Nate Posted March 27, 2022 Report Share Posted March 27, 2022 9 minutes ago, n i k o said: Thats all great and I would like to see the same . But what would you suggest was done? Given covid cancellation of games and the odd bad weather postponements I hear a lot of people get upset but not suggest solutions. Fwiw I actually don't know the right answer myself. Push out the season makes sense. But with the world cup at our doorstep and stadium booking challenges i dont even know if this is viable. I don't have the answers either but I think the viewership stats are pretty damning. I guess I had just hoped we were done with dreadful timeslots in the afterlife post-Fox but if anything, it's been worse and it's having an obvious effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofhearts Posted March 27, 2022 Report Share Posted March 27, 2022 (edited) 43 minutes ago, Nate said: I don't have the answers either but I think the viewership stats are pretty damning. I guess I had just hoped we were done with dreadful timeslots in the afterlife post-Fox but if anything, it's been worse and it's having an obvious effect. Paramount have defintely been 1000000000x worse then fox sports have ever been. I reckon they worked out pretty early on in the season that they weren't going to make a lot of money from broadcasting the a-league, which is why I think they're essentially half-assing it now. Do the bare minimum and save costs where you can istheir new motto. Like ffs the APL or whoever had to write to them to tell them to stop putting ads on during live play lol, just shows you how they don't give a fuck about the product anymore. Edited March 27, 2022 by kingofhearts 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Posted March 27, 2022 Report Share Posted March 27, 2022 18 minutes ago, kingofhearts said: Paramount have defintely been 1000000000x worse then fox sports have ever been. I reckon they worked out pretty early on in the season that they weren't going to make a lot of money from broadcasting the a-league, which is why I think they're essentially half-assing it now. Do the bare minimum and save costs where you can istheir new motto. Like ffs the APL or whoever had to write to them to tell them to stop putting ads on during live play lol, just shows you how they don't give a fuck about the product anymore. Yep, they very obviously dgaf Somehow need to get it to Optus and pair it with the EPL to get interest back. Fox losing the EPL rights was a catalyst for dwindling interest in the A-League imo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted March 27, 2022 Report Share Posted March 27, 2022 IMO APL fell into the trap of tinkering with an existing product rather than having a brand new plan ready to go and then implementing it. However, we have to acknowledge that it wouldn't have been easy to do that with COVID cropping up just when it did, and I think it's harder the less popular your sport is. In Victoria AFL is so ingrained in our culture that the AFL could do almost anything and the sport would continue more or less without a hiccup. So I'm not sure that it's useful to compare us to AFL. IMO APL was presented with an opportunity to introduce real change, but didn't take it. Instead it made a big issue of "gender equality" and hung its hat on the wrong hook in doing so. Simply renaming something in itself does not change the quality of the product. All the renaming has done, IMO, is confuse people. So drop this gender insanity. Furthermore, APL has failed to realise that we need to attract new people to our game, and that it is useless to keep preaching to the converted. The new websites are utter shit. I can't find my way around them, so how can the casual visitor? So I blow into Melbourne one weekend and want to find out whether Melbourne City are playing at home - how do I find out? Of course I don't have all the answers, but here are a few thought-starters: - Move to a (minimum) 8-month season principally over winter to align with the rest of the football pyramid. This will at least enable the possibility of an integrated pyramid at some future time. Observe international breaks. - Increase the league to 16 clubs, all based in population centres with some existing football presence and support. - Resurrect the NYL but in the form of a reserves competition so that all league players have the opportunity to play competitively every week during the season. - Introduce a League Cup alongside the league and the FA/Australia Cup (the latter sounds like it's our version of the America's Cup, but never mind). - Get off our arses and introduce inter-club transfer fees (promised but never delivered). - Ensure that every club has at least one genuine bums-on-seats international player. - A fixture (days and times) that takes due account of public transport facilities, people's work habits, family responsibilities and is as far as possible regular in the sense of day/KO time/ home/away etc. - Scrap the broadcasting of every match in full and move to a weekly FTA Highlights Show of say 30-40 minutes, with highlights and panel discussion, the matches to come in the week ahead and so on. - Scrap the suppression of active support at matches. Of course violence and ant-social behaviour has no place in sport, but we have gone far beyond what is necessary to control that. - Club initiatives to embrace members and not hold them at arm's length. I'm sure that there are a lot better brains than mine who can come up with a lot more better ideas that are far better explained, but staggering on as we are will not grow the game. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belaguttman Posted March 27, 2022 Report Share Posted March 27, 2022 1 hour ago, jw1739 said: Furthermore, APL has failed to realise that we need to attract new people to our game, and that it is useless to keep preaching to the converted. Perhaps they could start by attracting all the old people back to the game, all the fans that they drove away over years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haz Posted April 17, 2022 Report Share Posted April 17, 2022 (edited) -- Edited April 17, 2022 by haz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted May 18, 2022 Report Share Posted May 18, 2022 Our beloved bulldozing PM demonstrating the new tackling rule that APL is thinking of introducing next season to liven up the league: Whoops, Scotty. I think that one belongs down there in Cronulla... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted June 3, 2022 Report Share Posted June 3, 2022 Interesting reading. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-04/a-league-post-mortem/101112608 I think I'll need to read it several more times before coming to any conclusions. However I'm not sure that 200 replies via social media is a reliable way of obtaining a balanced view of the APL so far, or to the aspects of the management of the game in Australia that really matter. Nor am I convinced that the report is unbiased. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted August 22, 2022 Report Share Posted August 22, 2022 (edited) Now if this was the A-League there would be calls from the media, police and State Premiers to shut down all matches... Image deleted Edited June 10, 2023 by jw1739 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted December 13, 2022 Report Share Posted December 13, 2022 IMO we need reform of APL. To start with Board members should be Australian citizens and resident in Australia for at least 6 months per year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHFC-FAN Posted December 13, 2022 Report Share Posted December 13, 2022 3 hours ago, jw1739 said: IMO we need reform of APL. To start with Board members should be Australian citizens and resident in Australia for at least 6 months per year. Also for any drastic decisions like this stupid grand final idea. All clubs representatives need to vote not just a handful of the clubs... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cityamatic Posted December 16, 2022 Report Share Posted December 16, 2022 In light of this weeks events, this article from last year that Lucy Zelic put on twitter today seems relevant… https://www.sbs.com.au/sport/article/get-behind-us-and-well-deliver-vows-apl-boss-townsend/j2xvpqbgd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted December 16, 2022 Report Share Posted December 16, 2022 3 hours ago, Cityamatic said: In light of this weeks events, this article from last year that Lucy Zelic put on twitter today seems relevant… https://www.sbs.com.au/sport/article/get-behind-us-and-well-deliver-vows-apl-boss-townsend/j2xvpqbgd That aged well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted December 17, 2022 Report Share Posted December 17, 2022 (edited) Did this just go unnoticed? 7th December 2022 https://keepup.com.au/news/apl-releases-its-inaugural-two-year-report-here-comes-the-future I note the line from Townsend: "And we want to grow our clubs’ fan bases and increase fan engagement with their clubs and the A-Leagues’ competitions.” Not an inkling of a storm cloud there. Big change in a week.... Edited December 17, 2022 by jw1739 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnno cpfc Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 On the subject of tradition, the APL spouting about the EPL finals ( cup league etc) i think you will find that the tradition is Bulldust the main reason that those finals are played at Wembley is because the Stadium is owned by the FA via a holding company. Also the furthest any fans would have to travel is approx 400kms or thereabouts to support their club unlike Australia which could take anything up to two days depending on where they come from. Football was founded on being a sport that EVERYONE could follow not just the wealthy !!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted January 2, 2023 Report Share Posted January 2, 2023 39 minutes ago, johnno cpfc said: On the subject of tradition, the APL spouting about the EPL finals ( cup league etc) i think you will find that the tradition is Bulldust the main reason that those finals are played at Wembley is because the Stadium is owned by the FA via a holding company. Also the furthest any fans would have to travel is approx 400kms or thereabouts to support their club unlike Australia which could take anything up to two days depending on where they come from. Football was founded on being a sport that EVERYONE could follow not just the wealthy !!! The second reason is neutrality. The semi-finals and the final of the FA Cup being the best examples - the semis always played on a neutral ground and the final at Wembley. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted June 20, 2023 Report Share Posted June 20, 2023 I think that the current activity, or lack of it, on the Forum since our Grand Final defeat illustrates a major problem that the League and its constituent clubs have to act on - keeping relevant and interesting during our long off-season. As it is, the League basically has to start again from scratch each season. This season we, City, have the ACL coming up, starting in September, but we won't have the draw for the Groups until 24th August. