The future of club memberships?
The Jets are moving memberships to all digital tickets - no card, lanyard, no physical members pack. Opt in to buy members only merch. I know we’re broke and looking to be sold, but seesh!
At the very least, give us the card, lanyard and a sticker for the car.
Dream on!
We will be sold! If Trumpy can be outvoted, the Jets will have new owners. I must have hope!
Alas, the only buyer will be the A-League (ie Sydney FC and Melbourne City).
So are the Swans - https://membership.sydneyswans.com.au/faq-category/2021-membership/#will-receive-member-card
Sign of the times
Also, Wellington Phoenix will play all its home matches at WIN Stadium in Wollongong for the upcoming season, however there will be flexibility to return to Wellington should travel restrictions ease.
Just move Western United to Canberra already and be done with it.
Shift Macarthur to Wollongong while you’re at it.
And work out a proper prorel system too so the football purists will shut the f**k up about it. Even though the likes of South Melbourne, Sydney United and Melbourne Knights should be confined to the dustbins of footballing history.
It would be great if there was promotion relegation, but I think there needs to a national second tier first, and some sort of promotion relegation between that and the state leagues.
This sparks joy.
This does not spark joy.
They should be called the Australian Soccer Federation!
‘Soccer’ is not used officially.
That will mean the end of Wellington Phoenix because there is no way the team will be able to play in a second tier competition in Australia, if they are relegated.
I’m not the biggest fan of pro/rel, only because Australian sport is not used to this sort of system at the higher levels. Everywhere else is used to it, as it’s been there from the start. Sure, it’s there at the lower levels, but not at the “elite” levels. For some clubs, it would kill them off. Passionate fans will back their teams no matter what, but you need casual fans, and if they’re not at the big table, they’ll go elsewhere.
The way to do it is to get enough clubs so that you can create two divisions. Priority to Wollongong and Canberra for new clubs, then a 2nd club for Brisbane/south-eastern Queensland, north/central Queensland, Tasmania and a 2nd NZ club (see below). Then you have 18 clubs.
Then you reinvigorate the NPL system - no NPL club gets automatic promotion to a “new” A-League unless they meet requirements, including (and this will piss off people, but f**k it) identifying with a certain ethnicity - you have to represent a local area and everyone within it, regardless if you have warring factions. Maybe have a system like they do in Japan where you need to be an associate member of the J-League if you want to move up.
South Melbourne are the incels of Australian football - they think they are owed a spot at the table but they’re not getting it. 
That’s going backwards. Hutchy can bugger off too, it’s football everywhere else.
Tell New Zealand to get out of the OFC and into Asia, and consider their national competition at the same status of the NPL, with a similar promotion path into the A-League.
There are Welsh clubs in the English system. All of Lichtenstein’s teams play in the Swiss system. It can happen.
Wasn’t the one I had an issue with 
Oh…well, I’m still right. They’re the ones still moaning about it like the little incels they are.
Yeah, I think an A-League 1 and an A-League 2 system would be best. They would need to a have a central TV and key sponsorship contract so money could be distributed in a decent manner between the clubs. Mandatory relegation pay cuts/release clauses would probably also need to be a thing.
I’m not sure how promotion/relegation to A-League 2 could be managed. There’s the issue of old ethnic clubs, and also ensuring that all of Australia is at least broadly represented in the top two tiers.
18-20 teams across two tiers would give soccer a real chance to capitalise on markets that have no winter sport representation, eg. Tasmania, NT.
The other problem is cost. Flying teams around the country doesn’t come cheap.
Between Div 1 and Div 2, assuming you have 9-10 teams in each division -
Hopefully people follow that. And everything else you’ve said also would be taken into account. Get people in from leagues like England and Japan who know how all this works.
Following from the Japanese example, promotion from the NPL to A-League would be subject to being an A-League Associate Member. Membership would not be guaranteed and is subject to the following (adapted from the Japanese model):
Club organization
Home town and stadium/training facility
Other Conditions
In the event a team is eligible for promotion
Also, Football NSW and Northern NSW Football would be merged, with three divisions formed - North, South and Sydney. The other states are fine.
Not having promotion and relegation sounds easier.
Whilst I do agree, it’s inevitable it will happen in Australian football - every other football country has a league system like it, and the AFC are likely to mandate one if we want more spots in Champions Leagues etc… My aim would be to do it right.
Can I nominate you to be on the FFA/FA board?