"They are the very same fans who watched the Wollongong Wolves claim back-to-back NSL titles more than a decade ago before their untimely departure from the scene in 2004.

"But since then the rise of the A-League has given new hope for a return.

"Yet with two clubs already in the harbour city and two more a stone's throw away [on the Central Coast and Newcastle], a fifth team in NSW would more than likely rule out further expansion in the state for the near future."

Football South Coast suffered a significant setback last year when funding for the Home of Football development at West Dapto was committed to by the previous Labor government, then scrapped by the current Coalition government.

NRL club St George Illawarra have cut their home games back from six to four at WIN Stadium this year, to alleviate cost pressures by playing at the more financially lucrative ANZ Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park.

Timpano is adamant the South Coast should not be satisfied by being thrown the crumbs of an A-League franchise and hosting just a handful of games for an otherwise Sydney-based franchise.

"Wollongong wants and needs a team of our own," he said.

Illawarra A-League expansion on the horizon with South Sydney team

A report from News Limited says a new A League team based in the Sutherland Shire could be part of the national soccer league in 2017.

The team would make use of Kogarah Oval, Shark Park and WIN Stadium as home grounds in a move that could boost interest in soccer in the Illawarra.

Ever since the Wollongong Wolves left the national soccer competition in 2004, the region has been calling for another seat at the national table.

"They [Football Federation Australia] saying to us they're thinking of ways to maximise the [A League] brand and they see our region as a key to it," Mr De Gabriele says.

"We have a terrific nursery and they want to make sure the Illawarra can tap into the A League and FFA programs.

"We meet them one on one on a regular basis and they say 'don't get disillusioned because you didn't get a home of football, we're still supporting you'."

The move would see soccer make inroads into traditional rugby league areas currently held by the Cronulla Sutherlands Sharks and the St George Illawarra Dragons.

But games at Kogarah Oval in Kogarah and WIN Stadium in Wollongong have decreased in recent years, and regular use of those grounds would be welcomed by stadium administrators.

Mr De Gabriele says not only could the region support a club in south Sydney, it would draw fans from elsewhere.

"Identity is a challenge but these days even teams that are geographically created don't geographically operate.

"I don't think distance is a problem - people follow a brand and a club and what their heart tells them to follow.

"The idea of having some games in the Illawarra means everyone can get to it."

The FFA has already indicated they are interested in two new teams for the competition by 2017 when the TV rights deal is up for renewal.

It makes sense that South Sydney could be a viable option for the code.

Mr De Gabriele says another club would help bring the league up to a 12 team competition, which he says is ideal.

"Some of the other codes are running too big [with too many teams] and are watering down their bases.

"We could have a Japanese or Korean side - there's always ways of expanding the world game."

Push for third team in Sydney as A-League aims to cash in on World Cup hype and record SBS ratings



AUSTRALIAN soccer wants a third Sydney team in the A-League — smack bang in NRL territory — as part of future expansion and its next broadcasting deal.

Former NRL boss David Gallop plans to attack Sydney’s south, where the Cronulla Sharks are struggling and St George Illawarra have all but abandoned Kogarah Oval.

Cashing in on the World Cup hype and record SBS ratings, the subject of A-League expansion and long-term strategic planning have been discussed among FFA heavyweights in Brazil.

Corporate powerhouses Westfield and Nike have already indicated they will support the new venture.

There is talk of Socceroos legend Tim Cahill, who recently purchased a waterfront home in the Shire, becoming the face of the club.

Home grounds under consideration include Shark Park, Kogarah Oval and Wollongong.

As World Cup fever sweeps the nation and gives soccer another huge growth spurt, FFA is firming up plans that they hope will become a reality with the next TV deal in 2017.

The competition has remained stable at 10 clubs for the past three seasons, but several key stakeholders, including Frank Lowy, are pushing for a 12-club comp. The new markets under consideration are not likely to include provincial cities in the wake of FFA’s disastrous Townsville and Gold Coast play.

Instead, the major capital cities are under the spotlight.

On day one in the job as FFA chief executive, Gallop said A-League expansion should happen in markets where there are “millions of potential fans, not just hundreds of thousands”.

In Rio for the World Cup, Gallop told me: “The connection to the grassroots and our massive participation base is what sets our game apart. It makes sense to link clubs and communities in any expansion plan to keep the growth trajectory of the A-League on a steep incline.

“We need to fish where the fish are.”

Ironically, Gallop was the man in his rugby league chief executive days who always insisted that nine Sydney clubs and a saturation coverage of the city was the way to go.

