Newcastle, Sydney tracking for big crowds again.

With Newcastle hoping to crack 20,000 for the first time this season and Sydney on track for their biggest crowd of the year.

This football thing in Australia is proving a pull, week-in week-out, year in year out.

The men and women in the media, the businessmen and women of Australia and cashed up sports fans must be starting to eye the future...

Millissa Fisher-Massa Melbourne business women and Altona Magic VPL President is about to pour her cash into the Northern Thunder team in Townsville.

Developers are funding the new Gold Coast team.

Newspaper coverage is coming but it's still slow. Free-To-Air coverage is at best dismal. And that is being kind.

With great crowds in all A-League cities, genuine interest exists for the game and the League, but still the media breakthrough isn't happening. Not really.

How many more seasons do we have to see large crowds to get the FTA, Channel 9, 10 and 7, the ABC and most national newspapers on board.

It's a slow build.

But with the Socceroos about to play, again and again in 2008 crucial World Cup Qualifiers, maybe just maybe this is the year the game finally gets through to the mainstream media.

Either way, the crowds have come, are coming, and the game continues to thrive beyond most of our wildest dreams.