FFA vs Supporters The Grand Final Debate (Digit Blog)

[Digit]

Thanks guys for your comment on my previous weeks Blog (A-league Provides for an unpredictable outcome).  I hope to write a Blog on a weekly basis (via the Northern Element Website) so hopefully the topics can provide a platform for sharing opinions, even if those opinions do differ from my own.

FFA vs Supporters The Grand Final Debate

http://northern-element.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=1

Its about the familiar journey to your home ground.

Its about the small plastic seat that will be yours for the next 90 minutes as it has been for the previous 10 or 11 games.

Its about the welcoming roar from your fellow supporters as your team takes their first steps out onto home soil.

Its about knowing that the opposition players and supporters are stepping into your territory and that no matter what they do, you will always have that advantage over them.

Its about overcoming the trials and tribulations of the regular season in an effort to provide your local community the opportunity to put your town and your city in the public eye for 90 minutes.

Its about hosting the Grand Final of the Hyundai A League.

However, it seems this year the Grand Final is more about the commercial gains available to the FFA than it is about serving the communities that our top flight teams represent.

Dont get me wrong, we should take nothing away from the financial burden that the FFA must carry. We have a national league that requires teams to travel more distance than any other domestic competition in the globe. We also have a Mens, Womans and several Youth Teams that have obligations to compete overseas that far exceed the international commitments of our other Australian Football Codes.

We need to pay the bills somehow and if sponsorship and TV revenue doesnt balance the books then the only other income stream is that of gate receipts, with the Grand Final assumed to be the biggest draw card of the national competition.

So with that in mind I have no doubt that the FFA Accountants were doing somersaults when they finished crunching the numbers and came to the realisation that this could be nice little earner for their organisation. In fact, they were probably kicking down Buckleys door with the idea quicker than you could save a spreadsheet.

However, there was one little equation that they forget to include in their calculation, an equation you cannot get from any text book or CPA mailout. To understand the maths of this decision you first need to stand alongside the supporters of these two clubs on game day. You need to hear the Marinators and the Squadron sing proudly for the town and city in which their team resides, whilst understanding the venom in their voices when they sing against their rivals. Rivals that include Sydney who are the proposed host of this years Grand Final.

I have no doubt that there will be people from within the supporter base of these clubs who would be happy with the extra capacity that a Sydney Stadium will provide and that the travel time associated is all but a minor inconvenience. But at the same time, I am sure there is a large contingent who takes the FFA decision as an insult to their town/city and an even bigger insult to the Stadium that they call home, a stadium that has shared the 90 Emotions of their season to date.

Such is the mentality of a football supporter on game day that a thirty minute journey from the Central Coast to Sydney may well as be a trip across the border into occupied territory. Understanding this will help understand the magnitude of the FFAs decision when it comes to this seasons Grand Final.

But its not just the territorial and hardline supporters of these clubs who will be affected. There will also be fringe supporters who may not have taken their first steps to a Newcastle or Central Coast game, where an occasion such as this may draw them from their living rooms and into their local stadium where the energy and atmosphere could well cement their support for the years ahead.

Instead, such an opportunity is being handed to Sydney FC on a silver platter where the FFA will be drawing on a potential supporter base for the Grand Final that has so far failed (per capita) to get behind the A League. In fact, 80k turned out too see Beckham play against Sydney at ANZ Stadium only a few months ago with only 1/8th returning the following week for their subsequent A-League game. However, in the wisdom of the FFA these showpiece supporters from Sydney are given yet another opportunity to get on the bandwagon, much to the detriment of Newcastle and Central Coast. It is no wonder that conspiracies are beginning to surface in regards to the FFA Chairmans (Frank Lowry) part ownership of Sydney FC when decisions continue to be made in favour of the Sydney club.

The reality is that the motives are solely corporate. It is the same motives that have seen the FFA put a FIRE SALE sign up against our game where everything must go! The traditionalist amongst us have previously raised concerns about Australia being sold to Qantas when it comes to our National Team name, now it seems that Home Ground Advantage is also on the market and will be available to the highest bidder.

We can all agree that Football is a business and that it must make money if it is succeed, but at what point does making money for the game start costing us the game itself.

 

[brett]

"But its not just the territorial and hardline supporters of these clubs who will be affected. There will also be fringe supporters who may not have taken their first steps to a Newcastle or Central Coast game, where an occasion such as this may draw them from their living rooms and into their local stadium where the energy and atmosphere could well cement their support for the years ahead."

We fill our stadium for regular games, thanks. How are these noobs gonna get to the game unless we move it?

 

[FFC Mariner]

I read this last night but couldnt be arsed to destroy the arguments.

"Dont get me wrong, we should take nothing away from the financial burden that the FFA must carry. We have a national league that requires teams to travel more distance than any other domestic competition in the globe. We also have a Mens, Womans and several Youth Teams that have obligations to compete overseas that far exceed the international commitments of our other Australian Football Codes.

We need to pay the bills somehow and if sponsorship and TV revenue doesnt balance the books then the only other income stream is that of gate receipts, with the Grand Final assumed to be the biggest draw card of the national competition"

A very sound reason for moving the thing surely??

Novocastrian insularity and continued reluctance to embrace the wrold outside their town is probably what defines their region as a 1970's post industrial backwater.

Its like Liverpool reaching the cup final and whining about going to play at Wembley because their opponents will be Arsenal (North London, same as Wembley). They would be laughed and rightly so.

The whole "Sydney advantage" bollocks can be dealt with because they CANNOT be the hosts (coz the were 3rd) so all the FFA have to do is allocate tickets pro the "home" side.

 

[BrisRecky]

"thirty minute journey from the Central Coast to Sydney"?

What Central Coast are you talking about mate...

if you know a way to get to the SFS or Olympic park  in 30 minutes spread the word, cause that would be absolutely marvellous.

 

[marconigirl]

"thirty minute journey from the Central Coast to Sydney"?

What Central Coast are you talking about mate...

if you know a way to get to the SFS or Olympic park  in 30 minutes spread the word, cause that would be absolutely marvellous.

[size=10pt]I agree, he must be talking about the outskirts of both central coast and sydney..
I have never done Gosford to Epping in less then 40 mins... (Homebush is at least another 15/20 mins give or take traffic, and SFS is more likely another half hour at least (once again depending on traffic). Even in the train it wouldn't be less then an hour... [/size]

 

[BrisRecky]

train is 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30 per trip, ..GOSFORD TO TOWN HALL.......so to get to Olympic Park.....its train Gosford to Strathfield, then train Strathfield to lidcombe then the sprint to Olympic Park ...a good two hours at least, thats what it took us the other night to see BON JOVI....30 mins this bloke is dreaming....but the rest of the blog aint too foul

 

[rosko]

Come on... You can walk from Cheerio Point to Brooklyn in 30minutes.. Maybe... 

 

[northernspirit]

"thirty minute journey from the Central Coast to Sydney"?

What Central Coast are you talking about mate...

if you know a way to get to the SFS or Olympic park  in 30 minutes spread the word, cause that would be absolutely marvellous.

perhaps the FFA is thinking about using an oval in Berowra recky?

 

[Digit]

Just wondering if recent speculation changes any opinions regarding my original Blog (which refers to commercialism at the expense of local communities)?

 

[Gav...]

train is 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30 per trip, ..GOSFORD TO TOWN HALL.......so to get to Olympic Park.....its train Gosford to Strathfield, then train Strathfield to lidcombe then the sprint to Olympic Park ...a good two hours at least, thats what it took us the other night to see BON JOVI....30 mins this bloke is dreaming....but the rest of the blog aint too foul

It doesnt take 2 hours to get there. i have just finished working there for the easter show and the longest it took me was 1.5hour. It usually took just over an hour

 

[pjennings]

The connections are better during the show. I work at SOP - about 500m from the Stadium. Its an hour by car on a good run from Gosford and around 90 mins after walking through Bicentennial Park. To go via Lidcombe is not a good run. 

 

[BrisRecky]

train is 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30 per trip, ..GOSFORD TO TOWN HALL.......so to get to Olympic Park.....its train Gosford to Strathfield, then train Strathfield to lidcombe then the sprint to Olympic Park ...a good two hours at least,

It doesnt take 2 hours to get there. i have just finished working there for the easter show and the longest it took me was 1.5hour. It usually took just over an hour

Well, ya lucked out then buddy, or maybe its because i been doing the Gosford -city thing for years it just seems longer

 

[northernspirit]

yeah but recky to get to olympic park you get off at strathfield which is a fair way before the city and olympic park is only 2 or so stations from there, you just gotta hope the train connects quickly

 

[BrisRecky]

yeah but recky to get to olympic park you get off at strathfield which is a fair way before the city and olympic park is only 2 or so stations from there, you just gotta hope the train connects quickly

spirit, me and train timetable have never co-existed peacefully...thats for certain

 

[northernspirit]

same goes for me, for latest timetables go to: http://www.shittyrail.info