Basically in short if the NSL had been given the nurturing that the HAL got would it have evolved? TV deal, joining AFC etc.

The NSL was doomed -- dwindling crowds no TV coverage

The NSL had a 3-4 year run on pay tv back when many people didn't have it, and the few that did were already split between 2 pay providers, the other issue was aside from showing a few lives games a week the NSL had no other type of coverage on the platform, think of where the NBL sits in the pecking order now at fox but much much worse, most of the televised games featured northern spirit, Perth glory and south Melbourne, not surprisingly these 3 clubs had the biggest crowds, the rest were regularly ignored so the coverage was useless to them, even when abc was showing 1 live game a week they were basically showing the same teams and the only way you got on tv is If you played the 3 mentioned, the south Melbourne games on Sundays were usually delayed as well as only Friday and Saturday night games were shown live. They were also paying peanuts at the time.

The game obviously had no internet/social media presence back then, this didn't allow the players to become celebrities, nowadays even the presenters are well known, Tara, bozza etc, back then I think it was Paul wade and mike cockerill, they would be on tv twice a week and then never seen or heard feom again until the following week. You didn't have channels like fox sports news that would have daily NSL segments the way it is now.

Would the NSL have survived if a provider like fox had come to the party? Yes, would crowd averages be as big as they are now? No, because you would still have a large number of teams in Sydney and Melbourne where the support would be split. Did the NSL fold at the absolute wrong time? Yes yes yes, it died in 2004 just as the Internet/social side was on the verge of taking off, add World Cup qualification and it's dream land.

I have no mentioned sbs coverage at all up until now because back then most only put it on after 10 to watch softcore porn so it had releatively little meaning outside of the few wogs who watched it during the day.

Yep it died on the cusp of the pay tv - social media revolution... two massive things that the hal has largely survived off.  

And true biggie, we were still in oceania then..,, a lots changed in the world since then. 

Yep, Foxtel digital started in 2004 just as the NSL died. The A league was the big new feature on the platform in late 2005, we qualify for the World Cup 2 months later, social media starts to make its way in around 2006 and explodes in the years that follow.

Basically if they wiped the NSL out 5 years earlier and started the the A league in 2000 it never would have gained the traction it did. in 2000 the best you had were a couple of forums, you can forget about online video coverage and a huge chunk of the population didn't even have Internet then. Everything is at your fingertips now.

The FFA (Frank Lowy) saved Australian domestic football by creating the A-League.
from the opening round 63,000 watched the 4 games
Sponsors, fans all jumped on board from the start.
Not to mention approx 65 players returned to Australia to play

Yep, all very serendipitous really, lets be honest.

Imagine the hal for a second with no pay tv and no social media revolution, with us still kicking shit in oceania.

The NSL was always going to die the way it did. Hostile, mocking media, volunteer based clubs, no marketing, part time squads, little or no off field professionalism, old suburban grounds with minimal spectator facilities, WC qualification disasters every 4 years......the list is endless. But the funny thing is given the above negative factors there were many great sides produced that played superb football and countless champions produced. NSL clubs had a more 'footballing' focus and passionate people involved. They knew football rather than 'business'. Give these teams and players today's 'stage' and I have no doubt that the football produced would probably be of an equal or higher standard. Obviously we'll never know.

The marketing was essentially club based, soccer Australia never did anything.

I remember the current Perth CEO Peter filopoulos saying that when he was at south the club would hand pick 2-3 games per season to seriously promote and hit the mainstream outlets, these games would often attract 10k+, the problem was we and the rest of the comp didn't have the resources to do this every week, obviously a competent governing body combined with Foxtel/internet coverage etc would have come in handy back then.

We might be getting less people now because we are in a state league but more people know what SM is doing now compared to 15 years ago. Hell we could put up a bogus expansion story and many thousands will read across the various social media platforms, back then you would be hard pressed to even find a match report.

The creation of the ALeague saw many new fans embrace the game
The teams being broad based has worked wonderfully
The other major achievement by the FFA was the move to Asia 😀⚽️

Rumour Mill

Bingo. And smfc have quite the database.... in the tens of thousands actually.., and its all just one click away these days. Different times we live in now.. The power of social media. And you guys have pretty good game in that dept.. the smfc app shits on a-league clubs apps.

