Would someone mind explaining to me why Fremantle has suddenly become the new expansion club darling?

Would someone mind explaining to me why Fremantle has suddenly become the new expansion club darling?

Dreaming of South Coast A-League success
By MITCH COHEN Nov. 5, 2013, 3:26 a.m.
FOOTBALL

The A-League dream may yet be years away for Football South Coast, but with the season under way, the Mercury selects the region’s dream team.

Packed with local players and led by Albion Park Socceroos star Luke Wilkshire, the South Coast outfit would test the A-League’s best with a wealth of experience and exciting talent.

It features players from four current A-League clubs, as well as the likes of Wilkshire and Scott Chipperfield, plus Brendon Santalab and Steve Hayes, who have experience in overseas competitions.

GOALKEEPER

Justin Pasfield

Current Team: Central Coast Mariners

Age: 28

The gloveman helped the Mariners to their first A-League title last campaign and is now a mainstay between the sticks at Bluetongue Stadium. Pasfield made one appearance for the Wollongong Wolves before the NSL crumbled nearly a decade ago and has since been on the roster of five A-League teams. If the South Coast were to form a team, the in-form shot-stopper would be the first man to pull on the gloves.

DEFENDERS

Matt Jurman

Current Team: Sydney FC

Age: 23

With two A-League titles at two different clubs, Jurman knows what it takes to win silverware in Australia. He returned to Sydney FC for the 2013-14 campaign and is looking to shore up a spot in the unstable Sky Blues defence. After starting his football life as a Wolves junior, Jurman has played more than 50 games in the national league. His youthful experience and height make him a must in the centre of defence.

Aaron Calver

Current Team: Sydney FC

Age: 17

It may be a little premature, but there is no doubting Calver has a big future. Having already made a handful of appearances for the Sky Blues at just 17, the central defender is sure to make an impact in the coming years. Calver has been at the helm of Sydney’s youth squad defence to start the season and has helped the Sky Blues to a pair of clean sheets in two victories. A switch to any senior side in the A-League would not shock.

Pedj Bojic

Current Team: Sydney FC

Age: 29

As an inaugural A-League All-Star, Bojic has established himself as the best right-back in the competition. After over 100 appearances and an A-League title with the Central Coast, he made the move to the harbour city for this season. The Warilla junior still has plenty of good years left and wouldn’t look out of place leading deep forays up the WIN Stadium touchline in the future. Bojic’s attacking threat from the back is as strong as his ability to keep up with best wingers in the game.

Luke Wilkshire

Current Team: Dynamo Moscow

Age: 32

Starting at Albion Park, before moving to the Wollongong Wolves, Wilkshire has called Russia home for the past five years. He has been a key player throughout both of the Socceroos’ two previous World Cup campaigns and is aiming to make it a hat-trick of appearances in Brazil 2014. As a right-sided utility and member of Australia’s ‘golden generation’ of footballers, Wilkshire brings that little bit of star power to any South Coast venture.

MIDFIELDERS

Scott Chipperfield

Current Team: FC Aesch

Age: 37

One of the region’s favourite sons made an unlikely return to the Illawarra Premier League with Tarrawanna for a guest stint this season and showed he still exudes the class he left Australia with over a decade ago. A two-time Johnny Warren Medallist with the Wolves, Chipperfield moved to FC Basel in 2001 and made close to 300 appearances for the Swiss powerhouse. As a member of the Socceroos’ 2006 and 2010 World Cup campaigns, the tireless left winger brings experience and class to the table.

Ruben Zadkovich

Current Team: Newcastle Jets

Age: 27

A passionate Bulli and Wolves junior, Zadkovich is a born leader on the paddock. As the current Jets captain, the no-nonsense midfielder mixes tough tackling with enthusiastic offence in inspiring fashion. Zadkovich has spent time in the English second division and took out a title with Sydney in the first season of the A-League. At 27, he could be the man to lead a South Coast venture for the long term.

Steve Hayes

Current Team: South Coast Wolves

Age: 28

With his flowing blond hair, Hayes has the ability to become something of a cult hero for any future A-League franchise. The 2011 NSW Premier League player of the year spent last season leading the South Coast Wolves midfield and should consider himself unlucky for never getting the chance to play in an A-League uniform. What better place to make your national league debut than on home soil?

ATTACKERS/STRIKERS

Corey Gameiro

Current Team: Sydney FC

Age: 20

A freak injury in the pre-season has him sidelined for the current A-League campaign, but the Port Kembla junior is ready to make his mark on the domestic scene. After spending the majority of his junior years at English Premier League club Fulham’s youth academy, Gameiro has returned to Australia to play with the Sky Blues. At the ripe age of 20, there is plenty of upside for Gameiro.