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n i k o Posted June 20, 2023 Report Share Posted June 20, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, jw1739 said: I think that the current activity, or lack of it, on the Forum since our Grand Final defeat illustrates a major problem that the League and its constituent clubs have to act on - keeping relevant and interesting during our long off-season. As it is, the League basically has to start again from scratch each season. This season we, City, have the ACL coming up, starting in September, but we won't have the draw for the Groups until 24th August. The thing is jw, there is plenty going on right now in the world of aleague football. Now had the sport some coverage like afl then you would hear how Jamie MacLaren has jetted off on a holiday or how CCM is about so sell their youth prospect off to Bayer Munich. But seeing as there is next to no coverage during the season regular, its basically a ghost town when it comes to the off season. Edited June 20, 2023 by n i k o 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolDom Posted July 31, 2023 Report Share Posted July 31, 2023 On 20/06/2023 at 5:34 AM, n i k o said: The thing is jw, there is plenty going on right now in the world of aleague football. Now had the sport some coverage like afl then you would hear how Jamie MacLaren has jetted off on a holiday or how CCM is about so sell their youth prospect off to Bayer Munich. But seeing as there is next to no coverage during the season regular, its basically a ghost town when it comes to the off season. Why do you think there's no active coverage? Lack of funding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewConvert Posted July 31, 2023 Report Share Posted July 31, 2023 6 hours ago, CoolDom said: Why do you think there's no active coverage? Lack of funding? Lack of media interest. Channel 7 pushes AFL 365 days a year because they have over the decades invested a lot of money in it.Ditto Ch 9 & NRL. Cricket and Tennis are in a state of flux but basically they get the media attention because of the international calendar. I expected the tie up for Ch 10 & Paramount+ to have done better but that has not eventuated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted August 1, 2023 Report Share Posted August 1, 2023 14 hours ago, NewConvert said: Lack of media interest. Channel 7 pushes AFL 365 days a year because they have over the decades invested a lot of money in it.Ditto Ch 9 & NRL. Cricket and Tennis are in a state of flux but basically they get the media attention because of the international calendar. I expected the tie up for Ch 10 & Paramount+ to have done better but that has not eventuated. IMO you cannot blame only APL for this. Are the clubs doing their fair share? Aren't they allowed to actually do something by themselves? City, for example, are building their base at Casey Fields - does the club ever report on progress? Why haven't we heard what's happening with Florin? The boys are back in training - no report, no pics. Where's the build-up to the Cup match? A little while ago I asked the club why an NPL2 ladder was not included with the reports on our youth team's matches. The answer, and I paraphrase it, was "We don't like to tread on the toes of Football Victoria." WTF? Can't publish a ladder featuring your own club? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewConvert Posted August 1, 2023 Report Share Posted August 1, 2023 9 hours ago, jw1739 said: IMO you cannot blame only APL for this. Are the clubs doing their fair share? Aren't they allowed to actually do something by themselves? City, for example, are building their base at Casey Fields - does the club ever report on progress? Why haven't we heard what's happening with Florin? The boys are back in training - no report, no pics. Where's the build-up to the Cup match? A little while ago I asked the club why an NPL2 ladder was not included with the reports on our youth team's matches. The answer, and I paraphrase it, was "We don't like to tread on the toes of Football Victoria." WTF? Can't publish a ladder featuring your own club? you are right. I have been regularly looking at KVC Westerlo webpage - news everyday, photos every day. They are a small club so their resources aren't that huge but they still manage. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHFC-FAN Posted August 1, 2023 Report Share Posted August 1, 2023 3 hours ago, NewConvert said: you are right. I have been regularly looking at KVC Westerlo webpage - news everyday, photos every day. They are a small club so their resources aren't that huge but they still manage. Your not wrong there! Even basic things like pics or videos of the players in training. How hard would a 30 second video be of interviewing the players after or during training on how they are feeling, new recruits response to being here, thoughts on the cup game etc etc? The media presence is poor and makes for a very stale and boring off season. It's no wonder everyone tunes out of the A-League and solely focusses on AFL/NRL etc... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted August 1, 2023 Report Share Posted August 1, 2023 You wouldn't know, unless you were a close follower of the club, that our first Cup match is just 11 days away, a match that could be the start of the path to the AFC Cup next year, and even then you would have to look at the top-left hand corner of the club website to find out... Absolutely piss poor IMO! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHFC-FAN Posted August 2, 2023 Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 11 minutes ago, jw1739 said: You wouldn't know, unless you were a close follower of the club, that our first Cup match is just 11 days away, a match that could be the start of the path to the AFC Cup next year, and even then you would have to look at the top-left hand corner of the club website to find out... Absolutely piss poor IMO! Yeah it is a joke actually! How does the league/club expect to grow when they are soo far behind the 8 ball with pretty much everything... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannon Posted September 13, 2023 Report Share Posted September 13, 2023 https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/a-leagues-poised-to-scrap-controversial-grand-final-deal-with-destination-nsw-20230913-p5e4cp.