We need to focus on strategic growth which will add value to the league in regards to attendances, corprate support and TV ratings, with that in mind I'd only be expanding in the following areas

Auckland
Canberra
Wollongong
Geelong

And then I'd be looking at a strong semi professional B-League, comprising,

Townsville Fury
Sunshine Coast
Ipswich
Tasmania
Christchurch
Albury
South Melbourne
Melbourne - other team
Sydney Olympic
Sydney United
SA team
WA team

Where were those 5500 people week in week out? :-k

-PB

Gold Coast A-League bid

OFFICIALS at Gold Coast Soccer have urged Football Federation Australia to think carefully before it decides where to place a new A-League club if New Zealand fails to come up with the money to run a team next season.

A consortium from the region emerged yesterday as a possible replacement for the New Zealand Knights, who have been given until tomorrow by the head body to come up with $2million to fund a side.

Townsville, which is understood to have put in an impressive bid and, to a lesser extent Wollongong, have been mentioned as possibilities to fill the Kiwis' spot if they fall over.

While Townsville has six months' head start on the other candidates, Gold Coast Soccer president Peter Gray said the consortium behind the region's bid, consisting of successful local property developers, is "ready to go".

"I have no doubt that, despite giving away a bit of a start, we are ready to put in a very competitive bid for the franchise," Gray said.

"We have a very influential and powerful group of Gold Coast and interstate businessmen who are very keen to get involved in the A-League.

"They are more than capable of making it happen."

The consortium has already decided the Gold Coast team, if successful, will play out of Carrara Stadium, which is the temporary home of the Gold Coast Titans, who will make their NRL debut this Sunday.

The AFL will also use the stadium for matches involving the Kangaroos.

A new stadium is also being built at Robina and the proposed club would have no problems eventually shifting its base there.

While there has been no discussion in terms of player recruitment, The Australian understands several locals have been mentioned as possibilities for the coaching role, including former Newcastle, Sydney Olympic, Marconi and Fijian national coach Lee Sterrey, former Wollongong Wolves coach Nick Theodorakopoulos and former Queensland Roar coach Miron Bleiberg.

Gray believes it would be good for the A-League to get a strong foothold in the booming area and urged it not to give the AFL and rugby league a "free hit".

"We all know the Titans are ready to kick off in the NRL and that the AFL is spending a huge amount of money to try and get a foothold on the Gold Coast," Gray said.

"Football is very strong in our area.

"We now have over 8500 registered players and that is 1200 up on last season's figures. We hosted Sydney FC in a match against Queensland Roar in the A-League pre-season last year and, on a very wet day, we got over 7200 paying customers to the match.

"We have to capitalise on our expanding base and not allow the other codes to get a foothold. If I was the FFA I'd be thinking over this very carefully."

Gray, a former board member of Soccer Australia and former president of Soccer NSW, said the GCS would not have a financial stake in the new licence but is prepared to provide office facilities and staff. "We are not in the business of spending kids' money on things like this," Gray said.

"But we have offered as much assistance as possible to ensure the bid is successful.

"The people involved in the consortium are cashed up and have the support of the Gold Coast council."

Gray added the consortium had spoken to FFA several months ago about gaining a licence for the 2008-2009 season.

"We were due to talk to them again at the end of March in relation to the 2008 bid, but we will try and bring those talks forward, in light of the events of recent days," he said.

The Townsville consortium remains a strong favourite to fill the void if the Kiwi club falls over.

Townsville project director James Gage believes the club, which would have New Zealand great Wynton Rufer as coach, can raise the $2.5m minimum required by FFA within 24 hours.

- See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/news/gold-coast-a-league-bid/story-e6frg7s6-1111113149102#sthash.3gzpFOpL.dpuf

Thats a fair figure. How many of those travel down for Brisbane games though?

Sunshine Coast 5,500.
http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-9393-0-0-0&sID=265952

By comparison South Coast has 10,500 and Central Coast 12,500.

Sunshine Coast 5,500.
http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-9393-0-0-0&sID=265952

There was a management report done into restructuring Gold Coast Football a number of years ago (5?) that gave registration numbers and from memory it was around 8k. I'll have a look for it.

EDIT: Gold Coast Soccer did a 5 year Plan but although I can find references to it I can't find it on the new Gold Coast Football website. I did find this in a Ray Gatt article from about the time I read the 5 year Plan.



http://www.talkingfooty.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1343

Who know how much or if the numbers have changed in the last 5 years.

Edited by gyfox: 12/11/2013 06:49:13 PM

Shame, would be interesting to see the numbers for Gold Coast, Townsville and Sunshine Coast etc, might try their websites.

