A-League top bosses contemplate disruption to season

Avatar
Credit: Australian Associated Press

A-League bosses have spoken about the implications of more disruption for the 2021-22 season, with over half the Australian population currently under lockdown or restrictions.

The English Premier League returned last weekend with packed stadiums full of ecstatic fans, for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic made it impossible for supporters to attend.

Those pictures are a far cry from the current sporting climate in Australia. Across the East Coast, professional sporting games are being played behind closed doors, while the 2021 State League in New South Wales was abandoned last week.

Games during the 2020-21 season were played with reduced capacity for spectators, depending on government restrictions.

10 weeks out from the start of the 2021-22 season, the intersection of politics, health and sport will continue to decide whether the season can kick off without disruption.

Danny Townsend, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sydney FC and Australian Professional Leagues (APL), believes that the APL has learned from running the A-League through the COVID pandemic.

“You’ve got to plan for everything. What we’ve learned from COVID so far is that you have to be nimble and make plans A, B, C, D, and E. So we will plan for all sorts of different outcomes,” he said.

Perth Glory FC CEO Tony Pignata is one of many in the role who have plenty of time to consider what is ahead until the new A-League season begins, despite the uncertainty.

“October 30 is the start of the season. You look at today, Melbourne has gone into curfew, Canberra has cases, Northern Territory has cases. So it’s not ideal or where we like to be,” he said.

“If the government is pushing vaccinations hopefully by then restrictions are easing a little bit and borders are opening.”

Perth Glory was able to play most of their home games of the 2020-21 season in front of their fans, albeit at a reduced capacity. They still felt the impacts through reduced income from members and sponsorship.

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan last week signalled that the state’s border would stay shut until Australia reached at least 70% vaccination rate, and the state may remain closed off depending on the situation around the country.

Pignata is focusing on preparing for the season, despite these potential roadblocks.

“I’m not exactly sure what our premier said, I know he did say that even if we get to a certain percentage (of vaccination) and there were cases over there he would consider closing the borders still,” he said.

“But for now we are just focusing on getting the squad training, getting fit, and working through the fixtures. That’s what we are doing at the moment.”

Townsend explains the APL are watching the actions of state government closely, as they prepare for the A-League season to kick off on the October 30.

“We need to get clear on what the various states are doing and what their plans are. New South Wales has made its position on what it’s doing pretty clear, and as we get more clarity on the other states we will know what we are dealing with,” Townsend said.

“I still think you can’t sit and wait, you need to start scenario planning, which is what we are doing.”

A large part of the previous A-League season was played in the ‘hub’ format, with clubs based in New South Wales, away from their home grounds.

Both Pignata and Townsend agree there would be an impact on clubs if this were to happen again.

“Not only for the players, who are away from their families for so long, but also the financial impact on clubs, with memberships, corporate hospitality. All clubs had a massive financial hit last year, and it would disastrous if that happened again,” Pignata said.

“It’s not disastrous, but it isn’t ideal. Once again you have to think of ways to get the competition started and moving, and we will do whatever we have to do. But also we have a long way to go, we are still 2 and half months away from our first game, and what we’ve learned is a hell of a lot of changes in 2 and half months,” Townsend said.

“It would be premature for us to try to predict what we are going to do now, and irresponsible for us to do that publicly before we know what we are dealing with. We will continue to monitor the situation and plan accordingly.”

Pignata adds the clubs have yet to discuss any alternative plans for the beginning of the A-League season.

“It’s something that I supposed we will need to look at, but we haven’t had any of those discussions at club level yet,” he said.

A key metric for crowds to be present at games is the uptake in vaccination in Australia, according to Townsend.

“If we can get to a point where we’ve got vaccinations to the level where at least in New South Wales you can start to bring crowds back into stadiums, that’ll be a good thing for us,” he said.

“We will see, we live in interesting times.”

Previous ArticleNext Article

Media Mega-Mergers, Minor Leagues: Why Global Consolidation Should Be a Wake-Up Call for Australian Football

Avatar
Image Credit: Profimedia.cz

The approval of a reported $113 billion merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global is being framed as the creation of a “next-generation media and entertainment company.”

But beyond Hollywood headlines, the deal signals something far more consequential for sport: a global media landscape rapidly consolidating into fewer, more powerful hands.

For Australian football, particularly the A-League, this is not just background noise. It is a structural shift that could define the league’s future.

