The basic problem as I see it is that there are far too many football codes in Australia all competing for limited fan funds. Quite often you'll hear talk of expansion clubs moving into other codes "territory" as though they were placing new armies on the Risk board.
Collectively the various armies of the football tribes are spread too thinly. If there was basically one competition, then things like TV rights would all be consolidated. My proposal would solve a lot of these problems in a way which I find highly entertaining but you might not.
Allow me to dream for just a second. Some people are going to be offended by this post, and I say pooh to them. Rugby League is a stupid game and should be wiped off the face of the earth like the pondscum it is*. Australian Rules football although being invented in Australia, is really akin to the NFL in the United States. It draws large crowds but is a bit myopic for my liking.
In my ideal world, the NRL would be shut down yesterday if not sooner and although the AFL is very very good, it still sadly also needs to be shut down to make my proposal viable.
This proposal looks at an A-League of the future; hopefully to be fully operative by 2020, because Football truly is the beautiful game, Rugby League is a stupid game and Australian Rules is an irrelevant game.
The 10 existing A-League teams will stay:
1. Sydney FC - Sydney Football Stadium
2. Central Coast Mariners - Grahame Park
3. Newcastle Jets - Newcastle Stadium
4. Queensland Roar - Lang Park
5. Gold Coast United - Robina Stadium
6. Melbourne Victory - Docklands
7. Melbourne Heart - Melbourne Rectangular
8. Adelaide United - Hindmarsh Stadium
9. Perth Glory - Perth Oval
10. Wellington Phoenix - Wellington Stadium
To compensate for the loss of the NRL and AFL, the following clubs will be reformed as football clubs.
11. Brisbane City (ex-Broncos - the Broncos is a stupid name) - Lang Park
12. The Valley FC (ex-Lions) - Queen Elizabeth II
13. Parramatta FC (ex-Eels) - Parramatta Stadium
14. Penrith FC (ex-Panthers) - Penrith Stadium
15. Canberra United (will assume ownership of the Raiders) - Bruce Stadium
16. Geelong FC (ex-Cats) - Kardinia Park
17. Adelaide FC (ex-Crows) - Football Park
18. Port Adelaide FC (ex-Power) - Football Park
19. Fremantle FC (ex-Dockers) - Subiaco Oval
20. St George FC (ex-Dragons/Steelers) - Olympic Park, Sydney
21. Collingwood FC (ex-Magpies) - MCG
22. Richmond FC (ex-Tigers) - Melbourne Rectangular
23. Essendon FC (ex-Bombers) - MCG
24. Carlton FC (ex-Blues) - Princes Park
25. St Kilda FC (ex-Saints) - Olympic Park, Melbourne
26. Sydney City FC (ex-Swans, Roosters) - Sydney Cricket Ground
27. South Sydney FC (ex-Souths) - Sydney Football Stadium
28. Canterbury-Bankstown Utd (ex-Bulldogs) -
29. Footscray FC (ex-Bulldogs) - Olympic Park, Sydney
These clubs will be added, taking into account the clubs which already exist:
30. Wollongong Utd - Wollongong Showground
31. Pride of the North FC (Northern Territory) - Darwin and Alice Springs
32. Tasmania Utd - Launceston and Hobart
Of course I do realise that some existing clubs like the Wests-Tigers, North Melbourne, Hawthorn, Melbourne Storm, Gold Coast Titans etc will be wiped from the face of the earth but I don't think that anyone is likely to miss them. I mean they barely car about them now do they?
The new league would be organised into 2 divisions with 16 teams each, and the clubs would be promoted and relegated between the leagues on a three-up three-down basis with the 3rd placed team in A-League 2 playing the 14th placed side in A-League 1 for the third spot.
The bottom three clubs would be relegated back into the respective state leagues with the top clubs from the states which the relegated clubs came from replacing them.
The Australian FA Cup would be played on the basis that the 32 A-League teams would arrive in the round of 64 which would be the first round proper. The remaining 32 spots would be initially awarded on a one for one basis as per the A-League as follows:
NSW - 10, VIC - 9, QLD - 4, SA - 3, WA - 2, TAS - 1, ACT - 1, NZ - 1, NT - 1
I think that this should pretty well satisfy most existing pundits of most clubs and if not, too bad.
The number of league and cup fixtures aught to be enough to have everyone playing home and away quite comfortably, and with a bit of fiddling then you only need at very maximum two clubs playing at the same venue.
And for those of you who doubt whether or not this is at all possible, the old NSL was demolished and replaced as was the BRL when it was replaced with the Queensland Cup; SANZAR managed to install a competition across three entire countries.
Perhaps David Gallop and Andrew Demetriou may need to be sent into an oubliette until they agree and if they don't we could always have a People's Revolt in Federation Square and Martin Place until they agree. If they still don't then we could always resort to having a revolution and using the guilotine... for the good of the game.
*The Challenge is on. If you actually like Rugby League and want to defend it, let's start a blog war. I will be happy to engage in robust debate on the subject and make you look foolish.
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