Why the A-League has no place in the Sutherland Shire

It's a junior nursery, but for how long?

It’s the story that I hoped would simply go away, but now it’s starting to scare me, with Tim Cahill and Cronulla Sharks chairman Lyall Gorman giving the proposal their backing .

The idea that a third Sydney A-League side should be placed in the Sutherland Shire is farcical.

Being someone that’s lived in the area most of my life, with my family a part of the Menai Hawks and having had an involvement with the Sutherland Sharks in the NSW Premier League, I speak from considerable expertise.

Plus, this idea isn’t exactly a new one.

Sydney Olympic became the ‘Olympic Sharks’ for two seasons in the old National Soccer League, playing their home games out of Shark Park and moving their youth teams to Bates Drive at Kirrawee.

The Olympic Sharks even won the NSL title in the 2001-02 season, and were Minor Premiers in 2002-03, only to lose in the Grand Final. The Olympic Sharks were as successful as can be on-field, but still, no one in the Shire seemed to care too much.

Sure it was a repackaged Sydney Olympic, and that could have been the issue, but my father and I still went and watched, despite being Marconi fans, unfortunately not too many of the other locals got on board.

Now the region does have the largest junior participation, and back in the day, the Menai Hawks and Lilli Pilli regularly battled it out for the honours of being the biggest junior club in the southern hemisphere.

But the demographic of the area is changing.


Families are being priced out and those that grew up in the area, such as myself, can’t afford to hang around the area, and even those who pay the lofty house prices, a day at the A-League may just be a stretch too far when the weekly budget is calculated.

Why do we need to expand to a third team in Sydney?


Sydney FC are only just finding some solid ground after a few lean years before the arrival of Del Piero and whilst the Wanderers have made a stunning start to life, we cannot get too complacent, with the Western Sydney market only expected to become more competitive.


Why not have both Sydney teams averaging 25,000 a week? Why introduce a third team which will only take fans away from the existing franchises.

The Newcastle Jets are in disarray, with the Hunter Sports Group seemingly running the franchise into the ground and the Central Coast Mariners are experiencing similar economic issues.

How about ensuring the solidity of the existing franchises before we start adding anymore?

We saw what happened with Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury, which the league has only really recovered from in the shape of the Wanderers.

Let’s get all the current A-League sides to an economically sustainable level. I know many have a ‘dream’ of Australia having a second-tier and therefore promotion and relegation, but I don’t think people understand how far away that day actually is.

Just having 10 A-League teams competing is a task for Football Federation Australia, both economically and logistically, especially when sharing infrastructure and stadiums with other sports.

If we built our own stadiums and academies then great, but it’s been hard enough for A-League clubs to break even, let alone look too far ahead.

That’s not to say that there aren’t realistic options to expand to when the times is right.

I'd be looking towards Canberra and Tasmania as possible expansion targets.

The ACT are crying out for football and whilst it was tried previously with the Canberra Cosmos, recent attendances to significant football matches in the region , such as the FFA Cup and Socceroos highlight the potential.

Locals haven’t really warmed to the GWS GIANTS attempts at embracing the place and the Canberra Raiders aren’t exactly setting the world on fire at the moment and I wouldn’t expect them to return to their glory days anytime soon.

Canberra United has built a solid foundation through the W-League and Canberra Stadium and the AIS facilities provide a solid base to build an A-League club from.

Tasmania has long been a dream of mine. The argument is always that it is not 'commercially viable', but I don’t know how that argument has weight when you have teams in Newcastle and Gosford.

The Apple Isle is crying out for national sport and they have shown their appetite in supporting the AFL games taken to the state in recent times.

No other sport will bite the bullet in the region, and football showed what can be achieved through initiative with the Wanderers.

But expose the game to a new market, rather than diluting one to provide for another.

I’ve regularly attended Sydney FC games, catching the train from the Sutherland Shire into Central Station and making the walk up to the Sydney Football Stadium.


The trains are regularly filled with Sydney FC fans and almost every football person I come across in the area calls themselves a Sky Blue.


There’s talk of bringing the South Coast into the proposed side, but again, we’ve seen the challenges that the Wollongong Wolves faced and the continued economic challenges facing the ‘rebirth’ South Coast Wolves.


The Cronulla Sharks have long been a financial basket case, which hasn’t been helped by recent events. Commercially the region isn’t strong and the Sharks are regularly chasing sponsors, a sign that the area isn’t exactly the gold mine many believe it to be.

Whilst David Gallop hasn’t explicitly come out and said he supports a move to the Sutherland Shire, the media coverage and discussion continues to grow.

I just hope someone from head office actually looks at the bigger picture and doesn’t expect that the success of the Wanderers can be replicated in any market they choose.

