The problem with a lot of these development ideas is that the investors often will only release money for these developments if they are 'guaranteed' returns on their investment and in the case of football it is that the facilities will have a long term paying tenant. So such developments might never get off the ground without the guarantee of an A-League and W-League club coming on board.

Also, these ideas tend to pop up as a way to strengthen a bid as it goes to the heart of what the federation's mission, to improve football in this country. If they take an action that will result in the footballing infrastructure in a region to be forever improved, then that fits into the overall goal for the federation. It's just a big tick in the box for them. This is perhaps why the federations should be separate from the league.

$0 ratepayers money will ever be spent.  

That's good value vote-grabbing in anyones book

This is the first I have heard of this? What kind of upgrades?

Casey Fields should be be training facility, host W league and youth league matches. I've heard transport links are poor there so they should leave it at that.
I agree with the above posted it should be done anyway to service the shortage of suitable fields in the region anyway.

South Melb what are the proposed redevelopments at Heidleberg? Interested to know as it has the potential to host top tier football Imo

The "soccer mad south east" has jack all football infrastructure of note, the west has knights stadium, the north has Epping stadium and a soon to be redeveloped Olympic village, and lakeside of course just south of the cbd. The comparisons to the Wanderers are laughable as well, the west of Sydney is chock full of pre existing football facilities, Parramata stadium aside you have 2 stadiums with 10k+ capacities at Marconi and Sydney United.

Now they're saying they are the logical choice for a 3rd Victorian franchise when every other part of Melbourne is ahead of them and has had previous top flight involvement..just like sydneys west.

If they wanna argue population and growth corridors go for it, but they are behind everyone when it comes to what matters and that's football. South most likely won't be getting in the A league so they have time, get your shit together first then demand a license.

The council should stage the development. Build a playing surface, one grand stand and grass banks around the sides ready to be terraced in future. This is what they're doing on the Sunshine Coast. It's nowhere as big a step up to terrace and add seating to an existing ground. What they propose to do from scratch simply isn't workable in the timeframes for expansion. They would struggle to have a stadium complete by the end of the new television deal.

Spot on, why cant the city of casey build this complex anyway? If you wanna show that your the heartland (laughable) just build the thing regardless, it shouldnt need an a league license.

Everything south melbourne has negotiated and helped build has been done under the belief that we most likely wont ever get a license, but we pushed on to secure the clubs future. 

Thats the difference between the 2.

If this is the site they!re talking about for the new stadium then it's awesome.

https://www.google.cz/maps/place/Dandenong+VIC+3175,+Australia/@-37.9898606,145.2060463,375m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x6ad613fe1cf71e9f:0x5045675218cdf80!8m2!3d-37.981!4d145.215

They're not ready for the next round of expansion. But they'd make a great addition to round out a 16-20 club competition.

if....

Build the thing first, then ask for a team.

Same for Ipswich.

FFA expansion seems to be a microphone for every mayor in Australia.

Fantastic NEWS on Third Victorian team!!

A-League expansion: City of Casey ready to build $20m training facility if new team gets green light

MATT WINDLEY, Herald SunDecember 22, 2016 10:00am
THE City of Casey says it is ready to go with plans to build a $20 million training facility if Melbourne’s booming southeast is granted an A-League licence.And as the race for spots in an expanded A-League heats up, Casey Mayor Sam Aziz told the Herald Sun the “soccer-mad southeast of Melbourne” is the only realistic option for a third Victorian team.The proposed elite training centre would be based at Casey Fields, which already partners Melbourne’s AFL team and is home to VFL club Casey Scorpians.Consisting of eight change rooms, a multipurpose grass turf pitch and grandstand, Aziz said the Casey Soccer Centre of Excellence would be the ideal training and administration base for the proposed A-League and W-League club in the area.

But with a community facility also boasting three synthetic pitches and one grass turf pitch, Aziz said the proposed development would also service an estimated 140,000 local soccer participants.Casey does not intend to build a stadium suitable to host A-League matches.While the training facility’s main pitch could host W-League games, Aziz insisted he was fully supportive of Dandenong Mayor Jim Memeti’s push to build a boutique stadium near Dandenong train station.The current combined population of Casey, neighbouring Cardinia and Greater Dandenong is 535,000. That population is predicted to reach 714,000 in 10 years.Following the successful Western Sydney Wanderers template, Aziz said a united push from the three councils, local clubs and private investors was something Football Federation Australia should not ignore.

