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Unite Round

T

therealfootballsupporter

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Oct 24, 2024
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59
Keen to get people's thoughts on Unite Round? Will you be attending? How many games? Like the concept/or hate it?


Personally think this year's round has been scheduled much better and I like that a Sydney derby is on the Saturday night.
 
I personally think it is a great concept. The timing though is tricky. I went last year from Melbourne. As a teacher the school holidays worked perfectly and I loved the chance to see both the Men's and Women's teams on alternate days and a range of other clubs. This year it is simply at a really tough time of year - the run into Christmas makes it too challenging to attend. I think if you could base it around a long weekend it would work. Australia day seems an obvious choice for me - It's a national holiday and links into school holidays for many states and would give more fans a chance to attend. I hope it suceeds - I can't attend this year but I really like the concept.
 
I hope it succeeds so that states can bid for it

Im not optimistic though

If we expand to q h and a season it gives us an excuse to extend the season a round
 
I am fine with the concept of having all the games at one location over a long weekend (good idea).

I am not fine with it being located in NSW and giving 'local' teams an extra advantage in a commercially competitive environment like professional sport.

They may or may not be home games for the fans due to the distance they would still have to travel (as someone validly pointed out to me last time we talked about home advantage in the Unite Round) - but the extra days of travel and disruption for the travelling teams against the advantage of an extra day of home life and training for local teams is an unfair advantage.

Have it somewhere like Tassie, Albury-Wodonga or Far North Queensland where everyone is travelling but still with major transport hubs and facilities for visitors and you have a fair and rewarding sideshow.
 
RIMB said:
I am fine with the concept of having all the games at one location over a long weekend (good idea).

I am not fine with it being located in NSW and giving 'local' teams an extra advantage in a commercially competitive environment like professional sport.

They may or may not be home games for the fans due to the distance they would still have to travel (as someone validly pointed out to me last time we talked about home advantage in the Unite Round) - but the extra days of travel and disruption for the travelling teams against the advantage of an extra day of home life and training for local teams is an unfair advantage.

Have it somewhere like Tassie, Albury-Wodonga or Far North Queensland where everyone is travelling but still with major transport hubs and facilities for visitors and you have a fair and rewarding sideshow.
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Do the towns/places you mention, have the stadia, facilities and hotels etc:
 
I quite like the idea of it. Certainly a lot better than the original Grand Final idea they had. If it can create a sense of occasion and excitement then people might turn up in increased numbers. Casuals love an occasion, an event.

I do think moving it around season to season would be great. Not everywhere would suit, as you need at least 2 decently large stadiums. Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane would all work I feel.
 
Sutherlandbear said:
Do the towns/places you mention, have the stadia, facilities and hotels etc:
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Good question. Those are the considerations I meant when I said they have to have transport hubs and facilities.

Even if it became a thing that people plan to attend each year we might see 2-5k travelling supporters for each team (averaged across all teams) at best keen enough to go to the extravaganza of football. 47,425 last year to the whole thing - men's and women's combined. You get 6 double headers to choose from across Friday, Saturday and Sunday with 3 at each venue/time.

You get a free ticket to your team's game if you are a season ticket holder but would have to buy tickets to the two other double headers if you went to all 3.

I am guessing you would want stadia with 40k+ capacity for the men's double headers and 20k for the women's and hope to see both full for 60k attendance, but realistically expect maybe 30-35k max at the men's and 5-10k max at the women's.

If you are doing it for the money you would base it in Melbourne or Sydney to get the maximum number of local fans to attend. If you are doing it for the football and competition fairness you would have a much smaller turnout. Obviously will be run for the money and try for the biggest event. So yeah - unfortunately that limits it to the big cities :(
 
therealfootballsupporter said:
Keen to get people's thoughts on Unite Round? Will you be attending? How many games? Like the concept/or hate it?


Personally think this year's round has been scheduled much better and I like that a Sydney derby is on the Saturday night.
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Not into the idea/concept, a "football comp ???" - its not about the comp but money.
Might as well have a 2/3day round robin knock out comp.
A football comp is H/A last I knew - as mentioned takes away H advantage of travelling clubs And a % of supporters can't throw out up to $1k for travel accom food etcetc.....oh thats ok neutrals turn up to cover those regulars not able to attend as one offs and the counter revenue to say its a success, seriously turn it up.
Gimmick just as those other so called BS rounds through the competition ala star wars blahblah - the football and its H/A meant to do the talking.
WTF merican marketing.
Enjoy fellas :)
 
