On the edge
The battle is on to bring Australian football back from the brink
SIMON HILL
James Johnson is well aware that this deal is merely a stay of execution unless the sport can begin to deliver on its undoubtedly huge potential
While COVID-19 posed significant challenges for many clubs around the world, for Australia’s A-League it presented a very real threat to its continued existence.
After initially attempting to keep the competition running with matches held behind closed doors, the league finally bowed to the inevitable when state borders were shut in late March.
Coming on the back of a three-year governance war between the national body and the clubs, and declining crowds and TV ratings, the competition’s broadcaster and main financial benefactor, Fox Sports, signalled its intent to tear up its contract, using “Force Majeure” as the conduit.
In fairness, the pay-TV network – which has financial problems of its own due to the fastchanging media landscape – engaged similar tactics to drive down the value of rights deals in other sports, too. But for the A-League, operating on a far less lucrative deal, this translated into a sobering existential crisis.
As other leagues and sports announced their return dates after the hiatus, the A-League waited nervously on the sidelines, before feeling compelled to apply a little pressure by going public with a proposed July16 resumption date.
This set in train some tense negotiations between the broadcaster and new Football Federation Australia (FFA) CEOJames Johnson, a former player with Brisbane Strikers who is freshly returned to his native land after a stint as FIFA’s Head of Professional Football.
Johnson was dealt a poor hand. A fractured football community and a frustrated host broadcaster was a potentially lethal cocktail for a game already feeding off scraps in a part of the world where Aussie Rules and Rugby League swallow up most of the attention – and, subsequently, most of the money.
There were moments during the talks when Fox seemed set to walk, and with little interest elsewhere there was even speculation the game would set up its own broadcasting facility or that the league would go into semi-permanent hibernation.
In the end, the old deal – which still had three years to run – was ripped up, and a new one-year extension put in place. Although worth less financially, this provided some security, some breathing space and a chance for Johnson to put some plans in place.
That was probably the best available outcome, even though some club owners signalled their displeasure. Johnson has proved a skilful operator, earning the trust of at least most of a traditionally fragmented community. But now comes the tricky bit.
Johnson is well aware that this deal is merely a stay of execution unless the sport can begin to deliver on its undoubtedly huge potential. The key is tapping into a grass-roots base of two million players – which is by far the biggest of any sport in the country – and converting them into fans of the nation’s senior clubs.
Johnson is already being creative in trying to find solutions. He has switched the 2020-21 season from October-May to December-July. Although this means going head-to-head with the dominant codes for longer, by extending further into winter it will mean cooler conditions for players and fans alike in a country where 40-degree Celsius temperatures are not uncommon in the summer months.
It also aligns the A-League with the second-tier National Premier Leagues, the state-based
competitions that have long argued they are too disconnected from the professional game. Johnson is considering adding a national second division, ultimately with promotion and relegation, to end the “closed shop” top flight, and bring the different strands even closer together.
He also kept the popular FFA Cup out of the revised broadcast deal, with the competition expected to be the testing ground for a new in-house service that may well replace Fox if no broadcaster can be found when the current deal ends in July 2021.
The players too are adjusting to the new reality. They have had to take a pretty severe cut in terms of wages due to the revised terms of the deal and, when the league resumed in July, some of the competition’s overseas stars – such as Sweden’s Ola Toivonen
– did not return.
The current season will conclude with a flurry of 32 games in 36 days, mainly to be played at regional “hubs” behind closed doors.
Sydney FC will almost certainly be crowned Premiers as they were eight points clear at the top before lockdown with six games to play, while nearest rivals, Melbourne City, have only three matches remaining. Whether Sydney can maintain that form come the lottery of finals football remains to be seen.
By then, spectators may have returned to stadiums in Australia, which had posted impressive numbers in its reaction to COVID-19, and was a factor which also led the nation, along with New Zealand, to be named co-hosts of the Women’s World Cup in 2023.
By then, the national-league landscape could look very different. It all depends upon Johnson’s ability to unite the warring factions that have so often stymied football’s progress in Australia.