We’re on A-League agenda

GEELONG’S hopes of gaining an A-League side is back in the spotlight after Football Federation Australia yesterday put expansion back on the agenda.

The wheels are finally turning at FFA on growing the ALeague, with two new clubs to be decided this year.

The various regions lining up to join the competition will learn of FFA’s criteria next month, with decisions on the 11th and 12th teams to be made around the start of the 2018/19 season. Those teams would enter the A-League in 2019/20.

Geelong’s bid, under the working title of Victoria Patriots and headed up by former Socceroo Steve Horvat, is said to be strong and includes plans for a rectangular stadium in Armstrong Creek.

Other bidders are likely to include southern Sydney, a second Brisbane team, former NSL powerhouse South Melbourne as well as Hobart, Canberra and Wollongong.

The new timelines were agreed on Thursday at a FFA board strategy meeting in Sydney, timed to prepare for next week’s visit of a FIFA delegation, charged with investigating the failure of Australian soccer to democratise its governance. Three days of meetings begin on Tuesday.

FFA has been at loggerheads with clubs and players for more than a year over how to share power and funding.

Last month, Melbourne Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro called for the clubs to form an independent ALeague, run by a new consortium rather than FFA. FFA cites the need to maintain strong national teams and grassroots programs for keeping redistributions for clubs lower than they’d like.

But falling crowds — both at games and in lounge rooms — has sparked FFA into action. There was acknowledgment of the diminished interest in the league with a promise for head office to work with broadcasters and deliver “a fresh approach to marketing the league” next season.

For most fans, expansion of the 10 teams is an obvious step to invigorating the league.

MORE SOCCER: PAGE 59