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General A Leagues thread (Men and Women) 2025/26 season

melbcityguy said:
I don't see why not MacArthur and Western are clearly not interested in growing their club fook em
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Macarthur are more interested in bolstering their playing list by bringing in promising players from NPL sides and marquee players like Mitch Duke, whilst Western United thrived for a few years but has now essentially failed as a club and is most likely going to fold by season's end.
 
FeedTheBrox said:
This is something I have been saying for a while on this forum. We shouldn’t be barracking for teams to fold.
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here here and all and good for Clubs that were posted correctly and not back room farcicle agreements just to add numbers in hope it works.
That needs to be shouted to the clouds its wrong for the game and the fair few supporters who dove in only to be used as pawns and left to choke on the fumes.
Is that right.
Bulls and WU been joke and their journey's prove as such.
Same applied for others.
What these idiots should be focussing on is improving what they currently have that needs massive attention not looking for new headlines of new chapters to cover the mountains of cracks.
There's one thing that rings true re Clubs where members have a say around many parts of the world - you as a member have a say - here you are nothing in the APL - I don't get why so many go with the flow for the sake of having such a limited Pro league that is causing much angst frustration to all/most behind football and the lack of opportunity for so so many promising players men boys and girls.
 
grazorblade said:
Theyd probably get back to what they had if they were in the a league tho
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Im not sure about that Graz... the get abysmal crowds now, lower than any other VPL club, if they still had a hardcore few, why wouldn't they at least want to watch some form of their club run around on the wekend? What happeend to the tattooed WU till I dies types?
 
HonestSpursFan said:
If they actually tried getting people to go to games I could see Western United becoming a local community thing. Geelong only has one other major sports team (the Geelong Cats, who are admittedly insanely popular). While competing with the Cats is hard financially people watch multiple sports. Central Coast Mariners should be even easier to get crowds to. They don’t have any other pro sports teams on the Central Coast. Mariners should capitalise on that and give locals something to do on the weekend.

And yeah, fan engagement DOES work if done right. I know football is England’s main sport by far but hear me out. Arsenal Women have the best attendances in the WSL because they spent heaps of time and money on getting people to games after the Lionesses’ successes at major tournaments (they’ve won the last two Euros and were runners-up to Spain at the last World Cup). While Chelsea have clearly had more success on the pitch, Arsenal have annoyingly made themselves by far the most supported English women’s football club. It would be harder but I don’t see why a similar strategy couldn’t be applied here to get fans of other codes to also follow soccer in addition to other sports.
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Are you serious? The APL and the FFA before them have been trying to appeal to the mainstream masses for two decades.
 
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grazorblade said:
Well I guess it depends on whether you make me dictator or not

If I am dictator and don't have to care about politics, I make a victorian and NSW super league with a public criteria and open invitation for clubs from other states to join. Have promotion and relegation between the top vpn and nswnpl and the second division with one spot each. The initial clubs would be the f8 clubs plus the winner of this years vpl and nws npl to make an initial 10 teams. As clubs from other states join, give non nsw/vic teams protection from relegation for a few years until you hit 18 teams in a second division and you can have either a champions league or a conference league to buffer between the npl and nst where there is p&r. p&r between the a league and vpl from year 2 but some phased protections for a league clubs and a clear time table to phase those out so a league clubs can do the necessary prep to survive in different tiers.

If I was going for what was politically possible, I would just make public the criteria needed to enter both the A league and nst and see where the chips land. Making it transparent means that political winds can shift. Perhaps higher ups want criteria at a different level to what the grassroots want. If the criteria is public people can debate. If the public criteria has democratic legitimacy and we don't have an nst then at least clubs know what to aim for.
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Guess you will have to have a massive army keeping you on the throne.. Good luck getting existing clubs to agree to participate in your leagues
 
melbcityguy said:
I don't see why not MacArthur and Western are clearly not interested in growing their club fook em
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You could argue the same about City, though. Apart from magnificent training facilities, some decent youth development and led the way in better funding women’s football, they haven’t really done much to grow their club… In particular their fan base

When they relocated to the Southeast, I was hoping they would build that stadium in Dandenong. I think it was last year MCFC told its fans in a forum that they have no desire to leave AAMI Park. That really disappointed me.

It might take 20-30 years, but Victory has ambitions to one day to build its own stadium. CFG can afford to do it now if they really wanted to.
 
FeedTheBrox said:
You could argue the same about City, though. Apart from magnificent training facilities, some decent youth development and led the way in better funding women’s football, they haven’t really done much to grow their club… In particular their fan base

When they relocated to the Southeast, I was hoping they would build that stadium in Dandenong. I think it was last year MCFC told its fans in a forum that they have no desire to leave AAMI Park. That really disappointed me.

It might take 20-30 years, but Victory has ambitions to one day to build its own stadium. CFG can afford to do it now if they really wanted to.
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If the APLs had any balls they would make that decision for them.

But because its CFG, they dont.

Its a disgrace they have been able to stay at AAMI Park for so long. They need to be in a tiny, boutique stadium in the south east.

They haven't assisted in growing the game in this country at all.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
I think it would work better if the club’s themselves did it and focused on local communities. CCM for example are the only pro sports team in their entire city/periurban region.
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Your pushing the barrow that has been flogged by them since AL started and then with a lot more $$$$’s.
It’s obvious CCM can only do so much.
Mind you their youth has grown well and participation- what more would change.
 
FeedTheBrox said:
You could argue the same about City, though. Apart from magnificent training facilities, some decent youth development and led the way in better funding women’s football, they haven’t really done much to grow their club… In particular their fan base

When they relocated to the Southeast, I was hoping they would build that stadium in Dandenong. I think it was last year MCFC told its fans in a forum that they have no desire to leave AAMI Park. That really disappointed me.

It might take 20-30 years, but Victory has ambitions to one day to build its own stadium. CFG can afford to do it now if they really wanted to.
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Thats fair. My conspiracy theory is none of the owners really care about winning or having fans and it's just about selling players
 
melbcityguy said:
Thats fair. My conspiracy theory is none of the owners really care about winning or having fans and it's just about selling players
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Mate, why conspiracy theory? They actually told you all they don't give a shit about you or the football 2 year ago...

www.espn.com.au

A-League is a development league, says APL commissioner Nick Garcia

The A-League's pivot towards a "football focus" will bolster the competition's status as a breeding ground for players, according to APL commissioner Nick Garcia.
www.espn.com.au www.espn.com.au
 
Barca4life said:
Why is developing and selling players a bad thing? This sport is not afl or nrl, are we still going to argue this point again?
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Its not a bad thing at all .... for a business.

Thats what McDonalds does, it takes potatoes and develops them as fries to sell... I dont cheer for McDonalds though do you? :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
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