 

A shrinking marketplace, a growing imbalance

The merger brings together an enormous portfolio of assets, such as film studios, broadcast networks and streaming platforms, under a single corporate umbrella. It reflects a broader industry trend: scale is no longer an advantage in media, it is a necessity.

Yet with that scale comes concentration. Fewer buyers now control more platforms, more audiences, and more capital. Critics of the deal have warned that such consolidation risks reducing competition and narrowing the range of voices in global media.

For sport, the implications are immediate.

Broadcast rights are no longer negotiated in a diverse, competitive market. Instead, leagues are increasingly competing for space within vertically integrated media ecosystems. This is because decisions are driven not just by audience demand, but by global strategy, bundled content offerings and long-term platform growth.

 

Why the A-League is particularly exposed

This shift lands unevenly across the sporting landscape.

Leagues like the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) remain dominant domestic products, commanding billion-dollar broadcast deals and consistent mass audiences.

The A-League, by contrast, operates from a more fragile commercial base.

Despite its global game status, the league continues to face:

  • Inconsistent crowd figures
  • Fluctuating visibility
  • A comparatively modest broadcast deal with Paramount

In a fragmented media environment, this is manageable. In a consolidated one, it becomes a vulnerability.

Because as the number of broadcasters shrinks, so too does the margin for leagues that are not seen as “must-have” content.

 

From open market to closed ecosystem

The critical shift is not just economic, it is also structural.

In the past, leagues could leverage competition between broadcasters to drive rights value. Now, with fewer but larger players, the balance of power tilts toward the platforms.

Content is no longer simply acquired, it is curated.

And in that environment, only properties that deliver one (or more) of the following will thrive:

  • Guaranteed audiences
  • Global scalability
  • Year-round engagement
  • Strategic value within a broader content ecosystem

This is where the A-League faces both its greatest challenge—and its greatest opportunity.

 

The overlooked strength of Australian football

While often positioned as a “developing” product domestically, football offers something no other Australian code can replicate: global alignment.

As the world’s most popular sport, football operates within an international ecosystem that extends far beyond national borders. Australia’s geographic position, bridging Asian and Western markets, adds further strategic value.

For a global media entity like Paramount, this matters.

The A-League is not just local content. It is potentially exportable, scalable and aligned with global football narratives. It also taps into younger, more digitally engaged audiences, who are increasingly driving subscription-based streaming growth.

In a media environment defined by platform expansion, that is not a weakness. It is an underutilised asset.

 

Why consolidation should drive MORE investment

The instinct in a consolidating market is often caution by tightening budgets, focusing on proven performers and minimising risk.

But for Australian football, that approach is self-defeating.

Because without investment:

  • Production quality stagnates
  • Storytelling weakens
  • Audience growth plateaus
  • Commercial value declines

And in a system that rewards scale and engagement, stagnation is equivalent to irrelevance.

Instead, consolidation should be seen as a trigger for strategic investment:

  • Elevating broadcast presentation
  • Strengthening club identities and narratives
  • Expanding digital and streaming integration
  • Positioning the league within the broader global football conversation

In short, making the A-League indispensable, rather than optional.

 

The real risk: being left behind

The emergence of media giants like a merged Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global signals a future where content is filtered through fewer, more powerful gatekeepers.

In that world, leagues that fail to assert their value risk being sidelined, not because they lack potential, but because they fail to meet the evolving demands of the platforms that distribute them.

For the A-League, the danger is not collapse. It is marginalisation.

A slow drift into irrelevance while larger codes capture the attention, investment, and audiences that define modern sport.

 

Conclusion: a defining moment

This merger is not about Hollywood. It is about power.

Power over distribution. Power over audiences. Power over what gets seen and what does not.

For Australian football, the message is clear.

In a world of media consolidation, visibility is earned through value, not assumed through presence.

And if the A-League is to secure its place in that future, investment is no longer optional.

It is existential.

The Coaching Crisis Hiding in Australian Football

Avatar
Image Credit: Ministry of Sport

The low standard of Australian football has often been attributed to limited resources and the relative immaturity of the sport’s development system in the country. A 2023 study suggests that coach education in Australia is a key issue, as it often fails to adequately prepare coaches for the realities of the game, resulting in weaker practical coaching outcomes.

