New A-Leagues, work still to be done

Avatar

Australia’s top-flight football competition is back and whilst much has changed it is clear that there is still a lot of work ahead.

The clubs are no longer driving from the back seat, and they have wasted no time and spared little expense in committing to a major makeover to Australia’s top-flight competitions, A-Leagues Men and Women.

A glossy new look, an inclusive new name that bundles the premier men’s and women’s competition, sleek new graphics, a bumper free-to-air deal as well as a new streaming service and dedicated football news platforms all represent solid wins for the Australian Professional Leagues ahead of their debut season on the back of a mountain of preparation that has gone into the promotion of the competition.

Whilst only the most naïve will have expected the efforts to deliver an instant return, the sobering numbers from the opening round of the 2021/22 A-Leagues Men season demonstrate just how much work lies ahead.

Not even the gloss of all the stellar exertion put into revamping the look and feel of the A-Leagues and the fantastic efforts that went into broadcasting the competition to Australia’s audience could completely deflect from the real issues that football continues to face in Australia.

Put simply, they are the same issues that have plagued the sport in Australia for decades, including infrastructure and failing to connect with every part of the Australian football fraternity.

The embarrassing relocation of Macarthur FC’s opening round clash with Wellington Phoenix due to the dire state of the pitch at Campbelltown Stadium will have resonated with hundreds, if not thousands of football administrators all over the country who rely on third parties to maintain their playing surfaces.

It’s one thing for a third-tier state league team to have to relocate a game due to a bad pitch.

It’s another thing for it to happen in the top-flight. Put bluntly, it’s completely unacceptable.

The issue serves as an urgent reminder for the needs of football owned and operated infrastructure.

The sub-10,000 attendance figures at four out of six games highlight the top-flight’s ongoing struggles to get bums in seats and build genuine support for expansion sides.

Off the back of a championship-winning season, Melbourne City would have to be disappointed with a crowd of 7,213, whilst the 8,210 who turned out for Western United’s home game against Melbourne Victory were largely supporters of the away team.

The relocated 1-1 draw between Macarthur and Wellington attracted a touch over 1,000 people, with a contingent of the people in the ground having stuck around following the earlier F3 Derby between Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets – a fixture which was attended by less than 7,000 people.

They are numbers that must concern the clubs involved, regardless of the various mitigating circumstances that have been offered as explanations.

Macarthur’s relocation to Newcastle for the weekend was undoubtedly a major issue. However, excuses in Melbourne that with lockdown over, people have other priorities will not hold up in the long run.

The reality is that the pool of ‘new fans’ without attachment to an A-Leagues team or another club is dwindling in an extremely competitive market and this is not something that the APL will be able to expand its way out of.

For football and economic reasons, there is no denying that the A-Leagues needs more teams – as Adelaide United coach Carl Veart passionately advocated for last week. The methods for adding those teams is a critical component of the discussion moving forward.

There are clubs that exist today all over Australia that bring comparable, if not larger, crowds to Macarthur FC, Western United and at times Melbourne City.

Surely, at some point, these clubs deserve an opportunity. One of the biggest obstacles to making this happen is undoubtedly football’s first big problem – infrastructure.

Encouraging further investment in existing football infrastructure through the carrot of opportunities to access the top-flight could be a turnkey solution that will help solve both of football’s biggest issues.

The main short-term issue that was highlighted in round one was the varying quality of stream quality on Paramount+.

Personally, this was not something I experienced watching at least parts of every game via the Apple TV app on my television.

I did notice what seemed like a slightly reduced quality when simulcasting the Western United v Melbourne Victory game on my phone whilst watching the Sydney Derby on TV, but the second half seemed to be an improvement on the first.

Of course, it’s not all bad.

Technical streaming issues are nothing new when it comes to new services launching their live products.

We all remember the hugely frustrating buffering issues many users experienced when the Premier League first arrived on Optus Sport and the issues faced with the 2018 World Cup in times of peak demand.

Optus Sport rose to the challenges remarkably well and at this point, there’s no reason to doubt Paramount’s ability to do the same.

Elsewhere, a sell-out crowd packed into HBF Park to watch Perth Glory’s entertaining 1-1 draw against Adelaide United.

