E League of their own…

“Football needs to actually think about how it’s marketed, both at club level and our level as we go into the next season in October,” – David Gallop

As FIFA roll into town the FFA has conveniently rolled out the expansion unicorn just in time to distract fans about how much is wrong with our current administration.  This season hasn’t been about improving our game or spreading the word to those ignorant of the A-League but more about survival of the board themselves as they hear the FIFA footsteps quietly in the background.

Australia’s biggest football name Tim Cahill has swapped seven minutes of game time at Melbourne City for five minutes at Championship team Millwall Gallop and co have lost their publicity ticket after throwing millions of dollars to see Cahill return “home”.  Sydney are running away with the competition in a canter, Newcastle have reinvented their passionate football market and Melbourne City have lost Sydney’s biggest threat to losing the title in Ross McCormack due to league imposed salary cap restraints and will now be watching Aston Villa and Melbourne City for the remainder of the season.

You only have to make a quick glance at the A-League and you know our game is in huge trouble and the only way football will get back on its feet is thru everyone who loves the game taking a united front in regards to growing our game.  Recommendations from FIFA alone won’t rescue our game from self-cannibalism and sadly those who love the game can only wait whilst David Gallop and Steven Lowy sit on their hands and watch the support for our game dissolve.

One positive to come out of the 2017/18 season is the welcome addition of the eLeague.  Whilst it was frustrating to not only find out there was an actual marketing budget attached to the FFA but then realising it was predominately being spent on a computer game was incredibly hard to fathom we shouldn’t take our anger our on those players chosen to represent the ten A-League clubs.  The marketing blame lies entirely with those running the game and we should be big enough to realise this and give the eLeague the time of day it deserves.

eSports is a huge industry and the FFA has finally some runs on the board for the season, albeit in a very different format.

Last Thursday night I took a few moments out and checked out the eLeague and surprisingly enjoyed it.  Sure I’ve enjoyed FIFA (The game) over the last few decades but as the PGA Tour tells us “These guys are good”.  There is no doubting the skill of those playing the game in the XBOX and Playstation format and those like me watching at home can only watch in awe of the creativeness of these players.  It’s far easier to ignore the competition and dismiss this as a flash in the pan but unlike the highly laughable AFLX eSports is here to stay and this league will only get stronger.

Many have poured countless hours into promoting the competition and all in all most of the night was easy to watch and highly enjoyable.  Not too sure about Melbourne Victory’s decision to opt for a current player (Mitch Austin) to play in the competition over many other candidates but this does give football fans a common name to follow.

Will the eLeague translate to more fans through the turnstiles for the A-League? Probably not but this will give more online presence for the sport itself in Australia and will also get many youngsters talking about the league itself.  I do agree with the three A-League players being on the pitch at the same time, this creates a local flavour to competition and without this it simply is an online FIFA tournament.  Giving the players access to the same players cheapens the game slightly and seeing Messi v Messi or Ronaldo v Ronaldo is something I would like to see avoided next season.  Why not introduce some type of player draft for the competing players to further increase the player pool involved.

Next time you think spending a few hours playing FIFA is a complete waste of time do some research about the eLeague and at least give it the time of day it deserves.  eSports will only get bigger and it’s great to see the FFA involved.  Who knows just how big this competition can get.

 

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