So far the most talked about path the FFA could take is the formation of a ‘super club’ that would draw on the player pools of three associations. This would be set up with the St George, Sutherland Shire and South Coast football associations combining forces.
There are a number of issues with such a club, the foremost being that Sydney FC alreaded in y have a significant stronghold in two of these three regions, St George and the Sutherland Shire. Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow was strong in his opposition to the move, pointing out that a significant amount of Sky Blues fans reside in southern Sydney.
“Twenty-five per cent of our members live south of Mascot, 40 per cent of our junior members live south of Mascot and we have more members from Sutherland than from any other region of Sydney.
“A new team in Sydney - in the heart of arguably our most important region - would effectively cut our market in half.”
The last sentence from Barlow may sound like a nervous executive who knows Sydney FC will have a fight on their hands to maintain their supporter base, mostly because that is going to be the case if a new club is introduced. Currently the Sky Blues are , a clear indicator that the area would become a marketing battleground between the two clubs.
Looking at the other side of the coin, what happens if Sydney FC hold onto the majority of their southern-based fans, how would that impact the new club?
The St George region is just south of what most would consider ‘central’ Sydney. Not the CBD or the geographical centre, but an area within reach of everything; the city, the airport and the west via the M5. The region is bordered to the west and northwest by areas such as Revesby, Punchbowl and Bankstown, where many already identify with the Wanderers.
With the Sutherland Shire being the largest amateur association in Australia, the new franchise would be drawing on an area rich in raw participation numbers. However, as has already been established, a significant number of Sydney FC fans come from this area, and it is likely they make up a sizeable chunk of the association’s players.
This would mean the new club drawing on people who have at least a passing interest in football but in over a decade have not latched onto Sydney FC, and also have failed to support the Wanderers since their inception in 2012.
Are there really that many of those people around?
A brand new club in the extremely competitive sporting landscape of Sydney with a large chunk of potential supporters disinterested in football or already committed to Sydney FC or the Wanderers doesn’t sound like a recipe for sustained success.
And this is before we come to the issue of identity. The St George region, the Sutherland Shire and Wollongong might all be located similarly, but this is where the parallels end culturally.
The Sutherland Shire’s National Rugby League team, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, were founded in 1967 and adopted the colours of black, white and blue from the Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club, which was founded long before in 1907. These colours have represented the area for over a century, and any A-League club based in the region would be wise to consider harnessing this historical significance. That could be difficult though as we have seen with Melbourne City unable to don a sky blue kit thus far.
But what about St George and Wollongong? Well they currently share a rugby league team in the St George-Illawarra Dragons, a result of two clubs from each region merging to avoid bankruptcy in 1998. However, many fans of the Illawarra Steelers, who merged with the Dragons, have been left feeling neglected by the joint venture.
With games split between Wollongong, Kogarah and Allianz Stadium, those in the ‘Gong have been mostly forgotten. Wollongong and the Illawarra region as a whole are not part of Sydney, they are a separate community that feel little connection to the metropolitan area.
Illawarra fans also feel disenfranchised because in the majority of matches the team wears a uniform that gives much more of a nod to its Dragons history than its Steelers heritage.
Whilst both clubs before the merger wore red and white, and this would be a jumping off point for the new club to consider, what about fans from the Sutherland Shire? The small segment of people from the area who are interested in football but aren’t Sydney FC fans won’t feel represented by a kit or badge that pays homage to other areas of the city, just in the same way fans from St George and Wollongong could easily be alienated.
So we have three distinctly different regions whose commitment to a new club is unknown, with many in these population bases supporters of Sydney FC and some of Western Sydney. We also have three clashing cultures that will be nigh on impossible to be equally represented in the mooted club’s badge and kit, which are crucial in creating an identity that draws in fans.
You can see that with each step in this process the commercial pie that the FFA are aiming to take a bite out of is becoming smaller and smaller.
Then, if the FFA and the relevant parties can pull off a masterstroke and engage with the three regions through the club's branding, we come to the thorny issue of location. Which of the three viable stadiums should the club play out of? Should they rotate matches between grounds?
Sutherland Shire mayor Carmelo Pesce said the ideal situation would be to utilise Remondis Stadium.
“If we do something here it will probably be an amalgamation between Sutherland Shire, St George and Wollongong. We would like to run it out of Remondis and utilise that particular stadium during the [NRL] off-season as it's central between Wollongong and St George,” Pesce told Fairfax media.
But there have also been , something that hasn’t gone down too well in th NRL with Steelers fans. And why would it be any different for football?
Creating a home ground advantage is huge for any club and this composite club that appears to be trying to appeal to too many regions would have little chance of doing that.
There is no sense in sharing matches among the stadiums in the region, but determining a location might just be impossible. The obvious solution is what Pesce has already put forward, to use Cronulla - located between the other two regions.
This comes with its own set of complex problems - including travel time for fans to 'home' games.
Although the FFA appears to hold a desire to replicate the atmosphere and passion of the Sydney Derby, introducing a third Sydney team isn’t the way to do it.
Rivalries are built on moments of extreme emotion; last minute winners, penalty saves, contentious decisions. They cannot be created and any attempt to do so could dilute the existing Sydney Derby, something the FFA cannot afford.
With all that said, there is only one viable option for a southern Sydney team – one that is not actually in Sydney. If the FFA are to introduce another New South Wales team they must be situated in the Illawarra, playing inWollongong. One of Australia’s most picturesque venues, WIN Stadium, would be the home to football on the state’s south coast.
The facilities are in place, according to former Adelaide United coach Josep Gombau, who coached the A-League All Stars team in a training camp in Wollongong during August of last year.
“In terms of facilities for sure this area is ready to have A-League here…this field is amazing,” Gombau said, referring to WIN Stadium’s playing surface.
“This field is perfect. I hope to have a field like this in Adelaide.”
The next night, just under 7,000 fans turned up on a bitterly cold Tuesday night to watch a meaningless training run between the All Stars and the Young Socceroos. In early January, with many families away on holidays, more than 11,000 watched Sydney FC and the Newcastle Jets play out a goalless draw.
Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold echoed Gombau’s thoughts about the quality of the venue.
“I think it was a massive success and when you play on a pitch like that, that's the best pitch in Australia at the moment,” Arnold said.
“I know the players enjoyed to come down and play on a surface like that and the crowd was fantastic.”
To continue to grow the game in Australia and ensure the long-term viability, the FFA need to look at new markets rather than try to exploit what they perceive as gaps in the current ones.
Illawarra are crying out for football on their doorstep, not a few hours away.