No doubt many of the 17,198 who attended the fixture were attracted to the game for the chance to get a glimpse of former Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool star Daniel Sturridge, highlighting the power of genuine marquees in attracting a crowd in Australia.

A healthy 23,118 at the Sydney derby at Commonwealth Bank stadium bodes well for two of the competition’s big teams in a crucial market, too.

The derby also attracted a free-to-air audience of 146,000. On face value alone, that’s not a hugely impressive number, but it is a number that bodes well for the competition according to industry experts, with well-known sports industry commentator @footyindustryAU suggesting that the number was “almost certainly” the highest-rated non-final A-League game in the last five years.

Like most things in life, the marketing gloss will never hide every flaw and the flaws don’t necessarily mean the world is coming to an end.

Round one 2021/22 represents progress and steps forward for Australian football.

The steps forward, however, are on a journey that still has miles to be walked.

Previous ArticleNext Article

Ernie Merrick: ‘There are many clubs that would be fantastic additions to the A-League’

Avatar

Ernie Merrick will be forever recognised as a key figure through the A-League’s golden early years. Appointed Melbourne Victory’s foundation manager in 2004 he led the club to not just silverware, but legitimacy and respect in a serious sport city.

A Scottish migrant and PE teacher by trade, Merrick was the youngest of the NSL’s managerial crop when he started with Preston in 1987 in the era of Thomson, Arok & Matic; when he finished with Newcastle in 2020 he was the elder statesman in the A-League age of Postecoglou, Popovic and Arnold.

For the places the game took him and all he achieved – including time as national team manager of Hong Kong – Victory supporters can comfort themselves in the fact that for whatever they feel towards Merrick and his iconic group of players, that feeling is mutual.

‘Yes, definitely,’ Merrick told Soccerscene Unfiltered when asked if managing Victory was the highlight of his career.

‘I think success is [fans] having identification with players, especially. We had Victorian boys playing for Victory.

‘That second year I was determined to have a complete pre-season. Archie Thompson bought me a birthday cake with 200 candles and said “Ernie, we’ve had 200 training sessions. We should celebrate this” – so he was looking forward to a big year, and we won the Grand Final 6-0.’

Nearing 20 years on, Victory and the A-League in general haven’t managed to drive forward as would have been hoped. Unsurprisingly that comes as painful to Merrick, as does the change in landscape regarding his other great passion and contribution in player development. 

‘I’m disappointed, as would most people be, that it’s struggled so badly. To me, there’s something missing,’ said Merrick of the current state of the A-League.

‘Those players we produced at the AIS and VIS went on to be the golden generation. Unless the league is fixed, there’s going to be ongoing problems with the financial status of things.

‘You just cannot earn enough money from selling a youngster, who you might get a million for, who then becomes worth several million in a few years if he does well. Maybe there’s a bit too much of selling players early.’

As someone who gave enduring service across Australia’s two domestic leagues, his voice holds weight in the consideration as to whether it’s time to now blend the, in today’s hyper-corporate landscape.

‘South Melbourne and Preston are two clubs that are perfect for the A-League, I think, down the track. They’ve set up, they’ve endured, they’ve been resilient, they’re playing good football and they’ve got a home base with a home crowd, which is far better than starting a club up from scratch.

‘All those players coming through those squads and the number of supporters they’ve got would be a huge addition. In Sydney too, there’s Marconi – there are so many good clubs around that I think would make a great addition to the A-League.’ 

Merrick also spent thirteen years as head coach at the Victorian Institute of Sport. He feels modern player development is an equation we still haven’t got right, post the closure of the AIS’ football program in 2017.

While many argue the move to club-based academy structures has seen Australia fall more in line with global practice while still producing players of quality, Merrick still feels there is merit in a national high performance program, in addition to club academies.

He was in the process of setting up state academies through the Member Federations during his time as Football Australia’s chief football officer from 2022-25. While the Victoria project was short-lived, academies in Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia continue to run, but it appears the broader expansion of the concept has been abandoned.

