The Opinion Bar - The Nation Where Football Stands Still

Australian football fans often scoff at the suggestion of successful football culture in North America. Comparisons between the two nations suggest the game in Australia may be able to learn something. Perhaps the Americans should be laughing at us?

Major League Soccer was formed in 1993 as part of a FIFA obligation that the United States creates a national league after winning the rights to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The ethos at the start of the competition was bright, attacking, sharp and star studded brand of football and the original franchises reflected this ethos. This was carried out through signings of Campos, Valderrama, Etcheverry and McBride and creation of loud and exciting franchise names with shirts to match.

While MLS tapped into, adopted and continued the NASL attitude in branding and “unconventional” rules, the A-League was to be a deliberate break from its predecessor having learnt the mistakes of the National Soccer League and become a better run competition with broader support bases for its franchises.

With the unexpected performances of the Australian national side in the 2006 Fifa World Cup in Germany the A-League was in a very strong and healthy position by its third season. The supporters and administrators believed the competition was only going onward and upwards.

The A-League’s core message to supporters was a successful old Australian one: State versus State and or City versus City. The Football Federation of Australia under the leadership of John O’Neill tapped into the tribal nature of the supporter the sport is so brilliant generating. This was essentially what the MLS had been missing until recent seasons of expansion and re-branding which has rapidly transformed the competition from a “Mickey Mouse League” into a more respected one.

Then why did the A-League go from a winning formula to essentially an NSL model of an unstable environment? Well the obvious first answer has been the departure of O’Neill and the introduction of severely incompetent people from Australian “rules” football. The new personnel in the FFA truly know either very little or no concept of football culture. This inexperience has been costly as it has offended older supporters who have been part of the old structure and the failed bid for the 2022 world cup that was branded as a pathetic, cringe worthy and predictable tourism advertisement ware classic examples of the national body out of touch with the supporters.

MLS also suffered from this situation and with a leadership change in 1999 saw the removal of rules to standardise the game and to re-brand the league and the franchises to further connect with new and existing fans into the global football community. Since the 2002 world cup the attendance and TV viewership have been very healthy and brought in a lot of interest and investment to strengthen the league.

MLS operates under a single-entity structure in which teams are centrally controlled and owned by the league. This ensures to keep costs under control; revenues are shared throughout the league. The league’s cost-controlling measures have attracted new ownership that have injected more money into the league, improving it and focusing the league's resources on fewer clubs. Examples include the Anschutz Entertainment Group’s sale of the MetroStars to Red Bull. Part of the plan developing the league meant having multiple clubs owned by a single owner was a necessity in the first 10 years of MLS, but now that the league appears to be on the brink of overall profitability and has significant expansion plans.

Then why after the fourth season has the A-League nose-dived? For starters Buckley and his team have played a hand in this through lack of cultural awareness. Instruments, Banners and Flags have been banned over the course of six seasons to create a sterile and “family friendly” environment. Restrictive sponsorship and the corporate world not interested in a product that is killing itself is essentially a bad investment. This in turn have forced clubs to fold or rattle the beggars bowl to stay afloat. Supporter groups are being muzzled and sanitised have turned supporters away. The FFA even attempted to ban fans who swore in chants through threatened evictions and to get people to turn them in has caused fan dissatisfaction.

Having watched football in four continents and attending many MLS games the atmosphere and match day experience reminds you of a very small sample of “established” football culture from around the world. This compared to the A-League is massive as you feel like you are going to another subway franchise, only each store has different names and colours.

To think that an FA cup would improve things would be foolish as yes; it would contribute and better link the state league clubs with the A-League but the soulless nature of them would still continue.

For many years we have laughed at MLS where it is us who are the laughing stock, for they are the true reformers who have grabbed it and embraced it where we have a national body that have shown constant signs of uncertainty that have allowed us to drift back to square one.