Variety is the spice of life.

10 teams playing 4 times would generate 180 games and a lot of boredom.
11 teams playing 3 times generates 165 games and a bit of extra variety.
16 teams playing 2 times generates 240 games and a lot of variety, makes every fixture a little more interesting because it's not the same old-same old.

Why not target 16 teams?

They actually get crowds to the derbies at AAMI

Arguably the talent pool spread across 16 teams would make A league fixtures dull and boring

go on, tell us.

I'd argue that the majority of fans in the country aren't motivated by the quality of football on offer. Quality on the pitch rose rapidly during the same period that crowds were dropping. Defending this season has been 'average', which has lead to more excitement.

wouldn't a 16 team comp also provide more opportunities for youngsters to get into the league via more clubs . One step at a time , but if NSW can have 4 clubs ,why cant Vic have 3 clubs down the track , and if SM tick all the boxes ,why not.
Am not a south supporter either

Defending this year is no better or worse than it last year, average 2.7 goals per game. The year that leaked the most goals with the most fixtures and the most teams coincides with the worst attendances, 2010/11, while the the most successful A league season featured only 8 teams playing each other 3 times and averaging only 2.6 goals per game.

The argument that low quality football and bad defending will translate into a more appealing product is flabbergasting.

Yes more clubs would likely provide more opportunities for more youth to play in the A league, but more teams and more players also means the standards drop and thus the skill level also, negating the football development of the best players.

Vic can have three, or even four clubs down the track, but it won't be South and it wont be for a while. There are plenty of reasons why it most definitely won't be South, most of it has to do with the fact they can't tick a box let alone all of them.

That has got to be one of the worst spellings of Ronaldinho I have ever seen. Besides, why would be come down under if he can be worshipped like a god in Brazil, and get paid like one while he's at it?

From the 3 years of following MH, the crowd has always been better when we've been winning. Our home form has just been so piss poor that we were never really able to solidify a consistent crowd, even during out best run ever over Xmas/NY 2011-12 we won most of our games away.

I agree. I think a major factor a lot of people who go to HAL games is because they can attend their local team's matches. Of course we'd like to see the quality of play go up, but it's not necessarily going to be decisive when it comes to popularity of the league.

Stadium - tick
Money - tick
Juniors - tick
youth team - tick...and i mean genuine youth, not funded by the ffv.
Womens team - tick...and i mean genuine girls team, not funded by the ffv.


Bunch of dirty "greeks" - no tick, no A league.

Delusion - tick

Victorian Governments desire to have two Football teams play out of AAMI Park as a key negotiating tool for the stadium being built and upgraded in size.. tick. Oh wait....

I'm not too convinced that the talent pool would go down. When there 16 teams i expect there will more aussies playing football and with 16 teams thats 16 youth league teams which is where we're seeing a lot of our youth coming up from.

Edited by tbitm: 8/2/2013 08:45:54 PM

Might as well have 80 teams then and 80 youth teams. More youth and more Aussies playing football.

Umm no, and do you know why? because the above can be proven, what i posted above hasnt been made out of thin air, this is what the club actually has, the delusion is clearly on your part. Whilst im not as passionate as Chris on this debate, i know full well the infrastracture the club has is top notch. This is pure fact i dont need to make it up, feel free to pop by and check it all out.

As far as AAMI Park goes, no reason why you couldnt have the setup that MV has where the big games go to Etihad and the rest remain at AAMI, South could have had the big games at AAMI and the rest at Lakeside.

Why not just have everyone in the country playing?

Now that's a lot of extra TV content!

Exactly, and everyone will be too busy playing to watch AFL or NRL, it's perfect!!!

this fkn thread still going!!!!!noooooooooooooooooo

What's "proof" to you is psychotic delusions to people of sound mind.

Obviously you are in awe of the fact you have a bistro, futsal courts and some poker machines etc but I find it all to be superficial spoof.

Where it counts, your ability to pull crowds and operate viably is in extreme doubt.

If South wants a licence you should merit rather than demand it on wafer thin logic. Recognise your own weakenesses and admit you aren't ready to relaunch as a professional brand yet. Ask yourselves questions such as 'what do we need to do to make Melbourne want to follow SMFC' and 'does the A league really want us' and 'how can we improve current attendance figures rather than waiting for FFA marketing to lay the golden path for us', you won't like the answers but that's your only hope.