‘I think both systems should work [together] equally well. When I started with the FA program clubs thought they would lose players to us, but I didn’t take any of their players. We offered the opportunity of a high-performance program to other youngsters.

‘We could develop players completely; we weren’t restricted to playing 4-3-3 to combine with the way the first team were playing. We provided more of a rounded education, and good players can play in any system.

‘We managed to affect the coaches involved so they were up to date with the latest information on methods of coaching, etc.’

Catch the full chat with Ernie Merrick on Soccerscene Unfiltered: from being two-footed by a 15-year old Kevin Muscat to his enthusiasm for the future of the Socceroos, his memories of Wellington and Newcastle, and plenty more…

Grassroots Investment is key to ensuring passion for Australian football remains – and grows

Avatar
Melbourne's Federation Square. Credit BBC Sport/GETTY IMAGES

Australian football is continuing to grow, with record attendances and TV viewership up year-on-year due to the increasing value and demand of games across the country.

What started as a small ember stoked by a cultural heritage brought from Europe, has borne a league invested in by foreign states and major global equity firms, and a country that consistently supports its national teams at major tournaments globally; the fire is truly alive. But, can it be sustained and given even more life?

Ann-Marie Balliana, secretary of Illawarra club Fairy Meadow United, spoke with Soccerscene.

‘The biggest challenge for football in this country is how to take advantage of huge grassroots numbers and translate this into support for other levels of the game,’ said Balliana, formerly a long-term CEO of Football South Coast.

‘Instead of capitalising on this huge asset of participation numbers, it appears football is unfortunately bound by limited investment and various layers of internal boundaries.

‘There are lots of opportunities for football to rise to the next level, and significant work required to get there.’

The World Cup proves football belongs in Australia:

The success of the Socceroos in reaching the last six consecutive men’s World Cups has greatly boosted the domestic interest in football, with the 2026 World Cup highlighting how far the team has come, and how many people are behind them to succeed.

The SBS and SBS On Demand coverage of the tournament reached over 18 million Australians (64% of the population) and over 209 million hours were consumed via these sites.

Meanwhile, over 10,000 dedicated fans paid up to AUD $25,000 to watch their country participate live in North America. 

I took in the tournament from Melbourne, and the energy among the city was undeniable. Bubbling with excitement were people conversing who usually wouldn’t, and there lay an air of calm between the 90 minutes of euphoric nation-wide highs. 

Federation Square was at full capacity (7,500) for many of the group games and the knockout match against Egypt- despite the 4.00am kick-off time.

Alongside that, AAMI Park held 6,000 more spectators in the early hours of the day for the knockout game. Despite the time zone killing any convenience, the fans diligently showed up.

The post-World Cup glow also took effect: Queensland selling out both recent friendlies against Brazil.

World Cup 2026 TV ratings

Match Overall reach Average audience viewership Key detail
Final: Spain vs France 5.26m (peak) 2.69m Most watched World Cup match in SBS history
Australia vs Paraguay 4.84m 3.09m Highest viewed fixture for Socceroos
Australia vs Turkey 4.78m 3.04m Top performing early fixture

The rise of the domestic game persists:

Domestically too, figures show Australian football is continuing to grow.

October’s 2026 Australia Cup final between South Melbourne and Melbourne Victory was not only a match that will be remembered by fans for its entertainment and underdog storyline, but for investors and governing bodies that can clearly see the growing market for football in this country.

AAMI Park had its record attendance broken as 29,911 spectators packed in to watch the game. Furthermore, the TV viewership of the Cup final had a 56% increase from the previous year. The demand for football is growing significantly.

A-League Stats and Records 2025/26 season:

  • 3 sold out finals games- 22% increase on attendance last season.
  • 27% increase in digital viewership on Paramount+ and 17% on 10 Streaming.
  • For the last four seasons, over 1.3 million fans have  attended games throughout the campaign
  • TV viewership exceeded 11 million views.
  • Social media reached over 7 million people (10% increase).
  • Newcastle Jets, Adelaide United and Perth Glory all broke their previous attendance records.

The Cup final saw a non A-League club win the trophy for the first time in competition history.

