About 30 years ago, football in Australia switched from a winter code to a summer one. But in those three decades since that major realignment, the landscape has changed dramatically.
Today, thanks to COVID-19, football globally is on hold, while the A-League’s calendar is now out of sync.
Season 2019/20 is set to resume this August and finish in September.
Where does this leave A-League season 2020/21?
Will it kick off later in the year as per the usual ‘summer’ competition, starting later this year and finishing in May, as it’s always done since the A-League’s launch in 2005?
Or will the league use this COVID-19 interruption to rethink the league’s calendar and switch to March to November?
The idea of a COVID-19-inspired switch of the calendar has the support of an A-League great, former Melbourne Victory and Socceroo striker Archie Thompson.
The game may never have such a unique set of circumstances to facilitate a switch in the calendar.
Here are nine reasons why the A-League and football more broadly in Australia could be boosted by this once-in-a-generation chance to reset.
1: NO MORE WET BULB TESTS
Ask any player, coach, or fan, when the temperature pushes into the 30s and 40s, and you’re locked into a broadcast schedule, the A-League and W-League suffer. It’s a nightmare.
Who could forget Western United’s clash with the Jets on February 1? It was nearly 46 degrees in earlier that day in NNSW, with the game going ahead late in the afternoon in sweltering conditions.
No-one wants to play or go to a stadium on such a day. And the game's quality suffered.
There were other examples last summer as the bushfires ripped through Australia, causing air quality to plunge.
We’re no climate change experts here at FTBL, but it doesn’t appear to be getting any cooler.
This stat from the CSIRO sums up the alarming situation around hotter summers in Australia.
Cooler weather, faster football. Better to watch. Makes sense?
2: ALIGNING FOOTBALL’S POWERFUL PYRAMID FROM BOTTOM TO TOP
Football, from grassroots, NPL, and elite professional club football. All playing together at one time, one huge football family coming together to power football in this country.
Alignment is an ideal platform for clubs, players, advertisers, broadcasters and digital marketers to leverage the massive numbers in the pyramid to boost crowds, sponsorships, and interest.
In the 2019 FFA New Leagues Working Group (NLWG) report, it stated that alignment was important 'to ensure that competitions at all levels are integrated and complement each other'.
The pyramid aligned would also allow players and fans to take advantage of synergies up and down the vertical (NPL double-headers, for example, A-League promotions across the grassroots, a huge fanbase of participants coveted for so long by A-League clubs).
Furthermore, from a talent ID perspective, NPL players, in particular, have chances to be seen regularly and in-season for A-League and W-League.
Similarly, for fringe players at the professional level to be loaned out for spells in the NPL (in a similar way AFL clubs send fringe squad players to lower-tier VFL clubs). While January will no longer give A-League coaches headaches as squad changes interrupt a potential finals football push.
3: SUPER NOVEMBER: A HUGE CELEBRATION OF FOOTBALL DRAMA
November is now the perfect time for a huge hit of football at its very best. And by best, we mean the peak of the season, finals football and grand finals (and potentially, the ACL final?)
Before the weather becomes too hot, November would host the culmination of an A-League and W-League finals series, followed by two grand finals as well as an FFA Cup final.
Imagine that? November suddenly becomes the perfect storm for football.
One massive month of the very best in Aussie club football, played in ideal weather conditions over consecutive weeks while the other codes are essentially in their off-season, and prior to the summer of cricket, basketball, and tennis.
Add to this, over time November could also have the drama of relegation and promotion playoffs to and from the A-League, and from the NPL to the second division.
No other codes have relegation, do-or-die matches, as November could become a football celebration like no other.
4: MEDIA COVERAGE
Summer was supposed to be largely free from other football codes, giving football free rein. That hasn’t panned out in recent years.
As social media and broadcasting diversified, a myriad of sports (tennis, basketball, and all forms of cricket) and other football codes have crept into “summer" coverage.
The bottom line is, media coverage of the A-League has decreased to the point where it makes little difference when it’s played.
The game has nothing to lose from a media perspective and everything to gain, particularly in that sweet spot of November when there is some clear air. And with a better product, football will earn better coverage.
5: SECOND DIVISION PROMOTION AND RELEGATION
One of the biggest impediments to a second division was the difficultly in aligning the calendar.
If you were promoted from the NPL, technically you were thrust into the league the following month, or you had to wait a year.
Now, if a second division is launched, it runs side by side with the A-League.
A promotion and relegation playoff happens in November and if your club wins that, you have four months to prepare for life at the top table.
Likewise, an NPL to second division promotion-relegation series would run in the same month, just adding to November's excitement.
6: AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
The Wanderers’ extraordinary ACL triumph in 2014 was a one-off and may never be repeated.
But what a huge boost it gave the new A-League club and the league in this region.
However, as we've seen, it’s arduous for A-League clubs to negotiate a finals series in May and the latter stages of the ACL group stages during the long off-season.
Then there’s the calendar lag. You win the A-League a year before you start playing in the group stages.
Switching to ‘winter’ allows teams to prepare throughout pre-season for their ACL campaigns and then play in-season during the knockout stages.
Bottom line is, winning the ACL is a huge boost for the winning club and the league, helping to attract bigger names and more money into the code across the region.
7: THE SOCCEROOS
The last Asian Cup in January 2019 was a good example of calendar alignment.
Some A-League clubs lost players for around five weeks in the middle of their season. The Asian Cup 2015 cut into the league, too, with the A-League struggling to regain the momentum after the momentous triumph at Stadium Australia on January 31.
But more importantly, all the national teams requiring A-League players will have players in-season for the World Cup and Asian Cup qualifying calendar played across Asia each year.
8: LONGER SEASON, MORE FOOTBALL
The current season runs October to May, which equals eight months.
This model runs nine months, giving fans an extra month.
The calendar could be extended simply by using FFA Cup weekends in the A-League season, tour games in July for big clubs in the European off-season as well as the addition over time of relegation and promotion weekends at the end of the season.
9: BOUTIQUE STADIA
The multi-use stadium question is key. From a pitch management point of view, a cost-saving perspective, and a fan experience, boutique stadia have gained much traction in the last year or so.
Boutique stadia work for the scale of the A-League.
The New Leagues Working Group in 2019 also stated: "Boutique stadiums will provide an atmosphere that only football can create.'
This calendar switch may simply accelerate the process of finding boutique stadia in those cities and for those clubs that would need it the most.
Adelaide United and Perth are great examples of boutique stadia.
Coopers and HGF Park are ideal but for clubs like Brisbane, could the popular choice of Dolphin Stadium be looked at for more long-term occupancy, saving Suncorp for finals football?
Melbourne clubs could still use AAMI Park as it’s a resilient and excellent surface, but may from time to time need to take their games to a boutique venue when the two rugby codes are placing undue strain on the pitch.
Western United could also look at options in the West of Melbourne before their boutique stadium is built.
What are your thoughts on a calendar switch?
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