30 game season starting in late-July

30 game season starting in late-July

A couple of interesting bits at the end of a Mike Cockerill article in the Sydney Morning Herald

Apart from the rumour that Reddy has signed for the bling for 3 years and it may become official at a press conference today (though he might be referring to an announcement on Corica's retirement). There's also "news" on the scheduling for the 10/11 season ...

"In other news, it's believed the next A-League season will have it's earliest-ever start - the last weekend of July - after Football Federation Australia and the clubs agreed to a 30-week competition to accommodate new franchise Melbourne Heart."

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/sky-blues-ready-to-raid-palace-for-carle-20100209-npud.html

Aren't the West Sydney team joining too?

Year after.

Not until the 11/12 season, we'll only have 11 teams next season. The FFA gave the Sydney Rovers (the name they are likely to use) an extra season to prepare.

JULY! Thats still so long away

They cant sign Van Dijk,hes signing for us Tegal2010-02-10 12:24:07

A 30 game season, 15 at home. Surely we can all live with one or two of these being played out of town?

Depends on why theyre being played away. why have 13 at home when you can have 15  Troll. Do love the season getting longer though. The offseason wait is agony is it not!

So extrapolating forward, will this mean a 33 game season from 2011/12?

...or 22

Yeah possible, but that would be a shame - dropping 8 games in one hit. Perhaps it will depend on whether moving to 30 games shows a drop in crowds. I haven't kept an eye on crowd trends, but for the non-expansion clubs have we seen much movement in home averages this season on the last?

Surely they wouldnt cut it back so drastically? Though i guess its roughly the same amount of games cut (27 to 20 or 30 to 22),they may have decided 20 games is too few,but 22 is just right in 2 seasons time.

Would hope it would be 33 games, but I could see 22 or even 27 (via an ugly 2.5 round schedule) happening if the season is seen to be getting too long to sustain interest with competition from the AFL and NRL. 22 or 27 might also be seen as preferable if an expansion to 14+ sides is being planned.

Hopefully the world cup will boost interest and make the clubs and FFA more confident in a longer season!

Steady on Tegal lad. There's a bit more footy to come (especially in June).

Good point!!! . What a year this is

Shouldn't it start later rather than earlier in order to avoid finals of winter codes and narrow the March - June gap to international tournaments?