Mile Sterjovski

Current Team: Central Coast Mariners

Age: 34

A return to Wollongong would complete a career full circle for Sterjovski. The winger began his football life in Illawarra over 20 years ago and is still bamboozling defences Australia wide. Spending time in France, Turkey, England and Switzerland, this football journeyman’s experience and driving runs would be more than welcome on the highly touted WIN Stadium turf.

Brendon Santalab

Current Team: Western Sydney Wanderers

Age: 31

As far as front men go, Santalab is exactly what every team needs. The South Coast striker has a nose for goal, with a habit for scoring spectacularly. This goal-scoring nous is matched by his hard working mentality and versatility in attack, which could see him play wide on the right in a three-pronged attack.


SUBSTITUTES

Jacob Timpano – has A-League experience and was a key man in the Wolves’ survival campaign in 2013.

Ricky Zucco – one of the NSW Premier League’s best goal scorers.

I was chatting with my mate who is an Adelaide boy and a mad Port Adelaide fan. I noticed a massive similarity in the way the expansion of the national AFL competition was done into Adelaide when comparing this to the A-league in Sydney.

Basically, before the AFL expanded the national competition into Adelaide (in 1991), aussies rules was (and still is) massive in the local South Australian competition. The biggest team by far was Port Adelaide, who won the comp most times and had a huge following. The rest of the competition essentially just made up the numbers.

Then when it came time for the AFL to expand the national competition into Adelaide, Port Adelaide put together a proposal to join and looked set to be approved. However at the 11th hour all the other clubs in Adelaide got together and formed a rival bid called the Adelaide Crows. Adelaide Crows was essentially a new club with no pedigree but got approved and entered the competition.

Port Adelaide were left out of the party, despite being the biggest and most successfull club in South Australia with a rich pedigree. It was 6 years later when the AFL allowed Port Adelaide entry to the competition (in 1997). The hatred between the 2 clubs was already there due to the history of how the Crows leapfrogged Port in getting earlier entry into the competition. In their first season Port Adelaide won the first ever derby game against the Adelaide Crows with a rag tag bunch of old and rookie players (apparantly the best ever Port Adelaide game). This was despite the fact that Adelaide Crows were the best team in the comp and went on to win the comp that year.

Since then both clubs have been more or less even in terms of on and off-field success.In terms of memberships and crowds, Port have slightly less than Adelaide. But considering Port's members are based on just 1 club, whilst the Crows are drawing from a number of SAFL clubs then that's understandable.

I see the comparision with West Sydney and Sydney FC. For a stupid reason Sydney FC was created first and based away from the heartland of the football in Sydney. It was a club for everyone, but in fact noone. And the FFA resisted the introduction of West Sydney until 7 years after Sydney FC.

West Sydney is in fact the club that should have been first in the A-league. It is based in a region with a rich football pedigree with a massive fanbase. In fact, when Sydney FC put together its bid the preference was to play out of Parramatta Stadium in the heartland. Once the bid was won the FFA demanded the team play at the Sydney Football Stadium instead, in the east of the city, because they knew that a Western Sydney team would one day be inevitable and that Sydney FC, an eastern club, would need the head start it has so far recieved.

I was chatting with my mate who is an Adelaide boy and a mad Port Adelaide fan. I noticed a massive similarity in the way the expansion of the national AFL competition was done into Adelaide when comparing this to the A-league in Sydney.

Basically, before the AFL expanded the national competition into Adelaide (in 1991), aussies rules was (and still is) massive in the local South Australian competition. The biggest team by far was Port Adelaide, who won the comp most times and had a huge following. The rest of the competition essentially just made up the numbers.

Then when it came time for the AFL to expand the national competition into Adelaide, Port Adelaide put together a proposal to join and looked set to be approved. However at the 11th hour all the other clubs in Adelaide got together and formed a rival bid called the Adelaide Crows. Adelaide Crows was essentially a new club with no pedigree but got approved and entered the competition.

Port Adelaide were left out of the party, despite being the biggest and most successfull club in South Australia with a rich pedigree. It was 6 years later when the AFL allowed Port Adelaide entry to the competition (in 1997). The hatred between the 2 clubs was already there due to the history of how the Crows leapfrogged Port in getting earlier entry into the competition. In their first season Port Adelaide won the first ever derby game against the Adelaide Crows with a rag tag bunch of old and rookie players (apparantly the best ever Port Adelaide game). This was despite the fact that Adelaide Crows were the best team in the comp and went on to win the comp that year.

