Was having my occasional peruse of the A-Leagues reddit and found out they'd declared Andrew Durante to be the all time most underatted A-League men player.... Any other takes? (for the other sections as well... might be biased but the our 2010 away kit is defintely my all time A-League favourite.)image.png374.68 KB
Can't we just have a normal start to the season for once?
EXCLUSIVE: A-League referees threaten strike just weeks before the season. Football Australia charges the APL a yearly fee of $2.5 million to cover referee salaries. It has been discovered that the referees only received $1.5 million, and the remaining $1 million was missued pic.twitter.com/IAwAs1YDh7
Can't we just have a normal start to the season for once?
EXCLUSIVE: A-League referees threaten strike just weeks before the season. Football Australia charges the APL a yearly fee of $2.5 million to cover referee salaries. It has been discovered that the referees only received $1.5 million, and the remaining $1 million was missued pic.twitter.com/IAwAs1YDh7
Interesting, it appears they have deleted the tweet. I found another one claiming it, but in the replies someone says that the head of the referees association has come out denying it
Can't we just have a normal start to the season for once?
EXCLUSIVE: A-League referees threaten strike just weeks before the season. Football Australia charges the APL a yearly fee of $2.5 million to cover referee salaries. It has been discovered that the referees only received $1.5 million, and the remaining $1 million was missued pic.twitter.com/IAwAs1YDh7
Interesting, it appears they have deleted the tweet. I found another one claiming it, but in the replies someone says that the head of the referees association has come out denying it
I see he has drawn the ire of the Football Australia Communications Manager now.
We would encourage you to contact Football Australia to fact check your information. We appreciate you're being fed information by other means on a range of topics, however, very often it's incorrect. As a reporter, you should always fact check or seek official comment.
Highlights from each match are on you-tube under the A-league channel and branded "Shark Highlights" giggle giggle, example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki_-nPgNz2U
WOW 😲👏 Terry Antonis’ insane volley from halfway last season has been nominated for the Puskás award!
The 31-year-old’s banger against Western Sydney Wanderers has been named among the best 11 goals of 2024 - becoming just the sixth Aussie to be nominated for the award 🙌… pic.twitter.com/ALmAPkp1Mt
Are these numbers coming from TV and streaming? Because it sure doesn't feel like that many people watch the A-league. If those numbers are true then shouldn't every club be selling out every game?
Are these numbers coming from TV and streaming? Because it sure doesn't feel like that many people watch the A-league. If those numbers are true then shouldn't every club be selling out every game?
Been saying similar for years, if you look at the "fans" following the nix on Facebook alone and even half of them were in Wellington and came to home games we'd need a bigger stadium. Seems to me that there are a lot of people who follow the league but dont come to games for some reason.
Are these numbers coming from TV and streaming? Because it sure doesn't feel like that many people watch the A-league. If those numbers are true then shouldn't every club be selling out every game?
The numbers come from a Roy Morgan poll, rather than actual figures.
Are these numbers coming from TV and streaming? Because it sure doesn't feel like that many people watch the A-league. If those numbers are true then shouldn't every club be selling out every game?
The numbers come from a Roy Morgan poll, rather than actual figures.
That's honestly worse.
How many A-league fans didn't know the poll existed?
That's so many "fans" not going to matches (not calling out fans who live abroad or across the country btw you guys actually have a reason)
The Roar sold out 50,000 Suncorp a few times for finals in the Roarcelona days It seemed back then half of Brissy were wearing orange tops around town. But for years now their crowds have been 10% of those sellouts
The casuals are around if that success ever returned
The Roar sold out 50,000 Suncorp a few times for finals in the Roarcelona days It seemed back then half of Brissy were wearing orange tops around town. But for years now their crowds have been 10% of those sellouts
The casuals are around if that success ever returned
I remember those days but if now someone no longer watches on TV or doesn't go to any games because of a temporary lack of success, should they be counted in a poll as "fans?" Me thinks probably not. Those people should fall into a separate category, like "remote interest"
The Roar sold out 50,000 Suncorp a few times for finals in the Roarcelona days It seemed back then half of Brissy were wearing orange tops around town. But for years now their crowds have been 10% of those sellouts
The casuals are around if that success ever returned
I remember those days but if now someone no longer watches on TV or doesn't go to any games because of a temporary lack of success, should they be counted in a poll as "fans?" Me thinks probably not. Those people should fall into a separate category, like "remote interest"
I guess the term "fan" needs to be defined for every poll. I'm guessing that this poll was simply phrased as "do you follow xx team?" and then been wrapped up as fans in the summary. Fan is short for Fanatic, and as you say a fanatic of a team would be at most (all) home games rain or shine. But the metrics of that look a lot worse for the league. And with all stats/surveys you need to look at who funded the research and that will tell you what result was requested.
about 1 year ago· edited about 1 year ago· History
Wasnt sure where to put this an interesting listen for those interested sorry if its been posted before. Ex Cop Reveals All on Over-Policing,Racism and Cops wanting to Fight Football Fans from Suited and Booted Podcast.
Football Aus' Head of Referees Jon Moss has defended the standard of officiating in Australia, saying it possessed “really good officials” and that clubs had been “more than happy” with how the A-League had been overseen this season.
Young Socceroos win U20 Asian Cup. On pens over Saudi Arabia, after finishing 1-1 end of NT & ET.
