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A-League Women/Matildas transfers and delistings

libelous said:
Is this way of thinking the football equivalent of the famous ‘ cultural cringe’? 😁
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With the A-League Women being an export league the system is essentially based around clubs picking players up from Member Federation competitions or promoting from their farm system, having them play in the top flight for a couple of years to help with their development then culling them and having them head elsewhere, whether that be overseas or returning to lower division comps.
 
rebelliousfeminist974 said:
The Dub is failing because the APL are running the league into the ground with their mismanagement and the timeframe given by the PFA to pursue full-time professionalisation is not sustainable especially with a lack of progress in negotiations for the new collective bargaining agreement.
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I agree, so what in your opinion is the best way to make it sustainable?

There is an interesting article written by Erin Smith in which she advocates for scrapping the league and replacing it with a sustainable six team competition similar to the National Super League in Canada. This is also my way of thinking.
 
libelous said:
I agree, so what in your opinion is the best way to make it sustainable?

There is an interesting article written by Erin Smith in which she advocates for scrapping the league and replacing it with a sustainable six team competition similar to the National Super League in Canada. This is also my way of thinking.
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It's not necessary to scrap the entire league altogether and start afresh though because the foundations for a fully professional ten-team Dub are already in place but the timeframe given by the PFA to achieve full-time professionalisation is too short and ideally there needs to be rebundling with Football Australia or creation of a separate entity to administer just the A-League Women and future lower tiers for when we eventually implement pro-rel.
 
rebelliousfeminist974 said:
It's not necessary to scrap the entire league altogether and start afresh though because the foundations for a fully professional ten-team Dub are already in place but the timeframe given by the PFA to achieve full-time professionalisation is too short and ideally there needs to be rebundling with Football Australia or creation of a separate entity to administer just the A-League Women and future lower tiers for when we eventually implement pro-rel.
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My point is that the APL nor the FA want the league so we should scrap it and start again with a properly funded league.
The proposed league ( by Erin Smith and others) is exactly what I see as vital.
 
libelous said:
My point is that the APL nor the FA want the league so we should scrap it and start again with a properly funded league.
The proposed league ( by Erin Smith and others) is exactly what I see as vital.
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If neither the APL nor Football Australia want the Dub then we should be creating a separate entity to take control of the A-League Women and associated lower divisions in the future when promotion and relegation is eventually implemented which would build on the existing foundations of a ten-team comp whilst stopping short of scrapping everything altogether as Erin Smith and others are proposing.
 
rebelliousfeminist974 said:
If neither the APL nor Football Australia want the Dub then we should be creating a separate entity to take control of the A-League Women and associated lower divisions in the future when promotion and relegation is eventually implemented which would build on the existing foundations of a ten-team comp whilst stopping short of scrapping everything altogether as Erin Smith and others are proposing.
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I like your optimism but.I don’t think we can wait for a future.
The problem is now.
 
In addition to the APL not wanting to administer the league the clubs don’t want the financial burden of having a women’s team.
 
libelous said:
Then tell me why the league is failing?
It is obviously not being sustainable for the clubs.
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The league isn’t failing. It’s alive more than ever. It was only a few years ago where the attendance was in the hundreds for most games (even when Matildas played here). Two clubs had financial issues (so does Barcelona). One club folded but so did their men’s team.
 
libelous said:
I agree, so what in your opinion is the best way to make it sustainable?

There is an interesting article written by Erin Smith in which she advocates for scrapping the league and replacing it with a sustainable six team competition similar to the National Super League in Canada. This is also my way of thinking.
Click to expand...
It’s certainly an idea that has merit given Holland and Portugal did this. The only problem with the it is we already have more than six teams. How would we choose which six teams stay and which ones go? The only solution I can think of is pro/rel, which both Holland (Vrouwen Eredivisie → Vrouwen Eerste Divisie) and Portugal (Liga BPI → II Divisião) have. Otherwise it becomes exclusionary.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
The league isn’t failing. It’s alive more than ever. It was only a few years ago where the attendance was in the hundreds for most games (even when Matildas played here). Two clubs had financial issues (so does Barcelona). One club folded but so did their men’s team.
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The average attendance for the Northern Super League (2025) was 3633.
The average was for the ALW (2025/26) was 1663.

I think it is important to point this out as my preferred model for a revamped league is the NSL.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
It’s certainly an idea that has merit given Holland and Portugal did this. The only problem with the it is we already have more than six teams. How would we choose which six teams stay and which ones go? The only solution I can think of is pro/rel, which both Holland (Vrouwen Eredivisie → Vrouwen Eerste Divisie) and Portugal (Liga BPI → II Divisião) have. Otherwise it becomes exclusionary.
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We don’t have to choose because the ALW as it stands would be defunct.
 
libelous said:
The average attendance for the Northern Super League (2025) was 3633.
The average was for the ALW (2025/26) was 1663.

I think it is important to point this out as my preferred model for a revamped league is the NSL.
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Canada also has a much bigger population than Australia (41.5 million versus 28 million). The attendances are fairly similar when you put into perspective the population of each country.

The NSL works but it’s a different situation. Canada had no national women’s league before 2025, nor did it have any NWSL teams (unlike the Canadian MLS teams and Canadian teams in most other American Major Leagues). We’ve had one since 2008. There’s little point to disbanding the existing teams that’ve been playing for 18 years.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Canada also has a much bigger population than Australia (41.5 million versus 28 million). The attendances are fairly similar when you put into perspective the population of each country.

The NSL works but it’s a different situation. Canada had no national women’s league before 2025, nor did it have any NWSL teams (unlike the Canadian MLS teams and Canadian teams in most other American Major Leagues). We’ve had one since 2008. There’s little point to disbanding the existing teams that’ve been playing for 18 years.
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The ‘bigger population’ argument is spurious at best but Australia has had a womens league for 18 years and two major tournaments on home soil to build support and has failed miserably.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
It’s certainly an idea that has merit given Holland and Portugal did this. The only problem with the it is we already have more than six teams. How would we choose which six teams stay and which ones go? The only solution I can think of is pro/rel, which both Holland (Vrouwen Eredivisie → Vrouwen Eerste Divisie) and Portugal (Liga BPI → II Divisião) have. Otherwise it becomes exclusionary.
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It's perfectly possible for us to have a sustainable ten-team competition built on the existing foundations provided by the Dub without having to scrap the entire league and start afresh though.
 
libelous said:
How?
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We separate the Dub from the A-League Men and unbundle it from the APL to create a separate entity that will control the entire women's pyramid in Australia before creating a ten-team comp with 22 matchdays and eventually implementing a women's Hahn Australia Cup, women's Australian Championship and pro-rel.
 
libelous said:
The ‘bigger population’ argument is spurious at best but Australia has had a womens league for 18 years and two major tournaments on home soil to build support and has failed miserably.
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I guess the millions that watch Matildas games don’t matter?
 
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