An exraordinarily shallow view of this topic.
a) football (soccer) was not dead in this country three years ago, its participation base was flourishing - the NSL was struggling and the national sides were in some disarray.
b) the people controlling the sport at that time did not want to do anything about it but about five years ago (not three) some externals and the ASC decided something needed to be done
c) the government bailed out Soccer Australia with a massive injection of interest free loans - close to 10 mil's worth, provided they restructured completely which then happened....in effect the Australia taxpayer fund the restructure of football in this country
d) the A-league is doing very very very well in Melbourne at the moment - do not be fooled. Perth has no owner, NZ is a basket case and a major worry for A-league management, Newcastle started this season in massive trouble. No a-league club made money last season, combined losses for the eight clubs were close to 20 mil. Frank had to personally inject a small mint into Sydney FC to keep them viable - a big conflict of interest that will inevitably cause significant problems the minute the a-league needs to discipline the Sydney FC club for some reason. Crowds are well below expectation at more than half of the A-league clubs.
IN short, all that glitters is not gold.
Soccer in this country will continue to be plagued by the same problem that basketball does here and in Europe, and that is, very simpy, that the best league is not here. The NBA is better than the NBL or the Spanish basketball league. The EPL, or Serie A or La Liga are all much much better than anything the A-league can put on the pitch. Its the same reason crowds don't go to Shield Cricket anymore - the advent of annual test series and one days series here created a better product each summer. We all know the Shield is good quality, but there is something better we will actually go and and pay to see.