"We now have over 8500 registered players and that is 1200 up on last season's figures.

I have not found anything on line for a long time. Someone a couple of years ago rang them and they were quite willing to give registration numbers over the phone. There was a quote when that Buckley woman was involved in Brisbane where she said they were worried about the drop in registrations and from memory she mentioned 75k total for Qld.

Does football Queensland put their annual report on their website?

Edited by iridium1010: 12/11/2013 06:21:25 PM

Also, here's a mock home fixture of similar style to williamn's - for the Wolves.

rd 1 Perth Glory - first game probably comfortable 10k - we'll go with that.
10k

rd 3 Brisbane Roar - an attractive fixture, I would say another comfortable 10k.
10k

rd 5 Central Coast - hard one to pick, would say maybe 11k or even 12k.
11.5k

rd 7 Wellington - support will hit rock bottom now, probably 6k minimum though.
6.5k

rd 9 Adelaide - average game, should be around 8k maybe slightly less.
7.5k

rd 11 SFC - close to a sell out for sure.
21k

rd 13 MVFC - could be quite a decent one, maybe 13k even.
12.5k

Here is where it becomes difficult. If the team is travelling in top 3 or 4, they could break away and start to build up to regular 12k even for lower-drawing fixtures like Heart and Perth etc. If the team are average or even bad, will remain or even drop off slightly to say 7k. Lets just say for the sake of it that they're doing well- top 5 but certainly not going to win the premiership. A few home wins but not dominant and flamboyant.

rd 15 WSW - similar to SFC nearly full.
21k

rd 17 Newcastle - about 1k away support at most, but locals loving the team means a great crowd.
13k

rd 19 Melbourne Heart - another decent crowd around 11k.
11k

rd 21 SFC - 2 rivalry matches are given by FFA to boost the new club, another near sell out.
20k

rd 23 Central Coast - an ok showing from the locals.
12k

rd 25 WSW - another near sell out thanks to 2 home rivalry games.
20k

So that would give a very achievable average of 13.5k which would be fantastic and very viable. I think similar figures would be very applicable to Canberra too. So would be a very viable club if they start like that. Maybe knock a few k off here and there against Heart, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Newcastle or Mariners but looks about right to me if the club plays its cards well and is reasonably competitive with some home wins.

Not a fan of AAMI Park then? :-k

I gave them in a post earlier. From Football NSW's 2012 Annual Report there are 10,500 registered players in the Illawarra Region. Outlying Associations further down the coast and including the Southern Highlands take this to approx 17,000. From Capital Football's 2012 Annual Report there are 11,100 registered junior footballers in Canberra and another 3,100 play in their men's and women's competitions. So approx 14,400 in the capital alone but there are another 5,500 in Associations south and west of the ACT making a total pf approx 20,000 that would feed a Canberra club.

Football participation reaches 1.96 million Australians

Tuesday, 12 November 2013 12:43 PM

The latest audit of football participation in Australia shows that 1.96 million Australians are actively involved in the game as a player, coach or match official.

The participation number is a 13% increase on a previous survey in 2010, which tallied 1.7 million people involved with the game.

FFA CEO David Gallop said the latest figures shows that football is growing strongly at the community level and providing a vibrant base for the Hyundai A-League and Australia’s national teams.

“The game's simple beauty and reliance on skill rather than collisions makes it a natural choice for so many people in so many places,” said Gallop.

“It’s the popular game for boys, girls, old and young, who are playing outdoor, indoor, in parks and fields and in clubs and schools. Football is flourishing across the Australian community and we’re delighted.”

The gemba Active Sports Participation study (gASP), which surveys the Australian population between the age of 5 and 75, reveals that 960,000 people participate in organised football competitions, while another 1 million play in social, recreational and semi-organised ways.

“The survey result confirms that football retains its status as the no. 1 team participation sport in Australia,” said Gallop.

“Football has always had a huge playing base, but now the popularity is spilling over to the attendances, TV ratings and digital audiences for the Hyundai A-League and the Socceroos.

“Today, the powerful idea that football could become Australia's biggest and most popular sport overall is no longer just a dream. It’s starting to happen in significant steps forward.”

We got any sourced info on the playing numbers for Wollongong and Canberra?

According to this website and my own memory the last three >10k crowds they got were in the 95/96 and 96/97 seasons with an average of around 6000 and 7000. A partial move to the SFS was unsuccessful dropping average crowds by 3000. It then steadily went back up over the next 3 years to 5600 in the first year at the shire. Then many of the greeks decided they didn't want to travel any more and crowds dropped. They then abandoned those they had gained in the shire by moving to Kogarah and it got worse.