In 2015, Elise Kellond-Knight was part of the Matildas squad that took history-making strike action, paving the way for a decade of increased investment that saw the team rise to prominence and Australia secure hosting rights for the 2023 Women’s World Cup and this year’s Women’s Asian Cup. Now, with that continental showpiece less than two months away, the retired midfielder sees the women’s game in Australia at another Rubicon moment, one requiring bold investment in the future of a fully professional A-League Women.
The players’ union, Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), of which Kellond-Knight serves as deputy chair, launched its Ready for Takeoff document on Wednesday, outlining a player-led vision for the future of the A-League Women. At its core is a repeat of the union’s persistent call for the Asian Cup to serve as a springboard for the Australian women’s top-flight to relaunch as a fully professional competition, accompanied by a series of recommendations for reforms. These stretch from the competition’s governance, fan engagement strategies, integration with the global football economy, and matchday infrastructure to suit the A-League Women’s needs, as well as the new breed of fan engaging with women’s football and broader women’s sport.
Declaring that “progress is itself the product; the league will not win over a new women’s football audience with slogans or marketing, but by embodying the advancement of women athletes”, the report pulls no punches in cataloguing the strategic blunders of league administrators the Australian Professional Leagues (APL), nor the lack of regulatory teeth demonstrated by Football Australia. It also poses that the A-League Women has failed to create a strategy for the unique landscape of women’s football in part due to a men’s football-focused decision-making process at the A-League, as well as a lack of investment in women’s football leaders.
“Very bold action is needed,” Kellond-Knight said. “Often, when key stakeholders are sitting in the chair, it’s a big risk to take, they feel. But when we push them to the edge, and we show them the path, when we take that step together, it’s when we achieve success, and that’s what we’re hoping to do through this.
“This outlines opportunity. It’s not doom and gloom. This is about taking an opportunity together. The players have done the work to develop this strategy, and now it’s about taking that next step together with the APL to grow the women’s game.”
Citing the success of England’s WSL in professionalising for the 2018-19 season, the PFA’s vision makes the case for the A-League Women to adopt the mindset of working backwards from an ideal outcome, rather than forwards from the current status quo. While it doesn’t outright use the term itself, it raises the possibility of contraction in pursuit of this, as well as the abandonment of the current model that ties A-League Men and A-League Women clubs together. “If current dual-clubs are unable to meet the moment, the door should be opened for new entrants who can,” it states.
Reiterating the calls for an independent commission to run both men’s and women’s competitions, research has identified a disconnect and lack of awareness between the league and what is ostensibly its core fanbase. The vision calls for a player-, rather than club- or league-focused engagement model to tailor supporter engagement and matchday experiences around the needs and preferences of women’s football fans. The repatriation of “golden generation” Matildas coming to the end of their careers makes up part of this, but it is noted that continued semi-professionalism will damage these efforts.
This is paired with calls for the urgent need for appropriately-sized stadia that feature the required amenities and access to service fans – several current A-League Women venues are re-purposed training venues – and an improved broadcast product featuring more cameras, on-site commentators and greater analysis, noting that unsuitable stadia and a pared-back broadcast feeds into a perception of the league being an afterthought lacking in quality. “A new Matildas-activated audience will not be attracted by a league that compromises on the conditions and standards for women athletes,” the vision states.
On funding this, the vision is optimistic and of the view that a bold course of action would see the proposed reforms pay for itself “almost immediately”. Estimating that A-League Women clubs would need to invest an average of $1m each season to fully professionalise, the union’s research posits that the league growing to make up 5% of the projected global transfer market would bring in $10m alone. This would be supplemented by the improved on-field product brought about by professionalism, increasing access to Asian and Fifa prize money and solidarity payments. Matchday and commercial revenue would accompany the conversion of fans of the Matildas to A-League Women fans at the same rate the WSL was able to accomplish with supporters of the Lionesses.
“We’re really encouraged by the business case,” PFA chief executive Beau Busch said. “We believe it will require investment, but that investment will absolutely be rewarded, just as was the case in 2015 with the Matildas.”
