A-League threads [Merged]

[Ian4]

Well well well. What an unexpected development. After Western United drawing with Newcastle last night and City losing to Perth, the title race is coming down to the last weekend of the season.

1. Melbourne City: 46 Points +21 GD – 1 game to play (home to Wellington on Monday).
2. Melbourne Victory: 45 Points +14 GD – 1 game to play (Away to Sydney on Saturday).
3. Western United: 45 Points +11 GD – 1 game to play (Away to Adelaide on Sunday).
4. Adelaide United: 40 Points +6 GD – 1 game to play (Home to Western United on Sunday).
5. Central Coast: 39 Points +12 GD – 1 game to play (Home to Newcastle on Saturday).
6. Wellington Phoenix: 36 Points -15 GD – 2 games to play (Away to WSW tonight, Away to City on Monday).
7. MacArthur Bulls: 32 Points with 1 game to play. Out of contention.
8. Sydney FC: 31 Points -2 GD – 2 games to play (Home to Victory on Saturday, Away to Brisbane on Tuesday).

1. City: Wins the league if they beat Wellington. Fail to beat Wellington and they could finish as low as 3rd.
2. Victory: Wins the league if they beat Sydney and City fail to beat Wellington and maintain GD on WU. Don’t beat Sydney and they could finish 3rd.
3. WU: Wins the league if they beat Adelaide and City fail to beat Wellington and Victory Fail to beat Sydney.
4. Adelaide: Finishes 4th and a home final if they beat WU. Could drop to 5th or 6th if they fail to win.
5. CCM: Beat Newcastle and Adelaide fail to win and they finish 4th and get a home final. Could drop to 5th or 6th if they fail to win.
6. Nix: Beat WSW and City and they could snag 4th if Adelaide and CCM fail to win. Loose both and Sydney win both, they could miss out on finals.
8. Sydney: Will finish 6th if they beat Victory and Brisbane and Wellington lose to WSW and City.

 

[AngryAnt]

would love to see Citeh bottle it

 

[Ian4]

would love to see Citeh bottle it

They bottled the Asian champions league last weekend. their parent club bottled the UEFA champions league this morning. what is the saying about things coming in three’s?

 

[AngryAnt]

Viktree tonk Sinney FC 4-1 away, over to you Citeh.

 

[Ian4]

Viktree tonk Sinney FC 4-1 away, over to you Citeh.

Yep, Victory have a top 2 spot wrapped up and a bye next week. As does City. If City don't beat the Nix tonight, Victory win the Premiers Plate and have a chance to be the second team to complete the triple. Its looking more and more like a derby GF.

Week 1 will be Western United v Wellington. Adelaide United v CCM.

The Semi finals are now played over 2 legs. As the season needs to finish on the last weekend of May, the first leg of the semi final will be played midwek.

 

[Brodders17]

Yep, Victory have a top 2 spot wrapped up and a bye next week. As does City. If City don't beat the Nix tonight, Victory win the Premiers Plate and have a chance to be the second team to complete the triple. Its looking more and more like a derby GF.

Week 1 will be Western United v Wellington. Adelaide United v CCM.

The Semi finals are now played over 2 legs. As the season needs to finish on the last weekend of May, the first leg of the semi final will be played midwek.

View attachment 15327

Small bonus, the Tiges play on Friday May 27, so we will all be able to watch Western United win their first A-League championship.

 

[Ian4]

So, City did win the league in the end, but not without a fright. Dropping points against the likes of Brisbane and WSW ultimately cost us. How funny was it to see Victory fans outnumber City fans last night?

But still, I am very happy with our season. After winning the spoon last season, I would have been happy with top 6. But to win the FFA cup and finish second, is a great result. I also reckon we will go into the finals as favourites after a 15-game unbeaten streak. We are undefeated against the other top 4 teams (actually, 1 loss all season to all of the other teams in the finals).

Another bonus is that I am going to be able to attend the Dreamtime game now. I thought I was going to miss due to a clash with the A-League finals. But the Semi Final second leg has been pushed back to 5:10pm due to the election coverage (assuming we are playing the Saturday and not the Sunday).

 

[AngryAnt]

yep citeh squeaked it, but were the best side early in the season and hung on. Actually I don't mind Kisnoobo as coach.

 

[Ian4]

So Western United beat Wellington and Adelaide beat CCM.

So, its Victory v Western United and City v Adelaide United in the semi-finals.

New concept this year is that the semi-finals are played over 2 legs. As the regular season was extended by a week, the first leg of the semi final is being played midweek. Western United v Victory tonight and Adelaide v City tomorrow night.

You don’t need Paramount Plus to watch. Both games are on 10BOLD.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

Interesting stats I heard on the radio while heading to work. So AFL and NRL crowd numbers are still down 19% and 4% respectively compared to the last pre-COVID year.

The A-League are down an very chunky 34%!!

 

[Brodders17]

Interesting stats I heard on the radio while heading to work. So AFL and NRL crowd numbers are still down 19% and 4% respectively compared to the last pre-COVID year.

The A-League are down an very chunky 34%!!

The A-league season has been hit a lot harder than the AFL and NRL, having started in Nov last year, when restrictions were lot harsher than now. They have also had to deal with many fixture changes which has made the fixture a mess. i go to the occasional game, but this season it has been really hard to follow who is playing when because of all the changes.
Hopefully next year will be different.

Go Western United!

 

[AngryAnt]

The A-league season has been hit a lot harder than the AFL and NRL, having started in Nov last year, when restrictions were lot harsher than now. They have also had to deal with many fixture changes which has made the fixture a mess. i go to the occasional game, but this season it has been really hard to follow who is playing when because of all the changes.
Hopefully next year will be different.

Go Western United!

Exactly. Not helped by the stupid "Keep Up" app/website where it's difficult to find the fixtures and dates.

 

[Ian4]

Interesting stats I heard on the radio while heading to work. So AFL and NRL crowd numbers are still down 19% and 4% respectively compared to the last pre-COVID year.

The A-League are down an very chunky 34%!!

@Brodders17 is spot on. The season was initially delayed by 3 weeks due to the reopening from lockdown in NSW and VIC. then everyone was ravaged by COVID in January. The A-League brought a rule in that games were postponed if a team had 5 or more players unavailable due to COVID protocols.

By my count, Victory had 8 of 26 games rescheduled due to either COVID, FFA Cup scheduling and Asian champions league. I’m not sure what the total amount of rescheduled games were, but I would estimate 25-30%.

And of course, many rescheduled games had to be played midweek, which then affects crowd numbers.

In addition, people are still hesitant to attend live sport. I mean just look at footy… I read yesterday that the aggregate attendance this year (excluding 2020 and 2021) is the lowest it has been since 2004 (source: Footy Industry Twitter).

Exactly. Not helped by the stupid "Keep Up" app/website where it's difficult to find the fixtures and dates.

I'm hearing the APL have spent $30 million on KeepUp (I'm not joking). So far it has been a while elephant. Navigation and the interface needs to be overhauled.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

The A-league season has been hit a lot harder than the AFL and NRL, having started in Nov last year, when restrictions were lot harsher than now. They have also had to deal with many fixture changes which has made the fixture a mess. i go to the occasional game, but this season it has been really hard to follow who is playing when because of all the changes.
Hopefully next year will be different.

Go Western United!

@Brodders17 is spot on. The season was initially delayed by 3 weeks due to the reopening from lockdown in NSW and VIC. then everyone was ravaged by COVID in January. The A-League brought a rule in that games were postponed if a team had 5 or more players unavailable due to COVID protocols.

By my count, Victory had 8 of 26 games rescheduled due to either COVID, FFA Cup scheduling and Asian champions league. I’m not sure what the total amount of rescheduled games were, but I would estimate 25-30%.

And of course, many rescheduled games had to be played midweek, which then affects crowd numbers.

In addition, people are still hesitant to attend live sport. I mean just look at footy… I read yesterday that the aggregate attendance this year (excluding 2020 and 2021) is the lowest it has been since 2004 (source: Footy Industry Twitter).



I'm hearing the APL have spent $30 million on KeepUp (I'm not joking). So far it has been a while elephant. Navigation and the interface needs to be overhauled.

Would be interesting to see what the NBL crowd figures were overall compared to the last pre-COVID season. They were pretty much in the same cycle and timeline for their latest season as the A-League. Had the same continually malleable fixture because of COVID disruptions. Sydney and Tasmania had really strong crowds (novelty of Tasmania being a new team, plus having an unexpectedly strong inaugural season and Sydney - the team with the largest stadium - finally living up to their hype). But some of the Melbourne games for both sides seemed pretty sparse. Not sure on the rest of the league.

 

[AngryAnt]

@Brodders17 is spot on. The season was initially delayed by 3 weeks due to the reopening from lockdown in NSW and VIC. then everyone was ravaged by COVID in January. The A-League brought a rule in that games were postponed if a team had 5 or more players unavailable due to COVID protocols.

By my count, Victory had 8 of 26 games rescheduled due to either COVID, FFA Cup scheduling and Asian champions league. I’m not sure what the total amount of rescheduled games were, but I would estimate 25-30%.

And of course, many rescheduled games had to be played midweek, which then affects crowd numbers.

In addition, people are still hesitant to attend live sport. I mean just look at footy… I read yesterday that the aggregate attendance this year (excluding 2020 and 2021) is the lowest it has been since 2004 (source: Footy Industry Twitter).



I'm hearing the APL have spent $30 million on KeepUp (I'm not joking). So far it has been a while elephant. Navigation and the interface needs to be overhauled.

yeah,as an app/site it's too clever by half.

 

[Ian4]

Would be interesting to see what the NBL crowd figures were overall compared to the last pre-COVID season.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

View attachment 15420

One element I failed to mention. NZ playing their home games to empty stadiums nomadically across Australia for the entire season. But apart from that, as I said before, I noticed the Melbourne crowds in particular looked pretty sparse. And given it's one of the three largest venues in the league, I imagine the NBL relies on filling the Melbourne matches to bring the average up.

I never understood the season's nomadic existence of NZ. Would have thought they would have been better off basing them in one city, with a large kiwi population as a home away from home and sell discounted tickets to NZ passport holders (as is done for the Australian and NZ national football sides playing 'home' friendlies in London). The Gold Coast would have made for a perfect location. Two suitable arenas for NBL basketball on the Gold Coast (along with good training facilities) and a large expat Kiwi population.

What did the A-League do to accommodate the Wellington side?

 

[Redford]

I have always had zero interest in the B-League so know little about it. But they were saying on SEN tonight that the viewer numbers on 10-Paramount are absolutely disastrous. So nobody’s watching on tv either it appears ?

 

[Ian4]

What did the A-League do to accommodate the Wellington side?

Wellington have played mainly out of WIN Stadium in Wollongong. Their crowd number have affected the AL as well. When Victory played them in Wollongong, the game was played behind closed doors. Then the 2 home games they had when they returned home, were played in front of close to 20,000.

I have always had zero interest in the B-League so know little about it. But they were saying on SEN tonight that the viewer numbers on 10-Paramount are absolutely disastrous. So nobody’s watching on tv either it appears ?

The ratings are an interesting one. Only a handful of games on CH10 Saturday night had over 100,000 viewers. Some would say those numbers are low, but some of the numbers are the highest we’ve had in 5-6 years. So, it depends on how you spin it.

And I wouldn’t worry too much about what SEN has to say. They have had a long history of panning the A-League. Viacom CBS say they’re happy with subscription numbers and I have no reason to question that. The A-League has been the highest trending show on Paramount Plus, which is encouraging. The biggest problem is that Paramount Plus isn't yet broadcasting in pubs. They are claiming that will change in time for next season.

Viacom CBS has made a massive commitment to the game. They own a 2.5% share in the APL. They don’t just have the AL, but also Socceroos, Matildas, Asian continental tournaments, Australia Cup (formerly known as the FFA Cup) and English FA cup. They are also broadcasting all of the friendlies coming up (Barcelona, Man U, Celtic, etc). I can also see then bidding for the premier league, champions league, etc, going forward.

As for the Paramount Plus coverage, they have a lot of work to do. They are facing a lot of the issues Optus had to begin with. I know for a fact it has put a lot of people off. But they claim they will be bigger and better next season, so I guess we’ll see.

The AL should also be bigger and better next season. There shouldn’t be any more COVID issues. The APL have the $140 million equity deal with Silver Lake, so they’re cashed up. We are already hearing rumours about big names coming (Nani to Victory for example). Then of course, we have the Women’s World Cup coming next winter and the national second division likely to start in 18 months.

A lot is happening.

On another note, construction has started on the Western United training precinct in Tarneit. Their mini 5,000 stadium should be completed in 12 months and their main 15,000 stadium should be completed in 24 months.

 

[Redford]

And I wouldn’t worry too much about what SEN has to say. They have had a long history of panning the A-League. Viacom CBS say they’re happy with subscription numbers and I have no reason to question that. The A-League has been the highest trending show on Paramount Plus, which is encouraging. The biggest problem is that Paramount Plus isn't yet broadcasting in pubs. They are claiming that will change in time for next season.

Viacom CBS has made a massive commitment to the game. They own a 2.5% share in the APL. They don’t just have the AL, but also Socceroos, Matildas, Asian continental tournaments, Australia Cup (formerly known as the FFA Cup) and English FA cup. They are also broadcasting all of the friendlies coming up (Barcelona, Man U, Celtic, etc). I can also see then bidding for the premier league, champions league, etc, going forward.

As for the Paramount Plus coverage, they have a lot of work to do. They are facing a lot of the issues Optus had to begin with. I know for a fact it has put a lot of people off. But they claim they will be bigger and better next season, so I guess we’ll see.

The AL should also be bigger and better next season. There shouldn’t be any more COVID issues. The APL have the $140 million equity deal with Silver Lake, so they’re cashed up. We are already hearing rumours about big names coming (Nani to Victory for example). Then of course, we have the Women’s World Cup coming next winter and the national second division likely to start in 18 months.

A lot is happening.

On another note, construction has started on the Western United training precinct in Tarneit. Their mini 5,000 stadium should be completed in 12 months and their main 15,000 stadium should be completed in 24 months.

I don't normally either, however Maher works for 10 and it wouldn't be in his best interests to say that unless they were in fact terrible. Further, he was referencing comments from meetings inside of 10, made by the Program Director or someone in there, so not an SEN perspective anyway.