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Thursday 25 September 2008

Why Canberra needs this.



Adelaide United fans celebrate last nights historic win. But how many people will turn-up for the Semi Final, they're already talking about switching venues to cope with the crowd...

And whilst Australia and particularly Canberra has been slow to grasp the opportunities that Asia can provide to football, to the city and the region; our own A-League side would benefit the city/region like no other sport.

And football in Australia isn't going to get any smaller is it....in the next twenty years?

So does the Capital want to be a part of this while the price of entry is reasonable, or wait and wait and miss out when the Salary Cap grows and start-up costs become higher and higher.

With our junior base coming through it's a marketer's goldmine....only a fool could stuff up. And Canberra is not full of fools!

And clearly neither is Adelaide. Already strolling around Asia like they own the joint. China. Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and Japan have all been conquered. And the Asian shirt sponsor Compaction firm SAKAI has got a heap of value from it's sponsorship.

Maybe the CFMEU, (Radiers and Canberra United sponsors) should think about expanding its membership into Asia and sponsor an A-Leauge side:)


Canberra has a stadium, a player base...(did you know Townsville have 3,000 juniors compared to our 13,000)and of course we can do professional sport in this town. Ask the Brumbies how to win an International competition:)

The A-League would provide a minimum 11 home games, add in pre-season and finals and that's a nice start.

Pre-season games go to regional centres providing professional football coaching clinics and quality games for the kids to see. For the kids to watch the game they play.

And of course an Asian Champions League entry is going to be even more desirable once next years revamped tournament starts.

And why can't a Canberra side go to Indonesia, India, or China each year for pre-season and take our business entourage from the Capital and the Region with it.

Perth Glory did. 100 million viewers had access to the game..and Perth are ..well I won't say it!

Last nights game doesn't make a supporter base.

But Adelaide have a strong base already. And last nights games and events like this enable the club to build on the success already acheived. And a great feel good factor for the town.

And it provides an opportunity for the club to grow.

Last season 25,000 watched Adelaide take on Sydney in a normal pre-season game.

Last night was their first ever sell-out, this on a Wednesday night.

What other clubs in any code get a Wednesday night sell-out in Australia. None because no-one plays midweek.

And the Adelaide papers have covered front and back page with the Adelaide United Asian adventure over the last ten days.

And this in the middle of the AFL final series.

The country has changed. Football is here to stay. It's mainstream.

With the Socceroos, Matildas and our junior base it's never going to get any smaller is it?

With Asian opportunities the smart cities and regions will benefit.

Canberra needs to be in the mix and quick.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Exactly, ACL is excellent for promoting football in the regions as they get nothing like it in other sports like Rugby and AFL and it can really put their Town/region on the map

Would be an excellent incentive to secure local Territory Govt support for any Canberra based A League team and will be good for Gosford and Newcastle

NUFCMVFC

Eamonn said...

NUFC you should come to Canberra, you're clearly an enlightened one!

I enjoy your Victory posts on that forum, kinda rise above the ...you know the rest!

But will we get a fair shot from the FFA, has it all been sorted by the market research

on the other hand a World Cup bid with no football team in Canberra...just doesn't feel right ot me or surely to Frank Lowy when he's talking to other countries.

Anonymous said...

It's common sense in a lot of regards, Although a lot of Politicians etc spend their time outside of Canberra, if an Asian team with not insignificant backers from one of our significant trading partners is coming to Canberra for an ACL match then there would be an obliging pressure for any Politicians to take notice.

To not do so may be seen as a snub. Knowing Labour/Rudds interest in forging closer links with Asia, he will take any oppurtunity (Can yous see him ignoring a Chinese SL team?) and the Liberals will go where the economic benefits are which is increasingly in Asia as far as Australia is concerned. To get their mug on TV during a match being broadcast into Asia in terms of the biggest sporting code in the region is not a bad thing for any politician aspiring to raise his profile. If politicians are in town for Parliament and a team like Urawa come, hopw can they ignore it?

Similarly the other way around, like the Armenia vs Turkey football match, any Asian politicians can follow an Asian club team into Canberra and meet up and network with any Australian politicians, the fact that there is a match on provides the oppurtunities.

Although the above requires any Canberra team to actually qualify for the ACL, it nonetheless shows how a Canberra A League team can be seen as a way in which to help improve footballs links with Politicians in this country

NUFCMVFC