For soccer, that means the focus will be Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Of these major markets, it’s understood that Sydney’s south and south-west and Brisbane’s west and south-west are regarded as prime territory for expansion.

Outside of the Shire, the other Sydney option is to take advantage of the south-west growth corridor from Liverpool to Campbelltown, where the planned new Badgery’s Creek airport will supercharge the economic growth in a region where soccer already has a massive following.

A third Sydney team to join Sydney FC and the Wanderers might seem ambitious at first glance, but the numbers show a huge market potential and a third club would deliver more of the
A-League’s hottest property — Sydney derby matches.



In the 2011/12 season, Sydney FC had the city’s market to themselves and had an average crowd of about 12,000 and membership of 7000.

The next season, the Western Sydney Wanderers were born and the Sydney soccer market changed forever.

Two seasons later, the market growth is phenomenal. Last season, Sydney FC had a crowd average of about 20,000 and membership of almost 12,000. The Wanderers packed Pirtek Stadium every week and ended with a 16,000 crowd average and a capped membership of 16,000.

On a fortnightly basis, the Sydney market went from 12,000 average attendances in 2011/12 to a combined 36,000 average in 2013/14. Membership went from 7000 to a combined 28,000.

They are staggering increases.

The Sydney basin is the heartland of Australian football, with 40 per cent of all registered players in this region. That’s more than 200,000 participants. Not only that, there are hot spots that don’t have a direct connection to an existing A-League club.

In my patch in the Shire, you’ll find the biggest suburban soccer association in Australia, the Sutherland Shire Football Association with about 20,000 players in 26 clubs, including Lilli Pilli, the biggest in the country.

Next door is the St George association, where the late, great Johnny Warren first kicked a ball on the fields of Botany.

This combination of grassroots numbers and heritage makes for a powerful case, just like the
Wanderers in the west of Sydney.

Surprise results as A-League’s expansion teams are decided

The need to expand the A-League has become a hot topic of late, especially as the TV rights deal is up for renewal in the 2017-18 season.

Proponents of an expanded competition believe an extra two teams would be needed so as to create more television content which would lead to a better TV rights deal for the league.

So the idea has a fair groundswell of support but these new teams must come from somewhere. While not arguing for the need to expand, assuming the league was to expand for the 2017/2018 season, who will the new teams be?

On the way I will develop some criteria that should deliver the answer.

The issue is so important that delegates from all over Australia, including many Roar commentators, were willing to forgo the delights of winter for an all-expenses paid conference at a Port Douglas resort.

To assist them, FIFA has despatched a special advisory committee with experience gained from the 2022 Qatar World Cup bid.

As they sat down to their entrée of oysters they were handed this list. It is all the cities/regions that have previously put their hand up to have an A-League team. In accordance with David Gallop’s mantra of “fish where the fishes are”, they are sorted by population.

1.   Auckland   1,418,000
2.   Gold Coast 557,822
3.   Tasmania    495,354
4.   North Queensland (Townsville/Cairns) 442,333
5.   Ipswich (Ipswich/Towoomba)   422,010
6.   Canberra   391,645
7.   Sunshine Coast 306,909
8.   Wollongong 268,944
9.   Geelong   250,651

The source for these figures is either Wikipedia or the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 census, with places in brackets added together. The sauce for the oysters was mornay.

The lead in time is relatively short. The teams need to be ready to rock and roll, leading to the first criteria.
Criteria 1: the stadiums must be in place now

Applying Criteria 1 takes out the Sunshine Coast and Ipswich so our list is down to seven.

Congratulations the Auckland Whales you are the first cab off the rank. Take your jerseys and suit up for season 2018. Is it that easy though?

Wellington Phoenix’s position in the league has often been called into question with regards to the Asian Confederation. Adding a second New Zealand team could be risky. And besides, there may be a revolt from Australian football fans if a New Zealand side took one of the expansion slots.

Criteria 2: The two new teams must be from Australia

Now we have Gold Coast and Tasmania in the top two positions. Will the Tasmania van Diemens take the field in 2017? No.

There are a variety of reasons why they wouldn’t, but an easily definable one is the home stadiums.

AFL/cricket stadiums don’t look great on TV or make for a fantastic fan experience for football. As the lobster and barramundi is brought out, we can look at Criteria 3.

Criteria 3: The new teams must play out of rectangular stadiums

Applying Criteria 3 knocks out Geelong and Tasmania. So that brings the list down to the following: Gold Coast, North Queensland, Canberra and Wollongong. I believe this will be the shortlist that the FFA will be looking at for the next expansion, and I wouldn’t argue if any of these four were chosen.

