Second Sydney Team a GO

Second Sydney Team a GO

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/football/a-league/western-sydney-will-round-out-aleague-dozen/2009/09/15/1252780314150.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Then there were 12: Western Sydney will round out A-League dozen

Michael Cockerill
September 16, 2009

FOOTBALL Federation Australia is due to announce by the end of the week that a western Sydney team will join the A-League next season.

After almost nine months of deliberations about the 12th licence, which at one stage included bids of varying credibility from Tasmania, Wollongong and Canberra as well as three separate western Sydney groups, it is understood the FFA has this week finally made its choice.

Western Sydney will be joined by a second Melbourne club in an expanded competition from season 2010-11 - meaning the A-League will have grown from eight to 12 clubs within the space of two years.

Last month, chairman Frank Lowy made it clear that despite the tough economic climate, the FFA would not be getting ''cold feet'' on expansion.

The second Sydney team will be run by Ian Rowden, a former Australian youth international who was involved in the failed bid of colourful businessman Joe Meissner. At this stage it's unclear who will be bankrolling the team, which will cost about $8 million a season to run, but it's believed Meissner is no longer involved. Sydney's second team is expected to be officially unveiled by the end of this week.

Canberra to get Suey

Frank Lowy's lawyers > Canberra's

I'd love to know what they have against Canberra

They're not West Sydney.  They have it in their head that it's a hotbed of football and therefore MUST succeed, plus they think the rivalry we re-vitalise Sydney FC's crowds.  Sort of like how North Harbour is a hotbed of football... want a shot of a Knights game at NHS ?

Personally I don't think the case stacks up but I guess we'll see.

People think West Sydney is a sporting hotbed of everything. I don't understand that.

You might want to look for Parramatta Power crowd shots as well.

canberra is nothing more than a ghost town, it really doesn't make any sense to have a team based out of here, I'm surprised the league and rugby do ok out of Bruce stadium...if bloody cold out there and the town is a deserted most of the time.

I personally think that a team in West Sydney has the potential to be the biggest sporting club in Aussie, if and only if they get it right.  There is an enormous population out that way, it's one of the fastest growing areas in Sydney, large ethnic community, working class, football history (I think 5 NSL clubs).  Plus it should firm up SYdney FC as the inner city/Eastern SUburbs club it will always be seen as.  The area runs from Balmain in the inner harbour all the way out to Penrith and the blue mountains.

Why a WS is better than Canberra & Gong� TV ratings for a start 2.2 million people for a start� kills anything Canberra has...

Also for those who doubt the second Sydney team move � please understand the following �.. six former NSL clubs, three state leagues clubs, 5 Football association, close to 100, 000 registered players� has produced more Socceroos, Coaches, NSL, & A-League players than any other region�

If and it is a huge if a massive if� but if a team from WS could ever unite the various tribes behind one team.. then that club would IMO become Australia�s biggest club within a few years.. biggest from every point � crowds, sponsors, etc�

The task of uniting the old NSL clubs, the state league clubs, and the Associations ,� is massive ,, nay mega massive squared� however if anyone did � boy would it be a huge club�
The football knowledge in the various ethnic villages that make up WS is huge �along with as I said 9 state or former NSL clubs and five football association who have those 100, 000 players registered (that is not counting, indoor, fultsal, outdoor 6 a side, school players) �. look at the current first choice Socceroos� Kool sorry Harry Kwell, Timmy Cahill, Bret Emendation, Mark Sch, Jason Culina, � that�s off the top of my head but all WS boys� almost 50% of the first choice team �. and from WS .

The real question is why not two WS teams�

Because there is no evidence to prove one will work, let alone two.

Unite the tribes ? Please, most of 'the tribes' think the FFA killed football, so they aren't diving on any bandwagon. 

I have serious doubts that a group that couldn't even get 1500 to Parramatta Power games, struggle to get a couple of hundred to parochial state league matches,  and can't be arsed travelling to watch the cities current A-league team are likely to suddenly be all swept up with a new Western Sydney side.  People talk it up but to me there is no justification that people will get on this bandwagon.

As for 2.2 million people, relistically how many of them:

A, If they already have a football interest don't already watch the A-League ?
B, If they don't have one, why will a Western Sydney team make them turn a TV on more than Sydney FC ?

I understand all the numbers you throw out there, but none of those things tell me that your average Marconi fan is suddenly going to jump on the bandwagon or Joe lunchpail who's kids play football and can't currently be bothered to travel to watch Sydney.

I come back to the North Harbour thing, ex-national league clubs, strong state league sides, 10s of thousands of youth footballers and 1500 Knights crowds.