Since then both clubs have been more or less even in terms of on and off-field success.In terms of memberships and crowds, Port have slightly less than Adelaide. But considering Port's members are based on just 1 club, whilst the Crows are drawing from a number of SAFL clubs then that's understandable.

I see the comparision with West Sydney and Sydney FC. For a stupid reason Sydney FC was created first and based away from the heartland of the football in Sydney. It was a club for everyone, but in fact noone. And the FFA resisted the introduction of West Sydney until 7 years after Sydney FC.

West Sydney is in fact the club that should have been first in the A-league. It is based in a region with a rich football pedigree with a massive fanbase. In fact, when Sydney FC put together its bid the preference was to play out of Parramatta Stadium in the heartland. Once the bid was won the FFA demanded the team play at the Sydney Football Stadium instead, in the east of the city, because they knew that a Western Sydney team would one day be inevitable and that Sydney FC, an eastern club, would need the head start it has so far recieved.

I was chatting with my mate who is an Adelaide boy and a mad Port Adelaide fan. I noticed a massive similarity in the way the expansion of the national AFL competition was done into Adelaide when comparing this to the A-league in Sydney.

Basically, before the AFL expanded the national competition into Adelaide (in 1991), aussies rules was (and still is) massive in the local South Australian competition. The biggest team by far was Port Adelaide, who won the comp most times and had a huge following. The rest of the competition essentially just made up the numbers.

Then when it came time for the AFL to expand the national competition into Adelaide, Port Adelaide put together a proposal to join and looked set to be approved. However at the 11th hour all the other clubs in Adelaide got together and formed a rival bid called the Adelaide Crows. Adelaide Crows was essentially a new club with no pedigree but got approved and entered the competition.

Port Adelaide were left out of the party, despite being the biggest and most successfull club in South Australia with a rich pedigree. It was 6 years later when the AFL allowed Port Adelaide entry to the competition (in 1997). The hatred between the 2 clubs was already there due to the history of how the Crows leapfrogged Port in getting earlier entry into the competition. In their first season Port Adelaide won the first ever derby game against the Adelaide Crows with a rag tag bunch of old and rookie players (apparantly the best ever Port Adelaide game). This was despite the fact that Adelaide Crows were the best team in the comp and went on to win the comp that year.

Since then both clubs have been more or less even in terms of on and off-field success.In terms of memberships and crowds, Port have slightly less than Adelaide. But considering Port's members are based on just 1 club, whilst the Crows are drawing from a number of SAFL clubs then that's understandable.

I see the comparision with West Sydney and Sydney FC. For a stupid reason Sydney FC was created first and based away from the heartland of the football in Sydney. It was a club for everyone, but in fact noone. And the FFA resisted the introduction of West Sydney until 7 years after Sydney FC.

West Sydney is in fact the club that should have been first in the A-league. It is based in a region with a rich football pedigree with a massive fanbase. In fact, when Sydney FC put together its bid the preference was to play out of Parramatta Stadium in the heartland. Once the bid was won the FFA demanded the team play at the Sydney Football Stadium instead, in the east of the city, because they knew that a Western Sydney team would one day be inevitable and that Sydney FC, an eastern club, would need the head start it has so far recieved.

I see the comparision with West Sydney and Sydney FC. For a stupid reason Sydney FC was created first and based away from the heartland of the football in Sydney. It was a club for everyone, but in fact noone. And the FFA resisted the introduction of West Sydney until 7 years after Sydney FC.

The stupid reason was that no one wanted to invest in a West Sydney club, thats why your funded by the FFA.
Of course you can point to the Chris Tanner group, or the defacto ANZ stadium.
In fact the FFA should just take the money and sell you ungrateful whingers to the highest bidders, whether its ANZ stadium or the Penrith mob.

Just a thought.

To keep A-League teams closer to the community it represents. Don't you think that A-League clubs should be aiming to attract talented local players?

E.g Players who are either born in that city/state, or have resided there for more than 5 years, should be eligible for a 25% increase of income outside of the salary cap? It would entice more players to stay in their home states and keep the local flavour, and passion for the respected region.

E.g you wouldn't want a club with the majority of it's players from NSW and QLD that is representing Perth, would you? Or a club with mainly VIC and QLD players representing the sky blue shirt.

Edited by axelv: 5/11/2013 02:03:20 PM

Just a thought.

To keep A-League teams closer to the community it represents. Don't you think that A-League clubs should be aiming to attract talented local players?

