Music during goal kicks and corners at matches and even controlled use of flares will be on trial during the A-League season's first month to attract fans.
UPDATEDUPDATED 36 MINS AGO
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
A-League chiefs will trial a suite of new entertainment across the first month of the season to win fans back to the competition.

Safe smoke from flares in the stands, fan-zones modelled on the World Cup and lights and music during play are all on the agenda.

The league's Big Bash-ification is aimed to lure young families to the football after a year of declining crowds and television audiences.


A-League head Greg O'Rourke spent the off-season working with clubs and stadia to develop the plan to cash in on spiking interest from Russia 2018.

"We're fully aware of what the Big Bash entertainment product is and how it attracts young families. We need to make sure we're not closed off to that," O'Rourke said to AAP.


"But equally we need to make sure the things in our game that we hold unique will be maintained. We'll be treading carefully towards this to get the best of both worlds."

O'Rourke is adamant the new bells and whistles will be no substitute for what the sport does best: singing and supporting from the stands.

"We want to see the return and growth of active fans that have a large boisterous entertaining, standing, singing, chanting culture," he continued.

"We've been doing a significant amount of work with the clubs, the police and also the active fan representatives about what would be important to them to attract them back and to allow them to grow."

It's understood authorities and officials on both sides are keen to lift some of the more draconian security measures to make active support appealing again.

A new Melbourne Victory active group to replace the disbanded North Terrace would be a huge boost.

For those less rusted on fans, O'Rourke wants to make matches more entertaining.

Central Coast and Wellington matches will feature safe smoke after their stadiums agreed to trial controlled flare releases from the stands.

Other stadiums will follow suit should those trials work.

Most controversially, there will be music played with accompanying video during goal kicks, corners and substitutions.

"The plan is based on what fans felt was missing out of an end of season review," O'Rourke said.

"Fans wanted more pre-game entertainment, more in-game entertainment and more at halftime.

"Football globally has about 30 minutes when the ball is stopped or out of play. Some of those gaps can be filled.

"But not in the big derbies when you've got big active fans because the natural rhythm of the supporters is the strength of the game.

"When we're at smaller stadiums or bigger stadiums with smaller crowds, we'll use them."


https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league-to-trial-controlled-flares

Big bashification.

I know.  Kill me now.  FFS!

Even the music immediately prior to kick off pisses me off no end.  That's when active should be going off except it's drowned out by all sorts of bullshit.

Fuck the FFA.  I was on the fence for a long time but they've fucking lost the plot.

I was actually on the fence for a long time. I put up with the AFL stooge Buckley. I even rode out the lows of David Hill. For those around in those days, they were dark days. And for a long time I held it thinking that as bad as we are travelling, they'll never be as bad as Hill.

Yeah, nah. They have fucking lost it. I've been following the game for over 30 years and these dumb    cnts are it.

I can handle the normal lows - our country shitting on us, shooting ourselves in the foot losing to Iran or begging for friendlies after Kevin Muscat breaks people legs, channel 7 killing us. I can actually handle it. What I can't handle is when we are fucking infiltrated by people who are either sabotaging us intentionally (Buckley) or sabotaging us because they are actually that fucking stupid. They're like the fucking 15 year old vegan getting a job at Maccas so he can spit in the fucking Big Macs for as long as he can before getting fired.

Trying to out plastic the big bash league is hilarious, those who want music during play and flashy gimmicks will go to the cricket regardless, you are not bringing 1 extra person through the gates with this nonsense.

“ when we are at smaller stadiums or bigger stadiums with smaller crowds”. Umm isn’t that most games? Lol

No. I guarantee my kids will be more interested to go with friends. Like it or not

Oh you blind, bloody fools.

Music during goal kicks and corners? Seriously? 

every time a turnstile clicks, someone at FFA get's encouraged to do this 

Who did they interview that said what we really want was music during corners and goal kicks? Seriously who? Where did you get these rubbish findings from O'Rourke?

Apparently fans said they wanted more in-game entertainment.

What do you suggest? Bigger goals? A big beach ball?

Looks like i found who he interviewed. 

So what are your suggestions again?

He was on the right track with the active support, less restrictions in attempts to win back actual football fans. They'll create all the entertainment and atmosphere you need, but apparently the solution to this is to have the PA play some music and probably try to start some cringe filled chants.

But really it is the classic case of the FFA trying their best to piss off football fans to attract people who don't give a fuck about the sport because apparently they get too bored watching the game. Well that attitude has been a massive success so far with plummeting attendances.

Also if they want more families to go to the game like in the Big Bash, cheaper tickets wouldn't hurt.

