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Kamaryn
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The battle to land new A-League licences has taken a major twist, with two of the three Sydney bid teams joining forces in an effort to secure their future in an expanded national competition. South West Sydney Football Club and United for Macarthur were among the 10 aspirants shortlisted by Football Federation Australia five weeks ago, as were Southern Expansion, an entity seeking to represent the area spanning from the St George region down to Wollongong.
However, Fairfax Media has learnt that the South West Sydney and Macarthur hopefuls have decided to combine and form what will effectively be a super bid for a start in the A-League for the 2019-20 season and beyond. The deal has been cloaked in secrecy. South West Sydney director Gino Marra declined to comment when contacted on Sunday and calls to United for Macarthur bid chairman Chris Redman were not returned. But it is understood FFA are likely to be informed about it by Monday and an official announcement is expected to follow soon after. The amalgamation shapes as a significant development in the expansion process as FFA looks to spread the wings of the national competition 13 years after it was formed. The joint venture will be pitted directly against the Southern Expansion group in a head-to-head contest to be named as the city’s third A-League club alongside Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers. The merger is being seen by those with knowledge of it as a common sense move given that the bid teams had shared territory and both had visions of playing their home games at an upgraded Campbelltown Stadium if they were successful in their applications. There are other synergies with both also backed by local associations and favouring a community model. The community would be consulted on the team name and colours. Behind it is serious financial clout, with billionaire Walker Corporation executive chairman Lang Walker having announced in June that he and his organisation would be financially supporting the Macarthur bid. It is understood his backing would transfer to the merged entity. “If successful, Walker Constructions will become a strategic partner of the A-League team, and also have substantial input in the upgrade of the stadium, other local sporting facilities and football clubs in the region,” Walker Corporation said in a statement in June. “Sydney’s south-west is growing rapidly and has the facilities in place, with the centerpiece being Campbelltown Sports Stadium, to quickly become a force in the A-League.” The Southern Expansion bid is not short on financial muscle either. It is backed by Chinese property company JiaYuan Group and has established a link with Chinese Super League club Guizhou Hengfeng. The bid team is fronted by former NSW premier Morris Iemma and broadcaster and former Socceroos midfielder Craig Foster. The south-west deal comes with would-be expansion sides across the country having less than four weeks to finalise their bid documents by the August 31 deadline. It leaves nine bids in the running to be given the green light by FFA for a start in the A-League, the others being Southern Expansion, Wollongong Wolves, a Victorian outfit called Team 11, Western Melbourne Group, South Melbourne, Western Pride/Ipswich, Brisbane City and Canberra. A final decision is anticipated by FFA by October and an expanded 12-team competition would begin next year.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/sydney-bid-teams-shake-up-a-league-expansion-battle-by-joining-forces-20180805-p4zvmu.html
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Kamaryn
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Seems like a good move. It's arguably the biggest region in the country without its own team, and one of the fastest growing. Two bids only diluted their chances. Hopefully it gets up as one of 4 new teams.
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Midfielder
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Good move by them.
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PricklePear
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I don't have much knowledge about the region, are they going to be a cluster fuck as much as Southern Expansion or will they most likely stick to one stadium?
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Burztur
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Not really Pear. The regions are pretty much next to each other and have much in common.
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Gyfox
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+xI don't have much knowledge about the region, are they going to be a cluster fuck as much as Southern Expansion or will they most likely stick to one stadium? The Macarthur Region is the southern part of south west Sydney so the merging of the bids is quite sensible. They already have Campbelltown Stadium that has a capacity of 20k with 13k seats that the West Tigers NRL team uses for 3 or 4 games a year and doesn't have other tenants. The population of the region is about 800k at the moment and is growing by 20k+ a year and is planned to grow by that and more for the next couple of decades. Southern Districts Soccer Football Association is located in the northern, older, part of the region and has 9k registered players. Macarthur Football Association is located in the southern part of the region and has just under 10k registered players. The Highlands Football Association is an hour or so further south and has 2k registered players. http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=27
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Bowden
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Nice. If it has to been another Sydney team, this region makes the most sense.
South-West/Macarthur region is also the fastest growing so makes sense long-term.
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Footyball
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+xNice. If it has to been another Sydney team, this region makes the most sense. South-West/Macarthur region is also the fastest growing so makes sense long-term. Seems like common sense. Hope South/West MacArthur Koalas get up. The Southern Expansion bid would be great but trying to capture the Wollongong market, along with the other two regions, thats untealistic Too many fingers in too many pies.
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aussie pride
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Makes it very very hard for the FFA to say no to a region of 800k + growth.
Ready to go stadium - tick
Align with fish where the fish are - tick
Aligns with fox's needs for Syd TV - tick
Further away from Syd & WSW to not completely cannibalise support - arguably a tick especially more so than southern expansion
Finances - Presumably a tick with a now combined bid
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astonvilla1
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How is the FFA in any position to pick the teams for expansion when there in a total mess and they may not even be running the game soon.No thanks enough of there decisions until they sort there house in order.