After a desert of Tiramisu and salted caramel ice-cream, our delegates headed out for some well deserved rest, where even Roar commentators from different sports were seen laughing and joking with the diehard football ones.

Arriving back from the swim up bar with cocktails in hand, our delegates filed in to make the final decision.

As the FFA advisory committee were reluctant to leave the pool, our delegates were now on their own. Could they just take the top two names off the list, Gold Coast and North Queensland?

Remember both these teams have failed before. It would be a huge risk for the FFA to reinstate these teams after they have already been kicked out only recently. How would they decide? After twice trying to chat up the barmaid, one of the delegates invoked the “once bitten twice shy rule”.

Criteria 4: Teams that have previously been kicked out of the league cannot reapply
And out onto the plate drops two names: Canberra and Wollongong.

The Canberra Pollies and the Wollongong Wallys will be the two new expansion teams. After a few more days of rest and recreation, our delegates head back to cooler climates and the more serious business of posting bitter comments on sports websites.

As the final results come through, which two teams did our erstwhile colleagues from the FIFA advisory committee recommend? A handwritten scrawl on the back of a beer coaster from the swim up bar contained their answer: Bali and the Maldives.

Wollongong.

I go back to my first post which is pretty much what you said.

My thoughts about a QLD team relate to my understanding/expectation that the demand is there given the relatively large player base.

Go where the people and demand are.

I don't get the argument that some states should get teams over others just to balance it out.

Qld should have the next team (of the 2). Roar has coverage over the entire state - that doesn't seem right...

Editor calls for more action at Campbelltown Sports Stadium with a new A-League Team



The  Macarthur region should be making plans now to attract Sydney’s third A-League football club to the area in the future.

Campbelltown Council raised the idea at last week’s meeting, pointing out the region already had the facilities and a booming population needed to support an A-League team.

After the success of Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers, established in season 2012-13 and reaching the grand final in its first two seasons, the Macarthur region is the logical choice for a future A-League base.

Campbelltown Stadium is an ideal competition venue, while Lynwood Park, at St Helens Park, could serve as the training base after its $1.2 million, synthetic-field upgrade.

The stadium is largely available, with the joint-venture club Wests Tigers playing just four NRL games a year at the Leumeah facility.

There is no suggestion that the region will end its relationship with the Tigers, but with a fast-growing population there is plenty of opportunity for another elite sporting code to set up in the region, particularly if it is based locally full-time.

With 600,000 people or more calling the Macarthur region home in 25 years, the region has the population to support both NRL and A-League clubs and, looking further ahead, perhaps a third Sydney AFL club.

If the NRL had any sense, it would set up a club full-time in the region to advance the code in Sydney’s population growth centre.

But, without a commitment for more NRL games, the council is right to signal its support for an A-League team. The idea already received the thumbs up in discussion from Macarthur Chronicle Facebook readers. Rod Rose posted: “We have everything here. Quality players. Huge number of young teams. Grounds. Supporters. Business backing.”

Robert Moreno responded: “Fantastic! When can I buy tickets?”

The Wanderers have enjoyed outstanding success in their first seasons. There is every chance a Macarthur area team would be equally successful.

With more than 5000 junior and senior players participating in the Macarthur Football Association competition, football is one of the area’s most popular participation sports.

These players and those that follow in their footsteps will form a ready-made spectator base of a future, local A-League team.

The idea needs to be in Football Australia’s, the A-League’s and the council’s forward planning.

Socceroo Brett Emerton and council call on FFA and A-League to put expansion team in Campbelltown



TIRED of seeing its first-class football facility under-used by national codes such as the NRL, Campbelltown Council has agreed to court other sports.

The council voted at last Tuesday’s meeting to put its hand up for Campbelltown as the home for Sydney’s third A-League team.

Liberal Cr Paul Hawker believed if the A-League was to expand beyond the current 10 teams, that a third Sydney team would be strongly considered due to the resounding success of the Western Sydney Wanderers.





“There is talk a third team may come to Sydney in the A-League,” he said.

“I don’t think we’re getting a fair go out of the NRL at the moment. Our state-of-the-art stadium is not being fully utilised.”

A bid to become an A-League city would also be boosted with the announcement of a $1.4 million pitch refurbishment of Lynwood Park where a synthetic pitch will be installed.

Lynwood Park could then be used as the training base for the new club, he suggested. Campbelltown’s former Socceroo Brett Emerton backed the idea saying “it would be a great thing for the area”.