You may be right with your first para (or maybe not), but the second really assumes all fans are like you. As for the third, not sure what difference it would make if the product is lacking for them to begin with.

Well the second paragraph isn't completely baseless. You can start with how attendances and ratings have completely plummeted from about the time they alienated active support, unless the solution to the fallen ratings is blaring music through the screen too. But no, the fact ratings have fallen along with attendances indicates a complete apathy and dis-interest in the league has occurred with an issue more serious that playing music every minute won't fix.

After this realisation that people don't care about the league, the next step is to analyse is the reason people don't care about football in this country the reason for the falling ratings/attendances? Well the answer to that would be no, all you need to see are the attendances of when the big clubs come visiting, or ratings of all the matches of the world cup and EPL matches in the middle of the night to realise that there are so many football fans in the country, but aren't interested in the A League for some reason. And these people will be very well accustomed to european footballing culture too and what to expect from a league.

So instead of pissing the remaining A League supporters off with gimmicks to try and entice people who aren't fans of the sport at all, how about we try and get actual football supporters back or to the league.

Why cant we have both? (Vibrant active support + flares, and some video/music)

Surely if the active part is sorted (which it sounds like they are trying to do), a bit of music isnt going to turn those off, and can also appeal to the fans who want that kind of thing.

Because you won't have a vibrant active support with this, they wouldn't come in any numbers. Even O'Rourke's recommendations are counter-intuitive to eachother as he understands that it is completely redundant if their is a big crowd or in other words a better atmosphere that the music will be completely pointless. So by this recommendation it must mean that his research unveiled the music during the game is not what will draw fans to the game but rather the atmosphere and the sport itself. 

So in "smaller games" if you don't piss off the active support, the atmosphere will be good and by his own stance in another situation it is therefore the core reason he wishes to implement this as for whatever reason he thinks it'll improve the atmosphere.

I think the statement that "in smaller games if you dont piss off the active support, the atmosphere will be good" is a little simplistic.

Not at all, if there is a big active support presence the atmosphere at matches will be good. It really is as simple as that.

not really, relaxing restrictions etc wont guarantee a big active support all the time

We used to have a big active support, which is why we need to get them back and by doing this gimmick, they won't, we'll only lose more fans. Relaxing restrictions and GA active area would be a massive step in the right direction, this is not.

Still with the mutually exclusive thing...?

Yes.

No. Diehards want to watch Berisha roll 27 times and diss the ref then walk off slowly for his sub. And subs. More slow walking subs on the 91st minute. That's what the game needs. And old guys who played for Spain 12 years ago. More old guys, less Australian youth. But I digress. We just need something.  Flares, colour, lights, banners, drums. Give it all a trial, try get people through the gate. Dont all complain that the dummies at FFA came up with a silly idea. It's an idea and someone in another committee said okay.  This is a very big start. Lets build from there

Completely immeasurable, but I would say Berisha would have bought more fans through the gates over the years than any potential increase due to music being played.

No one is saying we don't need a boost, but don't (O'Rourke) stand there and proudly proclaim that you have listened to the fans and roll out that ridiculous idea. The amount of backlash this has copped in less than 24hrs shows that this idea hasn't come from fans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyFyAqLtHq8
This is what Berisha needs you think ? Maybe one of your (our ?) old Spanish guys can be sat on the sidelines at the piano.

They are so out of touch, another reason it’s easier to support an NPL club.

No I'm sorry I will complain. For years FFA have attempted to use footballs unique fan generated atmosphere as a selling point. Now that their draconian measures have severely undermined the atmosphere at games they come out and say they intend on introducing something that isn't unique to Australian sport at all. Its disgusting.

I'd say why the remaining fans, fatigued by years of the Lowy FFA's opaque miasma of intertia are right to be sceptical of any measure under their administration, especially in matters about relating to fans in a genuine way. Joey Lynch said it best on twitter:

In a vacuum, the addition of music at certain intervals would probably see an uneventful trial in a few preseason games and then be abandoned as a bad idea.
With the discontent and maladies currently afflicting the game though, it comes across as massively tone deaf.
Fans that already feel ignored and taken for granted by the powers that be were always going to be suspicious of new outreach and moves toward a return to active support.
This poorly conceived music idea casts suspicion on the sincerity of the other measures through association

It sounds like a good move.
No need to worry that it won't attract NPL club followers or Eurosnobs, they're not really football fans anyway, and they'll stay away from the A League no matter what.
The aim must be to get some of the 'non-football followers' from the real grassroots clubs to take their kids to A League games and this sort of bogan marketing might just do that.