As someone who has lived, played and followed football in the area for most of my life, I believe bringing an A-League team to the region would only undo a lot of the positives steps the A-League has made in recent times.

CM Punk to the UFC - 'No we're not being Punked'

No we’re not being 'Punked', Phil Brooks aka CM Punk has signed a deal to fight for the UFC.

The organisation announced the news as part of the UFC 181 broadcast, catching most by surprise.

Punk made an appearance on good friend Colt Cabana’s podcast last week and although he firmly closed the door on a return to the WWE, he didn’t give the indication that this announcement would occur just days later.

Now that the initial shock has dispersed fans are coming out divided over the signing.

It is a strange one, but I’m excited by it and certainly wish Punk well.

Naturally fans are comparing Punk to current WWE Heavyweight Champion and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

Lesnar entered the Octagon with a fair pedigree behind him, being the NCAA Heavyweight champion and has since said he would have joined the UFC over WWE initially, had the UFC been as prominent as it is today way back when.

‘The Beast’ certainly wasn’t handled with care upon his entry to the UFC, being matched with former champion Frank Mir on debut.

Lesnar was probably used as a ‘sacrificial lamb’ in some respects by UFC President Dana White, at least until he realised that Brock could actually fight and the UFC could make a hell of a lot of money out of it.

Brock Lesnar’s PPV numbers were more than impressive; in fact the two biggest selling UFC Pay-Per-Views of all time had him in the main event.

Just like Lesnar brought over a tonne of wrestling fans, Punk will do the same.

The fact he has 2.1 million followers on Twitter alone, shows his value, coupled with the fact his podcast with Colt Cabana, where he broke his silence over why he left the WWE, virtually broke the internet last week.

Now he’s probably not going to win a UFC title and perhaps not even fight a ‘big name’ fighter, and it may all go horribly wrong.

But I’ll pay my $50 to see it, and frankly that’s all that matters.

There are a lot of questions that need answering.

Can he actually fight? Well that’s to be seen.

He doesn’t come from a fighting background, but there is somewhat of a base.

Punk has been training in Jiu-jitsu for years with Rener Gracie, has a Kempo background and has had an exposure to Muay Thai.

It may be ‘fake’ in WWE, but he certainly has the right idea behind all of his kicks, knees and elbows.

Another question, Can he take a punch?

We all saw what a weakness it was for Lesnar and you just can’t be one dimensional in the UFC. You don’t have to be perfect everywhere, but you’ve got to at least offer something in a few areas, with decent striking, ground game and solid defence.

As someone who stepped into the boxing ring a few years ago, with no prior experience, I have to say I understand the motivation. I’d followed boxing for years, covered the sport as a journalist and hit the pads, but jumping in between the ropes was a dream and it’s something I’d love to do again.

For the record, I wasn’t very good and I technically lost my debut, thanks judges, but I loved it. I found I could take a decent shot, and I took several, but the experience was the ultimate challenge and I’m glad I did it.  

But you just don’t know whether ‘it’ is in you until you do it. You don’t know whether you’ve got the chin until it’s tested and you don’t know whether you’ve got the heart for it, until it’s required.

For taking up the challenge, Punk has my respect and there’s certainly no bigger challenge than the UFC.

The final question, Will his body hold up?

He is 36-years-old and has been riddled with injuries throughout his professional wrestling career. He has significant wear and tear on his body and MMA is a very unforgiving sport.

Only time will answer that one.

The organisation has been criticised in some parts and classed as ‘selling out’ for signing the former professional wrestler, but if the UFC hadn’t signed Punk, someone else would have, most likely their rival promotion Bellator.

Why give your rival an opportunity, that’s guaranteed to make money and bring new eyes on your product?

UFC president Dana White has already said that Punk will be fighting guys of similar experience, those with perhaps a couple of fights or less. This in itself is new to the UFC, with most fighters building their resume in other lesser known promotions before being given an opportunity by the premier mixed martial arts promotion.

If White wanted to make an example out of Punk or wanted him to ‘earn’ his opportunity, he would have made him go through the Ultimate Fighter, as he made ‘Internet Sensation’ Kimbo Slice.

The fact he hasn’t, gives you an indication of the level of opponent Punk will be afforded. White is a smart business man. He knows the box office draw that Punk will be, why set him up to fail on the first outing, when you have a multiple fight contract that will make both parties a lot of money.

Punk now has six months to train and learn as much as he can, although there’s only so much you can learn in that time, as he looks at a June 2015 debut.  

Whatever comes to pass, I’m looking forward to watching it unfold and there will be millions of other fight fans along for the ride with me. 

Follow Adam on Twitter here.