“There will be room for another team in Sydney without a doubt and Campbelltown should be considered. I know the popularity of football in the are and it’s only going to increase.



“People have shown they want to support a club when matches have been played here. To have a team in Campbelltown would be really special.”

Campbelltown Mayor Clinton Mead supported the idea. “We only have half a (NRL) team, if that, at the moment,” he said. “We’re (Campbelltown) a great opportunity if anyone wants to call us home.”

Macarthur Football Association general manager Glenn Armstrong felt the upgraded facilities at Lynwood Park would boost any potential bid. “You see the same sort of thing with the Wanderers, they train at Blacktown,” he said.

“It’d be a great thing for Campbelltown. We’re a growing area, we are getting the infrastructure and the numbers of people to support a team. We could also attract international teams, money and tourism.”



A-LEAGUE: Began in 2005-06 season, currently 10 teams with two Sydney teams

DEPARTURES: Auckland Knights, Nth Qld Fury, Gold Coast United

ARRIVALS: Melbourne Heart, Western Sydney and Wellington

CAMPBELLTOWN OPPORTUNITIES: A-League, W-League, National rugby championship, NSWPL

Is the Gold Coast ready to welcome an A-League franchise again?
After the demise of Clive Palmer's team, backers in Queensland believe they have the players and infrastructure to bring football back to the area

The Gold Coast's population is set to swell in the coming decade, and will provide plenty of opportunity to establish a fanbase.

In retrospect, we should have seen it coming. But when Clive Palmer was awarded an A-League license back in 2008 he wasn't the way he is now. When he said he would move football in Australia forward, we believed he would do it. He was meant to be Australia's answer to Roman Abramovich. He promised to pump his mining billions into Gold Coast United and set new standards for Australian football. He was quirky, yes, but nothing more – there were no dinosaur parks, no replicas of the Titanic. Not yet.

What could have been. Two years on from the death of Gold Coast United and few would look back on Palmer's three-season rollercoaster in the A-League with any wistfulness. A club born with a silver spoon in its mouth, United suffered an undignified end. In their final days, they trained in borrowed Socceroos gear provided by FFA because their banished owner had control of their regular kit. With a squad that became casualties of the war between Palmer and the FFA, the stench of doom – which had lingered, essentially, since day dot – was inescapable.

In hindsight, rushing in the Western Sydney Wanderers – then only known as 'New Sydney Club' – was the right option. Even Geoffrey Schuhkraft, the man who wanted to clean up the mess and save GCU at the 11th hour, can admit to that now. The A-League is no longer exposed to ridicule through embarrassing Skilled Park crowds and for once, there is a sense of stability off the field. Western Sydney has been a runaway success – although, as Football Gold Coast general manager Damien Bresic says, "If the federal government gave us $8m, I'm sure we would have done the same thing."

People are understandably bitter, as they are up in Townsville, and even more so after seeing the Wanderers treated with a degree of love and care that wasn't there in the first wave of A-League expansion. "No, it hasn't recovered fully. But it's on its way to recovery," said Peter Williamson, chairman of the region's only National Premier Leagues side, Palm Beach.

David Gallop and Frank Lowy won't acknowledge it publicly, but expansion is looming as one of the A-League's biggest issues. The 10-team format is growing stale. More clubs are needed to not only maximise FFA's next TV rights deal, but to ensure the competition itself advances. While consolidation is important, so is planning now to avoid a repeat of the blunders that were made in the past.

There aren't exactly a multitude of options. Though FFA has all but turned its back on the Gold Coast, it remains the biggest sporting market from which the A-League is absent. Projections show the area’s population will swell to nearly 750,000 by 2026. And while it has long been regarded as a sporting graveyard and irrelevant in football terms, that could be about to change. Four years from now the Gold Coast will host the Commonwealth Games. For a regional city still grasping its own sense of self, that is a big deal. Schuhkraft and the 'Save GCU' movement he once led are banking on this event galvanising the Gold Coast's sporting culture and providing an environment in which an A-League franchise will be viable.

"Two years on, I'm more enthusiastic about this than ever," said Schuhkraft, founder of talent empire International Quarterback and a veteran of the sporting management scene. In 2006 he joined forces with former client and current Milan coach Clarence Seedorf to create ON International - a company focused on "changing the way the business of football is played". His passion project is to help the Gold Coast finally embrace the round ball. Just returned from a trip to the Middle East with Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate, he's making a good start. Tate was one of the businessmen involved in Schuhkraft's unsuccessful bid to keep United alive. He was elected mayor shortly afterwards and has since employed Schuhkraft as a senior advisor for Middle East relations for the Gold Coast City Council.

