If we ever get a league of 14 teams, I’m pretty sure we will just have a simple home-and-away system. If we are really insistent on having an October-May season, I don’t see how we can play more than 30 rounds without resorting to a couple of mid-week rounds, which nobody in this country really wants.
I think 26 rounds is the minimum tolerable number of fixtures. It’s totally acceptable when it means you play exact home and away fixtures (i.e. a 14-team comp). It works less well when it’s a mess as is mooted next season. If you’re going to have such lopsided scheduling (play some teams twice, some thrice) then you’d want to schedule something around 30. Our season is really short w.r.t. offering players proper competition, particularly from the perspective of young player development.
Yeah, it’s undoubtedly lopsided. Sydney are going to benefit unfairly if the other NSW teams are shit next season and we play them all a third time (which I’m guessing is what will happen). The problem is we have to think of something over the next few years between playing opponents three times (30-33 games) and playing just home-and-away (20-22 games). Sadly, it might just be unavoidable for the next few years until we admit two teams on top of Western Union and Macarthur.
Which is what needs to happen asap. Keep Wellington, add Canberra and Wollongong, start planting seeds west of Brisbane in Ipswich now that the council has just announced plans to build a Stadium there. If we win the 2023 womens world cup hosting this is a golden opportunity, we sat on our hands post Asian cup and it was a big mistake.
Decent article from Simon Hill. I liked this bit…
Ultimately (and yes, I’m aware everyone has governance ennui but — as has been demonstrated — if the governance doesn’t work then the game suffers) the federated system needs to go.
A leaner administration needs to emerge, with a clear national vision set out from head office via a unitary model, and regional bureaus operating with professional management teams.
Ten governing bodies across the country is nine too many — little wonder we remain mired in administrative quicksand, with each having their own board, their own agendas, their own plans, and still far too many of the congress votes.
Did anyone catch the A-league round table? Bruce Djite was excellent. I hope Fox keep him around.
Meanwhile Bozza’s greatest point of the night, besides a semi-decent rant about fixing the games governance, was his sage advice that, just like he told Western Sydney and they followed it, if Western United have success on the pitch, success off the pitch will follow.
amazing if they kept Archie over Djite… he is good on the pods as well.
i thought it was good - more programs like this, less of Archie on the couch
I thought the same thing when I watched. Would love more programming like that.
Was good that Bozza called out the federations as well. Maybe a bit much that he named the people individually - but it shows the seriousness that Fox are taking the diving ratings and interest.
Dates and season structure announced:
Id rather it being a 12 team, 33 game comp but as that wont happen I can cop this for one season. Its a mess but we’d be far from the only Australian sporting code to have a lopsided draw (and the current system is already a bit uneven as is)
fuck me… still no break for international rounds. Hopefully at least they’ll schedule byes for Sydney and Perth for ACL weeks
There was some reporting a few weeks ago to use the bye to help teams in the ACL and teams affected heavily by international call-ups, particularly at a youth level.
The methodology for the third team definitely means we will play a derby and Melbourne at least.
I just noticed that the ffa announcement talks about making allowances for the three teams in the ACL.
Good luck with that.
Should there be that many concessions, in all honesty? If you have to rest some of your team to compete in the ACL, or the A-League, so be it. Young players don’t get enough opportunities at a bigger club as it is.
Key Principles
- Priority 1: Maximise Hyundai A League broadcast metrics
- Priority 2: Fairness and competition integrity for all clubs
- Priority 3: Maximise Hyundai A-League attendance metrics and other commercial priorities
I get it, but it is telling as to where attendance sits in the ranking. I’m assuming 1 more important than 2 which is more important than 3 but I accept that is an assumption
How binding is this if the league is independent?
Eh? There were 3 international breaks this season. They’ve essentially decided to scrap them for next season and replace them with the extra 3 rounds. They also explicitly say that byes will be given to the ACL teams around their ACL fixtures instead of split rounds like this season.
This sentence is also suitably vague… " we collectively decided it is in the best interests of the Hyundai A-League to play through the international breaks this season, with the possibility of rescheduling matches should a certain number of players from a team be unavailable for selection due to certain international duties."
I wonder what the magic number is?
League pausing for some international breaks last season was a total shit and a waste of time. There’s maybe a handful of HAL players who make a proper full strength Roos squad. Postponing matches at a threshhold of maybe 2-3 players for senior Roos matches and maybe 3-4 for underage teams is far preferable.
Also Sydney FC should be able to postpone matches at our coonvenience if we have too many players out due to international commitments, injury or are in bad form.
I think we can all agree that next season’s draw will be an utter shitshow but that previous seasons have been little better. If anything, only playing 4 of the other teams twice over the season will be a blessed relief.
Should have let SW mcarfa in for next season…who gives a toss about those NorWest NOBODIES.
Pretty shit not having a game on a quiet Friday night. Can’t we just extend the season a bit longer and shorten the off-season?