The Australian Association of Football Clubs (AAFC) will take the next step towards its plans to have a national second division in place by 2022, holding a meeting this week with interested member federation clubs.
Over 50 clubs across Australia are set to be a part of the discussion on Tuesday, which will centre around the criteria of the proposed second division, with a working title of ‘The Championship’.
AAFC will provide a public statement on the progress made throughout the meeting the following day.
This is welcome news for football fans who have been pushing for a proper football system, with AAFC also providing possible timelines, something the game has been crying out for.
The organisation would have been heartened to hear of Melbourne Victory owner Joe Mirabella’s comments recently, who fully backed the implementation of a national second division.
He told The Age: “We need it (a second division) because it is a point of difference to our game and to other sports. We need competition in the A-League. We need our grassroots to eventually play into a B-League and then play towards winning a spot in the A-League.”
“I don’t care if it is Victory, Sydney FC or Melbourne City. It is about merit.”
Mirabella’s comments are not revolutionary, but are significant, because of who he is.
A Melbourne Victory owner publicly admitting the game needs promotion and relegation might go against his own interests, based on the current A-League model, however, he realises it is for the betterment of the sport in this country.
It will provide the game with more opportunities across the board and will embrace what makes football unique.
“I have discussed this with a lot of football people,” he continued.
“When you get journalists, commentators and fans of the game, ex-players who have played for the country and they are all in favour of the second division then you can see there is a groundswell of support going.
“My family is a football family. But when they are saying the A-League has become boring you have to do something.”
Ultimately, the decision to implement a connected football pyramid will come down to the FFA, who continue to be in discussions with AAFC.
The ‘XI Principles’ document which was released at the start of July, highlighted various agenda points in the game that the governing body would look to fix or improve.
Detail on the second division was light, with just one passage of the document stating “consider the development of a second-tier competition”.
In saying this however, the XI Principles is a living document, meaning amendments will be made to it in the future, as the FFA assesses the best way forward for the game in financially difficult times.
Following the results of a survey of the Australian football community based on the XI Principles paper, showing 99% of respondents insist the game undertakes a major overhaul, FFA CEO James Johnson spoke about the possibilities of a national second division.
“Could there be a second-tier competition, with 10 or 12 teams that play 20-odd rounds home and away or do we look at a second-tier competition with conferences based in different states around the country that play half the season at state level and then end up playing at national level in a group stage, similar to how the Brazilian league operates,” he told News Corp.
“There’s two parts to the season that starts at state level, then a qualification process that goes into a national level of competition.
“This is something we could look at because someone of our challenges in Australia are similar to Brazil – where you have competition that are strong at state level and you have a very big country geographically, so their solution was to use this sort of format.”
Whether you believe the Brazilian system is suitable for Australia or not, it is important for football fans to see those in charge of the game continue to debate the merits of various models, led by an administrator who is a football person.
With the greatest respect, what was the likelihood of former FFA CEO David Gallop speaking about the Japanese footballing model as opposed to the Brazilian model in the public eye?
The national second division is coming, in what form we are unsure, but the consensus seems to be when and how, not if.