Schuhkraft has friends in high places. He introduced Tate to the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, who now get along famously, going skydiving together during Tate's recent self-funded trip to the United Arab Emirates. The Gold Coast and Dubai are sister cities and that relationship has helped open a lot of doors. It helped Schuhkraft convince the UAE national team to hold their pre-Asian Cup training camp on the Gold Coast later this year. He says that deal will give the city two weeks of saturation media coverage in the football-mad UAE. Qatar would be coming, too, if they weren't drawn in the same group.

Schuhkraft helped to secure two other deals - the first a "knowledge-sharing" agreement with Qatar 2022's Supreme Committee of Legacy and Delivery, the second with Qatar's Olympic Committee. "There's a lot of areas of collaboration and ways we can utilise the fact we're both regions preparing for global sporting events," Schuhkraft said.

The Gold Coast City Council is not concerning itself with the controversy surrounding Qatar's procurement of the rights to host the 2022 World Cup – and the treatment of migrant workers. "We obviously are aware of a lot of the conversation around the World Cup but we are a city preparing for the Commonwealth Games. They are a country that's been granted the World Cup. We believe it's in the best interests of both parties that we embrace this opportunity and take a positive approach, because that's how we'll make positive change within Qatar and also our community.

"The reason why we've been able to secure such extraordinary outcomes for the city is because of the way they view the Gold Coast. They don't view it like any other market within Australia. To people from the Middle East and China, it is a safe destination, a destination they love. These are substantial agreements that any state or city would be honoured to be able to achieve. Right at the centre of them all is football. We're planting the seeds and I'm really quite excited about that."

Tate and Schuhkraft devised a plan last year to float the idea of an A-League franchise to Chinese investors under the working title of "Gold Coast Dragons", with the hope of building into the top tier through the National Premier Leagues in Queensland. That idea has developed into the motivation for the work that Schuhkraft is doing today. The council is also on board, and is set to engage a consultant specifically to help them develop a strategy for football and how the city can use it as a platform to do more business abroad.

"I honestly do believe there is a great future for football on the Gold Coast and the fact that we've been made to sit back, take stock and consider every aspect has been a very healthy process for everyone," he said. "Since the license was taken off Palmer it definitely hasn't dropped off the radar. All the key movers and shakers around sports strategy in the city, the Commonwealth Games and beyond, have all made sure that football is at the pointy end of the sword."

"Football is the biggest participation sport here. It is the most powerful sporting and entertainment package on the planet. The problem is it's never been organised into any sort of structure where we can build unity and passion around a club. We have to prove that we can deliver a minimum of 10,000 per game and that we have the people with the passion and a stadium that can offer prices and an entertainment package that would justify the reason for those people to attend. It all starts at the grassroots."

Schuhkraft sure talks a big game but is the potential he speaks of even there anymore? The grassroots tell the tale. The local zone still has close to 10,000 registered players while there are an additional 3,000 based in northern NSW. That's an enormous catchment area. Most in the game agree it has never been harnessed correctly.

Football has a long history on the tourist strip but not a particularly strong one. It never had a side in the National Soccer League, nor was it ever really in the national soccer conversation. "When you look at some of these soccer clubs on the Gold Coast, they're exactly the same as they have been for the last 30 years," Williamson said. "They might have tidied up their toilet block and clubhouse and put up a small grandstand even, but that's it. We're one of only two soccer clubs with a licensed club premises, which is where we get our money from. There's been no vision. The Gold Coast has got so much going for it; it's unbelievable. People aren't exploiting what we've got here." With that background an A-League licence was always going to be a quantum leap, and had to be done right for it to work. It wasn't.

"I remember putting together a community engagement proposal and taking it to them and saying, 'you really need to get on board, we've got so many players'… they just weren't interested," said Bresic. Palmer's parting gift was a two-year sponsorship worth $50,000 from his company Minerology for the naming rights of the local competition.

"Unfortunately, the Palmer experience was an abject failure. But it was destined to fail," Williamson said. "Football is a blue-collar sport. To tell everybody you're going to be flying around in private jets, it created a lot of resentment from all the local people in football. Had Clive hung in there longer and didn't and get some people offside, he would have got it right eventually. There is a lot of support for football here but it's got to be done properly and gradually. Fortunately all the groundwork that Clive should have done is being done now in the NPL."

