https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/a-league/aleague-news-mark-bosnich-backs-switch-to-winter-competition-after-excellent-return/news-story/76298267faacd987f2f040ce988dd0d2

A-League news: Mark Bosnich backs switch to winter competition after excellent return

Mark Bosnich, The Daily TelegraphAugust 6, 2020 1:58pm

For the past month, I’ve been conducting my own personal survey with players and coaches of all A-League sides to get the real insight into what the most important people think of the switch to winter football.One of the big arguments against switching back to becoming a winter league is that there’s no clear air in the sporting landscape when you’re going up against the AFL and NRL.But I don’t see any clear air in summer either. There’s no clear air anyway.Watch every match of the 2019/20 Hyundai A-League Season LIVE on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

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Ex-Celtic pair score in A-League drawEx-Celtic pair score in A-League draw‘DAUNTING’: A-League battlers face relocation prospectDOOR ALMOST CLOSED: Wanderers’ season all but overSo what’s the solution?You back yourself and make your product the best it can be. And based on the football we’ve watched over the past month, I think the evidence is overwhelming. The best football is played in winter.The truth of the matter is none of this would’ve happened had everything not been brought forward by the COVID-19 situation, but the results are there for everyone to see.Football is a game that was meant to be played in the winter — and that has never been more evident than right now.Results

Should A-League be played in summer or winter?

Summer24%Winter76%164 VotersFrom my personal survey, there’s been no range of answers. Everyone has come back saying the same thing.“What a difference it makes”. “It’s been fantastic”. “We can run all day”. “It’s where football was meant to be”.Whatever the powers that be decide — whether the game is played in summer or winter — I’ll always abide by it, but you can’t ignore the eye test.And from the moment the competition got back underway, you could count on one hand the number of bad halves of football — and have fingers left over.

I speak to the conditioning coaches who are stunned at how fresh the players are after games.Obviously we’ve had a long break, and players are now being asked to play a lot of matches in a short space of time, but they’re recovering so much quicker than they did in the summer.They’re telling their managers that they’re good to go on a two-day break.And it’s resulting in high quality football across the league.We’ve seen Melbourne Victory produce exciting finishes in games where they’ve been 2-0 down, against Brisbane and Western United, by pushing forward and grabbing late goals.That doesn’t happen in the middle of summer, because fatigued teams are scared to play attacking football.I used to feel sorry for players busting their guts on sweltering days, when I’d get phone calls from friends overseas telling me “this game is so slow”.I’d say “but you don’t realise how hot it is”.

It’s all right being in your air-conditioned lounge room and going ‘oh it’s a bit slow today’.But when it’s 35 degrees in the summer and humidity is up around 90, chuck your shorts on, go outside to the street and sprint as fast you can for 20 metres.Stop, have a 20 second breather, and do it again. Do that between 50 and 70 times and tell me how you feel. Because that’s what our players are doing every game.During the summer months there may be some rusted-on AFL or rugby league fans, who if we sign a Del Piero they might flick over.But they’re still going to like their rugby league and their AFL. That’s going to be their sport.But our football supporters love our sport, and for me the biggest thing is to provide the best product possible and to do that you’ve got to provide the best environment possible for the players.And a move to winter does just that.

Bozza is certainly a better bigger picture man than he is a commentator. 

Winter or Summer <insert old el paso girl here>
A-League Apertura and Clausura

Well he's thu expert dawgs!

Another classic peak A League moment. 

Yo!

Bozza has backflipped it seems, I remember him saying its not feasible to play in the winter.

I guess the pandemic has opened alot of eyes into the possibility of playing in the calendar year.

I'm definitely keen on a winter A League.

Another poster posted that we play in autumn and spring anyway, which is true.

Summer now faces huge rivalry  from Big Bash  about half way through December to early February. Having AFL or  league in winter in competition isn't much different.

The pace of football has been much better to watch in winter, because the players can run all match.  

The big picture is every game has competition no matter what part of the seasons.
Football is a winter game period full stop !
Like Barca says other times, get out of this mind set/shell, it also no matter what didn't occur back in the NSL days and whats failed with AL during summer.
Get the program/project in order after all the wrongs - set the path and all need to invest thats its a long road BUT its for the right road for the game period.

@LFC agree, we are just interested in Australia developing the best players it can possibly develop in the best possible environment it can create.

The global game is a far bigger fish to fry if im brutally honest.

The product has improved from what I have seen, but whether it’s summer or winter, it’s challenging for the game either way. 

Needs to be moved to winter. Fuck worrying about clear air/other codes and be proactive. 

This shouldn't even be a discussion anymore. 

With more then 1/2 the TV money is essentially dried up i reckon moving the league to  winter makes sense.

The people who like football will watch it 

Football is not like nrl where it can survive on low gates but still get huge broadcast revenue
we need bums on seats and that is not going to happen in winter
with sharing ground availability and game scheduling expect 3-5k gates as the norm
trying to compete for media space against nrl/afl is a lot harder than against the summer sports cricket etc 

Yeah but the quality will be better and transfer fees will be huge might make the Socceroos better in the long run 

The truth is the AL will do better commercially if Socceroos do better on the pitch

These points need more consideration.  Everything said here is correct.  

Yes and no.
Be it summer or winter, the A-League only needs crowds of 9k to 11k to break even...AS LONG as we are playing in appropriately sized stadiums.
10K in a 12k stadium is a fantastic day out, looks great on TV, and can also be a good financial return to the host club.
I think remember reading somewhere that South Melbourne only need to attract 3,000 to Lakeside to turn a profit.
That's precisely  what we want for the NSD.
And then if a club South Melbourne wins promotion to the A-League, and manages crowds of 5 or 6k, that's ok as well.

I am loving the football at present ....best I have seen in Australia for years .

Even the technical aspect has improved as players are not hampered by heat exhausted legs .

I think it is time to bite the bullet and go winter again .
If the crowds shrink a little ...so be it.
However I think the improved football may appeal to a whole new audience....the hundreds of thousands of Aussie players who found the A-League too slow and cumbersome to watch during summer.
It may also make the A-League more attractive to a few northern hemisphere football tragics who want to follow a team in their summer .
Could be a good thing to stream in Europe , Asia and the USA.... could be big dollars if it can be facilitated .

To be honest ...as weird as this sounds ....a little less money in the game may mean more young Aussies get a go ...a few good ones have come through already .
Good young Aussies mean a better Socceroos team and also better transfer values for A-League clubs when selling them overseas .
I see a lot of positives in going back to winter .

If clubs can play in smaller venues, crowd sizes become less of an immediate focus as we rebuild the game. Winter has benefits but also downsides, but overall I am starting to feel that it is the way to go. 

Unless the game in Winter is fixtured properly it will not only be up against the AFL and RL but also against NPL and Community clubs and also against our own juniors. All these play and train in Winter and I cannot see too many having time to watch both on cold days/nights.

I wonder if it is the fast tempo that has brought Sydney back to the pack. They have relatively older players than some of the form teams of the minute. 

They have no reason, until the finals, to over exert themselves. Even a 5yr old would realise that. Just look at last night. No more than 50% in the first half, raised that to about 65 - 70% second half and only keeper kept them from winning.

yep agreed.
Just as covid is doing to the world having to re set our football has to do the same as we all can see.
We got used to a "westfields" model, large stadiums like their malls and the shit and glitter.
The money has dried up and I'm all for this, some cant agree thats fine BUT its what you can only afford now and thats alot less at the shop front.
Now the game itself has to stand up and the admin.
The use of more local resource being young players is good and long overdue.
Last nights SFC/BR is a good eg.