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433
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With the amount of quality bids going around you’d hope the FFA pencils in a further 2 for expansion in the future (beyond the immediate expansion). But that would require forward thinking so probably not
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Footyball
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+xWith the amount of quality bids going around you’d hope the FFA pencils in a further 2 for expansion in the future (beyond the immediate expansion). But that would require forward thinking so probably not Ffa can imtroduce 2 or 4 new teams, how can they run this season then? Expansion has nothing directly to do with expansion.
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P&R will fix it 2.0
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Can they seperate again later ?
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Post_hoc
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It will cannibalise Wanderers members but unlike FC you won't hear our CEO complain long and hard about it. But enough of the dig, I think it is a smart move by the bids to merge, and I think this option is by far the smartest for the game. This is a massive region with huge growth occurring and scheduled to occur for next 30 years. The idea of putting a team in this area means the FFA (or the Future A league Management Group) will align perfectly with the long term Government planning for Sydney. For those that don't know all Planning in Sydney is being run through the GSC (Greater Sydney Commission) and it's vision is a 3 city model.
Coastal or Eastern Region which takes in North of the Harbour, CBD, South of the Harbour down to Sutherland and west to about Glebe.
River City or Central Region whose City will be Parramatta and will include GPOP (Greater Parramatta and Olympic Peninsula) Blacktown and Hills District
Parkland City or Western Region with likely Cities at Penrith, Campbelltown and Liverpool and the 2nd airport
The population of Sydney is expected to be 8 million people in the next 40 years, up from the 4.7million now
By aligning ourselves with the government's growth plans puts football in a good position for infrastructure at all levels of Government
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Gyfox
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+xCan they seperate again later ? Why would they bother? In the region there are plenty of NPL clubs that can grow if they want to:- At NPL1 level there is Marconi Stallions, Sydney United and Bonnyrigg White Eagles. At NPL2 level there is Mounties Wanderers and Macarthur Rams. At NPL3 level there is SD Raiders and Camden Tigers. currently there are no clubs in the region in State League which will be NPL4 next year.
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P&R will fix it 2.0
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+x+xCan they seperate again later ? Why would they bother? Why did they start separately ?
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P&R will fix it 2.0
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+x+xCan they seperate again later ? In the region there are plenty of NPL clubs that can grow if they want to:- 
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Gyfox
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+x+x+xCan they seperate again later ? Why would they bother? Why did they start separately ? Local politics. The South West Sydney bid came out of an agreement between SDSFA and MFA to put in a combined bid for a club in the proposed second division. The intention was to play at a tinpot ground proposed to be built at the Fairfield Showgrounds that Fairfield City Council was pushing. When the A-League expansion came along the bid was transferred across to that instead of the second division. In the meantime Campbelltown City Council with a venue that was being under-utilised sought out locals in the Macarthur region interested in getting behind an A-League team. Both groups submitted bids and were successful in getting on to the shortlist. One bid was strong without a good venue and the other had a good venue but appeared to be a bit light on in other areas. The solution was a merge of the two groups.
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Bocca
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Great news and I predicted this would happen. They will be one of the new teams imo. No southern expansion.
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P&R will fix it 2.0
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+x+x+x+xCan they seperate again later ? Why would they bother? Why did they start separately ? Local politics. The South West Sydney bid came out of an agreement between SDSFA and MFA to put in a combined bid for a club in the proposed second division. The intention was to play at a tinpot ground proposed to be built at the Fairfield Showgrounds that Fairfield City Council was pushing. When the A-League expansion came along the bid was transferred across to that instead of the second division. In the meantime Campbelltown City Council with a venue that was being under-utilised sought out locals in the Macarthur region interested in getting behind an A-League team. Both groups submitted bids and were successful in getting on to the shortlist. One bid was strong without a good venue and the other had a good venue but appeared to be a bit light on in other areas. The solution was a merge of the two groups. So the Politics has gone away now ? Or has one bid realised they were fucked ? Or has one bid realised the model is fucked and saving their cash ?
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Gyfox
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+x+x+x+x+xCan they seperate again later ? Why would they bother? Why did they start separately ? Local politics. The South West Sydney bid came out of an agreement between SDSFA and MFA to put in a combined bid for a club in the proposed second division. The intention was to play at a tinpot ground proposed to be built at the Fairfield Showgrounds that Fairfield City Council was pushing. When the A-League expansion came along the bid was transferred across to that instead of the second division. In the meantime Campbelltown City Council with a venue that was being under-utilised sought out locals in the Macarthur region interested in getting behind an A-League team. Both groups submitted bids and were successful in getting on to the shortlist. One bid was strong without a good venue and the other had a good venue but appeared to be a bit light on in other areas. The solution was a merge of the two groups. So the Politics has gone away now ? Or has one bid realised they were fucked ? Or has one bid realised the model is fucked and saving their cash ? Politics between local governments will never go away but the bidders found a solution between themselves. The combined bid is significantly stronger especially now that more than one moneyed gentleman is waltzing around with the bidders. If they can get the multi-billionaire and the other billionaires in the region together with the many passionate football business people on board then they might put together a solid financial base for the club. It will be interesting to see what comes out over the next couple of months.
