Can A-League fans stand up and stay safe at the same time?

Staff Writer

In all likelihood, the fresh and new Bankwest Stadium in Sydney will host its final game of rugby league for 2019 this weekend.

What will follow stands to be a landmark moment in Australian sport. The sky-scraping posts will come down, NRL corporate signage removed and the stadium will be transformed into the home of the Western Sydney Wanderers.

Having been lucky enough to visit the Mariners’ home venue on the Central Coast of New South Wales and Coopers Stadium in the city of churches, like many others, I can probably claim to have experienced the most pleasant football facilities in the land for fans.

Appropriateness of size and proximity to the action are common criticisms when Australian football matches are played in cavernous venues in front of moderate crowds. Both Central Coast Stadium and Coopers provide the match day feel so often missing at larger venues.

With Australian football being the beggar rather than the chooser for so long, purpose built, fan friendly venues have been something of a pipe dream. For Australia’s most populated city, that dream now becomes a reality, and the Wanderers are just 30 days away from christening their new home.

As impressive as the stadium looks on television, seeing it first hand is an experience all in itself. However, as modern and state of the art as the facilities are, it is the safe standing section at the northern end that will attract most interest from football fans around the country.

Overzealous security, an ingrained anti-football bias and a small number of fools have torpedoed active support in Australian football during recent times. Anecdotal stories of fans being asked to remain seated and requested to tone down their barracking are common.

Wanderers’ active support group the RBB felt the full force of the heavy hand of fear and as the club traversed the state looking for a pitch on which to host matches, became somewhat dismantled.

Bankwest Stadium now looms as a potential repatriation for them and a watershed moment for football stadiums in Australia. Wanderers CEO John Tsatsimas and others championed the cause, lobbying for the inclusion of a safe standing area at Western Sydney’s new home ground, that would allow fans to support in football’s traditional style.

The safe standing rails were installed in June, undertook some small scale testing, before being successfully trialled when Leeds United took on the Wanderers the following month.

Things went well. However, the acid test will be the A-League competition, when the 1,260 standing spaces available will need to be occupied by Western Sydney Wanderers fans with a full comprehension of their role in the potential change in venue design and use in the future.

Wanderers’ manager Markus Babbel was blown away by the class of the facility, citing the standing section and viewing experience as being “absolute European top style, exactly what a soccer team needs.”

Such emotive reviews have been common place yet it will be a joyous safe standing section that provides a safe and raucous environment at the Wanderers’ home matches this season, that will truly catch the eye of the Australian sporting public.

Impressive television images of 25,000 plus enjoying the Wanderers homecoming and safe mayhem in the standing section will be the best advertisement for the league and the Australian game.

Seeing other venues experimenting with the concept would be the greatest testament to the work of Tsatsimas and those who passionately lobbied for something they hope will help differentiate football support from that of other codes and thus enhance the sense of ownership and belonging so desired by fans.

Australian football stadium design and the match day experience of supporters could be changed forever when the Western Sydney Wanderers face the Central Coast Mariners on the 12th of October in Round 1 of the A-League.

Fans managing to stand up and stay safe at the same time would be a great first step.

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

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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

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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.

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