UPDATE: In the months since this article was first published, the Melbourne Victory supporters group, The North Terrace, have worked with the club to iron out some of the problems that have plagued both parties in recent seasons (problems which contributed to the FFA’s Active Support Policy) and are set to begin season 10 of the A-League somewhat reborn and hoping to reclaim their title as the best supporters in the competition.
Brisbane Roar, in collaboration with their supporter group, The Den, have released ‘One game Den memberships’ (which are effectively a single ticket) as a way on ensuring the natural growth of their active supporter base, which would have otherwise been hampered.
There were rumours throughout the past week about the Football Federation Australia imposing new protocols on Hyundai A-League fans. Protocols that would do nothing but hamper the growth of the competition and would jeopardise the biggest selling point the A-League has against the other codes – atmosphere.
Yesterday these rumours were confirmed, as the new measures were officially announced by the governing body. Essentially, to participate in ‘active support’ during matches next season, you will need to be a fully ticketed club member or hold a special three match ‘active pass’. This may also carry over to away matches where the FFA deems it necessary.
The protocols have been met with a tremendously negative response from fans, who feel that, despite their constant words of support, the FFA and specifically the head of the A-League, Damien de Bohun do not understand or value the football fan culture in Australia.
…a season long commitment really shouldn’t be foisted upon people that aren’t 100% sold on the idea.
This league wide measure has been designed to eliminate trouble makers and foster the “family friendly” atmosphere that Damien de Bohun and Football Federation Australia so desperately covet.
Granted, the passion and the noise produced at the majority of A-League matches doesn’t scream “family friendly” in the generic sense of the term, but a Saturday afternoon at Pirtek Stadium or AAMI Park is hardly a dangerous occasion, even for the most emotionally repressed and sheltered among our society.
One can only assume that what the FFA means by “family friendly” is nothing but a predictable, reserved politeness from every single person who attends a game. They sit quietly, calmly following the play while refraining from all manner of potentially offensive banter with opposition supporters and each other. Only cheering when a goal is scored, or when the stadium announcer asks them to show their support for the home team. Away supporters don’t exist because they create an unwanted variable that could result in harsh language being thrown about amongst the respectable consumers of the FFA’s great product.
You really could be forgiven for thinking this. So it may come as a surprise that the key marketing tool that the FFA use when pushing the game into new markets is the impossible-to-reproduce atmosphere generated at A-League matches.
Member only active support can only work when you have more applicants for active seats than you do seats available. And I don’t mean people that want to just be in the the North Terrace, Red and Black Block or the Den because they’ll look cool if they say they sit there.
I mean people that will go just as hard in the stands as the players do on the pitch. To be in active support you must sing, you must jump. You need to generate the atmosphere not bask in it.
The super clubs of the world like Borussia Dortmund don’t have this problem because they have such a vast number of supporters, but even then they don’t restrict the Südtribüne (Dortmund’s world famous 24,000 capacity standing terrace) to already paid up club members. There is room in the terrace for new supporters to experience the atmosphere generated by the most boisterous of fans.
Last season the Western Sydney Wanderers sold out the members only active area. The problem was that the people that filled the RBB to bursting at the end of their first season weren’t the one’s that snapped up all of the memberships. The majority were, of that there is no doubt, but problems arise when you have a decent percentage of first timers buying season long memberships in a very demanding section of the stadium.
Some would have taken to it like a duck to water, but many (especially those in the two wing bays) sat calmly in their seats and watched the match the same way that those in the side stands do. Chances are, a lot of those people had no idea what they were in for when they signed up as members in the RBB section and now they are stuck there hoovering up the atmosphere generated by the diehards.
This isn’t strictly speaking their fault. Active support really is the ultimate “try before you buy” and a season long commitment really shouldn’t be foisted upon people that aren’t 100% sold on the idea. The FFA have tried to address this with their 3 match ‘active pass’ plan, but this is still too large a commitment to force upon new fans.
In season 3 of the A-League I stood in The Cove for a Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory game, and while the atmosphere was great and I enjoyed the experience immensely, I left the ground knowing that being in an active bay wasn’t my ideal way of attending a football match. So as much as I love what active supporter groups do throughout the league, I don’t think I’ll ever become part of one of those groups week in week out.
At the time though, I remember being very keen to sit in The Cove because I thought I would absolutely love it. Now imagine if someone in that exact situation buys a membership and immediately regrets it, but can’t transfer to another part of the stadium? They either won’t turn up because they aren’t enjoying the games or they stay in their allocated seat without contributing at all to the noise and movement of the active supporter group.
Those charged with guiding this rapidly growing game are restricting that development due to their unwillingness to make uncomfortable decisions when the inevitable growing pains have occurred. They have instead caved in repeatedly to outside influences whose priorities are very different to those of the organisation that should be guiding the development of the game.
These moves by the FFA to bind active support to their will are a product of the inherent conservatism of our nation and the increasingly extreme ways in which it is expressed. The desire to take any means necessary to stamp out the tiny minority of undesirables present in every aspect of life portrays a frightened mentality on the prospect of criticism.
Make no mistake, despite there being no mention of these measures being used as a way of stamping out the anti-social elements which can make themselves known in the terraces, they are designed to specifically do just that. The FFA have proven in season’s gone by that they take any potential for bad publicity as a personal slight, and they will do whatever they can to make the bad headlines go away.
The fight is on now to make sure that the men in control of the game know that this growing trend of shackling supporters and taking them for granted is totally counterintuitive to the goals and objectives that need to be met for football to reach its potential in this country. But it needs to be about educating the decision makers as well. They have to be shown the right path by those of us who truly have the best interests of the game at heart – the fans.
At this stage of our development as a footballing nation, if we lose this battle we could lose everything.
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