You shouldn't. Props for supporting your local team.

Yep.

My 6 year old son absolutely loves soccer but when he goes to school with the lack of it in the mainstream he finds it hard to talk to anyone about it. He has mates that play soccer and he takes his ball to school almost every day yet when it comes to conversation, etc AFL dominates only through the culture that already exists with the older generation. The kids know teams, players and history through parents, whether it be the news, watching the games, etc. This eventually will sway a large majority over.

I'm trying to change this with my own son purely by making it a conversation point at home, whether it be his own game or one on TV. I encourage him to come watch our local NPL side, sit at the PC with me and watch streamed games(HAL or otherwise) and we have made Saturday Night TV night watching the HAL on ONE with snacks etc, But I am one parent with one child.

Without the ability for a Tasmanian team on the national stage no one feels connected, there isn't a conversation point, there is no experience to latch onto.

This is why people from a Heidelberg or a South Melbourne or any other NPL clubs don't just jump to an A-League club because their connection, whether it be family or friends, is through those clubs and the community around it. 

I really don't understand how people negative towards NPL clubs don't understand this and just assume because Victory/City are in Melbourne that someone should support them instead.

NPL Vic clubs have to pay $40K license fee every year, but HAL teams dont, Vic NPL clubs fees are $2K and they are profiteering but HAL Academy is $4K and they are mother Teresa. Why dont HAL Academy's find a way? Must not want it bad enough....

It was you who making excuses for why NPL clubs are charging so much for fees. Good attempt to deflect though.

This is part their argument!!

Their opportunities to grow income are limited by being in a closed off state league with no chance of ever improving their standing.. 

So whats the excuse for the HAL academies charging so much when teams like Victory dont even have a pitch of their own? 

Wow. Just wow.

The VFL, formerly VFA, is older than the AFL yet it doesn't have a $2.5b TV deal. Its a barely watched league that some people mistake for a second division

This isn't a time issue like some people here think. If it was then why did we reset the counter after nearly 30 years with the NSL? Surely you believe that we were almost 1/3 of the way towards 30k averages and a $2.5b TV deal???

In contrast the BBL, which plays a form of a game barely older than the A League (let alone the code) is getting ratings, attendances and money our game can only dream of


My point wasn't that football is going to challenge the AFL any time soon. My point was this metrics obsessed dribble is out of context. The A League has failed as a commercial product. In the last 5 years the FFA have thrown everything at crowds and ratings to rescue the only two parts of the game they care about and we have seen a slide

Football is what it is, as you said. No clean air. No mainstream media interest. Just a base of rusted on fans that want to see a professional competitive league


What idiots here don't seem to understand is a 2nd tier and a 1st tier are two sides of the same coin

Sure we can have 20 teams in a single division. Give clubs 19 and 20 the same resources as clubs 1 and 2. Give them the same TV opportunities, sponsorship opportunities, and access to the same players. Imagine a business where everybody got paid the same. Where the CEO doesn't get a company car and a mobile phone unless there are resources to ensure the janitor does also

I would have thought a prerequisite to a professional league would be some kind of economic reality

Makes more sense to split the 20 teams into a 12 and 8 conference. One conference has more money and more sponsorship opportunities. They also have better players and prime TV spots. The second conference which features teams 19 and 20 play in smaller venues, have less money from a central pool, and don't have the best players. In other words they only have what they need - a broom, a mop, and a closet to put it in. If they want more they can climb the "corporate chain". Invest more, get more

The muppets here who are so opposed to a second tier structure either think:
. Anything spent on more than 10 teams is a waste of money
. It is better to spend $8m on 2 clubs at the bottom of the table than $8m on 8 clubs at the bottom of the table

Its not just greed and self interest holding our game back. But also stupidity

Football is what it is, as you said. We either accept that and work within our limitations to get the best of our game. Or we wait 90 years and we will magically have our answer. Didn't work for the VFL. Didn't work for the NSL. But got a good feeling about this one...

I know it hasn't been discussed but a second tier could also become a viable pathway for transfer fees into SE Asian Nations.
You look at someone like Nabbout who was dropped at MV and couldn't get a gig anywhere else in the HAL.
Goes to Malaysia and dominates which put him back in the frame at the Jets.

Week in week out of the second tier will become a decent hunting ground for scouts for Asian nations and could become a money spinner for A2 clubs.
The +1 Asian rule comes into our advantage with this.

Not sure about every state but in WA NPL clubs barely have any "appeal" outside of their members. This has nothing to do with a closed off state league, but everything to do with their community engagement, marketing, interactions within the soccer fraternity. Our local NPL side is pretty much at "war" with the local grass-root clubs. Many local clubs would raise more income in a closed off local amateur leagues because they engage the community better, have better governance and the general values shown by the club are more supported by the sponsors / community.

Some NPL clubs do this a lot better than others but blaming the "closed off state league" is just another excuse IMO.

because that is all the sport in Tasmania can sustain at a full pro level.  if not continue to support youur local club and accept thats all the sport in Tasmania can sustain,.

The problem with your argument is that in the BBL, and the AFL there is DEMAND from the public.  They WILL pay to watch live.  They will buy pay TV subs.  They will tune to  FTA.  Cricket and Aussie Rules predate Australia as a federation.  These sports are entrenched in the Aussie culture. And they get watch the best in the world.

IF there was a public and commercial demand for a national second division, what you say makes sense.  But there isn't.  Its just the clubs and Federations.

The A-league is going backwards for the same reason- its not meeting the needs of the fans: extra teams, new players, bigger names.

