By Anthony Barbagallo
Football, or soccer as some call it down under, is the most played sport in Australia. But for many years Australian football has been competing with the AFL and Rugby codes in terms of viewership. The fan culture and quality of football in the A-League are still bland – miles behind the European leagues and the MLS in the United States. At the moment, it feels like Australian football is still trying to run like the AFL and Rugby codes. It’s time this stops.
Relegation and promotion system – this means professionalising the NPL
The FFA (Football Federation Australia) have been reluctant to introduce a relegation and promotion system in the professional and semi-professional divisions since the creation of the A-League. Only having 11 clubs in Australia’s top-flight of football has been dubbed as dull by the fans, pundits and most football media. The lack of team diversity indicates that the A-League struggles to promote intense competition.
Australia, along with the US, are the only countries to feature no relegation and promotion system within their football divisions. Europe has shown that this system creates more excitement and challenges for football clubs. England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1 all have a relegation structure for the teams that finish in the bottom three or four on the table. These countries’ second divisions have a promotion system for teams that win the second tier, and there is also a playoff system for sides that secure top four or six positions.
In Australia, the first step to introduce a relegation and promotion system is to professionalise the second division of the NPL (The National Premier League). Because the Australia NPL consists of eight groups – each based on State locations – there needs to be a massive reduction in the teams to make up one group for an official second division.
The FFA could look into which clubs might be financially fit to compete in a second division and clubs that are viable for promotion to the A-League. An example of clubs that could fall into this category is the Marconi Stallions, Adelaide City, South Melbourne and Sydney United – clubs that used to play in the former National Soccer League from the 1970s-1990s. Also, these types of Australian clubs are founded by Italian, Croatian and Greek communities – something that adds more cultural rivalry to the game like in Europe.
End the salary cap
Australia’s top division needs to end the salary cap. Numerous football journalists have called to end the salary cap in the A-League. While this financial restriction heavily features in Rugby League and other Australian sporting codes, it doesn’t work for football. Stripping the salary cap will allow football clubs to sign more foreign marquee footballers and attract a broader interest from promising youth in Europe and abroad.
Observe the MLS competition in the US
Another option the FFA could purse is to follow a similar model that the MLS (Major League Soccer) division runs in the US. Having 14 teams in two groups – an Eastern and Western conference – would eliminate a large amount of interstate travel. The MLS is currently booming with new clubs in different cities joining the project. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, MLS sides were setting all-time crowd records – Atlanta United as an example.
Scrap the final playoffs
The final playoffs need to go from Australia’s top football division. It’s a controversial system that goes against traditional football. The way a team is crowned champion in the European football leagues is through the standings at the season’s end.
A final playoffs series may make it enjoyable with more underdog stories, but this system takes away the hard work of teams who finished in the top spot of the regular standings. It’s like having the 2015-16 English Premier League champions Leicester City receiving a small premiers plate, only to then lose in the first round of the playoffs. The only place playoffs should feature in Australian football is in the second division – where teams are fighting for promotion to the top tier.
Australian football needs a fresh model to run, a program that makes the sport distinct in the nation.