Most of all stop acting like jerks and acting bigger than what you are, Heart is bigger than you.

Rusty

I M prepared to argue smfc is a bigger club than MH

Perhaps 1 day the heart will achieve what south has on their little Finger

But not at the moment

Oh by the way. - smfc ready to field an HALl team in the event a current team folds - keeping the comp at 10 teams

TICK

Edited by chris: 9/2/2013 02:34:26 AM

Nobody is demanding anything. The whole argument we are putting forward is that we have the money, the facilities, the knowledge, the desire, etc., but we all know that we are being blocked due to the club's heritage. All we are asking is that the FFA look at the bid itself, rather than the names on the bid. Level playing field.

If you had 80 teams part of a national league structure all with youth teams this would increase the quality of Australian football from conference league standard to perhaps something significantly better as well as creating a football culture and tribalism incomparable with anything current or from the past.

Now we have a rubbish national competition that relies in "word of mouth and favouritism" based scouting in the hope the best players from the state leagues get put into the NYL system which is State 3/State 4 standard at best.

Subsequently, Australia's playing stocks are at an all time low in terms of quality and the blame lays squarely with the Lowy regime for creating a system that sucks all funds to a plastic national league that has no links to football infrastructure and encourages puppets like Rusty to post on 442 in its defense.

P.S - Have it on good word the development of a serum for "Ethnic Complex Syndrome" has branched into two legs. One is the standard serum they're working on and the other is a specific serum code named "RUSTY'S COMPLEX".

Bigger history doesn't make a bigger club. Are you arguing SMFC is bigger than all A league clubs, including Victory? You're only bigger in ego, obviously smaller in all the areas that count.

Hilarious how you constantly berate Heart for their lack of achievements, took South 25 years to win their first NSL.

All the other state league clubs are ready to field an HAL team as well, keeping the comp at 10 teams, or 80 depending on your perspective.

We're not quite at the point we need to dig up the dregs to save us yet.

No Ben, you're being blocked due to the clubs performance. Historcial averages of 4-5k are a threat to the A leagues brand, stability and growth. We've already got one underperforming club in Melbourne, another would really damage the market.

I recall FFA did look at the bid itself and said No. Three teams has not been mooted by anyone other than South fans.

This, /thread

How do you know they haven't Ben? You say you don't have a conflict of interest but coincidentally you purport to know a hell of a lotfor someone claiming to be just a casual supporter. I think given the professionalism of the FFA and their uncompromising desire to get the A-League right and popular, for the furure of the code - their decision would have been well considered.

If South Melbourne Hellas believes it can expand beyond its self centred Greek communit then they should demomstrate it. Given it's baggage of the past that's the least they should do as that is one massive issue. Inabilty or unwillingness to broaden.

If you had 80 teams operating as part of a national league with all youth and women teams it would significantly decreease the standard because it would go broke and as such would have no national league at all.

It's a bit like arguing the best way to achieve business success is to open up new stores in every suburb in Australia and kick your feet back and watch the money roll in, you're prretty naive if you think this would actually work.

Calling the A league "rubbish" is an oxymoron coming from a South fan, all your achievements were derived from arguably the worst run competition the world has ever seen. You were one of the best clubs in the worst ever soccer competitions. Congratulations.

I'd rather the plastic A league than the utter humiliation that was the NSL. There's something really pleasing watching football played in big stadiums in front of big crowds, something the NSL could only manage through its franchise clubs like Perth and Adelaide. Of course South fans like you think none of that matters the important thing was your ethnic chest beating contests and playing on "boutique" cow paddocks.

Only an individual with an extremely low IQ would legimitely think the NSL was better than the A league. Lowy has done an excellent job by taking football out of the sewerage drain and giving it an honourable platform in which to grow from and succeed.

As for having a go at the Australian playing stocks, the NSL couldn't produce a single Socceroos team capable of qualifying for the world cup. The 32 years of repeated failure neatly coincides with the life span of the NSL. The A league only 8 years into its existence already has two qualifications and a third on its way. All thanks to Lowy.