I think the whole scheme is riipe for failure, for all the above reasons and because the FFA are likely to manufacture something to fill the void they think is there and that will almost certainly fail to engage with a widely spread and disparate population.  Frought with needless danger when you have people already willing to bring the side to Canberra in a city that got 5k to a game the other week that had no local buy in.  All they need to do is engage another 2000 locals and they will be close to Fury crowds and ahead of Gold Coast crowd.

H N

Hear what you say and there is much truth in your post... I also said if a a massive IF .. But there is no hiding that WS is a Football heartland.... In South Western Sydney around Liverpool / Fairfield it's football and nothing else...

I lived in WS until I moved to NZ for a few years in and my work in is WS today.... It has all sorts from Football snobs who only want Champions League quality ... to park players out only for fun... and there is a lot of ill feeling between many of the clubs based on ethnic orgin ...

But the number of players ... the previous NSL clubs... Marconic, Sydney United, Melta Egales, Blacktown Demons, Olympic, Parrmatta Power, Neapon .. sorry thats 7 former NSL clubs... but six still remain .. Parrmatta Power was owned by a RL club...

Football is eveywhere in WS and it is SCREAMING for a club ... and honest indian if anyone could ever unite these tribes it would become Australias biggest club as I said...

Don't underestimate: james dean2009-09-17 03:37:45

so no new NZ team then? Thought we might have seen the dark sorse Caterbury Cowboys. Damn

I sure hope Tony P is working on retaining Phoenix players coming off contract at the end of theis season. These two new clubs will suck up any half decent players they can find. in particular mcCain and Durante are off contract at the end of this year, I think. They would be dead certs to get an offer.

From the smh today


I am so glad WS is going to get a team...

 http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/football/a-league/the-sports-biggest-supporter-base-will-prove-why-the-west-is-best/2009/09/17/1252780408322.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

The sport's biggest supporter base will prove why the west is best

   
Michael Cockerill
September 18, 2009
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ANALYSIS

WHETHER it is announced today, tomorrow, or in the next week, the A-League's next team will come from western Sydney. Fact. The task now confronting Football Federation Australia is to make sure it works.

After a tumultuous fortnight, in which leading bidder Joe Meissner fell at the 11th hour and another ''bid'' fronted by Socceroos skipper Lucas Neill evaporated after being linked to slain standover man Michael McGurk, it was back to the drawing board for the FFA at the worst possible moment. How the bid process imploded so spectacularly remains a moot point.

But implode it did, and the FFA knew it had to act fast. Out of the ashes has emerged a team which will be funded partly by the governing body, partly by private investors, and partly by ANZ Stadium. Who knows, perhaps this was the model they wanted at College Street all along.

What matters now is that western Sydney will become the competition's 12th team next year, and it's too important an opportunity to waste. Even if rumours of a later start to season 2010-11 (October) are true, that still leaves barely 12 months to get a club, and a team, up and running from scratch.

The FFA likes to use the example of Wellington Phoenix, who had only three months to get going. Different circumstances, different market. Western Sydney may be the jewel in the crown of football in this country - the biggest player base, the most mature fan base - but it's a jewel which needs to be polished.

In that context, there could hardly be a better figurehead than Ian Rowden - a former player, a successful businessman, a man with worldwide contacts but a deep understanding, and empathy, with the local game. The race against the clock won't scare Rowden. It will enthuse him. The former Young Socceroos defender is exactly the man to pull all the pieces together.

Some of the details are being fined-tuned on the run. What is known is that, for the first time, ANZ Stadium is ready to take a direct stake (believed to be 25 per cent) in a professional sporting team. The stadium effectively subsidises many of its tenants, but until now hasn't become a part-owner of a team.

It's doing so because it believes in the long-term future of the A-League, and football generally. With a bare summer schedule, the stadium sees big potential for a western Sydney team. No doubt the stadium will try to leverage its investment to get more internationals, and perhaps some A-League finals. Which is fair.

Significantly, however, it doesn't seem the stadium will be overplaying its hand. The new team will play less than half its fixtures at Homebush Bay. Perhaps as few as five, depending on how the draw is constructed.

Those games will be the big drawers - the derbies against Sydney FC, the visits of Melbourne Victory, Central Coast Mariners and perhaps Gold Coast United. The top tier will be closed, reducing capacity to 42,000 to try to generate atmosphere. This year the stadium hosted 22 NRL games for an average crowd of 17,515. It's not unrealistic to expect an A-League team to draw similar numbers.

That means the majority of fixtures will be played at smaller venues, probably at Parramatta Stadium, although Penrith and/or Campbelltown might get the odd game. Western Sydney wants to be the ''people's team'', so it's taking the game to the people - something Wests Tigers have done with great success in recent years.

Whatever the case, the advent of a western Sydney team is hugely exciting. Maybe the most exciting thing to happen to the competition so far. Of all the new teams, western Sydney is the one with the demographic, the geography and history to take the A-League to the next level. Bring it on