+x+x+xThis what happens when you stand still, you let your competitors take advantage of it.
What have the APL been doing since they got their independence? Very little news on the w-league and even the y-league for that matter too especially coming to a World Cup in about 2 years from now its very concerning.
The w-league not only needs to expand but after we seen with the Matildas's issues they need a much longer season too, the current structure isnt feasible for the Matildas future.
100% this..... AFLW is going to create clubs and players out of thin air in 6 months ... meanwhile FA has 100s of clubs with women's teams Australia wide and 1000s of players already playing the game but ..... something something, ethnics out, no money for travel, don't want to dilute the talent pool, who is going to pay to broadcast it etc etc ad nauseam.
You need a vision which is lacking at top end.
This what happens when you focus more on metrics rather than growing the game through development which was been profound in the last 16 years.
There will eventually be a Euro Super league made up of the top 12-16 teams backed by enormous wealth and it wouldn’t surprise me if it also becomes a cross Atlantic league with US franchises like Atlanta FC and LA Galaxy etc…… Every half decent player will be playing in these 16 teams on massive wages and the rest of the millions of clubs around the world will in essence become feeder clubs developing players to sell to this league to keep afloat. The franchise Aleague/MLS closed shop system is here to stay and despite me and thousands around the world recoiling in horror at the thought, there are billions of young kids who see nothing wrong with “consuming” soccer in this way…..
Good news is that most leagues around the world will benefit from disassociating themselves from the arms race that is “Sport Entertainment” and domestic competitions will become a lot more valuable to the local football supporter. Bad news is that the billions of Asian kids buying Messi tops and US kids subscribing to “Super League Streaming TV” will keep this tier locked away from the rest for ever. It will however mean that clubs like Everton, Villa, Palace etc in England experience growth. Clubs like Marseille and OL in France, Roma, Sampdoria, Napoli in Italy and the list goes on….
Totally random thought but dig out an old movie from the late 70s, early 80s called Rollerball with James Caan (Sonny from the Godfather) about what the future of live sport looks like… that’s were I see football heading and it depresses me badly.
AGAINST MODERN FOOTBALL – SOUTH MELBOURNE HELLAS FOR LIFE. ... sorry for the rant he he he.