To be fair, they got better crowds in Melbourne than they ever have in England, so obviously they should move to the MCG permanently.

Sydney FC is/was looking to make Tempe its base -- the shire to northern beaches to burwood is sydney fc territory. Wollongong or Liverpool are areas which will support new teams..

I believe it would. There are still a lot of unconverted football fans here. It's hard for them or they refuse to identify with a team from the city and they aren't from the west. You'd also bring in a fair few "non-football" fans just because this team is from there area and patriotic about it.

Cape Town Dongaloo's.

Be respectful to the new Occasation of Aussie socca clubs. Fuarrk

It's settled then. Wollongong and Africa for 2016.

Kevin Sheedy won't know what's hit him.

Well Africa certainly has the population...

While i agree in part, this league hasn't been successful by playing it safe. In saying that there have been some failures as well, however usually with great reward comes great risk. I would also like to see Wollongong back in the national comp under the guise of Illawarra and Canberra.

I think a part of the problem with the discussion surrounding expansion is that far too many, including those running the game, are thinking far too short term. These things take time, its not a question of will crowds come etc within 2 years, its more like 10 years plus. Investments such as these are long term, and provided correct planning takes place it is possible to turn an Illawarra or Canberra team into a powerhouse given the time. If 10 years of the league has taught us anything its that we have a long way to go and although we are all thinking we have reached great heights, this league is still in its infancy. Let the thing have its time to grow.

There are kids in Africa that have never heard of the Wanderers. Africa must be in line for a franchise by 2018.

Edited by eastern glory: 29/6/2014 10:16:08 PM

What the fuck you laughing at I'm deadset.

Hey do you reckon the A-League could put a team in Liverpool in England. Heard we don't have an A-League team there. What the fuck is going on with that. David de Boob you idiot.

:lol:

Fiji has the population, as does Singapore.

Unless you put it in Campbelltown then the South West is already taken by WSW.

I've always said that the next six should be Canberra, Tasmania, Wollongong, North Queensland, Gold Coast, and another, possibly Auckland, in no particular order.

Wollongong.

I agree. The only thing is that I think when FFA say they want another two teams they want to do it fairly risk-free.

Me, I'd like to see Illawarra, Canberra, North Qld and one other team in first.

Even if South West Sydney is viable, let's just give Sydney a rest for a while.

I hope FFA have learnt from the Heart problems that you can't have a team that is neither fish nor fowl. There needs to be a strong area identity differentiation in order to create a strong new HAL club.

A "Southern Sydney" entity would have no real point of differentiation from SFC and therefore kind of pointless.

OTOH Wollongong/Illawarra is a football region with its own identity and quite big on local parochialism. And the numbers are there to make it at least as viable as CCM.

Again, South West Sydney is a massive and growing market, forecast to grow by an additional 300K people in just over a decade. THERE'S YOUR MARKET FOR A NEW TEAM RIGHT THERE!

We have to have somewhat different expectations for different areas but while the St George and Shire areas aren't screaming out for their own team/s, Illawarra, South West Sydney, Canberra and North Qld certainly are.

I still don't know why we don't use the NYL as a way to "trial" new football markets. Imagine a Tassie, Gold Coast, Coffs/Mid North Coast, Geelong, Albury/Wodonga supplying teams for the NYL? Local players only, any age. Great experience for the young NYL boys, great opportunity for FFA to see which areas could warrant expansion, great way of promoting football in regional areas.

What I said the other day, it's not just saying where and throwing them there but planing is the key. Go to the city, ask the people how they want their team. As fury have attempted and south coast football have spoken about once before on having a team in the youth league before they get their A-League team.

it would be really good if these two areas are to come in at the same time. i think if these two regions dont come in at the same time, ffa will try make a generic team to try fit both areas which will inevitably fit one or the other and the other region will be lost.

This would have to be addressed in the individual viability element of the bid - how big does the 'exclusion zone' need to be around the franchise.

A cost affective measure would be to promote an existing club and not create a franchise from scratch with business interests in mind. Northern Fury have survived with a community model in mind. FNQ has as well and ballarat has made the transition nicely as well.

Does Jacob Timpano seriously have a fucking nose stud?