The A League might be doing something right after all. 17 ALM players in the Young Socceroos 23 man squad.
The ALM has to go low budget, and the kids get to play. Be interesting to see if many progress in the future to the Socceroos. The old NSL was often credited for giving young kids game time, and most of the Socceroo's strong 2006 side (majority at EPL clubs at the time) started in the NSL.
Strong 4 player contingent from Adelaide. And even missing those guys out they still went toe to toe with league leaders Auckland yesterday. 16 yr old Tatu for them looks a talent
There is set to be a significant tightening of belts amongst clubs in A-League Men from the 2026-27 season, after Australian Professional Leagues announced major changes to the competition’s salary cap system on Wednesday.
A hard cap of AU$3 million (NZ$3.22 million, with a lone exception for one marquee player, is set to be put in place in 2026-27, after a transition season in 2025-26, where the existing salary cap of AUS$2.55m (NZ$2.73m) that comes with several exceptions, including for marquee and homegrown players, will remain in place.
By the start of the 2027-28 season, a broader financial sustainability model, with caps relative to clubs’ revenue, is set to be put in place, following consultation with A-League Men’s 13 clubs and the Profession Footballers’ Association, the Australian players’ union.
Two seasons away? Well, wait and see I guess! So much keeps happening in the sport that two seasons seems an eternity. But I imagine it’s important to contracts now. Should make things tricky at AFC if reports are to be believed.
@AucklandPhoenix no, I believe now with all the different marquees, youth marquees, designated players, guest spots, homegrown players, special profile players etc etc this should in theory actually make the cap more settled? Except if people are cheating it of course.
I guess the "how large is your revenue" piece is crucial.
What if Zuru sponsors Auckland FC to the tune of say $5M/year. Is that revenue?
“The implementation of these reforms over coming years is designed to ensure a competitive balance and to build long-term foundations for growth that continue to unlock the full revenue potential of each club,” APL executive chairman Stephen Conroy said, adding that the existing system “was no longer fit for purpose”.
He suggested every club in the competition, including New Zealand’s Wellington Phoenix and Auckland FC, was spending at least AU$3m on player salaries in the ongoing 2024-25 season.
“I would struggle to find any of them spending less than $3 million and the average spend is well in excess of that.
“It’s one of the reasons why we look at the player spend arms race and we scratch our heads and go, okay, the Swiss cheese (salary cap system) we’ve currently got, we need to change it.”
There is no publicly available information as to what A-Leagues clubs spend on player salaries, but Auckland are widely considered to have joined the two Melbourne clubs – Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory – and the two Sydney clubs – Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers – as the competition’s biggest spenders, on their way to sitting at the top of the ladder with three rounds to play in the regular season.
Auckland definitely wouldn't have been in favour of this new proposed rule. Better get that new Academy pathway producing the goods over the next 18 mths.
ALM to get younger again, and some of your more older joureymen players will end up down in the new NSD and/or with NPL clubs.
Conroy said this wasn’t a case of just bringing A-League Men’s biggest spenders into line with its smallest spenders: “No question, this will impact every club”.
He also said there were plans to require every club to have six under-21 players in their senior squad from the 2026-27 season.
Auckland have no players who meet that requirement on senior contracts at present, though they are only in their first season, with no established youth programme, and do have six such players on scholarship contracts.
The Phoenix have five, plus another seven on scholarship contracts.
Asked what the reaction of the clubs to the changes had been, Conroy said: “I don't want to speak on their behalf, but we're here because we think there was broad support.
“Obviously people have lots of questions like (the media) do, but I think we're comfortable that we are moving through a process.
“It's a phased-in process, and there will be extensive consultation over the next six to 12 months around where we finally ended up in year three (2027-28).”
"By the start of the 2027-28 season, a broader financial sustainability model, with caps relative to clubs’ revenue, is set to be put in place, following consultation with A-League Men’s 13 clubs and the Profession Footballers’ Association, the Australian players’ union."
I personally don't like the sound of this last paragraph. It's suitably vague so you can only guess at how it works, but it sounds less like a salary cap and more akin to something FFP or similar. If true, that would be a massive shame as the competitiveness of every club in an important part of what makes the A-League awesome. Obviously the cap shouldn't be in a position where most clubs are overspending their revenue, but also it should not rest solely on the league to keep clubs solvent. If a club is trailing others in terms of revenue it shouldn't be a limit on spending, but instead a look onto how to bring that team in line.
As for the more present rule change, I'm not necessarily against it, but it feels like it'll be a shame as we'll likely see some good players getting cut and the seeming loss of scholarship contracts feels like a big miss. It's a great way of promoting clubs to sign youth players and give them a chance to develop without being forced.
"They will not accept half-baked cost-cutting solutions".
The PFA has rejected the APL's reveal of planned salary cap reforms, saying the league was "negotiating with themselves" and the plans reflected a "flawed governance model".
I might be being stupid but what does some of this mean for players on contracts. does that mean their contracts are torn up so a club can fit into the new cap. Not sure i get how some clubs can do it if they have contracted player. PFA are fools if they think the League can carry on the way they are with multiple clubs losing money.
• 'Melbourne Victory lost $9.8 million in 2024 and $7.57 million in 2023.' • 'WS Wanderers lost $7 million in the year to June 2023 and a further $5.7 million the previous year.' • 'The Wanderers’ losses were… pic.twitter.com/mkhb7fvL7L
