In the end though the FFA / A-League board need to look at what is best for the whole competition. Is a third team in central Melbourne "best" for the league on a whole??

Will it be good or bad for City??

Is it best to have three teams in one city or a second team in another (e.g. Brisbane, Adelaide)?? Or do unrepresented areas deserve a chance first (e.g. Tassie, Canberra, Wollongong)??

South Melbourne have the infrastructure, the youth teams, the money. They have history, something which the majority of A-League clubs lack. People like to beat the effnik drum but South Melbourne are more than just a club for Greeks, these days they're a club for everyone. They have a fan base. They also already have real rivalries, unlike manufactured ones. Wouldn't it surely be the cheapest option too for the FFA? They don't have to go through all the headaches of creating a franchise from the ground up.

It makes sense that they should be given a crack in the A-League. But watch the FFA turn up their noses because logic.

I just want South Melbourne to get it to see paulc's reaction.

I hear that the FFA officials are inspecting the Albert Park Lake that is next to the ground to count the fish :)

I am hopeful that because South M is an existing and well known club already ,that City Group will support their inclusion.
I can imagine their first game in the HAL drawing a huge media focus and the fans of whoever the opponent may be ,giving them a warm reception.
I hope FFA can see the goodwill that can be generated by this.

Bit harsh, we just had a massive earth quake. :crying:

Who's to say Ange wont come out and publically support souths bid in the coming days. Will ffa really go against what the fans, the players and what the majority of the football community want.

The only problem I see with this - apart from the FFA's hang-up with 'ethnic' clubs - is whether or not the FFA has an 'understanding', shall we say, with City Football Group. Sure, CFG bought the licence off the old Heart owners but maybe there was a wink, wink, nudge, nudge in there somewhere - 'we help out the basketcase club in your second biggest market and you don't let a third club into said market any time soon'.

I seriously don't understand why people are so up in arms about South Melbourne joining the A-league. They have the history, they have the brand, they have heritage, they are a link to old-football, and 'if' there is any potential fans who don't feel linked to the football family then south would appeal to those fans who feel left out and it would promote the HAL. They have a 40 year lease on their stadium which they would only need 1500 supporters to 'break even'.. (every other HAL team needs atkeast 7-10k to break even.) So if worst case scenario south only average say 5k instead of their projected 10k figure they would still be sustainable and make money.. 5000 - 1500 is 3500 gate receipts in profit. 3500 × $20 per ticket is $70k per game profit. X that by however many home games they get and they are just as sustainable and profitable as the wanderers and victory. They seriously do look ready for a shot. 0

X2

And I might do that, thank you very much. Especially when South charges the kids 2000 per year to play there.

City group was a buyout of heart, I'm talking about an actual bid gaining traction, when the bid is made official at the end of the month it will definately hit the papers down here if today's reaction is anything to go by, will be interesting to see if it makes any of the evening news bulletins.

What other ethnic club in Australia has the same amount of assets/benefits going for it as South Melbourne?

What like the City Group one that was on multiple front page covers of newspapers and even had the Herald Sun cartoonists out?

Unfortunately, no matter how good SMFC's bid is, the FFA wont let them back because this would then open the door to other effnik clubs and would threaten the return to the "bad old" NSL days of effnik violence & flares (as opposed to the much better stralylan flares and violence of the HAL).

Your paranoia is always clear...

She's an Australian citizen with a legitimately earned income...  If you want to go beyond that you have to ask the same questions about all of the owners.

Go play in traffic

@ Southmelb

It even got mentioned on news radio in Brisbane this morning. The FFA would be foolish to overlook this bid without good reason - as you say there is no other potential entrant that could create as much PR as South.

The bid was mentioned on radio 3aw during its news break and SEN this morning, bozza was on sen and backed the bid to come in immediately, surprisingly even the bogan hosts were upbeat about it, I'm shocked at how much traction this is gaining in the media down here and social media has lit up.

Don't think any other bid could possibly stir up this amount of emotion.

we have seen that ffa policies asking clubs to become more mainstreams do not work and only create anger. It is up to South Melbourne to do this themselves and for the FFA to determine if they have marketed themselves well enough to merit a spot in the national top flight.

SMFC is an interesting case, in that it seems like the fans didn't also become fans of Victory or City when the HAL was introduced so I reckon Victory and City would see a minimal drop in fans (could be wrong here, just seems that way when you talk to SMFC fans). So there is definitely a large enough existing fan base that has been waiting patiently for a chance to return to national football.  If they are successful, I just hope the FFA are smart enough to allow them to keep their colours and branding. They have a large fan base with a long history, and to tell them they need to change their colours would be a big slap in the face. So what if Melbourne has 3 blue clubs, that's what away strips are for. I imagine the FFA may have some hangups about them being publicly perceived as an 'ethnic' club, but I think the FFA has started to realise that trying to re-invent the wheel with a brand new club sees a far slower turn around to overall profit than an existing wheel in perfectly good working order. 

@ crimsoncrusoe

Spot on with that statement on "identity".

South M will generate a lot of news.Plus this news will spread outside of Melb,when you consider each big city has its own Olympic football club and hence potential support for South M.
South M is a well know brand name ,so easy to promote.
Then there is the potential for old rivalries,like Perth Glory ,Newcastle and Strikers if they came in.
I think that Melb Heart/City has shown that bringing in a big city team with no geographical or demographic identity after an existing team already exists ,does not work.Future teams need something people can identify with.

In Melbourne yes. Auckland v Wellington or Christchurch v Wellington is not a Derby. The common Aussie based soccer fan in the street has little care for the demands of the Kiwi Soccer Community, especially ehrn they try and intervene in the running of the A-League.

More derbies though :D

No money no honey. 

To all those supporting SM's entry.
Would you be happy for FFA to allow entry on the basis that the HELLAS, HELLAS chant was banned?
Because I see this as the most obvious hurdle to SM proving they no longer have the mono cultural supporter base.

True, I suppose its not like the FFA do anything anyway, threats and suspended sentences.