You're the perfect example of the "fan" whom if we were to move you on 2 more fans would come back

If you want music at a football game put your fucking headphones back in

If people aren't entertained every 5 seconds they'll lose interest you fools! All we need is lasers and dozens of mascots and cheerleaders. Literally dozens of them, one every 5 metres shooting streamers into the crowd while screaming like a banshee. Have clowns and fortune tellers next to the food line. Everyone must be high on dopamine by kick-off! And make sure those kids are loaded with sugar, we want them enthralled to the point of cardiac arrest. 

This is actually why Dean Bouzanis was yelling gypsy on the pitch. He was articulating a new marketing strategy for the game, and he got banned for it. FFA holding up progress, only for them to then turn around and claim it was their idea all along.

We need gypsy fortune tellers.

I can't believe what I'm reading, music to fill in the gaps during the game????

Laughing stock. Globally.
Seriously you go to a football game to be entertained by the team you support winning games and maybe playing attractive football. If 90 minutes of that isn't enough for you then you're into the wrong sport...and that would include O'Rourke.
If they genuinely want to spice things up introduce really competitive games affecting promotion or relegation at the end of the season.

Well done, this is an outstanding post.

+1

Great. And more people go to a BB game than a test match or ODI. Mock it if you want but we can all stand in a corner and tell all 270 of us we are true fans while crowds decline if we dont at least try new things

"There will be music played with accompanying video during goal kicks, corners and substitutions."

All moments that the ball is not in play, they're only missing free kicks and throw ins

Sounds like are trying to turn it into an NBA / NFL type deal.
Some wanker on the PA yelling out "Lets get looudd''
DE-FENCE...DE-FENCE. chants are soon to follow.

Seriously why the fkc do we wanna join this crap!

Music after a goal could work sometimes. As much as I hate dance music, late NSL days at South would rip out Zombie Nation over the PA after we scored and the crowd would join in chanting.
Hey look at that, another thing we innovated with soccer in this country :hehe:

Thats the only time it makes actually sense because the crowd are already jumping up and cheering for the goal so they will either enjoy the music or at least tolerate it if its something they don't like. But then again fans can't even celebrate a goal now thanks to the VAR. 

Now music being played during goal kicks, corners and subs is plain stupid and embarrassing, hearing this shit makes me not wan't to attend a game.

Once again its the same bullshit that will keep the real fans not turning up while trying to appeal to people who don't give a shit about the game. 

"When we're at smaller stadiums or bigger stadiums with smaller crowds, we'll use them."

Thought WSW were supposed to be a big club?

If you believe that's the only time they will use it, then you are delusional.

Music after a goal in football is something you see the world over and is not something I have an issue with as long as its something that the home fans have chosen/asked for. 

Greeks invented dance music 

No issue with goal music. But corners. WTF. Who celebrates a corner?

We'll be treading carefully towards this to get the best of both worlds.

Oh dear.

-PB

I never thought this shit would work at the cricket.  Despite whatever evidence there may be to the contrary I still don't.

WTF is "safe smoke"?

Basically anything that isn't Lucky Strike

Well, this is shit.

Can we at least have the Wheel of Fortune theme song playing when a VAR decision is being made?

[YouTube]zjedLeVGcfE[/YouTube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjedLeVGcfE


gave up looking how to embed

I really can't stand these flops in charge. There was a time in the A-league where active support was well and truly alive, and it's no coincidence during those days crowds came in, and went home thinking they'd just been to a game with the best game day atmosphere in the country. 
Then came the idiotic ideas of the FFA thinking it's a great idea of breaking up the active support and slowly slowly crowds dropped. 
Fuck Cricket, fuck NRL, and fuck AFL fans who find football boring and wake the fuck up and start thinking about the thousands of football fans who have been burnt who still love football and both okay and watch it in record numbers. 
It really isn't that hard. On the one positive at least they are looking into those fake flares to see if it'll work by music during corners? Go and get fucked!

If they are draconian then lift them now...

Also, FFA mandated sing-a-longs won't bring back fans. Let things evolve (or return) naturally.

If only football had some way of creating an atmosphere. Something to do with fans? I dunno beats me 

Why not

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PFR3S6jN0Ng

The music during corners and stoppages is a bit suss, but i woudlve thought the mention of flares and smokebombs wouldve had people frothing at the mouth. I think people are just conditoned to have a collective fit everytime the FFA does or says something, regardless of the content. Like FFA could announce the signing of Messi and Ronaldo and mandate a pyrotechnic display of flares everytime a goal is scored but people will still find a way to react negativelly cynically. It seems the FFA is starting to understand the importance of active support to fan attraction and retention and recent signs have been positive, so give them some leash to make a few mistakes in the process.