Morris Iemma’s plan to shake up the stagnating A-League

Former NSW premier Morris Iemma, left, with fellow Southern Expansion A-League bid proponent Craig Foster.
Former NSW premier Morris Iemma, left, with fellow Southern Expansion A-League bid proponent Craig Foster.
Former NSW premier Morris Iemma is the new face of the Southern Expansion franchise bidding to be one of two teams to be included in the A-League.

Iemma gives his first extensive interview to The Weekend Australian about a number of issues ­including the bid, why Sydney FC should be happy to have them in the league and the state of football in Australia.


The Weekend Australian: What made you want to be involved with Southern Expansion and why do you believe you are well-placed to be one of the next two teams brought into the A-League?
Morris Iemma: The late Les ­Murray and Craig Foster asked me initially to provide public support because of my long connection with the region. When Les sadly passed away, I was asked to ­become the chair of the bidding committee.

Quite frankly, the A-League is stagnating and the competition needs refreshing and there can be no argument about that. Attendances and television figures have fallen off. It has been six years since there has been an injection of new blood via the Western Sydney Wanderers.

Southern Expansion ticks much of what the A-League is looking for. The southern Sydney region will have a population of over one million people in 10 years’ time. The potential is enormous. You have three passionate football areas involved — St George, Suth­erland and the Illawarra. We will have two grounds, Kogarah Jubilee and WIN Stadium and we are hoping to have Shark Park. We have everything we need, including a huge grassroots factor and the history of all the regions. ­Remember, St George is where the late and great Johnny Warren came from, and Tim Cahill.

TWA: It’s no secret the Illawarra want their own, stand-alone franchise. What makes you think you can win them over if you are handed the licence ahead of them?
MI: We have got a relationship with Football South Coast but it is understandable that they would be looking at their own bid. If it doesn’t come off and we are ­successful, am I confident they will embrace our bid? Absolutely.

There is a synergy between us and the Illawarra. I know the ­region. When I was a minister I was involved in linking health ­services and transport between St George and there. The people of the ­Illawarra are passionate about football and, whatever happens, I am confident that we would have their support if our bid is chosen.

TWA: The Illawarra might be won over eventually but Sydney FC won’t be so easy. They are vehemently opposed to another ­franchise being so close to areas from which they understandably believe they draw a lot of support.
MI: Let me point out that the last time we had expansion in the A-League, Sydney had the entirety of Sydney’s 4.5 million population so in comes Western Sydney, and, contrary to assertions, the impact on FC was negligible.


https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/football/morris-iemmas-plan-to-shake-up-the-stagnating-aleague/news-story/6d28f128388f8e4bed69d027bc9bd117

Urgh you know the Southern side will get it but theyre a complete mess of a side. Really dont want them.

I was cool on a joint Sutherland Wollongong bid until I realised you can use your medicare card in both and now i'm just so fucking on board it isn't funny

I heard the Chairman of Wollongong Wolves on FNR and there won't be any so-called synergy with them. Iemma is dreaming.

More mid table teams to get excited about before Gallop.

Impressive bid. But dont think its the right area. If sydney must have a team it should be campbelltown

:D

Goodbye woolongong......sad, as they deserve their own team. 

if The Wollongong area is too small to have its own team then something is wrong with the current model. Wollongong and Southern Sydney are big enough for their own teams.

The talk is that the Southern Sydney team have it and the second team will not be from Victoria (to keep CFG happy). That being the case Brisbane is the most likely. However, none of the bids there seem to be compelling at the moment. There is the opportunity for Wolves to be a stand alone club, with a ready made natural rivalry against the Southern Sydney team. It may make the HAL a touch NSW centric for a few years but that can be balanced out with future expansion.

F**k off Iemma...I am a proud Gong lad, former Gold Member and long-term Wolves supporter, was there when we won both NSL GF's and I have absolutely no interest in supporting a Southern Sydney team...for me it the Wolves (or a Wollongong only bid) or nothing.

Wollongong is not a suburb of Sydney and never will be, that would be like saying the Gold Coast is a southern suburb of Brisbane!!!

He is partially right tho, Football South Coast (FSC) have given "conditional" support to both the Southern Expansion and the Wolves bid's. Was disappointing and hence why the Wolves have become independent to FSC...

It would be so cool if we got the Wolves back, but it's obviously not going to happen. It's either Southern Expansion or nothing, so it might as well be nothing. I will not be able to relate to a team from Sutherland that plays a few games at Win Stadium. I simply have no connection to Southern Sydney at all. To me, it's just a place over 50km away that the train passes through on the way to Central. I don't even think I've ever been to Sutherland proper, so expecting me to support a football team based there is a nonsense. 

What type of kickback would he be getting from the Chinese investors?
He’d be a key figure to getting their foot in the door with property investment/approvals and the like.

Interesting to here they are looking at playing games in both Koogarah and Shark Park.
I thought they were looking at building there on stadium in the sticks at one point.
Either way St George and Cronulla should be trying to entice a summer tenant if they ever want further upgrades to the ground.

