Victorian A-League clubs can benefit from unique home grounds, this is how.

What makes a sporting venue unique?

Is it A). the respective fanbases that cheer for what seems an eternity in the hope their team will win?

Is it B). the overall quality and look of the venue, on the field and in the stands?

Or, is it C). the location of the venue that gives the team and its fans a sense of identity?

If you answered with C, congratulations. You won the jackpot. Go off and celebrate with Jamal Malik. Or Charles Van Doren, it doesn’t really matter.

Whilst there are cases that can be made for A and B, having a venue located appropriately for both the club and its supporters goes a long way to creating the most unique sporting venues across the planet.

European teams all have their own venues, which they have used for years to great effect, giving their sides genuine home ground advantages.

For example, FC Barcelona, arguably the biggest club in the world, uses the Nou Camp for home fixtures.

Any rival team would be rightly justified in being slightly overwhelmed at the prospect of playing against not only a world class team, but in front of nearly 100,000 Catalans.

There’s no one else, but you and your 10 teammates. If that can’t be classified as daunting, then nothing can.

But when we compare the European leagues to that of our own A-League, the differences are night and day.

For years, we’ve become accustomed to clubs playing at venues which are either shared with another club or simply not suitable for their supporters.

Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City often share AAMI Park for league fixtures. Sydney FC and Western Sydney have sometimes shared ANZ Stadium for larger fixtures.

By doing this, the local and state governments are ignoring the possibilities that come with individual home grounds.

It has worked for European teams and for a long time, it even worked in the Australian Football League. North Melbourne would play at Arden Street, Hawthorn in Waverley, Collingwood at Victoria Park, Carlton at Princes Park and so on.

By having unique venues, clubs would not only give back to the community, but they would attain a unique and distinguishable identity.

Picture this.

We are used to seeing London-based sides playing at their own locations. Crystal Palace have Selhurst Park, Arsenal have the Emirates, Chelsea have Stamford Bridge, Tottenham have their new Tottenham Stadium. The list could go on forever.

Now, take away all those stadiums, Every single one of them. Except for Wembley Stadium.

Now imagine all fixtures for London-based Premier League sides being hosted at Wembley and Wembley only.

It seems an incredibly stupid concept, doesn’t it?

That’s how it feels when both Melbourne sides are forced to share AAMI Park.

Sure, Wembley is a great stadium but soon, teams would slowly start losing their congruity and relationship with their fans. By having grounds in relevant and discernable locations, fans feel like they’re at home.

It’s not a club, it’s a large family.

That’s what having unique stadiums/locations for each side can do. It makes them feel at home, because in a way, they are.

Melbourne Victory could achieve something like this, should they invest in their Epping facilities. It is currently used for their NPL2 West fixtures, but it could be so much more.

Yes, it’s a downgrade from AAMI Park in terms of capacity and probably quality, but over time, fans will associate themselves with the ground and it can become a genuine home ground.

Sydney FC used Jubilee Oval in the city’s south to great effect in recent times, making it a tough ground to win at.

But also, it is located in the suburbs. With the people. With those who are the only reason the club is around today.

Now, Western Sydney will have the Bankwest Stadium as their unique home ground, starting next season. It will work as they are, once again, catering to their fanbase and community.

The Melbourne-based sides should take notes from this.

In Football Victoria’s strategic plan laid out earlier this year, FV said they would be look to be “expanding and improving all facilities and providing infrastructure to increase access, utilisation and sustainability”, by “building strong relationships with Local, State & Federal Governments.”

Creating a A-League quality stadium in Epping could go a long way to achieving this.

Clubs know that the fans are the most important stakeholders and that by adhering to them, they will become an infinitely better club.

History suggests that when clubs have their own distinctive venues, they perform better both on and off the field.

With time and money, more clubs across Australia can turn the A-League into a league on par with the MLS.

And yes, money can be a significant factor when it comes to this issue. Understandably, the governing bodies will not be wanting to make a move on this without money-back guarantees.

No one would agree to any sort of deal without guarantees that in time, their investments would be worthwhile. But the proof is in the pudding. It’s been done elsewhere, it can be done here. If the Sydney-based clubs can make it work, there’s no reason that other states can too.

