Focus for the A-League should be on winning back the active fans... music gimmicks are a distraction
PREDICTABLY it’s the music that has sparked most attention – and outrage. But no one is pretending that soundtracks for goalkicks will give the A-League a new lease of life, writes Tom Smithies.
Football
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PREDICTABLY it’s the music that has sparked most attention – and outrage. But no one is pretending that soundtracks for goalkicks will give the A-League a new lease of life.
Plans to use blasts of music during stoppages in play are one of the ways in which competition chiefs hope to draw in the families who love events like the Big Bash. The almost uniform scorn that has met this particular wheeze is very indicative.
Even used selectively at games deemed to be lacking atmosphere, as an experiment it threatens to be as crass as it sounds, and to be a frustrating distraction. Because fairly or not, it gives the impression of an administration that is still chasing a fickle, fair-weather consumer instead of understanding what football’s appeal really is.
The atmosphere at A-League games, at its best, is the unique selling point. Since FFA clashed with the active fans groups two years ago and the latter groups drifted away, the atmosphere has followed suit. That, more than anything else, is the A-League’s biggest problem.
That’s why the clubs and A-League officials have been talking to the active fans groups in the off-season. It’s why attempts have been made to soften the tenor of security at grounds. It’s why there have been promises of a relaxation of restrictions on banners and chants.
The really frustrating thing about a gimmick like in-game music is it takes attention away from the things that really could work. The safe smoke devices used in the MLS in the US have been trialled at Gosford and have huge potential.
But the A-League isn’t the Big Bash, any more than the latter is anything like Test cricket. Football and T20 are in direct competition, no doubt, but are offering different products. Or at least they should be.
The A-League needs to be family friendly but through clever ticket prices and ancillary entertainment at stadiums before the games. The clubs are all working on ways to make the precincts around the stadiums more appealing to fans, particularly younger ones.
But most of all the active fans groups need to be at the heart of it all. They give the atmosphere that looks amazing on TV and brings in the less committed fans.
Those fans need to be active in more ways than just on the terraces. They need to be building relationships with local police commanders, building trust and mutual respect.
But they also need clear direction on what they can do, so that the acceptability of their behaviour is judged less by the fickleness of individual police and security staff on the ground.
A lot of this is underway, with workshops for supporter marshals to build those relationships. That’s the way forward, not a blast of music to signal that a goalkick has been given.
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