FMD .... a positive story on the A-League?? 

Most of the matches have been great to watch 

The doom and gloom about football in Australia is incredible.

There are a lot of positives about football, including presently having decent quality A League games to watch on a regular basis in winter.

Considering the length of time that the players have been out I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality & tempo of the matches.  

Especially Melbourne Shitty & the Jerks.  

Great article.

Ive enjoyed the aleague recently, plenty of good games around which has helped with the winter conditions.

Without the foreign contingent the young talent that has showed up has been impressive as well.

Winter is the winner 

Totally agree. A high percentage of these matches have been super entertaining. 

Plus no more libel/paulc and his tired old snarky comments. Place is on the up.

Young Aussie players have been great to watch in the A League.

I honestly feel like the colder weather has raised the intensity.

The A-league at this time has greatly improved with a host of younger players been allowed to star and take part in the league it can only get better as the young players get more experience self believe in their skills. Football will continue to become a major player in the Aussie sporting calendar and if the FFA  has itsTV streaming channel it will skyrocket............charliecat

I'm one who didn't reactivate their Kayo sub.  Too much going on right now for saturation football, and I've found it impossible to care.  

I'll be in again next season, but this one's just a weird contract fulfilment process.

I agree the general play is better.

But the rating have dropped by 2 thirds on fox. Winter football will be a hard sell for next tv rights

Mariners are performing like a totally different club- but nearly all games much more entertaining and higher quality. Players/teams looking more hungry to perform since restart?! 

“

A-League 2020: Former Socceroos striker calls for winter switch but urges fans to be patient

.....The A-League would be thrust in to direct competition with the AFL and NRL with a season shift, but McDonald said a move would be best.

“Without question I think football was meant to be played in the winter,” the in-form 36-year-old attacker said ahead of the Roar’s battle with Wellington at McDonald Jones Stadium on Wednesday night.

“It does allow for a high tempo game and a much more transitional game rather than teams playing side to side, being in low blocks very hard to break down, waiting to win possession back to then use that high intensity running for when you have the ball instead of without it.”

....And that hasn’t surprised McDonald.

“We have to remember as well for these people who want to go on about games not having changed much right now ... we’ve only had three weeks to prepare for this season to continue it,” the former Celtic and Middlesbrough marksman said.

“Everyone wanting these massive differences straight away in terms of the tempo of the game, I think we’ve seen it in some of the games so far, some of the games we haven’t. That’s because tactically teams play a certain way because they’ve had to play that way in conditions they’ve been playing before now.

“For teams to change their whole philosophy and ideology this late on in a season, it’s stupidity.”

....“People have to be realistic, so you have to give it time and let managers and coaches build their squads and build their teams according to the conditions they play in and how they want to play,” McDonald said.

“Some teams will still want to play in a low block, that’s fine but it will also allow players and teams to play at a higher tempo, get in teams’ faces, and you’re hoping that’s going to make for a more transitional game and more entries into opposition’s boxes, which makes it far more exciting.”

https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/aleague-2020-former-socceroos-striker-calls-for-winter-switch-but-urges-fans-to-be-patient/news-story/d323299415d26536aa6ad8c2ecf12a49

showing why the A-League is both an underrated competition and one suited to winter. 

Its a winter game full stop.
Lowy like any businessmen whats to go to market with the least resistance.
Summer was an easy decision back then.

Yeah the football has been generally good 

I do agree the Football is a winter sport 

winter is the way to go. it'll give foreign clubs and scouts a clearer picture into the abilities of the Australian player during the winter season, so it makes sense.

There is hope

“

A-League news: Mark Bosnich backs switch to winter competition after excellent return

For the past month, I’ve been conducting my own personal survey with players and coaches of all A-League sides to get the real insight into what the most important people think of the switch to winter football.

One of the big arguments against switching back to becoming a winter league is that there’s no clear air in the sporting landscape when you’re going up against the AFL and NRL.

But I don’t see any clear air in summer either. There’s no clear air anyway.

So what’s the solution?

You back yourself and make your product the best it can be. And based on the football we’ve watched over the past month, I think the evidence is overwhelming. The best football is played in winter.

The truth of the matter is none of this would’ve happened had everything not been brought forward by the COVID-19 situation, but the results are there for everyone to see.

Football is a game that was meant to be played in the winter — and that has never been more evident than right now.

From my personal survey, there’s been no range of answers. Everyone has come back saying the same thing.

“What a difference it makes”. “It’s been fantastic”. “We can run all day”. “It’s where football was meant to be”.

Whatever the powers that be decide — whether the game is played in summer or winter — I’ll always abide by it, but you can’t ignore the eye test.

And from the moment the competition got back underway, you could count on one hand the number of bad halves of football — and have fingers left over.

I speak to the conditioning coaches who are stunned at how fresh the players are after games. Obviously we’ve had a long break, and players are now being asked to play a lot of matches in a short space of time, but they’re recovering so much quicker than they did in the summer.

They’re telling their managers that they’re good to go on a two-day break.

And it’s resulting in high quality football across the league.

We’ve seen Melbourne Victory produce exciting finishes in games where they’ve been 2-0 down, against Brisbane and Western United, by pushing forward and grabbing late goals.

That doesn’t happen in the middle of summer, because fatigued teams are scared to play attacking football.

I used to feel sorry for players busting their guts on sweltering days, when I’d get phone calls from friends overseas telling me “this game is so slow”.

I’d say “but you don’t realise how hot it is”.

It’s all right being in your airconditioned lounge room and going ‘oh it’s a bit slow today’.

But when it’s 35 degrees in the summer and humidity is up around 90, chuck your shorts on, go outside to the street and sprint as fast you can for 20 metres.

Stop, have a 20 second breather, and do it again. Do that between 50 and 70 times and tell me how you feel. Because that’s what our players are doing every game.

During the summer months there may be some rusted-on AFL or rugby league fans, who if we sign a Del Piero they might flick over.

But they’re still going to like their rugby league and their AFL. That’s going to be their sport.

But our football supporters love our sport, and for me the biggest thing is to provide the best product possible and to do that you’ve got to provide the best environment possible for the players.

And a move to winter does just that.”

https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/a-league/aleague-news-mark-bosnich-backs-switch-to-winter-competition-after-excellent-return/news-story/76298267faacd987f2f040ce988dd0d2

Not one word about how the foxtel winter ratings have been the worst on record.

You are the expert

Pretty stark admission to make seeing as though it's a part of future TV rights deals 

Expertly put

Improving the quality of play is irrelevant when it comes to ratings.

The standard of football is not what attracts viewers.
Ratings are driven by other factors.

You cant say it has no impact. Watching the football since the return has been great and makes you look forward to the next game. Compare that to some of the trash we have seen over the last few summers where it seemed even many people on this forum were questioning why they were watching. 

I totally agree with Bozza on this .
As for ratings ....forget them .
Fox is dumping us anyway .
We need to get our product right and then market it , whether that is by streaming , broadcast or any other media that arises over the next few years .
The football now is so much better to watch for people who know football ...and they are our target market .

In 1989 

How about asking the players if they would switch to winter and take a pay cut in line with the drop in tv money that may occur?