We don't know what the sport down here can sustain because we haven't been given an opportunity too..

why are you so concerned with whether its professional or not. someone here talked about the ice hockey national league. if ice hockey can have a national league football can have a 2nd division. Full stop. We could have a second division with what clubs already spend easily. 

These leagues (BBL, AFL) you're talking about aren't just professional, they're enormously lucrative. Players get payed millions. Thats not this. If there will be professionals in 2nd div they'll be getting 45k not millions. None of these arguments against a 2nd div hold up to any scrutiny.

Has anyone addressed the timing of this BS competition😖
If it’s in the summer it can’t compete with the existing A-League fixtures
There is no way in hell they will be allowed to have the same kick off times

If you want cheap DVDs or Games go to BigW

The reason why they can do this is by a magical economic thing called product lines. People shop at BigW to get a range of stuff which the owners make money from, and they can afford to cut the cost of electronics because one pays for the other. If BigW ditched electronics then they'll lose customers

Football, without a W League, youth league, FFA cup, state feds, national youth and womens teams would be fucked. Football as just the A League and just the Socceroos would be a paradox because neither would have the same commercial value they have without the other 80% non profitable side of the game giving it interest

This is why the AFL can afford to have the AFLW and a VicKick program. This is why they can afford to fund football in other countries. You think those Mozambique leagues are paying for themselves?


The AFL, BBL and other leagues all have additional leagues such as womens, youth etc... which will never have enough funding to stand on its own feet

The argument here seems to be we can do everything except for a second division, even though as I have stated it is merely a different conference to the first tier

I'm glad you're not in charge of football in this country because you'd cull everything that isn't of commercial interest. I'd hate to think what it would be like if we lost funding for Futsal...

Its not just another excuse its fact. 

Perth Glory attract better media airtime and members/fans which ultimately leads to better sponsors and more income than the NPLWA clubs and why is that?

By your logic, Glory have more dollars, airtime, members than an NPL club because their community engagement, marketing and interactions with the soccer fraternity are better and not because of the 'appeal' of them being at a higher level on the pyramid or atleast having access to it?

Rabieh Krayem, on Bill and Boz last night, said that they will try to avoid clashes where they can and definitly wont have a Championship fixture on at the same time in the same city as an A-League match.

The limitation of the summer heat , would make 100% of fixture clashes unavoidable.

Much like in France. Midweek Ligue 2 games are scheduled in order to prevent  clashes with Ligue 1 matches.

According to your earlier posts, schedule clashes shouldnt be a worry for HAL teams because the "tinpots" will only get 200 people to attend and no one will watch it on TV.

Unless of course you are getting worried pauly....

The W_league and Matilda's are politically-correct imposts of doing business in today's 'modern and equality driven " world.

Explain why without the W-League, the Matilda's and the FFA Cup, the A-League and Socceroos would be fucked?

 And Futsal-Tom Rogic aside-please.

Are you serious?  Professional means getting paid to play.

" AIHL players are amateurs. Players are not paid to play in the AIHL, but receive other benefits such as the use of a car, and accommodation during the season."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Ice_Hockey_League

The guys in the State leagues are getting paid circa $1000 each per week.  On top of their day jobs. 

 In a national second tier, do you think they will demand 
a) less
b) more
c) the same.

I made the original AIHL comparison, it was literally to prove that travel costs involved in a national league are quite small. This was before The Championship model had been proposed along with it's licence fees and required women's teams. The AIHL league teams run on budgets of around $75,000 per year to cover travel, coaching, venue hire and imports living costs, with squad sizes around 25 and usually 4 overseas imports. The AIHL has very little income from sponsorship, media rights and gate takings as attendances are normally in the several hundred range. 
What I was saying was that to run a semi-professional second tier national league would cost only a little bit more than the bigger NPL clubs are already spending. And the extra costs involved would be more than matched by increased revenues.

I was not commenting on players getting a pay rise on current rates.  

On the above point
In Melbourne
NPL clubs are regulated to have 1 team per age group meaning around low to mid 200s

Good one. You really are an intelligent individual aren't you. No wonder every one of your posts reminds me of the anti gay marriage ads


If football was just the A League and the Socceroos you wouldn't have hundreds of thousands of people playing it each week. You wouldn't have government funding and you'd barely have mainstream interest

Not only that but you are forgetting a delicate little fact: If it wasn't for the Socceroos there would be no A League. Full stop. End of discussion


Take away macro economics theory and you end up with a Socceroos with mild mainstream interest, and no funding or support for any other level of the game. You end up with exactly what we had before

And explain to me why your precious "everybody for themselves" model conveniently has MV and SFC paying for the other clubs


You don't have an argument. You cant even present a valid consistent viewpoint that isn't destroyed by thousands of precedents across thousands of leagues all across the globe, if not already torn apart by your own posts. This is nothing more than a private agenda

A second tier is the end of football. Bye bye everything we worked hard on

Yes I'm serious. Professional means getting paid enough to play without having another job. I don't understand your point in the slightest. Don't you understand that players WANT a second division, that they WANT to play in it. Even keeping exactly the same income, any ambitious young player would jump at the chance to play on the national stage. You really think clubs would have trouble finding players??? 

I'm not saying clubs and the players can't be professional, on the cash NPL clubs are paying NOW many players could quit their day. What I'm saying is there is no reason they have to be. 

What?

You mean 1 team per age group in the NPL right? I'm not from Melbourne but these clubs all have heaps of teams in the age groups outside of the NPL structure surely? 

‘3 Year’s tops’
Bull shit — this rubbish will never start up