RIMB said:
I am fine with the concept of having all the games at one location over a long weekend (good idea).
I am not fine with it being located in NSW and giving 'local' teams an extra advantage in a commercially competitive environment like professional sport.
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To be fair, this season 4 of the 5 NSW clubs are playing each other.
The 5th one (Macarthur) is a scheduled home game for them anyway so there is no additional home advantage for any NSW team.
That being said, you could argue Nix and Perth probably have the worst deal as they are both playing Melbourne sides which may pull more crowds as the travel is shorter.
Other issue is ticket prices. They should be $10 flat rate. Sit anywhere. Doesn't matter whether it's adult, child, concession, or whatever, it's $10. At least $10 might get more neutrals through the door.
 
therealfootballsupporter said:
Keen to get people's thoughts on Unite Round? Will you be attending? How many games? Like the concept/or hate it?


Personally think this year's round has been scheduled much better and I like that a Sydney derby is on the Saturday night.
Click to expand...

Before the Sydney GF was dumped, a few of us in here talked about the potential of an A-League version of Gather/Magic Round as an idea to replace it while the contract was in place…

I said I would attend if this was an eventuality, and I am keeping to my promise. I attended last year and I am attending this year.

The fixturing is much better this year. Victory plays at 1:30pm on the Sunday, meaning we can fly in and fly out on the day.

But I have decided to fly in the day before and check out the Sydney derby. Maybe Brisbane v Adelaide as well.

Do I want it to proceed next year? I am open to it if someone is willing to pay or sponsor it… But I would prefer that it be moved around to different locations.
 
Really dislike the idea. Save for the Sydney Derby, I assume there will be little to no interest and very few fans from interstate teams will travel to attend it. It clearly does not have any benefit for fans and, even accepting it is a round set up purely for a short term government funding hit, there is no real medium to long term commercial benefit for the A-League or the NSW Government to do it.

Secondly, as a Jets supporter, it is difficult to understand why our state government is paying funds for a Newcastle v Central Coast game to be held in Sydney. I would prefer my taxes go towards making it easier / more accessible to watch my team play (not less).

I much prefer, and I think they have done this in the past, of a 'Super' day in which all 6 games are played. Maybe as a mid-week round just before X-mas (noting the logistical issues this causes in the middle of Summer).
 
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Song said:
Secondly, as a Jets supporter, it is difficult to understand why our state government is paying funds for a Newcastle v Central Coast game to be held in Sydney. I would prefer my taxes go towards making it easier / more accessible to watch my team play (not less).
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That particular matchup seems pretty odd.. Surely a keenly anticipated derby by both sets of supporters normally?

Maybe "uniting" everyone in common dislike of the APL is their marketing strategy?
 
I'm bang up for it.

It's massive in league and that grew out of nothing. It's an event now that people plan a year in advance. It's a party atmosphere like the HK7s or something similar.
 
Muz said:
I'm bang up for it.

It's massive in league and that grew out of nothing. It's an event now that people plan a year in advance. It's a party atmosphere like the HK7s or something similar.
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Sounds amazing ... Last years effort didnt look very "party like" but I guess it will be done properly this time around.. Enjoy.
 
Monoethnic Social Club said:
Sounds amazing ... Last years effort didnt look very "party like" but I guess it will be done properly this time around.. Enjoy.
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I think he's referring to whatever the NRL version of this round is called.
I'm sure it easier to have this concept succeed when you have 65% if clubs based in the one state.
 
someguyjc said:
I think he's referring to whatever the NRL version of this round is called.
I'm sure it easier to have this concept succeed when you have 65% if clubs based in the one state.
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Oh, hahahah Do they call Rugby League just plain "league" ... doesnt the "union" play in a league format as well, just different rules?
 
yanks, leave the qldr's alone MSC, mexicans gtfo haha

I knew exactely what Muz was implying though I'm not in agreeance.
Yep NRL/league 2 massive States and following naturally it is a success for all the dough is going to the top flight and its damn popular.
Its slam dunk success like SOO so ROI is garanteed.
someguyfc this :
NRL Magic Round: This festival features 16 NRL teams playing eight matches in one city. The 2025 event is expected to return to Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium
Fox $$ sponsers helps right - comp even starts here first up
NRL Opening Round: The 2025 season will kick off with a quadrouple-header at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 1.

So our little APL are following Jones/Gallop etc lets follow afl/nrl codes.
We know our game isn't anywhere supported like these 2, then once again why does our game follow them ????
You APL supporters should be turning away but you can't help yourselves for your fix.
 
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