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patjennings
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+x+xI don't have much knowledge about the region, are they going to be a cluster fuck as much as Southern Expansion or will they most likely stick to one stadium? The Macarthur Region is the southern part of south west Sydney so the merging of the bids is quite sensible. They already have Campbelltown Stadium that has a capacity of 20k with 13k seats that the West Tigers NRL team uses for 3 or 4 games a year and doesn't have other tenants. The population of the region is about 800k at the moment and is growing by 20k+ a year and is planned to grow by that and more for the next couple of decades. Southern Districts Soccer Football Association is located in the northern, older, part of the region and has 9k registered players. Macarthur Football Association is located in the southern part of the region and has just under 10k registered players. The Highlands Football Association is an hour or so further south and has 2k registered players. http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=27 The Tigers are looking at using the new stadium at Parramatta and not using Campbelltown at all. With Lang Walker involved in the bid they are talking of redevelopment of the stadium. You would think that very favourable tenancy or even long term management rights would be part of the bid.
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aok
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Looks like the quality of bids keeps getting stronger. Look forward to an expanded HAL
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Timmo
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The more the quality of the bids the more I am wondering whether 2 is enough to announce or whether they announce 2 and have another 2 slots available as provisional licences.
I am waiting for the anger from the 7 bids not picked.
But smart move for them to amalgamate.
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Midfielder
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AS an aside, the Liverpool based bid had a lot of old ethnic club support...The Campbelltown based bid has a lot of ANGLO support..... combine the two and you have the making of a mega club and its far enough away from Parramatta not to cause to many issues for WSW.
IMO by miles the better bid over Southern, especially if you consider a stadium is waiting and I think I recall mention of an upgrade of the stadium. I think its capacity is 18 K with 13K seating... MEANING it already has a standing home end section, and a standing away home section...
BTW the stadium for those that don't know has a railway station almost at its door, on a existing major road, and only minutes off the major motor ways.
Post match is the only draw back not much to do...
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Footyball
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+xAS an aside, the Liverpool based bid had a lot of old ethnic club support...The Campbelltown based bid has a lot of ANGLO support..... combine the two and you have the making of a mega club and its far enough away from Parramatta not to cause to many issues for WSW. IMO by miles the better bid over Southern, especially if you consider a stadium is waiting and I think I recall mention of an upgrade of the stadium. I think its capacity is 18 K with 13K seating... MEANING it already has a standing home end section, and a standing away home section... BTW the stadium for those that don't know has a railway station almost at its door, on a existing major road, and only minutes off the major motor ways. Post match is the only draw back not much to do...
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Footyball
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+x+xAS an aside, the Liverpool based bid had a lot of old ethnic club support...The Campbelltown based bid has a lot of ANGLO support..... combine the two and you have the making of a mega club and its far enough away from Parramatta not to cause to many issues for WSW. IMO by miles the better bid over Southern, especially if you consider a stadium is waiting and I think I recall mention of an upgrade of the stadium. I think its capacity is 18 K with 13K seating... MEANING it already has a standing home end section, and a standing away home section... BTW the stadium for those that don't know has a railway station almost at its door, on a existing major road, and only minutes off the major motor ways. Post match is the only draw back not much to do... Expansion has nothing directly to do with the governance of the ffa. The comp will implode if it doesn't expand. I wont take a membership till its expanded.
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PricklePear
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+xNot really Pear. The regions are pretty much next to each other and have much in common. +x+xI don't have much knowledge about the region, are they going to be a cluster fuck as much as Southern Expansion or will they most likely stick to one stadium? The Macarthur Region is the southern part of south west Sydney so the merging of the bids is quite sensible. They already have Campbelltown Stadium that has a capacity of 20k with 13k seats that the West Tigers NRL team uses for 3 or 4 games a year and doesn't have other tenants. The population of the region is about 800k at the moment and is growing by 20k+ a year and is planned to grow by that and more for the next couple of decades. Southern Districts Soccer Football Association is located in the northern, older, part of the region and has 9k registered players. Macarthur Football Association is located in the southern part of the region and has just under 10k registered players. The Highlands Football Association is an hour or so further south and has 2k registered players. http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=27 Cheers guys, seems it is sensible then. I just hope if they do get up, they only play out of one stadium.
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StiflersMom
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Damn. That's going to be tough for the FFA to turn down, I assume that 2 NSW bid winners is out of the question, I feel it would be a shame if Wollongong missed out
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Gyfox
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+xDamn. That's going to be tough for the FFA to turn down, I assume that 2 NSW bid winners is out of the question, I feel it would be a shame if Wollongong missed out I don't think that the Gong has much chance. Too small a TV market to be of much value to broadcasters. Rightly or wrongly while ever we are so desperately short of funds it will be a major factor in decision making.
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