Fucking twat.

Crushers were up there with the Hunter Mariners for the worst expansion attempt in history so not much use comparing this to them.

Brisbane itself (as in anything within a 10 mile radius of the cbd) is done, it's a one team city and anyone who isn't currently a roar fan are not going to be attracted by a new team. SEQ as region though could in reality support another 3 teams as long as people aren't expecting them to be three new super clubs with mega crowds. Ipswich, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast are all distinct and far enough to not want to support Brisbane and have plenty of football talent coming through. They would all do reasonably well if given the chance i think. There are a lot talented juniors begging out for more pro football opportunities up here.

The issue is that we don't need another team that pulls CCM crowds, we need to aim higher than that. In many ways, CCM support is near to approaching its upper limit of its potential for its market size, even with great success on the park and excellent engagement programs undertaken.

The unfortunate fact is that a smaller market limits commercial and support potential, which is why Gallop holds the view he has.

Edited by heart_fan: 29/6/2014 01:19:35 AM

This so much. I think people will be surprised what a difference 10 years out of a national comp will do to a club, who let's be honest pulled mediocre crowds at Brandon Park. But playing at WIN stadium which is much more accessible and central they should match atleast CCM in terms of crowd numbers. I'd be shocked if they didn't.

Imo they'll add south sydney and south west sydney with emerton as the backer/part owner.

In the millions, have stadiums, FFAs sydney bias and they are the 2 markets gallop has talked about recently.

I agree in principle but...

This could be the problem. A South Sydney team and a Wollongong team may be the most financially viable options, but if they are 'fishing' in the same area then they both are weakened. It really needs to be the best 'pair of bids'.

I must admit I chop and change my next A-League expansion teams quite frequently since every day someone new brings about new reasons why a team should or should not be admitted into the A-League.

judging by the criteria and no disrespect to New Zealand the only teams I can see currently are now

3rd Sydney and a 2nd Brisbane.

However would a 2nd Brisbane team work or will it be like the The South Queensland Crushers NRL team?

Canberra will work if people are realistic about the crowds they will attract and to be honest at best will be around CCM/Wellington numbers.

as for other regional markets around the country maybe the A-League is just a bridge to far and the next best thing is to build a team that can on merit compete in the NPL.

That is what I will hope for is that every region far and wide, big or small will have some kind of football team NPL at the very least to support or play for.

There is no 'just add' - we/they can only add teams where backers are prepared to back teams. It's going to be a hard slog because there aren't many cashed up football loving backers prepared to invest in the game. We've seen how hard it was to get WSW up and running - they had to self-fund, then had the fortune of two great seasons to pull in crowds to demonstrate the viability. FFA can't afford to hit-and-hope in Canberra, Wollongong, etc., so they need to have independently backed sides.

As I've said for several years - if you want to expand by two sides, simply invite bids and select the two most financially viable options - whether they are in new territories or not. If that means we end up with South Sydney AND Wollongong, and the league becomes even more NSW oriented, so be it.

Gallop has already stated clearly that he wants to focus on markets with millions rather than hundreds of thousands for expansion teams, which should put any South Coast bid in serious jeopardy from the outset.

Any chance of a joint team with a Southern Sydney bid should be focused upon with its highest priority, if they really do want some representation in the HAL at all. Its not really in a position to feel entitled to a team of its own, especially when the FFA are making it clear that they just won't fit the criteria as a stand alone region.

Townsville, Tasmania and even Canberra will also struggle to get close to what they FFA are now looking for.

I think that if it could get AFC permission to look at an Auckland team it would investigate it harder, but that would appear to be a very remote option.

Realistically, without being able to look at NZ, the only options worthy of meeting the FFA aims are:

- Southern Sydney
- Brisbane 2 (Ipswich or Logan)
- Melbourne 3 (South East)

Of these only Southern Sydney has a realistic chance for some time to come, with Brisbane and Melbourne lacking any viable stadiums in the target areas to pursue at this stage. Getting a 2nd strong team embedded into Melbourne is also a priority first though before trying to chase further opportunities.



Edited by Heart_fan: 28/6/2014 04:38:28 PM