The argument that if team x gets in it means team y won’t get in is BS and not a legitimate point to raise in relation to any expansion team.

If FCBC get in then Strikers are out, or if Strikers get in then FCBC are out .... does that mean neither of them should get in??

If southern expansion are the best bid then they should get in over Wolves, and visa-versa.

But the sooner we get to pro/rel and end this geographical debate the better.

Wolves to me look like Brisbane Strikers, feeling a bit sorry for themselves and looking for a sympathy vote to get over the line. Meanwhile the flashy Southern Expansion bid (FCBC in Brisbane) are steamrolling towards the finishing line.

It's looking unlikely to me as well...the fact the Wolves bid had conditional backing of Bruce Gordon (WIN TV and SC10), the junior nursery and various regional reps has become immaterial it appears. The Southern Expansion team does makes sense, but for me I won't be making an effort to get to a game nor supporting them. The team does not represent my region, and therefore is not for me.

And the only time I've been to Sutherland is to drive or train through it too, so why would I want to spend 2 hrs at a football game for a team that tries to say it represents my region, but is based in an area I have no roots in...

The wolves have the stigma that's attached to any club that has a history, in nsw terms they may as well be wogs.

Brisbane on the other hand is bizzaro land as the only real options are teams that already exist, when it's all said and done we could have a situation where the strikers were overlooked for hollandia and the Brisbane spags.

If/when this all goes down it will be southern Sydney and one of those 2 Brisbane options. You won't see a bidding process as these decisions will be long pre determined if not already. The ffa will make it out like an extensive process is taking place, we will see the usual out of my mob, tassie, Canberra, wolves etc but none of them have a hope in hell.

@ southmelb

Exactly. The ffa will give the appearance of there being a process to follow but in reality the deal is done. Probably done already (certainly the guys around the FCBC bid think it’s all done).

And in handeling it in that way the ffa will create a few more bitter n twisted people within the football community to add to the tens of thousands already there. They just don’t get it.

Wolves were never a monoethnic team nor were they ever considered as one. There is no stigma at all in that regard, which is why they should be considered ahead of most other ex-NSL clubs. Unlike South Melbourne who actually had a Greek name and the Greek flag on their emblem for the majority of their existence. 

So stop projecting. 

Can any Sydneysiders explain why Kogarah is an oval when there is only rectangular sports being played there?
Seems better than Spotless & Etihad but some viewing points wouldn’t be great at all.

Perception is all that matters, the wolves dont fit the model, a club with tradition who use to play around with the wogs thats what they are. They have essentially been gobbled up by this shiny new bid who will tap into there region against the clubs will. The wolves missed the boat in 2004 when the ffa made some regional concessions. Unfortunately the Mariners took that regional spot. Whether you think they do or dont have a right is irrelevant, they will never get a chance as a stand alone established club. The region will get a few breadcrumbs with this new outfit and that will be that.

The wolves will mostly join the rest of us nobodies in the championship if we can get it off the ground.

Without knowing the regions too well, I wish southern expansion would focus solely on Sutherland and St George regions.
Playing games mainly at Shark Park would intrude less on Sydney FC but still provide a option with a region that is quiet proud.
Shark Park is the ideal size for a-League expansion and I believe Olympic played games there in the NSL and got ok crowds there. I remember posting their crowds at the venue ranged between 4-6k which was pretty decent in the nsl era

the Wolves ex-NSL wog thing is nonsense

You think the ffa are gonna go purely regional when this other shiny new thing is on the table? I didnt say they are considered wogs, i said they may as well be because they will get the same treatment in this so called process.

Surely by now everyone knows how the ffa operates. It actually gets irritating talking about it. I would like to see Wolves get in but it aint happening.

Expansions I fear would last about 2-4 seasons before people would become bored again.

What about Pro/Rel to spice it up

Yeah this club risks being another’s Melbourne City being devoid of any purpose or meaning and existing purely because the powers at be wanted it it to.

Either have a Shire team or a Wollongong team or better yet, both. But this mush of everything will be a nothing team that no one really wants

I agree that Wolves are unlikely to get in, but not because they are ex-NSL

I get what southmelb is saying in that all the old NSL clubs have essentially been discriminated against by the FFA like the old NSL days and the whole "ethnic colours" tag.

The fact is that the FFA cares so little about the history and origins of the game in this country. They're trying to spin it as a marketable family game, yet the ties in to the old ethnic roots go far beyond anything the FFA could spin.

I agree that the bidding process will have already be run and won...the media releases in the last few weeks have said enough...i.e. upgrades to Ballymore could be fast-tracked with cross-code cooperation, the tweet saying southern expansion have been given a tick of approval...they'll spin it as a "robust" process where they're were "many solid, compliant" bids, but will ultimately be "the best two franchise models presented".

When SFC played in Wollongong it was fun. When Southern Expansion will play there it will be not fun.

There was a team that represented GC and played in Brisbane. It was Queensland Roar. But after GCU came in fans were not going back to Brisbane Roar.

I may be completely wrong here but I was told back when it was redeveloped that it was kept as an oval so that the local schools can continue holding athletic carnivals there.

yep yep yep