E.g Players who are either born in that city/state, or have resided there for more than 5 years, should be eligible for a 25% increase of income outside of the salary cap? It would entice more players to stay in their home states and keep the local flavour, and passion for the respected region.

E.g you wouldn't want a club with the majority of it's players from NSW and QLD that is representing Perth, would you? Or a club with mainly VIC and QLD players representing the sky blue shirt.

Edited by axelv: 5/11/2013 02:03:20 PM

The ideal situation is for clubs to draw players from their region. Unfortunately some regions don't produce enough players of sufficient standard to make up the majority of their squad and for this reason in my view the next great emphasis in the league should be the clubs getting more involved in growing the grass roots of the game in their area. In a presentation to WSW fans the other week Lyall Gorman said that the club's aim is to get to the point where 60% (might have been 65%) of players in the squad were local. I expect that most if not all clubs have a similar aim.

Your idea of a 25% increase in cap for "local" players would advantage those clubs that can afford to pay more. I personally don't think that is a good idea. At this stage where funds are in short supply I'd rather the "fortunate" clubs spend any excess on growing the grass roots and on the elite level coach and player development pathway.

The tragedy is that at the inception of the A-league, a club based in Sydney's west, playing at Parramatta Stadium with the necessary investors was all ready to go. Unfortunately it got cut down.

Sydney FC originally proposed to play at Parra Stadium, with 100% financial backing from Football NSW. But after they won the bid, Lowy got involved, moved the club to Moore Park, forced Football NSW out and installed his son as a major owner. The rest is history. Read more here if you wish: http://www.smh.com.au/news/Soccer/NSW-cut-ties-with-new-club-over-Lowy/2004/12/11/1102625585718.html

Sydney FC should have evolved through Football NSW and not through Frank Lowy and his yes-men.



Edited by Jowel: 5/11/2013 01:54:02 PM

Soccer NSW, which was expecting to provide a $1.25 million investment in the club, now faces the bizarre situation of having walked away from the club it effectively formed.

There's no problem with it being an east coast league if that's where all the grassroots football players and fans are. Ultimately it doesn't matter how much money is sloshing around, if very few fans exist for the club, it's going to fail (Gold coast a good example).

Think of it this way: The NRL only has one team in Melbourne which is right. The AFL has two teams in Sydney, and that's probably one too many. The A-league used to have three teams in Queensland but only one team in Sydney, which of course we all know was a complete joke.

Ultimately to make a new team successful you have to find a large community of football fans and players with a distinct identity who don't feel represented by an A-league team yet.

Where is the game played and followed? To me the most obvious places where there are lots of "unrepresented" fans are:

Canberra/Quenbeyan
Wollongong/South Coast
South Sydney/St George/Sutherland area - (yes, I know there are SFC fans from here)
New Zealand - (Auckland and Christchurch have both drawn 15-20k crowds for Phoenix games)
South Melbourne (could easily move, rename or sell Melbourne Heart)

Once you've found these fans, ask them what they want and give it to them. Just like they did with the Wanderers. Really FFA should throw this process open to the fans soon to see where the interest is.

I think the appeal of Fremantle for an A-League club is rather similar to the appeal it had for the AFL; a significant sub-centre of Perth, the largest CBD area outside of the 6000 post code, and most importantly, as a distinctive group identity. The group identity thing is a big plus because it gives a nice big catchment that will attach to it for parochial reasons, whilst at the same time its not an exclusionary identity (lots of people like hanging out in Freo). There's a significant Italian influence in that area that they may be able to capitalise on as well.

And I'm progressively coming to the view that there is a significant football community in WA that is not, unfortunately, being catered to by Perth Glory. A Fremantle team might help reinvigorate the state though.

Have you got any plans for expansion beyond the 10 teams?

We're committed to the current 10 teams under the current broadcast deal. Certainly, expansion will happen at some point, but not until we've stabilised the current structure and assisted our current clubs to further grow their own businesses to a more sustainable point.

Have you got a year in mind?

No, but it's a few years off.

What about particular areas?

I've got a view that you need to be looking at areas that have millions of people as population rather than hundreds of thousands, and certainly there are a number of options within that criteria. But it's tough running a football club in any code in this country and you need to have a good base to work off.

I just noticed this comment from David Gallop back in July which I thought was interesting:

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/australia/news/1160142/Barcelona-next-on-Gallop-s-All-Stars-wishlist



If millions of people are the criteria, that rules a lot of places out.

If millions of people are the criteria, that rules a lot of places out