A-League Expansion

[marconigirl]

I agree with some of your points... (except the fans bit... )
Okay, if you think that Mariners fans are number 6 then who would you say are the top 5 teams with the best fans ?

 

[Atomic]

Off Topic Alert 

I think the Mariners definitely have the best community support and per capita have the best following of any city / region in the country. In fact, there's no arguing that point.

BTW, we also have the most organised and hardest working supporters group in the land!  verhead: Thanks for all the GF ticketing efforts guys.

 

[Jocwa08]

If you type in North Queensland Thunder and Gold Coast Galaxy in wikipedia, they have their own page and stuff, Thunder have a logo

 

[marconigirl]

Off Topic Alert 

I think the Mariners definitely have the best community support and per capita have the best following of any city / region in the country. In fact, there's no arguing that point.

BTW, we also have the most organised and hardest working supporters group in the land!  verhead: Thanks for all the GF ticketing efforts guys.

Lol sorry about that...
I agree that the Mariners have the best community spirit and are a great family team... And yes they do get off the bottoms and help make things adaptable and are very helpful...

On topic..
I like the idea of the pre season cup as it is a trophy as Jesus said, but it also gets people from interstate involved as well... I am sure that we have supporters out in Bathurst etc due to Pre season games over the last few years!?!??!

I also think that a team in Wollongong or Canberra, or another team in Sydney would be good. Although I seem to think that the Gold Coast team is planned for next season (???) so maybe in a few years time!?!??!  Another thought is, would it be feesable (sp?) to have a team out west? (not Marconi area, but out towards the mountains or Bathurst etc? I just think that there is such a great number of people out there and they have no team to support that is closer then 3 hours (at least) away...

 

[kevrenor]

I agree with some of your points... (except the fans bit... )
Okay, if you think that Mariners fans are number 6 then who would you say are the top 5 teams with the best fans ?

And what criteria do you use for such rankings Password?

One this is for certain having two more fans groups in the league will give Sydney FC fans another lot to complain about unoriginal songs to, and for the scum to have pissing competitions with.

We try to get both a good home end, and the rest of the stadium rocking  - basically we don't care what other fans groups think as long as are players are lifted!

 

[Atomic]

One this is for certain having two more fans groups in the league will give Sydney FC fans another lot to complain about unoriginal songs to, and for the scum to have pissing competitions with.

LOL!

 

[Jesus]

I think the FFA realise, that as with us, and wellington especially, that a more localised naming can help connect with the community.

AFL is also going to put a team in West Sydney the year after gold coast.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Listening to some AFL spinmeister on the radio, they are "all set to go" with both teams. As the interview went on, he did admit that they just needed to find:-

1) Grounds
2) Players
3) Sponsors
4) Anyone who wants the licences.

 

[Omni]

Surely "Northern" is just as specific as "Queensland" and I believe the use of Northern was to open up options to play at more than one venue (they want to play one in Darwin a year) unlike Queensland who should really just be called Brisbane.

I can think of one criteria where Newcastle are the #1 fans: Most coins thrown.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Wonder if Qld Roar will need to change their name as well?? If they let in 2 more Qld sides then surely they will have to revert to Brisbane Roar??

 

[Jesus]

In this herald article,

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/western-sydney-a-battleground/2008/02/16/1202760668933.html?page=2
They have this quote


The man in charge of the increasingly popular A-League, Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley, said the FFA still planned to have a side in western Sydney within the next two to three years.

"Western Sydney is a great football region," Buckley said.

"There is enormous interest in football in the area. As well as having large numbers of players, it also has a fine tradition of producing outstanding talent such as Harry Kewell, Brett Emerton, Mark Schwarzer and former Socceroos captain Paul Okon."

12 teams before 3 years up?

On the other notes, i read somewhere that the afl was going to offer whoever takes the new licences like 100mil, as they offered the kangaroos.

The WS team would play out of homebush.

 

[Jocwa08]

I think after these two teams they should really take it easy for a while till after the soccer world cup where soccer will be bigger and better in australia then introduce more teams. bad idea bringing too many in at once

 

[Jesus]

The key is, if the existing clubs can be profitable, then the FFA have the ability to prop up if necessary a couple more. More clubs means larger tv audience, and possibly, more fox money for the extra games. I think that a move to west sydney will be essential.

I remember reading that homebush stadium was offering a reduced rate of hireing so as to help a west sydney a-league team. I doubt they would play there though. But maybe.

If a bid has enough money behind it, then it can be successful.

It is easier to bring teams in earlier, before there are significant increases in the salary cap.

 

[Atomic]

Where would a West Sydney team play? Parramatta Stadium, Homebush or ???? Parra would surely be too small and Homebush would be too big? I think you'd need about a 40 000 seater (like the SFS). They won't fill it at every game but the derby against Sydney will be a blockbuster and the games against us, Jets and Victory will attract > 30 000 (if the new team connects with the local community and gets the support that's available to it).

 

[Jesus]

Parra is more than big enough for a new teams.
They could play big games at homebush.

I would expect they would play at homebush though

 

[kevrenor]

Where would a West Sydney team play? Parramatta Stadium, Homebush or ???? Parra would surely be too small and Homebush would be too big? I think you'd need about a 40 000 seater (like the SFS). They won't fill it at every game but the derby against Sydney will be a blockbuster and the games against us, Jets and Victory will attract > 30 000 (if the new team connects with the local community and gets the support that's available to it).

Other options:
I'd prefer Parramatta, but:
http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=86 Penrith
http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=27 Campbelltown
and Aussie Rules are redeveloping this -
http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=252

 

[dibo]

parramatta makes the most sense geographically, and it's a terrific little ground for a-league purposes. if they extended the ends with single tier, roofed stands it would be close to the best ground in the a-league. i'd probably pop along there to watch matches fairly often.

 

[Jesus]

I wonder if there is currently a consortium thinking of bidding, or if the FFA are going to take the lead on it

 

[Jesus]

Watching Les intervewing Lowy. Lowy says it is likely 2 new teams next year. He goes on to say, in the next 2 or 3 years they will add a 2nd sydney team, and a 2nd melbourne team.

He says 2 more, though he is not sure from where are likely as well. With the preference being a 12 to 14 team league.

I like it. I like it alot !

 

[SNOWMARINER]

I'm over the moon to hear of A-League expansion, longer season, more games with different teams and happy to here the GC and Townsville are, providing they can prove their finances, joining next year. i would be really keen on the third team being Wollongong with them having a former NSL club so the history is there and no NRL team so like up here the community should take to it like we did.

I'm not so sure if FFA should be in a rush to have a second team in either Sydney or Melbourne but if Sydney did to get western Sydney people interested to attend games it would have to be based in either Parramatta or if that did'nt suit ground wise then Penrith. I think people east of Parramatta would still consider Sydney FC as their team and people who would make up the bulk of a western Sydney teams supporters would'nt travel to Hombush for games. I used to live in the western suburbs so I know this is the case. Penrith would'nt be such a bad Idea with easy access from Parramatta, blacktown to Penrith and Cambletown and the expanding areas to the north east of Penrith also an easy travel.

On the AFL wanting a second team in Sydney , they have got to be kidding. I think the other codes are going into panic mode at the realisation that you can't stop the (real) Football express. The paper showed a map with a team based in Blacktown which is a great idea but one small problem....no place to play. Maybe they will build one and the A-League can show them how it looks full.