Great to see some actual bids on the table, even if it will be 4 seasons before new clubs we should 100% be looking at getting framework up and running with NYL and if viable, W-league as well. Canberra surely must be out ahead though with a strong W-league side already in place and the AIS on the doorstep. Some good local talent has come through recently, too. Just need to get that shocking stadium situation sorted and they get the go imo.

So there are official bids from Gold Coast, Canberra and Wollongong as well?

There are no official bids (not even from NQ), because as the article says, right now there's nothing to bid for.

But there are groups from those areas getting their bids together?

And that'd come as a surprise?

Gold Coast and Canberra yes.

Someone bumped an old article on Gold Coast the other day. Canberra have always been interested.

Canberra have been quiet since Ivan Slavich pulled out.

Are you talking about the Sunshine Coast article I posted a few pages back?

Again, there's been nothing to bid for. And no.

Some juicy expansion material.



http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/sport/ambitions-to-have-an-a-league-licence-in-five-years-in-townsville-are-very-real/story-fnjfzr2z-1226756114765

So there are official bids from Gold Coast, Canberra and Wollongong as well?

Edited by iridium1010: 10/11/2013 11:05:26 PM

@palad I've added those abs maps to the mainpage with the link in title, do you think I should quote the hole article or just have the map?

Are Dragons playing with fire?

By Michael Lynch
April 12 2002

Few bids for entry into the National Soccer League have stirred up as much debate as that mounted by the Melbourne-based Chinese consortium headed by entrepreneur Liu Bing through his Goldenstar International Investment Pty Ltd.

The likelihood that the new side - to be known as the Melbourne Dragons - will come into the league next season is slim.

NSL officials, conscious of the need to reform the competition, want to ensure that any new clubs are not just cashed up but fully organised, with a sound infrastructure and professional marketing and business systems in place.

The last thing they, or the game, needs is a hastily convened and ill-prepared entity coming into the league and crashing after half a season.

In recent years the NSL has seen the collapse of Carlton, West Adelaide, Canberra, Gippsland and Collingwood Warriors, all for financial reasons; several of the current participants are running up hefty losses and surviving, in many cases, through the generosity of benefactors.
There is a strong feeling that some of these clubs - those most frequently mentioned include Adelaide City, Sydney United, Marconi and the Football Kingz - will either have to radically slash their budgets or change the way they do business if they are to stay afloat.

The Dragons have excited some controversy over the fact that initial reports of their proposals suggested that they would use predominantly Asian players, in a bid to boost their plans to secure a lucrative television deal in China, where NSL games would be beamed back to potential audiences of 500 million people.

Soccer Australia's chairman Ian Knop said that the league needed another mono-cultural team like a "hole in the head", remarks for which he has been criticised.

Knop may have been reacting to media reports of the team's composition as being predominantly Chinese without knowing the details, but the point he was making was a general one.

In the past Knop has been equally critical of the Croatian, Greek and Italian-backed clubs, which the proponents of change say have held back the development of the game.

Bing has subsequently tried to hold talks with Knop, who, he says, has misunderstood what the Dragons are about.

He is demanding an apology for what he termed a "racist" remark suited more to the 19th century than the 21st.

"We would be entitled to five overseas-based players, with the rest of the squad being local. We would also want a local coach. Our aim is to have one player from South America, one from Africa, two from Europe and one from Asia to try to appeal to all ethnic backgrounds. We want this club to be a team that is attractive to all soccer supporters in Melbourne and Victoria.

"We would like this ethnic background issue to rest as the constant fighting is destroying Australian soccer, which is a sport for all backgrounds - it is the world game."

Bing concedes that time is running out for his consortium to get the operation together in time for 2002-03, but he is prepared to come back the following season.

The Dragons' business model is based on generating revenue of $2.5 million in their first season, a sum that would need to be bolstered by further injections of development capital.

According to Bing, the club could raise $1.7 million a year through naming rights and shirt sponsorship deals, half of it from China.

That is a huge sum by Australian standards, but Bing argues that the potential exposure through the massive Chinese television market would make it an attractive proposition to multinational businesses.

The Dragons' crowd target is more modest.

Bing believes that it could initially attract about 2000 mainstream fans, disillusioned since the collapse of Carlton, 2000 people of Asian extraction (a market that is hardly tapped by any football code) and 1000 from Melbourne's transient overseas student population.

His preferred ground would be Bob Jane Stadium, with Olympic Park second and Optus Oval third.

Only if the club took off and built up its supporter base would Colonial Stadium be considered.

