Undoubtedly, O’Rourke had the best interests of the game at heart when he suggested that the competition should embrace Big Bash-style “entertainment”; boldly declaring moments when the ball is out of play as a gap that “can be filled”, presumably with music or smoke machines.
At roughly the same time as those comments were being made, I was on my way to the re-opening of the Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastian, where the home team, Real Sociedad, were hosting FC Barcelona.
It is folly to compare La Liga with A-League, but I do wonder if our football administrators could do worse than coming to Europe and understanding, for example, why this city of 185,000 will regularly fill its new 42,000-seat stadium – with zero gimmicks.
We shouldn’t dismiss it simply as cultural differences. We should ask how and why they do it.
Curiously for us, Major League Soccer had the courage to ask this question a few years ago, trading out KissCam for safe standing and ploughing resources into creating a robust football culture would last a whole lot longer than the ill-fated, Big Bash-style NASL of the late 1970s.
For the record, MLS crowds increased 18.9 per cent to 22,112 between 2013 and 2017. The governing body is even telling the story of their active fans. The MLS isn’t perfect, but they’ve realised they won’t last if they can’t match sizzle to substance.
Since O’Rourke took charge of the A-League in 2016, crowds have fallen 13.4 per cent, so it’s pleasing that he’s exploring ways to rectify the trend.
And because Big Bash, with its unlimited bling and bright colours, gets such thunderous publicity, it is seen as the one-stop shop for fixing any sporting problem. AFL even trod the AFLX path.
However, at just 90 minutes in duration, football doesn’t have a problem keeping the attention of its fans, which remains a very real problem for AFL (close to three hours from start to finish) and cricket.
But football in Australia doesn’t need pop music. What it needs is a place where undeniable entertainment is found on the field and a communal, shared experience is found off it. Much like what I found inside and outside the Anoeta.
There, literally thousands of fans gathered in local bars and shared spaces, both pre-and post-match. And they were of all ages: young families, old men, young guys who stand in the active areas, groups of teenage girls, parents-and-children, each as engaged as the generation before it.
It is a scene I have witnessed again and again in Spain and in countless other European nations, who realise that clubs are vehicles for social gathering first and entertainment second. The lesson is clear: invest in this before you invest in anything else.
Worryingly, the desire to be innovative – and to quickly find that mythical “untapped” audience – has become an all-consuming lust. I’m all for headline-grabbing marquee players as a short-term aid, for example, but they need to be aligned to long-term strategies which keep fans coming back.
It’s not sexy, but think of it like compound interest: the numbers grow every year by doing the fundamentals well. That’s how you create a large body of rusted-on fans, who eventually enable you to reach great heights.
In doing so, A-League clubs can become vehicles for sustainable success, rather than hunting the same secret sauce five years from now. Instead, we should source inspiration from Warren Buffet and his first rule of succeeding in difficult times: “Always look for a durable competitive advantage”.
Given that the very best Australian players tend to go abroad, where does football’s durable competitive advantage exist in the overheated Australian marketplace today? A thriving fan culture. Other sports try to copy it, but it’s proven impossible.
In the halcyon days of active fans in the A-League, they created an atmosphere that non-active fans loved and attendances skyrocketed. It was the perfect win-win.
Unfortunately, efforts to curb fan culture went too far. The golden goose was killed – and atmosphere at A-League games went with it. Non-active fans quickly followed. The challenge is to salvage, inch by inch, whatever remains.
I noted that O’Rourke wants to rebuild these relationships with active fans. It's a good starting point. They must be listened to. Then the governing body must collaborate and empower fans to create something special again.
Do that, and they’ll create the most spine-tingling noise we’ll ever need, for decades to come. Even when the ball is out of play.