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted September 26, 2023 Report Share Posted September 26, 2023 I see that we have a new "independent" Chairman. https://keepup.com.au/news/a-league-new-independent-chair-stephen-conroy/. Hmm. Any comments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IssySG Posted September 26, 2023 Report Share Posted September 26, 2023 He's City fwiw https://chellwoodadvisory.com.au/the-hon-stephen-conroy/ (last paragraph) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belaguttman Posted September 26, 2023 Report Share Posted September 26, 2023 5 minutes ago, IssySG said: He's City fwiw https://chellwoodadvisory.com.au/the-hon-stephen-conroy/ (last paragraph) Corporate box, not active 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted October 24, 2023 Report Share Posted October 24, 2023 Townsend's departure confirmed. https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/aleague-chief-danny-townsends-expected-departure-for-job-in-middle-east-confirmed/news-story/54bc31cfda26a634b6ea800e8575c552 And another prawn takes his place - Nick Garcia. A commercial and strategic leader with a track record of driving transformational change for sporting organisations. Highlights over a 20-year career include founding and building one of the leading sponsorship activation agencies in the Middle East as well as being at the commercial forefront of one of the most innovative projects in world sport - City Football Group. Oh no - another toady to Mansour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IssySG Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 75% of the APL staff made redundant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/half-of-apl-s-workforce-to-be-made-redundant-amid-a-league-financial-concerns-20240116-p5exm5.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHFC-FAN Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 7 hours ago, IssySG said: 75% of the APL staff made redundant. Maybe the shit kickers in suits at the top should be taking a generous pay cut, given how poorly the APL has been running the A-League!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted January 18 Report Share Posted January 18 On 16/01/2024 at 10:42 PM, MHFC-FAN said: Maybe the shit kickers in suits at the top should be taking a generous pay cut, given how poorly the APL has been running the A-League!! Would release enough to run another club... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.B. Cooper Posted January 20 Report Share Posted January 20 (edited) The APL fought like mad to get control, once they got it they didn’t deliver. It’s easy to criticise the (many) stuff ups but in truth it’s not a job i’d want to take on. Edited January 20 by D.B. Cooper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 I have a .pdf file "Inside the unravelling of the APL" by Erin Smith. But I can't find a way to post it. On https://www.codesports.com.au/crew/erin-smith it's entitled "Spending Spree that triggered Australian football clearout" but there's a paywall to the actual article. It's on a number of news sites but again behind paywalls. Anyone with a subscription might like to post the article? Sensational reading. APL is essentially broke. A$140million frittered away in two years. $30m spent on "KeepUp." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHFC-FAN Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 1 hour ago, jw1739 said: I have a .pdf file "Inside the unravelling of the APL" by Erin Smith. But I can't find a way to post it. On https://www.codesports.com.au/crew/erin-smith it's entitled "Spending Spree that triggered Australian football clearout" but there's a paywall to the actual article. It's on a number of news sites but again behind paywalls. Anyone with a subscription might like to post the article? Sensational reading. APL is essentially broke. A$140million frittered away in two years. $30m spent on "KeepUp." How the hell did they blow over $30M on a website?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belaguttman Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 22 minutes ago, MHFC-FAN said: How the hell did they blow over $30M on a website?? Consultants, outsourcing... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 9 minutes ago, belaguttman said: Consultants, outsourcing... Yes, but $30m? Even if you spread it over two years it's still 15 people working on it for $1m each year... I could never work out why it covered the whole world. All the big leagues are covered elsewhere, including results, tables and videos. And who wants to follow the Benin Second Division or some other obscure league? It should have been Australia only right from the start. I've never heard of the theme song, or seen a video of it. APL has literally thrown money away. The squandering of money by football administration in this country is outrageous. These people should GTFO and never allowed near the game again. CFG included. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belaguttman Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 4 minutes ago, jw1739 said: Yes, but $30m? Even if you spread it over two years it's still 15 people working on it for $1m each year... I could never work out why it covered the whole world. All the big leagues are covered elsewhere, including results, tables and videos. And who wants to follow the Benin Second Division or some other obscure league? It should have been Australia only right from the start. I've never heard of the theme song, or seen a video of it. APL has literally thrown money away. The squandering of money by football administration in this country is outrageous. These people should GTFO and never allowed near the game again. CFG included. That's the job of consultants: work to get as much money from your organisation without taking responsibility for the outcomes 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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