Football⚽️

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801

i dont know much about the ACT Football competitions, but i do agree that the Wollongong Wolves should have been in the A-League by now (at least before the second NZ team entered).

The A-League has been going around for 17-18 years now. A 2nd division should have happened by now (i wish it did).

802

No matter their financial case they shouldn’t even be at this stage. I’m scared they will make it in…

He’s got nothing to do with this iteration.

Agreed, a maximum 1% margin of error to be allowed in. :wink:

803

I come at the whole pro/rel argument from both sides

The pros -

  1. it would add some much needed excitement to the league. Teams would have to fight for their right to stay in the league and would have something to play for.
  2. It also fits into the requirements that most of the federations have for national league systems. Apparently we need to have a properly working pyramid system to get more places into the “champions” league according to the AFC (according to what I’ve read)

The cons -

  1. No other major league in this country has pro/rel - and if your team isn’t facing the big boys and girls every week, why bother going? Especially if you are a fairweather fan or if your kids are fickle. NRL, AFL, NBL, BBL, WBBL, Super Netball, WNBL - all of these are competitors and they don’t have pro/rel. You are guaranteed to see the top players at your home ground least once a year most years - that’s the way it works in Australia.
  2. You’re letting in some of the clubs that led to the collapse of the NSL. You’re also letting in some boofhead fans, e.g. the Sydney United 58 fans who gave the Nazi salute at the cup final, your SMFCMike trolls, etc. Have they changed their ways? Are they going to be more professional? Or are they going to hope their rusted on supporters who haven’t quite grappled the fact they’re not in Europe, they’re in Australia will support them no matter what.
  3. Will their preferred system of pro/rel work? How are they going to do it? I have the feeling they’ll f**k this up to ensure certain clubs don’t get the drop. What happens if Sydney FC or WSW or Victory or City gets the drop? Will they get protected?

They could easily have done this years ago and ensured clubs were good to go. The Japanese have a magnificent system. Before the J. League, their old JSL system was made up of works teams, backed by the likes of Sony, Nissan, Mitsubishi, etc. They basically tore that system to shreds, made the clubs represent the broader geographical commuinity and kept corporate identity to a minimum.

Later on, they brought in associate membership. (see here) - in particular they had to meet certain requirements, which has changed over the years. The current requirements are:

Club organization

  • Must be organized as a public corporation or NPO solely devoted to football and exist in this status for no less than one year
    • The majority of the shares or stock must be Japanese owned
  • Must employ at least four administrative employees, one of whom must have managerial position
  • Must have proper payroll system according to Japanese law
  • Must have proper financial management and conduct annual tax audit
  • Must hold intellectual rights for the club name, logo, and all associated trademarks

Home town and stadium/training facility

  • Must be approved by respective Prefectural Football Association
  • Must be approved by the hometown government in writing
  • Home stadium must be located in the proposed hometown
  • Must secure training facilities within the proposed hometown

Others

  • Must currently play in JFL, regional league, or prefectural league
  • Must aim for eventual admission to J.League
  • Must have a working soccer school/youth system that exists for no less than one year

and if they want to make the make the jump, there are added hoops:

  • Must have a stadium that complies with J3 standards (capacity 2,000 or above) and passes the league examination
  • Must pass a J3 licensing examination by the league
  • Must finish within top two of the JFL
  • Must have average attendance of home games no less than 2,000 spectators in the prior season, with significant effort recognized to reach that number
  • Must make efforts to develop a stable support organization in the year immediately before joining
  • Must be deemed an appropriate J3 member by the board of directors based on club activities

Now I would say to any NPL club, you want into the A-League? Fine, you need to be a club in good standing with all and sundry, not be full of dickheads, be comptent both on and off field, have good facilities one way or the other, and meet these standards. If you can’t do any of these, f**k off.

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804

A 1 up/1 down promotion/relegation - with eligibility requirements on the promoted team for financial solvency and things like no fan behaviour strikes - would be enough. I’m sure parachute payments based on years in the A-League will be enough to make any demoted core A-League club bounce back up.

I think football just is different, and that the manufactured clubs, with the exception of WSW who managed to build a real local fanbase and regional identity for the western suburbs, just haven’t made real connections and the whole league struggles because of it.

For Melbourne as an example - in the AFL you can have all the Melbourne teams play at the MCG, because they had a century plus of local history before that to develop generational fanbases; but when you have City, Victory and WU all playing out of AAMI, why do you care. Similarly, saying “hey you have a team now” to people in southern Sydney who might well already support Sydney FC, why would they jump over to Macarthur?

If the A-League stayed small and high quality, then the football would be enough to keep the league strong, but they’ve expanded to the point where the thing feels much closer to the quality of the national second division.

That said, it’s scary how close they are to wanting to run this, yet don’t even know what format they are going to have? Shows the level of disorganisation we have.

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805
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806
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807

Manchester City are Premier League champions for the third season in a row, after second placed Arsenal lost 1-0 at Nottingham Forest, giving City an unbeatable four point lead.

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808

Melbourne City v Central Coast Mariners will be playing in the 2022/2023 A-League Grand Final, to be played in two weeks time.

The game will be played in Sydney’s CommBank Stadium (Parramatta).

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809

Why in Sydney? I thought one of the teams would be hosting it?

810

They sadly changed it for the next three years. It’s all about the $$$. The previous stste government of NSW payed “big bucks” to host the Grand Finals.

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811

Ah yes, I remember that now… thanks.

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812

F*****k Manchester City.
F****k Central Coast Mariners.

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813

funny

814

The international friendly will take place at The Workers’ Stadium on Thursday 15 June at 8.00pm local / 10.00pm AEST, and it will be the first time the two sides have met since their much talked about encounter at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, where Argentina claimed a 2-1 victory.

Fans in Australia will be able to watch the Subway Socceroos take on Argentina live and free on Network 10 and live on Paramount+.

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Network Ten and Paramount+ Football coverage
815

Newcastle Herald also reports that the Jets will likely be forced off McDonald Jones Stadium for two months during the A-League season, to allow for maintenance of the playing surface following a supercross event at the arena.

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816

Hopefully they move to the women’s stadium (no 2 sportsground), sold out will be a better atmosphere.

817

2 months for a Supercross event? Get f**ked.

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818

Gives a real indication where the Jets sit in the pecking order - that or the Supercross event must be bringing in a decent crowd and real big bucks.

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819

Screw the Supercross. They can tear up the Showground.

This is why MJS needs to be finished properly. Especially with a retractable pitch.

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820

Apparently, Hunter Stadium management are telling private box renters if that you want a box in 2024 for Knights games, you have to rent it for Jets games as well, they won’t be available as a stand alone package anymore.

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