AXE ‘TERRIBLE’ A-LEAGUE 2ND DIVISION PLANS SAYS FORMER NSL STAR TURNED ECONOMIST

Former NSL player and now leading economist Frank Brunoskevic, believes Football Australia (FA) in conjunction with the Australian Professional Leagues (APL), should stop trying to recreate the past and focus on growing the A-League.

Brunoskevic, who played for Footscray JUST and Brunswick Juventus in the 1980s, has carved out a successful post football career in investment banking and believes the numbers for a National Second Division simply don’t stack up.

“Emotional attachment is a wonderful attribute for a football fan, but it won’t pay the bills,” he said. “At the end of the day, most of these NPL clubs rely heavily on the generosity of their communities, something that is not sustainable in a professional full time environment. “
Most if not all A-League clubs, who are now well established, struggle financially and are in debt.  

“They have wealthy owners, far more corporate blue chip sponsors than smaller suburban based NPL clubs, yet they struggle to survive and attract fans. How then can an NPL club possibly make it on a national stage relying on canteen revenue, generous local sponsors and the odd benefactor?  

“It’s all good looking at the old NSL with rose coloured glasses, but it failed for a reason. These NPL clubs will simply go broke if they try to live beyond their means. They will go the way of the NSL if they are not careful.” 

FA is adamant a NSD will happen, and have set 2023 as a start date. The Australian Association of Football Clubs (AAFC) are working closely with FA to bring 12 clubs in by 2023, with the plan to expand to 16 by 2027. 

Brunoskevic believes the focus should be on growing the A-League, and ensuring Australian footballers get as many games as their foreign counterparts.  “I think it’s better to grow the A-League, make it 20 clubs and have a full home & away season. At the moment we play only 25 games or so and that is nowhere near enough. Other countries play 40 plus when you factor in Cup games and continental leagues. We need more games so our Australian based players get more miles in their legs and more experience.  

“One of FFA’s plans is to onsell players in Australia and generate revenue that way. It’s a good idea, so let’s help this by developing these players by giving them more games so their minds and bodies as well as their technical ability is good enough to warrant serious interest overseas.”
 Brunoskevic also pointed to the recently announced TV deal the APL signed with Channel Ten and Paramount as an example of how lucrative the A-League can be. He believes the smaller NPL clubs, who will form the core group for the NSD, won’t attract as much interest. 
 “The recent TV deal ($40M per season) shows how much value there is in investing in the A-League. If we have more games in big markets, we can grow this even more in the next decade or so. “
We are struggling in the A-League now but someone is still willing to spend $200M on it. Imagine how much they’d spend when they see how good the A-League can be?  “We need more teams in Sydney, Brisbane and a team in Canberra.  

“Are you telling me a Heidelberg or Marconi or South Hobart, all clubs with passionate fanbases, but very small markets, are going to attract millions in TV deals or sponsors?
  “The AAFC report itself in January estimates $300-500K in streaming revenue, that is a fraction of the A-League TV deal. Sponsorship revenue is not that much better and far away from what the A-League will get. It goes to show, how far away potential NSD clubs are from big town full time professional clubs.  

“The crowds these NPL clubs attract are a few hundred and maybe a few thousand for the odd games. The A-League used to average over 13,000. Even this season it’s only 5,000 or so, but how often do NPL clubs get that? “The Australian sporting landscape is so different to Europe and other continents. We can’t try and be like them for the sake of it. 
 “We need to be realistic about where we are at as a footballing country. “What is the point of an NSD, if realistically they will never compete with the A-League clubs? It is just a glorified NPL. These clubs won’t be able to make $10-15M to be able to compete with top tier clubs. It is just not feasible.”
 Brunoskevic’s views will not be welcome by ardent fans of the old NSL clubs, many who are yearning for their clubs to once again grace the national stage. 

Former NSL fans argue the current A-League structure with no promotion or relegation is closed and not in line with what a true football culture is all about.  Many believe the closed football structure restricts the growth of footballers by not giving them an avenue to develop their footballing abilities. 

Brunoskevic dismisses this notion, pointing out the old NSL, which disbanded in 2004, had a form of promotion and relegation, but it bore little fruit. There were 42 clubs that competed in the NSL between 1977 and 2004, but the reason so many clubs came and went was because they struggled financially which in turn led to poor on field performance.  

“There was a form of promotion and relegation in the old NSL, mainly because clubs simply couldn’t afford to stay and so went back down to their state league and another club came up.  

“A number of these clubs who got relegated often went further down their state pyramid after leaving the NSL, showing how fiscally irresponsible they were.  

“The clubs who went up into the NSL didn’t survive that long either. I know Brunswick Juventus went down when I was there and then we came back in the mid 90s but struggled anyway.