“By joining forces the three municipalities can turn the southeast into an A-League heartland,” Aziz told the Herald Sun.“By any measure the southeast has a ready-made supporter base for an A-League and W-League team. And with thousands playing organised soccer across the region, there is an undisputed love for the game here.“The Casey Soccer Centre of Excellence would provide the ideal base for a third Melbourne team and ensure there was a real and enduring connection to the local football community.“Young players would also be able to access a real pathway to elite level soccer through a soccer academy without having to travel far from home.“In addition, the facility would also make an excellent home for some W-League matches which could be televised.

I dont care who funds it. Just get them out. 

I like it! And Wellnix can fund it. 

Why kill them off. Use them as a p/r stunt. Australias NZ. Product to establish NZs first professional domestic league. 

surely not. a-league is at a point where we need growth, not to take more backward steps. if we kill off any more teams we are going to look like the nbl.

So I think its safe to say Nix wont last beyond season 19/20.
Therefore within the next 3 or so seasons we will see 3 new teams

I think
South Sydney is a lock
2nd Brisbane
South Melbourne 
Tasmania fight it out for the other spots

Really appreciate the postive feedback. I do think though that the name South Sydney would be enough to differentiate with Sydney FC. I'm big fan of letting nicknames manufacture organically. Something like Devils for Tasmania or Sharks for a Cronulla RL owned club would work for obvious reasons but forcing a nickname on a club starting from scratch with no history is when you end up with a name like Fury.


Cheers for the feedback in your following post.
This is something that frustrates me to know end in all sports. I hate the terms HOME and AWAY kits. In my opinion every club should have a MAIN and CLASH strip. Trust me what you said re: light and dark strips is something I thought about, in the end though I made the white kit the home strip because compared to all other HAL 'main' strips it only would clash with Melbourne City and potentially Sydney FC as opposed to the black one which would clash with Wanderers, Victory, Perth and Nix.

there's plenty of talent for at least 2 new teams at the same time

Instead of bringing in both new teams the season after next, they should introduce one of them next season. There is a limited pool of Aussie players on the market each year, and having two teams needing to fill their roster from scratch at the same time is counterproductive. A bye every 10 rounds would probably be welcomed by the coaches, and would be particularly useful to teams competing in the ACL. A big advantage of growing the league this way is that you get a fresh injection both next year and the year after, instead of just the year after on it's own.

Please FFA expand the league already, it's become so stale the last few years it's become a choir to follow.

There's only enough room in here for me, so not unless I come out.

I don't necessarily see them as being one of the candidates for A League expansion. Would be a good fit for an A 2 team there. If they managed to snag a promotion place as some stage, it would be good for the area. In a 16 team A League, promoted teams like Sunshine Coast (if they made it) would not disadvantage the overall competition

The FFA have argued against there being enough interest/teams for a second tier and promotion/relegation. The interest of the Sunshine Coast shows that there are and, hopefully, we see the AFC putting some pressure of them to fast track the A2 League. I also acknowledge that promotion/relegation would be a separate issue to the commencement of the second tier A2 League, but we need the latter to eventually get the former.

Do QLD really need their own CCM?

Link to an article about this expansion, FYI

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/football/a-league/teams/adelaide/queenslands-sunshine-coast-poised-to-enter-the-aleague-expansion-race-backed-by-consortium/news-story/e9fa2b3062f3fb159ba717bf277af839

HAHAHAHAHA, good call

Is that just a photo of kit you have in your closet?

This image actually looks a lot like when you go to grandma's house and she gives you the jar full of striped lollies which you can't pull out of the jar because they have been stuck together solid for 15 years

Don't get me wrong, I think it is a nice colour match. There is a reason why so many clubs through history have chosen black and white. I hope you are right as it would be nice. I'm no fan of a Southern Sydney team coming in ahead of a Wollongong team but the colours and crest are nice from the design above. Good work on that has to go out to the artist. When i think of black and white in football it always comes down to Newcastle United with all the flags



But given my local club here in Canberra are the magpies too I have been very used to black and white colour schemes for a long time.

dont think that will be the case. for starters city currently wear white, and soon they will be becoming sky blue shirt shorts socks so that will leave the white/black colourway vacant.

i think it would look wonderful, white/black hooped scarves. think of the crowd at oakland raiders games is what i imagine,.all the black streetwear also.

New TV deal from you Aussies sounds like it will have Nix Insurance in case we pull the plug soon.

Problem is they would never allow a team to wear white as their home kit since white is generally used as away kits in the A-League and the league enforces clubs to wear their away kits even if their home kits don't clash. You would have to use the black kit as the home kits and the white as the away.