South Melbourne fans. Credit SMFC

‘It also showed that NPL clubs such as South Melbourne have a fantastic support base, and this shows the potential of football to really capitalise on the community support that does exist for clubs,’ said Balliana.

‘The costs of running an A-League club are clearly the biggest issue in growing our national competition, and without significant investment through broadcast, government and other revenue streams, there are limited opportunities to take advantage of huge grassroots numbers.’ 

England is widely regarded as having the best domestic competitions on the planet, largely due to its impact on communities right across the country. However, its most attractive quality is competitiveness, and this is best showcased in the FA Cup.

Teams across all divisions have the chance to play against each other, which occasionally sees semi-professional ‘non-league’ sides the opportunity to play against a giant, such as Manchester United or Liverpool. 

Often referred to as the ‘magic’ of the cup, there is a belief that any team can win on any given day – even if their odds of succeeding are the football equivalent of what David had in beating Goliath.

The magic is in the upsets, and that competitiveness is what ties the whole football pyramid together. For the game in Australia to grow, and to sustain itself,  matches must be competitive from the first minute to the last, from the A-Leagues to the grassroots pitches all across the country.

The importance of grassroots football:

To understand football- from financial investments, market growth, popularity or simply emotional attachment – you have to start at the bottom of the pyramid.

The base of football in every country is the grassroots game. It lays the foundation, and both the future of the A-League and the Soceroos & Matildas is entirely in the hands of the grassroots level. 

Globally, amateur matches are played everyday. Those clubs have a youth system, in which the talent pool is small, and so more established clubs recruit players from that pool. This process continues all the way to the world’s elite. Domestic talent comes from grassroots football, and without domestic talent, the game is nothing.

Once a fire is lit, it needs a constant fuel source to keep it alive. If the wood is wet or rotting, the fire will slowly dissipate into ash. To keep that from happening, the fuel needs to be re-supplied so it steadily grows. Neglecting grassroots football is the quickest way for the game to decline and it is why it is imperative that it is well-funded.

‘Grassroots football is where children start their journey in football.  It’s where players fall in love with the game and develop a passion for playing,’ said Balliana.

‘This not only applies to players, but also administrators, coaches and referees. Grassroots football creates opportunities for all roles across football providing pathways across all levels of the game.’

Recently, Football NSW pledged over AUD $200,000 to three amateur clubs. The funding will allow them to upgrade facilities, create more inclusive and accessible environments and improve the fans match day experience.

Additionally, since 2020 the Dickinson Foundation set up the Active Kids Grant and has provided over AUD $5.5 million worth of equipment and uniform to support over 1000 community clubs. In 2026, 40 football clubs were supported nationwide. 

Commitment to grassroots is necessary, nation-wide. With it, clubs can grow and give players the opportunity to improve and be noticed by more established teams. Investing in grassroots football is investing in the future.

Finance and infrastructure:

As the game has grown throughout the pyramid, so too has investment in it. Globally speaking, football is an industry that has boomed in the digital age, and grown beyond what was previously conceived as possible. Some investors were early; others are riding the wave hoping it never breaks, but inevitably it will.

Everything has to peak, yet that doesn’t mean all conclusions are negative Whatever the fate of the financial wave, neither a tsunami nor shallow brake will impact people’s true love of the game. The game may take many forms, but the fans will be there for generations to come.

In 2021, US private equity firm Silver Lake acquired a 33.3% minority stake in the A-League for AUD 140 million that valued the whole organisation at AUD 425 million.

The finances of the APL have been an issue in the years since, and what becomes of their relationship with Silver Lake remains to be seen. In positive news, Network 10 & Paramount+ recently renewed their broadcast deal worth AUD 100million for an additional two years, so interest is there. Domestically, football has plenty of space to grow.

‘There is always a direct relationship between World Cup success and increased participation given the exposure of football is heightened and more people want to play,’ Balliana continued.

‘However, this also comes with challenges as infrastructure is clearly not to the level it needs to be to support the size and growth of football across our region and the country.’

As audiences grow – particularly when it comes to our national teams – the fire will continue to need fuel, and that can only be sourced organically from the ground up.

Through the continued development of grassroots football, football can still grow to be the dominant sport in this country.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend