FFA's Phoenix dilemma

FFA's Phoenix dilemma

TWe have done nothing wrong. What would happen if we lost our license?  With our players contracted for 2+ more seasons?

nothing new or insightful in that blog.

just the usual Aussie garbage .... 

Seriously, so many holes in that you could drive a truck through it. 

I'm sure a dim witted minority of Australian fans will be on the bandwagon but those that know the FFA are propping up one side and came close to having to prop up another will realise that the any side with an owner willing to lose $2.5 million and still say he's in this for the long haul isn't going anywhere.

The broader picture

Many in Asia do not want Australia in Asia� complain that Australia has taken a WC place from Asia .. thus they are looking for reasons to maybe throw Australia out of Asia.

The AFC need to pacify the Asian nations and make judgements on a number of other delicate issues � meaning when other Asian nations bring the NZ / Australia position up and say.. why allow this and disallow what we want to do!!!!

There are as I mentioned in another thread between 5 & 8 other bidders for the 3 remaining spots (assuming a 14 team format)�.. meaning 5 local bids which could include some state governments in TAS, ACT, & NT � will not get a spot and cry loud & long�

NZ is in the A-League for two reasons..1) the Frank Lowy promise not to walk out on NZ, has he done enough to say I tried� 2) the potential of NZ growing from a small base into a larger base�

What evidence (by which I mean , mainstream media coverage,  sponsorships, growth in TV ratings, government influence increasing, junior player numbers on a healthy raise, crowds both home and away) is there that NZ Football is growing � or is it struggling to hold it�s current position..

The best way to remain in the A-League is to grow NZ football... making the WC will help a huge amount... But I think you are miss reading a lot of the messages coming out of Australia..While there are some who only want Australian teams ... many are saying if we have a NZ team, at the expense of a local team ... then grow the game in NZ ... and as I said earlier the move into Asia and WCQ has propelled Football in Australia.. comparing 2004 & 2009 .... WOW what a change ... I guess while not expecting the same rate of change and acceptance .. some are looking to NZ to live up to the potential it promises..  ... Meaning if a NZ team cannot deliver on its potential ... why should the FFA give them preference over Australian bidders...

It's not easy as there is the world cup votes,  problems to develop and grow Asia from within Asia and have the management of the AFC seen as neutral ... So it is not an easy problem so long as NZ Football appears stuck and not moving forward.. 

yeah but at the same time,the FFA wouldnt have been expecting a rapid and quick rise of the game in NZ,it has only been 2 seasons after all. But yes,the coverage has taken a step backward...I still think the FFA would look to give it time to improve however,because if the A league does start to take off there are many fans of the league to be gained here in comparison to yet another local team.

Just get Mohamed Bin Hammam replaced with NZ/Australian sympathiser as President of AFC surrounded by other sympathsiers - problem solved.

Junior822009-08-13 12:58:45

The other way to look at it is, would kicking the Phoenix out of the A-League have any affect on which way Oceania votes when it comes to the Aussie bid for the world cup?

Things change quickly in politics and sport.

Australia won,t dump the Phoenix. For a number of reasons....some have been already mentioned.

A recent sports survey in NZ showed 37 percent of the population said they were interested or very interested in football. Thats around 1.5 million people. In addition junior football has the highest player numbers of any winter code.These numbers have grown  in the last decade. All these people would follow and support the Phoenix. Thats quite a market.....both in terms of merchandising and TV watching;

Fox onsells A-League TV rights to Sky TV in NZ..... that makes them very happy. If the broadcaster is happy then FFA is happy. If the Phoenix get dumped for a team from Wagga Wagga..... whats in it for the broadcaster.

FFA bent over backwards to get the Phoenix on board.....the team is well managed and well funded, and they have been reasonably succesful on the field...........they are NOT going to be dumped.

I am constantly amazed by the dump the Phoenix brigade in Australia. Don;t people have any vision. One day I would like to see the A_League become the biggest and most powerful in the region. It would attract great players and become one of the better leagues outside Europe. It would have maybe 18 teams including a second NZ team, a couple of Asian teams and maybe a Oceania team based in Noumea.

It would actually be good to have another NZ team, probably based in Christchurch going by the numbers achieved previously in Auckland, as part of a 14-18 team league perhaps?

Zinidane

You may be right.....  but the media coverage in NZ seems to get worse rather than better... I popped onto the NZ Herald on Monday ... I found it hard to find the A-League and amongst about 100 or so things on their sports page 3 at best football items of which two where about the EPL... and it's  NZ main Newspaper ... Sky is cutting back on A-League broadcasts I guess they know what they are doing...

RU daylight/  RL moonlight /  Netball / Sailing / racing .................. football .... the potential 1.5 million people OK OK I hear you.... but the potential has been their for 10 or 12 years ... where is the evidence for the advancement ... increased media, player numbers, sponsorship, government support, influence in business, genreral business backing, talk back radion discussions, ground swell talking about the AllWhites...

I do not want to re state my previous post ... so won't go on with what my earlier post said..

I hope you make the WC ... but having to move the WCQ from Auckland to a smaller sadium in Wellie to help sell tickets so kts looks better does not SCREAM football is moving forward ...

You have to understand there are at least 8 bidders for the 3 reamaining A-League spots, assuming a 14 team format...

The problem is not the Nix, ... you guys have done more for football in NZ than anyone else in living memoary ... but TBH one club does not make a football nation or movenment to football...

Those that run NZ Football need to understand ... it is them ... in Australia Football is in a huge growth phase ... but it is built upon the backs of the associations (park teams) and years of effort... FFA have the Youth League & Womens League funded by the Commomwealth governments ... FFA alone outside Government assistance in 2008 had a turn over in excess of 85 million in 2003 it was 3.8 million...

Those guys running NZ football need to understand they have a responsibility to support the Nixs and grow the game ... in the words of the great Bob Dylan ... " Step Out of the Way if you can't lend a hand""

Time is still on your side ... Frank Lowy is without doubt behind NZ and has talked about a second team if things where to go that way .... but you should understand if in another 6 years nothing has changed then given where Australian football is going it will be near impossible to justify your inclusion... but you will get the next roll over The Nix alone have earnt that ... but beyond that it will depend upon what NZ Football can deliver...

Wellington currently has the largest stadium available.  North Harbour (the 'home of football') has 20 odd thousand, and the two bigger stadiums than the Ring of Fire are currently in the middle of redevelopment and I dont think they even hold 20,000 at the moment.  Plus the football support in Wellington, plus half the team lives in Wellington, there was no reason to have it anywhere else.

So the answer is pretty straightforward: Nix do well in the A-League (playoffs minimum) and NZ to make the WC (same solution to get Sky to take notice of the sport).

Most here would agree that the Nix has done so much for football here, so if either of the above are acheived the onus is on NZ Football to capitalise on the momentum. 

Yeah well 15:3 is about population to team ratio as the same for both countries. Just would be great if Christchurch and Auckland pulls finger with serious financial backing. We need the Phoenix to perform better than most of the A-league and consistently getting in the play-offs every season to stimulate growth in the sport.

Snippet from Frank Lowy about our future in the competition:



http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/football/a-league/we-cant-go-cold-on-expansion/2009/08/21/1250362213063.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

So this is just another Mohammed Angst?

Someone mentioned burning effigies last year...

FIFA > AFC

No one can deny Lowy will argue the Nix / NZ case . If there's anyone in Australia who can negotiate tough deals, or sort out workable compromises, it's him.

The A-League having Wellington,  does serve two very important roles for the football.

1. The Foxtel contract's worth is enhanced by being able to be on sold to a NZ audience and they have a greater interest in it because a side from their side of the ditch is in the comp.

2. It allows the FFA to have the important one side per capital city mantra maintained but provide another team to balance out the comp. and not have 'byes'.

I think it is now very much over to the Wellington folks to support their team and try to make it inconceivable that they will be dropped due to Conference politics. They have to try and pack as many people into Westpac, and make their team an important part of their city. Make it very difficult for the AFC to tell the FFA to remove them from next season. Beyond the Nix,  NZ football has to show it is on the rise � it is doing the things I posted earlier � i.e. growth in player numbers, increasing media, increasing sponsorships etc�

I think, in the end, the AFC will want to have it's way�. They will tell FIFA that if Australia is allowed a NZ team to compete, then they want something in return. Midfielder2009-08-24 19:09:30

Personally, I want to knight him on the next NZ honours list.

Fancy that, our great advocate for NZ soccer is an Australian.