Bar and restaurant takings are budgeted at $200,000 a year, while the Dragons would look to generate a similar sum from local sponsors.

He believes that up to a quarter of a million dollars could be earned by running training camps and coaching colleges for foreigners, tapping into the Asian market that many clubs and Australian businesses seek links with.

Considering the content of the majority of your posts, you are hardly the best judge on what constitutes intelligence.

I was thinking the same thing. Its called the A-league for a reason.

Considering the Population of NZ is 4.2 million. Some of those european nations have a similar Population of NZ or more and have their own 10-14 team league. Look at Scotland, Greece, Holland, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic and Slovakia and Austria.

Unless you can say that to my face, your comment doesn't count

It's great that more and more can see this logic. Fantastic!

It's your time to score a piece of the Fury
A CHANCE at owning a piece of the Northern Fury is less than three weeks away.

The club revealed - at a public information session yesterday - a plan to roll out their community ownership structure by start of December, with prices ranging from $90 to $1000.

It has been highly anticipated as an essential aspect of the Fury's ambitions of returning to the A-League after their controversial axing at the end of the 2010/11 season.

Northern chairman Rabieh Krayem said the club was confident they had got the structure right.
"If you're a member of our club, you'll have a say in the running of the club," he said.

"We're making it affordable for everybody - obviously the foundation memberships ($1000) are important to us but even at $90, they can make sure they have a say in the club."

In the next 12 months, the Fury aim to attract 3000 "members".

But Krayem said Northern believed they could attract up to 20,000 owners by the time they hoped to achieve readmission to the Australia's top-flight competition.

"We've got to set ourselves goals and why can't we have 20,000 by five years?" he said.

"The brand itself, the Fury, is known around Australia and all our members don't have to come from here, so our target is 20,000 within five years."

The information session was attended by about 80 people interested to hear from Krayem and director of football Ian Ferguson talk about the direction the club was taking.

Attendees also took the opportunity to quiz the pair and voice their concerns, with a regular issue being a perceived lack of unity between the Fury and the local competition following its maiden 2013 season rebirth in the the second-tier National Premier League.

"Some people thought throughout the year that there wasn't a cohesive unit and there wasn't, Krayem said.
"There were some areas that we dysfunctional.

"We have recognised that, and having someone like Ian Ferguson - who is a very qualified person ... he can unite the clubs and unite the football teams together.

To find out more about Fury ownership, register online.

Disagree about munderah, second team in perth is definitely a medium term goal imo. (10-20 years)

Perth will eventually get back to their 'glory' days crowds they got in the nsl and if anything can be taken from a second team in melbourne is that both teams benefit from having a local rival. Regardless of position non derby attendances have gone up each year for both teams at a faster rate than the rest of the league.

Perths population is set to hit 2 mil next month and then 3 mil in 2026. Will definitely deserve a second team eventually.

Been thinking about a Mandurah based team (as I live in Bunbury). I think if they appealed to the Rockingham, Baldivis and Bunbury (SW region) they'd have a big enough support base. They could also be set up to be a sort of regional team for the South West. I am on the board for a club in Bunbury and really the Glory do very little to promote themselves outside of Perth.

The big limitation to Mandurah would be a ground. They'd have to build a new stadium, which would probably require assistance from the City coffers. Although I think setting up a club that is part community owned, part local government owned and part private owned is a good setup (a few J-League teams are owned by the local governments). I think a Mandurah team is a pipe dream unless a big investor comes in. A Freo team would probably be the best bet (or south or north perth team)

Prior to living out west I attended uni in Canberra. I even managed to make a few Cosmos games before they became a supernova. I think the name was terrible. But probably their biggest issue was the temperature and competition with the Brumbies, who were winning championships. I made a few evening/night games ... the cold was terrible. At least now the league is over summer that shouldn't be an issue. Although a big problem with playing over summer is that Canberra have a large university population (the two major unis had about 20 senior teams between them when I was there, and then RMC/ADFA had a few teams too). During summer a lot of this population leaves Canberra.

The location of Canberra Stadium (in Bruce where the AIS is too) is a little isolated, especially considering a significant portion of the population lives in south Canberra (Bruce is in the north-west). I read an article the other day from the Canberra Times talking about building a new stadium on the shores of Lake Burley Griffen, which would cater for the Raiders, Brumbies and also an HAL team. This would be a great spot for a stadium (more central). The crowds in Canberra are a little fickle too ... you have your die hard supporters but they are few and far between. The Brumbies were winning championships when I was there and half the crowd were more interested in the after party and being part of a scene rather than actually watching or understanding the crowd.