midfielder
Well-Known Member
Simon Hill every now and then writes very good articles and this is one of his best and IMO makes a heap of sense..
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27751752-5000940,00.html?from=public_rss
A-League needs to build solid foundations for future, now
By Simon Hill
Fox Sports football commentator
September 24, 2010
Exclusive:
Ask any young family what their long-term aspirations are, and I'm willing to bet most would say "to stay together and to own a house".
The A-League is that young family. A little dysfunctional at the moment, trying to work out its issues - but still together.
Long-term, though, the goal has to be to invest in bricks and mortar; surely that is the solution to some of the competition's ills?
The biggest off-field issue surrounding the A-League seems to be the poor-quality return on the rent.
Brisbane Roar, Newcastle Jets and Gold Coast United all pay too much for something that is too big, that they don’t own, and aren’t yet rich enough to make feel like home.
Within the next decade, the vision must be to emulate the MLS in the United States and move out of multi-purpose stadiums into football-specific arenas that suit the needs of A-League clubs not their paymasters.
My Fox Sports football colleague Andy Harper argues - correctly in my opinion - that owning a 10,000 all-seater stadium is preferable to renting a 45,000-seat monolith, where supply will always outstrip demand.
Better to follow the lead of - for example - Urawa Red Diamonds, the J-League outfit, who played for years at the modest Komaba Stadium before their crowds became so big that they moved upmarket.
Owning a stadium brings huge financial benefits as profits from tickets, drink, food, merchandising and corporate facilities all go straight back into the club.
More than that, it's a sign that a football club has a solid presence in the community.
Go around the world, and football stadiums are like shrines. The club logo and colours are everywhere. Pictures of historic games and legendary players adorn the walls, and merchandise is sold on the back of that culture.
Too often in Australia, going to a football ground is like attending a car boot sale. The ground is a place where the club pitches up once a fortnight before hurriedly grabbing its belongings and moving on to let someone else squat for a while.
At many A-League stadiums, outside of a match day, you’d barely know a football club played there.
There are exceptions.
The new AAMI Park has a football feel to it, but even there the big signs in the corners of the ground announce the stadium is the home of "Rugby League, Rugby Union and Football".
Read those words again: "And football".
The world game is still an afterthought, an addendum to the main purpose, apparently, even though Melbourne Victory’s crowds created the demand for such a facility in the first place.
Adelaide United’s Hindmarsh Stadium is undoubtedly a pure football ground, but is it the Reds spiritual home? The arena is awash with drab grey, and there’s precious little outside the ground that trumpets it as the arena of South Australia‘s finest. Where is the red-and-white livery that states “this is the Reds' abode - enter if you dare!”?
Which leaves Perth. Lovely, homely nib Stadium - Perth Oval - the only stadium that proudly displays the team name and colours on its seats. Little wonder, really. Perth has history, and had a visionary leader in Nick Tana, with the foresight to purchase a home for his family.
As for the rest?
A hotchpotch of rugby league-focused grounds paying homage to someone else’s heroes.
Central Coast Mariners even have to endure having the name of a club that doesn‘t exist in the NRL (the Bears) adorn their stadium seats, which is a bit like moving into a rented home and having to put up with the landlord's choice of wallpaper. Sooner or later, you want to tear the paper down and decorate the house to your own taste.
So when is it likely to happen?
Well, what’s to stop Clive Palmer (for example) building his own stadium?
It’s easy for me to spend someone else’s money, of course, but someone has to be bold enough to lay the first brick, and he’d have the added incentive of depriving Skilled Park’s owners of their fortnightly cash.
Call the venue Palmer Park, get the business community on board, and attach a supermarket or a hotel on the side of it, for all I care; it's good enough for Chelsea, after all. In the long run, would the money invested not pay dividends and leave a legacy for future generations of football fans?
Ditto David Traktovenko in Sydney. There was talk of Sydney FC redeveloping Barton Park (the old home of St George) some time ago; now that would be a real football stadium.
In reality, stadiums cost millions to build, and land can be difficult to acquire.
Perhaps I’m dreaming, but, in my opinion, it has to be the game’s future aspiration.
Maybe if Australia can secure the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals then some of the training facilities could be converted to give football - and not some other code - some proper homes.
Perhaps by then, the young family will have worked through its problems, will still be together, and will finally have set down roots.
