The very reputable AussieScout Twitter account has tweeted that the Canberra license is near confirmation and announcement.

This is great news and very exciting. With the APL also in talks with interested parties for both the Jets and Glory licenses, the future of the league looks a lot more stable.

I like your optimism but I’d say there’s a long, long way to go before you can see stability.

There is every chance the league goes under inside 3 years. 

2 years tops 10 years ago

I don’t think the league will ‘go under’ but there has to be some compromise between the APL and FA on the future of both the A League and the NST. I do think Football Australia holds all the aces.

Not gonna happen bud

In terms of financial stability, not having to prop up any clubs and not having to spend a single penny on the failed experiment that is Keepup helps massively.

MemberUpdate

Dear NicCarBel,

I wantedto write to you with an update on the Canberra A-League project as we havereached a critical stage.

With theA-League Men’s competition set to expand to 14 teams in 2025-26, my team and Ihave been working hard behind the scenes to finalise the investment that willensure Canberra fills the final available spot.

Thisfunding will not only complete a 7-year journey we have all been on together tobring a professional Men’s team to the capital region, it will also secure thefuture of our beloved Canberra United Women’s team.

We are currentlyin active conversations with a number of interested investors for the Canberralicence, and are at a critical juncture where the strength of the Canberraproposition will be decisive in whether we achieve a successful outcome.

We are close. Wehave some impressive investors on the cusp of signing on the dotted line,including the potential of a revolutionary partnership with a top-tier Europeanclub that will bring substantial expertise and resources to Canberra and to theA-League.  

These investorsadd to the formidable management team with experience from major teams andleagues in Europe, along with their strong vision and strategy to connectCanberra more closely to the global football ecosystem. This will ensure thebest chance of success for our club and new possibilities for football inAustralia, and is a key attraction to the investors and to the A-Leagues.

The AustralianProfessional Leagues group that runs theA-Leagues is working closely with us,and is excited by the vision and the progress that has been made.

We just need onelast push.

I was encouragedmid-week to read that Andrew Barr had committed to providing $3 million peryear into a Canberra Big Bash franchise. Canberra is a growing city so it’sonly right that its sports and entertainment ventures grow with it.

However,there is a risk football gets left behind as it has so often in the past.

As a footballfamily, we know that nationally, football has never had its fair share ofgovernment funding when compared to some other sporting codes. For example, theAustralian Sports Commission Annual Report shows in 2021-22, football received$7.9m in funding, compared to $10.7m for athletics, $8.0m for basketball, $9.8mfor hockey and $9.6m for sailing. Despite our game being far and away thenation’s biggest participation sport.

While we supportinvestment into all Canberra sports teams, an A-Leagues club in Canberra stacksup on every front with a Big Bash team. According to YouGov, there are 217kpeople in the ACT who either play or follow football, which is almost half thepopulation and 10% more than cricket. We also know that an A-Leagues club wouldbe the only spring / summer tenant at a new rectangular stadium, and ourcurrent GIO stadium.

Amatching $3 million per year commitment from local Government would go a longway to again demonstrating the commitment of Andrew Barr and the City tofinally get us the team we have waited so long for.

It could almostcertainly be a deciding factor in locking in the last investment needed tosecure the future of Canberra United and bring an A-League Men’s team toCanberra.



---
Paywalled, but - ACT government funding crucial for Canberra A-League bid | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT

What a fucking joke Andrew Barr is  - umming and ahhing and putting the ALW side in Canberra under limbo over $200,000 - but commits $3m annually to a cricket team (5 games per year ) just because it’s going to use his Manuka Oval baby. Quite certain the ACT gov funding towards GWS Giants 3+1 deal (3  games plus 1 ALW Game) is around the same amount.

In comparison, only $1.2m committed (in principle) by the ACT gov towards the A-League bid (which includes the aforementioned $200,000 for ALW)

typical

Any Government cash should be going into grassroots assets
not chucking it down the APL money-pit


Tugging at the heart-strings to try the 'our game is the biggest so give this private venture cash'  line

Basically sounds like  "7 years later and we still don't have the cash for a $1 license"

Not wrong at all, but irrelevant to the key point here - football funding in comparison to other sports

that sounds less likely to happen tbh

Football is the runt of the litter when it comes to government funding...

I wish sometimes we could unite or more importantly hand everything to one body rather tan each state trying its own thing...

Yep spot on.

It's time to guilt the governemnt into funding. 

JW wrote a book called Sheila's, wogs and poofters for a reason. 
That is what we are still considered. 
That is what the arguments needs to be. 

interesting thought, do you think jw's book was successful at getting more funding?

Not necessarily 
It was published in 2002. 

Since then political correctness has come to the fore. 
Sheila's have been getting beneficial treatment with regard to funding. 
Poofters have too. 
Wogs have embraced their wogism and never kicked up a fuss for racism against us and wogball. 

But ultimately the upper echelon of government, media and corporate still see it as wogball played by Sheila's, wogs and poofters. 

Not much has changed. 

And we haven't criticised these people for lack of funding because they think it's wogball played by minorities in this country. 
More needs to be made of this systemic racism, sexism and homophobic views of our sport. 

Then we may see government and media change their ways. 

we definitely at least get the greens on board if we can argue that lack of funding is xenophobic, cis heteronormative white colonialist patriachy

Shielas: Yes
Poofters: Yes
Wogs: No

Wogs empowered themselves and embraced the term wog. 
Even to the extreme that bogans can use the term willingly these days and not be derided. 

If we sooked about it, then things may be different. 
I daresay wogs playing AFL in the 80s could have a strong case looking for compensation from the AFL and its clubs for systemic racial abuse in their careers.