Should this become a reality, more marquee players will want to play here, more youngsters will want to play the sport and overall, the sport of soccer in this country will thrive.

And who knows? With the right management and oversight, we could dare to dream even bigger…

 

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A-League Reaches Historic Goal Milestone as Viewership Surges

A-League reach scoring and viewership record

Just this week the Isuzu UTE A-League has announced it has reached the 500-goal mark in record time this season in line with another recent report of another increase of viewership for the a-league.

Highlighting an exciting period of growth for the competition both on and off the pitch.

Western Sydney Wanderers defender Alex Gersbach’s strike against Western United on Sunday became the 500th goal of the 2024-25 campaign.

The milestone was achieved after just 150 matches, making it the fastest the league has ever reached this tally, surpassing last season’s record of 152 matches.

The current season’s goal-scoring rate dramatically outpaces historical comparisons.

During the 2000-01 National Soccer League season, it took 159 games to reach 150 goals, while the 1996-97 campaign required 161 matches. The 2022-23 season needed 163 games to hit similar numbers.

This scoring record was presented the same time as the encouraging news on the viewership front.

The A-Leagues reporting an 11% increase to last season in total viewership audience for 10+ and 10 Play according to recent data shared by the competition.

The league viewership currently sits at 3.96 million nationally and is expected to hit 4 million people at the end of the season.

This is a record increase of viewership and shows the popularity of the sport in a very saturated sporting market.

The twin developments of record-setting goal production and increased viewership point to a positive trajectory for Australian football and its ability to be an enjoyable an action-packed season for audiences.

The growth of the viewership should be built upon in coming seasons and proves that the league is continuing to grow traction.

One must point out if there is a connection between the number of goals and the rise in viewership.

The spread of goals however points towards not a league with huge differing quality of teams.

Another point to highlight, is that viewership is high is also being backed up by the active support at the grounds.

Big matches such as the Sydney Derby has brought in huge numbers, however, it will be at the end of the season if we see an all -round rise in ground attendance.

With this year also capping of the largest increase in transfer revenue and playing minutes for under 23 players.

These results points towards a wealth of quality players who can excite the league and develop its quality.

Also, with this comes the opportunity for increased transfer opportunities, revenue streams and sponsorship deals.

The potential for this league and its increasing popularity is something that needs to be supported and developed in the coming seasons.

Melbourne Victory celebrates funding from Play Our Way program

Victory Program

Melbourne Victory has celebrated being awarded funding under the Play Our Way program by inviting Federal Minister for Sport, the Hon. Anika Wells to Aami Park.

Play Our Way is a $200 million program from the Federal Government created after the success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 to increase women and girls’ participation in all sport.

The program seeks to achieve its goals by funding initiatives that aim to tackle the barricades that prevent women and girls from engaging with sport and physical in order to create a more equitable environment for everyone.

There were over 660 applications for the participation stream of the program, with only 70 programs across all sports and levels becoming successful recipients: of those, only four were professional clubs.

In a joint visit to Aami Park, Minister Wells and member for Macnamara Josh Burns MP spoke with key club representatives such as Managing Director Caroline Carnegie, former Matilda Lydia Williams and Melbourne Victory community program participant Tesnim Beke about the club’s work to support women and girls.

Carnegie highlighted how the visit reinforced Victory’s commitment to breaking down the barriers to equality in sport.

“We were honoured to welcome MP Anika Wells to Melbourne Victory to discuss and celebrate the incredibly important work we are undertaking as a Club to provide more opportunities in football for women and girls,” she said in a press release.

“Our projects will provide a program that will have an immensely positive impact on not only participation in sport, but allow individuals to grow their social and leadership skills.

“At Melbourne Victory, we aim to lead, unite, connect and inspire through football, and the Play Our Way program allows for women and girls to connect and reach their potential.

“We look forward to seeing our programs and pathways continue to welcome new participants across Victoria.”

Through funding from the Play Our Way program, Melbourne Victory now has the support it needs to build a comprehensive partnership strengthened program that will support participation in sport across schools, communities and clubs. This program will deliver important and educational physical sessions as well as workshops which encourage leadership.

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