Palm Beach won the coast's only NPL license virtually unopposed. The only other bid came from FGC, which proposed a broader entity that was to pick up where United left off, like the Northern Fury. But an FFA directive that zones were to be excluded from the elite development pathway meant that it was never seriously considered. "That really made it Palm Beach, and Palm Beach alone," said Football Queensland chief operating officer Ben Mannion.

As it stands, the job is too big for one club – especially since nearly a quarter of Palm Beach's players come from northern NSW. FGC and FQ both want a second NPL team in the Gold Coast's north to lighten the load. "When you get past Nerang-Broadbeach Road, you're probably not going to come south to train at NPL level. A lot of kids have actually come up to Brisbane Strikers because of that," said Mannion. "Just based on the numbers, there's something missing." Three local clubs – Coomera, Magic United and Mudgereeba – have already shown interest in filling the void.

"That's when you'll see football on the Gold Coast go from strength to strength. Then your A-League club goes on top," Williamson said. "That's where we deserve to be. The players, the potential, most of the infrastructure is here. We just need a vision. The thing that's let us down is that people didn't have the vision 25 years ago. The ones that did were clocked on the head by people who couldn't manage change."

With Schuhkraft working from the top down and the NPL slowly building from the bottom up, the challenge is making both movements align. As Bresic says, "Let's make sure we build a garage before we go and buy a Ferrari to put in it." Last week, Schuhkraft met with FGC for the first time to discuss the state of play. Palm Beach are ready to help in whatever way possible. It would be a stretch to say there is a consortium in place, but perhaps for the first time in Gold Coast football history, all the game's main stakeholders are on the same page.

"I don't give in, I don't give up, and until we've got an A-League franchise here, I won't be giving up," Schuhkraft said. "We have all the elements. It's now about how well we can execute this over the next five to seven years. That's one of the gifts I'd love to give this city because on the back end of that will be many, many rewards that people might not understand today, but once it's up and running, they'll get it."

A-League expansion should follow successful 2013/14 season

Season nine of the A-League has seen a coming of age for Australian football. Never before has the competition played so deep into the AFL, NRL and Super Rugby seasons.

By the time the A-League finals have been played, the oval-ball games will be a third or more into their seasons. Previously, the A-League had only played in summer, the fear being the finals – and especially the grand final – would be be ignored by the media in favour of the other codes.

Looking specifically at crowds and ratings in the NRL and AFL, pre-season and regular season crowds have taken a slight dip this year.

The real question though, is when will the A-League and its supporters believe football has become a major player in Australian sport? With player numbers, football is the clear winner and in internet hits, depending on what count you use, football is doing very well. But when will football match or pass AFL and NRL match schedules?

Today both the AFL and NRL produce 210 matches give or take. The A-League only has 140-odd. This is the challenge football has never been able to fight. Playing in winter has always been seen as impossible. In HAL 9, football was not wiped off the floor when played in the other codes’ seasons.

Next year, Australia is hosting the Asian Cup, meaning the A-League will have to play deeper into the AFL, NRL and Super Rugby seasons. If the A-League holds its own, an additional two teams should be introduced. This will make the league a lot more marketable.

Assume that a 12-team A-League, with teams playing each other three times, would have six games a week for 33 rounds – including finals, that’s 205 games. Add the FFA Cup games (32 or more), the Asian Champions League games (24 at least), the Socceroos games (10), the Matildas (10), plus another 12 W-League games and that’s 293 matches.

Football would have close to 300 matches available to broadcast across a number of competitions.

The importance of playing deep into the AFL, NRL and Super Rugby seasons is in the number of matches football will have across a number of competitions. Expanding the league would potentially more than double the current television rights deal.

As an aside, go to google and complete four searches: Super Rugby, rugby league, AFL and A-League. Write down the hit figures, you will get quite a surprise.

Sydney FC are planning to have their training base at Tempe. Which is about 10 minutes from Kogarah Oval. St George/Shire is Sydney FC territory. Maybe people from this area will better associate with Sydney FC once they move in. Sydney FC should be playing practice/lower attendance games at Kogarah and when the Wolves come in, at Shark Park against wollongong.

3rd Sydney team in sydney will either be based in Liverpool or Penrith (depending on where the new stadium is built in 5-10 years)

Always annoys me when people suggest things without knowing the area. A team in the south has to be either at Campbelltown or the Shire, it can't be both. While it might look ideal on a map, it's easier to get to the SFS and Parramatta from Cronulla than it is to get to Campbelltown.