Premier League review is needed to lift standard of play, draw crowds
The Fiji Football Association (FFA) should do an immediate review on how the Vodafone Premier League is running.
The review should be about finding ways to make the league more competitive, ensuring that the standard of play is high, be able to attract crowds and moreover provide the necessary mileage to the sponsors.
Over the years there have been no significant improvement in the running of the league competition.
Some would say it has got worse.
Crowds have too often been sparse, indicative of a lack of public interest. One example:
Recently, the Vodafone Premier League has been a stop-start affair.
For instance, it started well in the first round and then suddenly all matches were held-up for almost three weeks due to the transfer window which opened on January 15 and closed on January 31. Then the league was further deferred due to the unfavourable weather condition.
This kills the momentum of the competition. It would have been different, if the games were cancelled because of a cyclone but for something like the transfer window, this would have been avoided if it was planned properly from the first place. There is a need for changes.
Looking at the points table there is no uniformity in the number of matches the districts have played.
So far, the Nadi football side has played 4 matches followed by Rewa with 3 Lautoka 2, Labasa 2 and Dreketi 2.
The rest of the teams have played a match each. This has been the past practice and should be avoided as all teams need to be on the same page when it comes to the number of matches played.
You'll never find such wide disparities in the ALeague, English Premier League or at La Liga.
With plans to launch a fully professional league by 2020, FFA should first consider doing a review on the running of the Vodafone Premier League. And Vodafone national football coach Christophe Gamel with his professional expertise should be the right person to head the review team and table their findings on what needs to be implemented in order to lift football in this country.
Taking this approach is the best way forward and should change our fortunes when it comes to Oceania Football Confederation's Champions League since it is a step away from the FIFA Club World Cup.
Ba's poor performance in Port Vila suggests we are increasingly out of step even in our own region.