Coaches have attributed this matter to a number of factors; including the contents quality, structure and delivery. However, deeper systemic issues can also explain its inefficiency. Identifying and understanding these concerns is necessary to improve coach training in Australia.

 

Why does coach training matter?

Coaching is central to any sport, encompassing the transmission of knowledge and the development of athletes to perform at their highest level and achieve their goals. It contributes to shaping sporting identity, club culture and path-dependent behaviour within an organisation. Coaches must participate in training to ensure their efficiency in leading a team.

 

Coach training in the Australian context

In 2020, Football Australia (FA), the national governing body for the sport, introduced new principles aimed at raising the standard of coaching and coach development. These included modernising the delivery of coach education and reviewing both course content and the broader Australian coaching methodology.

Despite this renewal of objectives, the Australian coach education system remains underpinned by the National Football Curriculum (NFC) released in 2013.

The NFC aims to provide coaches with an understanding of the national ‘playing’ and ‘coaching’ philosophy, advocating for a i) player-centred approach to coaching; ii) game-based and constraints-led approach to practice design; and iii) an information-processing view of motor learning.

In Australia, coach education is broadly divided into two pathways, each tailored to different stages of the game:

The Community Coaching pathway targets coaches working with participation players aged 5 to 17. These courses are relatively short and focus on equipping coaches with practical skills in session design and delivery.

The Advanced Coaching pathway is aimed at those operating in the performance phase. These courses are more intensive, centred on Football Australia’s Coaching Expertise Model, which outlines the key competencies required of high-level coaches.

Does the National Football Curriculum have a content issue?

Despite the importance Football Australia (FA) places on football knowledge, coaches reported that courses do not adequately address this area and expressed some dissatisfaction with how it is delivered.

Coaches also highlighted an expectation of conformity to the National Football Curriculum (NFC), which limits the value and impact of formal coach education in developing both theoretical understanding and practical coaching approaches. As a result, coaches can struggle to translate knowledge from coursework into on-field practice, with a lack of alignment between theory and application contributing to this implementation gap.

It is only at the ‘A’ Licence level that coaches are actively encouraged to develop their own football philosophy and vision. In contrast, earlier stages of the curriculum remain largely focused on adopting FA’s established framework.

This sustained emphasis on technical and tactical elements can also restrict the development of broader pedagogical and interpersonal skills required for effective coaching. Given the inherent complexity of coaching, this further complicates the effective translation of formal coach education into practice.

In addition, the NFC is seen as overlooking key off-field responsibilities of coaches. Beyond tactical duties, coaches play a significant role in player development, particularly in relation to well-being and welfare. In modern high-performance sport, coaches are increasingly viewed not only as tacticians, but as holistic developers of athletes both on and off the pitch.

 

No possibility to ‘climb the ladder’

Coaches also complain about the inability to grow and “climb the ladder” in the sport. Indeed, the development of football in Australia highly relies on volunteers.

The majority of NPL youth coaches in Australia are in a casual position. Many of them have full-time jobs in completely different fields. Often juggling two or three jobs just to make ends meet.

“There is no realistic ladder where a young coach can start at grassroots level, improve, get noticed, and work their way into a full-time position in a professional youth academy. The reason is simple. The positions barely exist.”

Jan Schmidt, former Technical Director of the NPL

Coaches are often unable to attend coaching courses during the week, which limits their ability to stay up to date with modern coaching methods.

Limited time and resources therefore restrict coaches’ capacity to deliver high-quality performance and effective coaching practice.

“Most NPL youth coaches earn between $6,000 to $8,000 a year. That is not a career. That is a sacrifice”. Jan Schmidt, former technical director in the NPL

Systemic limitations on the growth and development opportunities available to football coaches in Australia can reduce their motivation and constrain their capacity to deliver effective results. These constraints, in turn, negatively affect coaching quality and ultimately impact the standard of football.

When coaches are unable to fully commit to the demands of the game, they are less able to provide optimal training environments for their players. This limits player development pathways and, consequently, restricts the overall standard of Australian football.

If Football Australia (FA) aims to develop world-class coach education environments, it must better support the behaviours, knowledge, and practices of coaches across the country. This requires a stronger emphasis on aligning coach education with the real needs of the coaching community.

These findings highlight the importance of ongoing engagement between FA and Australian coaches to collaboratively improve coach education programs. Strengthening coach development has the potential to significantly enhance the quality of football delivered to the next generation of Australian players.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend