Matildas

[Ian4]

Agree, it's not the EPL but who is?

Look at countries like USA with money and population, Mexico is five times bigger than us, Japan as well. For our size we do okay, no one seems to bear in mind it's probably our 3rd/4th football code followed here, pick if soccer or union are 3rd/4th but most of the talent here gets taken from the two biggest football codes.

If you looked at most other countries they'd have one, maybe two football codes taking the talent, the UK probably one of the only ones with three.

We do alright for the above factors, one day we might take off, let's hope we get too see it man

We will do better when the pathways for 15-16 years olds get better. And it is getting better after about 15 years of neglect. There is some serious talent coming through now.

 

[mrposhman]

We will do better when the pathways for 15-16 years olds get better. And it is getting better after about 15 years of neglect. There is some serious talent coming through now.

The A league is at a bit of a crossroads IMO. The sale of Garang Kuol shows that, sold for basically nothing but add ons. I'm not sure how the A league grows when it cannot compete with overseas clubs at all, and then sells the most promising players for cents in the $.

IMO the A League needs to allow more overseas players to play here, bring the standard of the league up which will in turn help to develop and nuture the talent that the A league clubs produce. At the minute, its teenage development, then the best players get bought by overseas clubs but the quality of the league doesn't seem to improve.

The A league is actually going the other way. 5 available list spots for overseas players, but instead of them being open, they are keeping 4 open and locking the last one into being from Asian countries. I understand what they are trying to do, but that should have been using additional list spots, not taking from the ones they do have.

 

[Ian4]

The A league is at a bit of a crossroads IMO. The sale of Garang Kuol shows that, sold for basically nothing but add ons. I'm not sure how the A league grows when it cannot compete with overseas clubs at all, and then sells the most promising players for cents in the $.

IMO the A League needs to allow more overseas players to play here, bring the standard of the league up which will in turn help to develop and nuture the talent that the A league clubs produce. At the minute, its teenage development, then the best players get bought by overseas clubs but the quality of the league doesn't seem to improve.

The A league is actually going the other way. 5 available list spots for overseas players, but instead of them being open, they are keeping 4 open and locking the last one into being from Asian countries. I understand what they are trying to do, but that should have been using additional list spots, not taking from the ones they do have.

Pretty much disagree with all of that except having a 4+1 rule (which I have been in favour of for a long time). I would say there is also an argument for removing the salary cap (or dramatically increasing it) as the bigger teams still win most of the trophies.

One of the more common things people who are not regular followers of the A-League say is that the standard is crap. That is utter garbage IMO. As I said ^^^, we are more respected overseas than we are here. These attitudes need to change IMO. Most visa players actually struggle when they come here, the success rate is low. Some will say that points to bad recruiting, but I will argue it’s a tough league for foreigners.

I don’t think the A-League is at a crossroads because the APL and FA fully understand where we sit and what we need to do to grow the game. There has been a much bigger focus on crowds this year, which is a start. The old FFA used to kow tow to the media about reports of fan behaviour, which was always overplayed.

But the key is moving towards a football pyramid that with 2 divisions and promotion/relegation. The NSD is starting soon (now delayed til 2024). More teams means a bigger talent pool. That’s where the growth comes from.

So, to conclude, the game in Australia are now targeting the 2 key things we have a competitive advantage over compared to other sports: Fan engagement/culture and promotion/relegation. This is how we move forward.

 

[Brodders17]

Pretty much disagree with all of that except having a 4+1 rule (which I have been in favour of for a long time). I would say there is also an argument for removing the salary cap (or dramatically increasing it) as the bigger teams still win most of the trophies.

One of the more common things people who are not regular followers of the A-League say is that the standard is crap. That is utter garbage IMO. As I said ^^^, we are more respected overseas than we are here. These attitudes need to change IMO. Most visa players actually struggle when they come here, the success rate is low. Some will say that points to bad recruiting, but I will argue it’s a tough league for foreigners.

I don’t think the A-League is at a crossroads because the APL and FA fully understand where we sit and what we need to do to grow the game. There has been a much bigger focus on crowds this year, which is a start. The old FFA used to kow tow to the media about reports of fan behaviour, which was always overplayed.

But the key is moving towards a football pyramid that with 2 divisions and promotion/relegation. The NSD is starting soon (now delayed til 2024). More teams means a bigger talent pool. That’s where the growth comes from.

So, to conclude, the game in Australia are now targeting the 2 key things we have a competitive advantage over compared to other sports: Fan engagement/culture and promotion/relegation. This is how we move forward.

personally i think promotion/relegation would be a bad thing for football in Australia, at least if it happens in the short to medium term. it would drive passion amongst the hardcore fans, but i reckon A-league clubs are still very reliant on 'casual' fans, fans who have a club, but attend a few games/year, and follow football more passionately than they follow their A-league club. having teams relegated would be a quick way to lose those fans IMO. while risking losing Melbourne or Sydney derbies would mean a loss of media promotion.- while cities like Adelaide and Perth would risk having no representation in the top league in Australia at all, again a quick way to lose fans, and media interest.
a 2nd division would be a good thing, but not teams bouncing between them.

 

[Ian4]

personally i think promotion/relegation would be a bad thing for football in Australia, at least if it happens in the short to medium term. it would drive passion amongst the hardcore fans, but i reckon A-league clubs are still very reliant on 'casual' fans, fans who have a club, but attend a few games/year, and follow football more passionately than they follow their A-league club. having teams relegated would be a quick way to lose those fans IMO. while risking losing Melbourne or Sydney derbies would mean a loss of media promotion.- while cities like Adelaide and Perth would risk having no representation in the top league in Australia at all, again a quick way to lose fans, and media interest.
a 2nd division would be a good thing, but not teams bouncing between them.

No, i look at it another way. Teams that don’t spend or invest (eg. Brisbane and Perth) will be punished by being relegated. At the moment, they can stay down the bottom year after year without any repercussions, which is a negative for the whole comp. The threat of relegation forces these teams to get their $hit together.

 

[mrposhman]

Pretty much disagree with all of that except having a 4+1 rule (which I have been in favour of for a long time). I would say there is also an argument for removing the salary cap (or dramatically increasing it) as the bigger teams still win most of the trophies.

One of the more common things people who are not regular followers of the A-League say is that the standard is crap. That is utter garbage IMO. As I said ^^^, we are more respected overseas than we are here. These attitudes need to change IMO. Most visa players actually struggle when they come here, the success rate is low. Some will say that points to bad recruiting, but I will argue it’s a tough league for foreigners.

I don’t think the A-League is at a crossroads because the APL and FA fully understand where we sit and what we need to do to grow the game. There has been a much bigger focus on crowds this year, which is a start. The old FFA used to kow tow to the media about reports of fan behaviour, which was always overplayed.

But the key is moving towards a football pyramid that with 2 divisions and promotion/relegation. The NSD is starting soon (now delayed til 2024). More teams means a bigger talent pool. That’s where the growth comes from.

So, to conclude, the game in Australia are now targeting the 2 key things we have a competitive advantage over compared to other sports: Fan engagement/culture and promotion/relegation. This is how we move forward.

How does more teams = a bigger talent pool. Thats the exact argument people give to the AFL as to why they shouldn't add more teams in, because it dilutes the talent pool.

I get the issue that the A League has, I really do. Its like a league version of my own football team, a small fish trying to exist in a much bigger pond.

There are 2 things they really need to do:
1 - Train more domestic players and increase the quality. Previously I have given the example of the St Georges Park football facility in the UK as something that has helped to change the way English players see and play the game. I believe we are starting to see the benefit of that in the English National team (and have done now for probably the last 4 years). We have never been able to train the quality of the youngsters that we do now.
2 - Attract better overseas players. There are 2 that are doing well at the moment and I'll highlight the impacts they can have (but this will also lead to a quality discussion). Charlie Austin and Jason Cummings. Now Charlie Austin has been a terrific player in the Championship in the UK for years, he's a great goal scorer and showing it in the A League, but he is getting old now (mid 30's I think). Jason Cummings, now I know Jason Cummings being as he played for my team in the UK. He's scoring goals regularly in the A League, but hasn't really done that outside of League 1 (where he was ok) and the Scottish Championship. I think you might have been the person indicating that the A League was a similar quality to the Championship in another thread, but I Cummings is an indicator that you are wrong. BTW I'm not one of those supporters to think the A league should be the quality of the Premier League and I'm also not averse to lower league (being as my club flips between the Championship and League 1) but it gives me a guage as to how you compete.

My club (Peterborough) is essentially a club in the league a bit like the A League compared to other clubs. Relatively small crowds, not the most attractive name, but you know what they do well, they sell players for good value. The reason why this is important, is it means you can reinvest that money into the club, either through acquiring new players or through investing in facilities, I just don't see how selling 1 of the most promising players in the league for a reported 300k GBP is a good thing. It seems incredibly unders, to a club like Newcastle, who drop 10's of millions on 1 player. Its a very cheap option for them, if it comes off great, if it doesn't they won't care.

Investing more money in wages through an increased salary cap may be an option, the league need to identify why they cannot attract better players from overseas to supplement and improve the quality locally to bring the standard of the league up. They went too far a few years ago when attracting players like David Vila, not doubting his quality, but he was like a superstar dropped into a league, 1 player will never improve the quality (Gary Ablett to the Suns is an example of that from the AFL) but bringing multiple players in that are lower Championship level in the UK may be the answer (but the A League needs to be attracting them earlier as the better players only seem to come when over 30 and then they are essentially here for a super / pension top up).

I don't know enough about the finances of the league to determine what an increased salary cap might indicate but this is an article I found showing the top 100 players by wage in the A League. It drops off very quickly, only 9 players earn more than 5,000 GBP which indicates why it is hard to attract the better overseas players

Who is the highest paid footballer in the A-League? | Salary Sport

Who is the highest paid footballer in the A-League? Find the top earners, total career earnings, contracts & net worth breakdown. The most comprehensive sports salary database.

salarysport.com

I like the 1 in the 4+1. It makes sense to try to use the improving quality of the Asian leagues to include the A League and see it as a sort of "feeder" league towards getting to Europe, I just think it should be in addition to the original 5, but maybe an increase to the salary cap might be the better option but I'm not sure if the League can afford that.

 

[Brodders17]

No, i look at it another way. Teams that don’t spend or invest (eg. Brisbane and Perth) will be punished by being relegated. At the moment, they can stay down the bottom year after year without any repercussions, which is a negative for the whole comp. The threat of relegation forces these teams to get their $hit together.

Relegation this year would have meant no Perth and no Brisbane team in the A-league. To me that could have a real negative effect on football in those states, especially if they stay down for a couple of years.

 

[Ricemagic]

No, i look at it another way. Teams that don’t spend or invest (eg. Brisbane and Perth) will be punished by being relegated. At the moment, they can stay down the bottom year after year without any repercussions, which is a negative for the whole comp. The threat of relegation forces these teams to get their $hit together.

That's an interesting argument, never heard it before but sounds interesting. Made me look at the map because the EPL, from London up to the top of England, there is not one East Coast club in the EPL. And that was interesting because teams like Ipswich, Norwich, Hull, Middlesbrough, Sunderland all sit on the East side of the nation, and I can remember them all at some stages being staples for a few years.

And from Villa in the middle to Southampton down south, nothing again. No Bristol's (both), Swindon, Exeter further left, there's nothing west of Southampton all the way to Penzance.

Yes admittedly we would disenfranchise the West and QLD if they got relegated, but I thought they would or a way out of it I think is make them play a playoff game against the next best team from that State home and away?

 

[Ian4]

Matildas to take on France in Melbourne

The Matildas have finalised their Women's World Cup preparations by locking in a warm-up game with France in Melbourne.

thewomensgame.com

Matildas to play France at Marvel in a warmup match 6 days before the start of the WWC. Strange choice of venue considering Marvel isn’t a host stadium, but you can’t blame Football Australia for wanting to capitalise on the huge demand for Matildas tickets.

FYI, the opening WWC match against Ireland has been moved to Accor Stadium. 20,000 tix went on sale last week and were snapped up in an hour. The final 20,000 go on sale in April.

As for trying to get tix for Matildas v Canada at AAMI Park, forget about it.

 

[Ricemagic]

Geez mate, there will never be another WWC in Australia in our lifetime.

Well update on your post above as well as your comment above.

Tickets on sale again and managed to get tickets for 5 of the 6 games in Melbourne, pretty happy. First round games 3 x $20 each and the 2 Round of 16 Games $30 each, $120 for 5 World CUp games is pretty impressive.

Shame they're at the MRS cause they would have killed it at Marvel, particularly the Matilda's game versus Canada, Monday, 31 July definitely a 50,000 crowd man

Looking at the AFL Draw that weekend, they could have played Essendon v Sydney on the Saturday night July 29, Hawthorn v Saints on the Sunday July 30, or vice versa or maybe even Friday night then Saturday, give the grass a rest on the Sunday and slotted the Matilda's in at Marvel that Monday night, July 31.


Tickets as of now

 

[Ian4]

Well update on your post above as well as your comment above.

Tickets on sale again and managed to get tickets for 5 of the 6 games in Melbourne, pretty happy. First round games 3 x $20 each and the 2 Round of 16 Games $30 each, $120 for 5 World CUp games is pretty impressive.

Shame they're at the MRS cause they would have killed it at Marvel, particularly the Matilda's game versus Canada, Monday, 31 July definitely a 50,000 crowd man

I’ve got a few things to say about this.

I reckon the Matildas v France game being played at the bigger Marvel stadium is an acknowledgement from the VIC government that they have monumentally F’ed up when it comes to the WWC. They must have looked at ticket sales and thought… damn, we have underestimated the magnitude of this event.

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but when the WWC is in full swing and people realise how big this event is, Victorians will be asking why Melbourne missed out on the big games…

And the solution… While the MCG should have been hosting the final, it’s about time we acknowledge that Melbourne does not have the infrastructure in place to host big events for the round ball game. We are falling behind Sydney who have recently rebuilt Parramatta and Moore Park. They are even now hosting the A-League men’s and women’s GF there.

Long story short is that Melbourne needs a world class football stadium that is FIFA World Cup complaint. AAMI Park is still probably the best boutique sports stadium in the country, but its too small for the big events and is not FIFA (men’s) World Cup compliant.

 

[Ricemagic]

I’ve got a few things to say about this.

I reckon the Matildas v France game being played at the bigger Marvel stadium is an acknowledgement from the VIC government that they have monumentally F’ed up when it comes to the WWC. They must have looked at ticket sales and thought… damn, we have underestimated the magnitude of this event.

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but when the WWC is in full swing and people realise how big this event is, Victorians will be asking why Melbourne missed out on the big games…

And the solution… While the MCG should have been hosting the final, it’s about time we acknowledge that Melbourne does not have the infrastructure in place to host big events for the round ball game. We are falling behind Sydney who have recently rebuilt Parramatta and Moore Park. They are even now hosting the A-League men’s and women’s GF there.

Long story short is that Melbourne needs a world class football stadium that is FIFA World Cup complaint. AAMI Park is still probably the best boutique sports stadium in the country, but its too small for the big events and is not FIFA (men’s) World Cup compliant.

Like U, I was totally ticked off when I saw AAMI Park was getting built with a capacity of 30,000 and 50 = 30,050!!

Ridiculously small, no way will the men's team play big international games down here consistently enough until a stadium is built and configured for the round ball game.

It has to be 50,000-75,000 minimum and that was a bad blow to Melbourne for events like the Men's World Cup.

You will not kick AFL of the MCG during the season and their agreement with Marvel would make it hard to play games there too, so forget about a World Cup Downunder and us in Melbourne getting a Semi and the Final here, it would have to be played in Sydney.

Our only hope unless this 50-75,000 stadium magically appears would be when the MCG is open like say Oct-Dec.

 

[Ian4]

Like U, I was totally ticked off when I saw AAMI Park was getting built with a capacity of 30,000 and 50 = 30,050!!

Ridiculously small, no way will the men's team play big international games down here consistently enough until a stadium is built and configured for the round ball game.

It has to be 50,000-75,000 minimum and that was a bad blow to Melbourne for events like the Men's World Cup.

You will not kick AFL of the MCG during the season and their agreement with Marvel would make it hard to play games there too, so forget about a World Cup Downunder and us in Melbourne getting a Semi and the Final here, it would have to be played in Sydney.

Our only hope unless this 50-75,000 stadium magically appears would be when the MCG is open like say Oct-Dec.

The irony is that the AFL are partly to blame for AAMI Park being 30,000 capacity. This is due to Marvel stadium management having a contract with the state government that dictated no new stadium can be built in Melbourne with over 30,000 capacity before 2025.

Make no mistake, one day we will bid for the Men’s World Cup again (Moreso after we hold a hugely successful Women’s World Cup). And we will be forced to include the MCG as a host stadium because we couldn’t build AAMI Park properly the first time. And the AFL will be forced to relocate footy games from the MCG for about a month or so. And it will be partly their own doing. But they will still kick and scream about it anyway.

 

[mrposhman]

The irony is that the AFL are partly to blame for AAMI Park being 30,000 capacity. This is due to Marvel stadium management having a contract with the state government that dictated no new stadium can be built in Melbourne with over 30,000 capacity before 2025.

Make no mistake, one day we will bid for the Men’s World Cup again (Moreso after we hold a hugely successful Women’s World Cup). And we will be forced to include the MCG as a host stadium because we couldn’t build AAMI Park properly the first time. And the AFL will be forced to relocate footy games from the MCG for about a month or so. And it will be partly their own doing. But they will still kick and scream about it anyway.

But wasn't that the original plan with AAMI that they were going to build it to be expandable, so they could then take it over the 40k threshold for mens world cup games?
I think they then realised that it would be too expensive because of the roof design, so shelved any expansion plans. Massive, massive fail at the design table.

 

[Brodders17]

Ive got tickets to both the Socceroos and Matildas games. Marvel isnt the best stadium to watch from, but the seats are bottom level- Ive only been top deck for soccer before. looking forward to them both!

 

[Ian4]

But wasn't that the original plan with AAMI that they were going to build it to be expandable, so they could then take it over the 40k threshold for mens world cup games?
I think they then realised that it would be too expensive because of the roof design, so shelved any expansion plans. Massive, massive fail at the design table.

That’s pretty much correct. The structure enables AAMI Park to be upgraded to 50,000 at a later date. But the complex design of the roof makes it financially unviable. They prioritised winning architecture design awards ahead of practicality.

And even if they did it, they would have to move the tenants out for 2 years. Where to?

 

[Ricemagic]

The irony is that the AFL are partly to blame for AAMI Park being 30,000 capacity. This is due to Marvel stadium management having a contract with the state government that dictated no new stadium can be built in Melbourne with over 30,000 capacity before 2025.

Make no mistake, one day we will bid for the Men’s World Cup again (Moreso after we hold a hugely successful Women’s World Cup). And we will be forced to include the MCG as a host stadium because we couldn’t build AAMI Park properly the first time. And the AFL will be forced to relocate footy games from the MCG for about a month or so. And it will be partly their own doing. But they will still kick and scream about it anyway.

Well if it's after 2025 when you can build +30,000 seaters in Melb, we haven't got the 2026 USA/CAN/MEX, the 2030 World Cup is likely going to Europe/Morocco/Sth America, so then we're looking at 2034 or 2038 which would give us a window of 9 to 13 years from 2025 to build a proper 'football' stadium in Melbourne, heaps of time man

 

[Ricemagic]

I've got tickets to both the Socceroos and Matildas games. Marvel isn't the best stadium to watch from, but the seats are bottom level- I've only been top deck for soccer before. looking forward to them both!

I saw our World Cup game versus Japan the campaign before at Marvel, it was okay but lacks that atmosphere U get at other stadiums.
It definitely won't replace Australia v Iraq in 1997 man, apart from the result, I think I can remember every minute of that day, as sad as it was

 

[Ian4]

Well if it's after 2025 when you can build +30,000 seaters in Melb, we haven't got the 2026 USA/CAN/MEX, the 2030 World Cup is likely going to Europe/Morocco/Sth America, so then we're looking at 2034 or 2038 which would give us a window of 9 to 13 years from 2025 to build a proper 'football' stadium in Melbourne, heaps of time man

That’s true. 2030 will go to Argentina/Uruguay. 2034 will go to Europe after not having one for a while. So 2038 might be our best chance.

But we also need to factor in the talk about FIFA wanting to cut World Cup cycles to 2 every years, which may fast track our opportunities.

What I am really hoping for is that the success of the WWC will shove a rocket up the collective clackers of the VIC Government, so they pull their finger out. Not just bidding for bigger events but giving the game its fair share of funding, it so desperately needs and deserves.

And maybe it’s already starting with Socceroos and Matildas games at Marvel as well as the Matildas home base in Bundoora being close to completion.

 

[Ian4]

final phase of ticketing is on sale now.

Pretty much all games are available except the Matildas group games and the semi final and final.