Being broadbased never helped those that used that angle bar perth in the nsl, in addition to that in the late 90s 50-60k people were still rocking up to games regularly for an entire round..and also the local competitions were much more supported back then compared to now.

Agree Hal was necessary and briadbased clubs also necessary at the time

P&R or slow death

I think any club that managed to survive 27 years of NSHell should be applauded
I think there were only 4 teams in total
Every financial dollar was self generated through passion rather than skill
Trenches were dug without tools of the trade by these clubs

Also all sport in that era was played on suburban grounds and an AFL game at Junction in the late 80s oval would get 10k

So when comparing eras we must also compare assets

Sorry to disappoint some people here but in more than 750 rounds of NSL matches from 1977 to 2003/04, where up to 12 matches were played per round, the highest aggregate attendance for a round was 58,800 over eight matches in round 2, 2000/01, which included 14,000-plus home crowds for Newcastle United and Perth Glory.
It was a different story at Melbourne's Bob Jane Stadium that weekend however, where a mere 1400 watched Archie Thompson score for Carlton in its 2-2 draw with Wollongong Wolves.
But let's go back to those 12-match NSL rounds. Yes, that's right, at one stage the old national league had a whopping 24 teams up against each other each weekend.
This was from 1984 to 1986, when the league was split into two conferences, based loosely on a north-south breakdown of teams.
It was a bold move by the authorities, expanding from a single tier competition of 16 teams in 1983 – the theory for the struggling league at the time being that more local derbies (the north division consisted mostly of Sydney teams, the south division was mostly Melbourne teams) would stimulate increased interest in the terraces.
After registering an average 4,200 crowd per game in its first three seasons 1977-1979, the NSL’s average attendance had dropped to 2,700 in the 1983 season.
However the two-conference format didn't really work – in its first year (1984) the regular season average dropped to 2,300, then down to an all-time low of 2,200 per game in 1985.
It's amazing looking back at media match reports from the 1985 NSL season and seeing crowds such as 125 for a Green Gully home game, 150 watching four-time NSL Champions Sydney City at inner-Sydney Wentworth Park, and 202 at Penrith Park to see Penrith City take on Canberra City.
After reverting back to a single conference system in 1987, then to "summer soccer" in 1989/90, the trend in national league average crowds was upwards.
But nothing comes close to the increase between the last NSL season (2003/04) and first edition of the A-league (2005/06), when the season average skyrocketed from 4,050 to 10,955 per game and then 12,927 and 14,610 for the next 2 years.
Recent seasons have been 13,041 (12-13) & 12,500 (14-15) doesn’t include finals

^^^
13,000 in big stadiums clubs can't afford to play in with rosters clubs can't afford to pay. The model only works as a closed shop with "investors" willing to lose money on their franchises

When matches were switched to summer in 1989-90, the average crowd at an NSL game rose from an average of 2850 in its final two winter seasons to 3300 in its first two summer seasons

And to think the NSL was a 14 or 16 team league at various stages.

Lol. The multis at work eh mr anti-football?

Roberts and football dude jerking off in the mirror.

HortoMagiko  -- you need to look at the stats and then jerk off on your Greek flag

Just don't tell anyone about the conferences.

@roberts

"HortoMagiko -- you need to look at the stats and then jerk off on your Greek flag"

Which stat? The stat where SMFC are still current record holders for crowds interstate (even after all these years/the millions and millions of dollars thrown at this comp)?

You need to study your stats more I think.

Well the next 6 years are secured. What happens afyer that is to be seen.

Expansion will happen in 18/19 its an absolute given that it will because ffa have also spoken about it many times confkrming that its a top priority. Where they expand another matter entirely.

@ horto, and here I was thinking I was supporting your position

We dont uave a decline in attendances and we are also about to crack membership records for league as a whole too.

Ratings are also at the level they were a few years back when things were super rosy. So not really sure.where u are getting this doom and gloom from. Although im sure things will be looking very bright in ur eyes the moment sth get in.