Carbery

FFA have to be shown that the public want it. Everyone has been watching the slow motion train crash that has been Gold Coast United's 3rd season which has been embarrassing to say the least. One person has been responsible for the low crowds, low morale, and finally loosing his licence. FFA have taken over the team until the end of the season but after that its pretty certain that the franchise will be moved elsewhere (Western Sydney?).
The only hope of top flight football staying on the coast under a new owner is if there is a large show of support for the last 2 home games (v Perth 18 March, v Brisbane 25 March).

Ticketek are selling the tickets, so if you are a sports fan on the GC please support a local team & show Palmer it was him that drove the fans away not the team....

ozzieeagle

I hope you get 10k+ there

Carbery

5 - 6 k would be great, considering an average crowd of probably 2 this season

bobbyftm

Unfortunately for whatever reasons at this time the Gold Coast does seem to be suffering from a lack of support in both football and rugby What with the newly formed Afl team just about to kick off as well i think it could get even worse although even giving the inception of a new sport, in a couple of months i believe lack of interest coupled with lack of wins will drive that sport to the walls as well unfortunately Contributions to the demise of these sports from my perspective having visited the stadium several times before would be 1)the incapacity to have parking facilities for those people wishing to drive to the game and 2) from personal experience it appears prices are a tad expensive (compared to other stadiums i have visited).Here's hoping for a great response fron the local public for all 3 codes in the future

ps Got our tickets for the Titans V Bulldogs game soon as we're visiting that weekend

upyerfud

Don't you mean Scottish First Division equivelant football? A-leauge standard is a bit of a joke isn't it?
The low crowds aren't just CP's fault. The product on show has to take some of the blame as well.

ozzieeagle

A league standard is comparable to the bottom half of the Championship in most games. The Championship league is arguably the most fiercely competive and equal league in the world.

I wouldnt call the standard a joke at present in fact its now probably the 2nd best in Asia after only 7 years..... the way the competition is set up isn't the best... but thats all you can do with 10 teams. A Cup competition is being talked about with some of the old NSL teams to come to the party.

I think you'll find at least two of the Gold Coasts current youth players will end up at very big clubs in Europe..... Gold Coasts youth players are the best in the Country at present and there will be a fair few of them playing for Australian national team in the not too distant future.

Carbery

Its top flight football in Australia. Of course its not EPL standard but what is?
The first 2 seasons my son & I were members going to every home game plus Roar away games, because of work commitments we did not renew this season but have been to the odd game. It became clear that Palmer had lost interest and with his actions becoming more unpredictable the already low fan base deserted in droves. FFA took away his licence which was upheld in court and are now running the club until the end of the season. A large show of support plus of course a new owner could keep football on the GC..

Broad Shoulders

I think we are kidding ourselves if we think any ground is going to average 20k attendances within the next 5 years. Some of the teams in the A-League do already come close to this number (Victory) but the majority hover around the 8-10k. Roar this season has probably averaged around 11k if I was to hazard a guess. On the odd occasion we have hit the 20k mark but mostly we are around the 10-11k mark, which is quite good when you consider that football is still a relatively new competitive sport to this area where Rugby League rules.
Last weekend I was talking to the Roar CFO after the game and discussed about the marketing of both the club and the game in general (seeing as my field is marketing). He was very open actually about the pressures on them and the league. Last year, despite winning the A-League Brisbane Roar went broke. Because they were so successful and the fact that they qualified for the Asian Champions League the FFA decided to underwrite them while they found a buyer. Because of this, the FFA did not give Brisbane any funds to market for the coming season, meaning capitalising on their previous season would be very difficult.

For me though, the main problem is general exposure of the sport. Football is played by more kids than any other sport in Australia. This should give the sport a big edge over the other codes. However, it doesn't because it does not capitalise on it by giving access to free-to-air viewers. I am a junior coach, many of the kids in my team love the game, but because they do not have Foxtel, they do not get exposed to the professional leagues and therefore the skills on show. I bet if I took Messi, Fabregas, Rooney and co to meet some of my players they wouldn't have a clue who they were in the presence of, simply because the majority of kids do not have Foxtel. If they are not exposed to these players then they will never have someone in the sport to aspire to. The FFA's main lifeline to stay alive is Foxtel, however it could also be its speed limiter. Growth under an exclusive deal with Foxtel will severely hinder the chances of the sport growing. If they were to simply have a Match of the Day style show on free-to-air TV this would allow kids to watch top flight football and encourage kids to want to see more and go to the games. After all, I was born into an era where top flight football was only on Pay-TV and my only exposure was via MOTD and FA Cup free-to-air TV.
How many kids would you see practicing moves they saw their local football stars perform at your local park? I remember seeing this week in week out when growing up. But none of those kids would have been seeing the live footage on Sky, it would have most likely come from the free-to-air footage.

ozzieeagle

There is a small glimmer of light on the Horizon guys....

http://www.sportal.com.au/football-n...d-coast-167375

Carbery

Early days but it seems a good concept. The local fans have to back it though - very disappointing crowd of 1720 on Sunday..

ozzieeagle

Nah... The Turnstile Counter freezes up around that figure as it's not used to going any higher

Keep that up and if you ever get to a final with MV there would be more Fans from 1100 miles away than locals.

It'll get better just need some contunity and growth... Some Positive feedback etc etc.

Broad Shoulders

I really do hope the GCU survive to see another season, but I just cannot see it happening. As Carberry said, a lot was made in the community about showing Clive Palmer what for by turning out in droves at the Perth game, yet they still couldn't get 2000 people there!

Given this piece of news, I think the GC is doomed

http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/n...-1226306800565

If a Rugby League team can't succede in a Rugby League monopolised state like QLD then what hope does a football team have?

ozzieeagle

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

In relation to the standard.... Last night we had the ACL (Asian Champions league) All the Aussie teams did pretty well. Especially Adelaide who beat Gamba Osaka 2-0 .... People may scoff at this, but IMO the Jleague is high Championship standard... Their top teams would be pushing for promotion from the Championship.

Gamba are the team that put 3 past Man Utd in the World Club Championship a couple of years back. I dont think any Aussie team has beaten any J league team uptil yesterday.

The ACL is the best measure we have of comparing the A leagues standard and progress.

The CCMariners game v the J league Champions Nagoya was very high standard... Finished 1-1

I'm hoping that within 10 years we wll be starting to get used to scenes like this in ACL finals v J league teams. Be great to see MVictory at one of these games..... I reckon it's coming.



This should make the punters sit up.

ozzieeagle

Unfortunately looks like it's over. A league is just about to announce a new start up team to replace GCU in Western Sydney next year.

Now that should be interesting !

Sorry to you guys up on the GC... hang on in there, I reckon that you'll be back in 3 years time as the next start up team... Unless Hobart or Woolongong get it.

JoeBloggs80

I'm looking forward to the West Sydney team. Sydney FC has always felt a bit plastic to me, and there haven't been any other choices as a Sydneysider. Hopefully the West Syd team will be a bit more grass roots...be interesting to see who they get as coach, marquee player etc.

And of course the name which apparently is going to be voted for by the community...West Sydney Bogans anyone??