On your marks, get set, go!
Prepare for the fastest A-League and W-League seasons ever to mark the new era of Australian domestic football.
The A-League will play its first batch of winter games since 2010 – aside from the “Covid bubble” finale of 2019-20 which provided a glimpse into the future.
Colder, faster, younger. That is what the data from matches in the cooler months showed, with ball speed rising for each A-League side during the 44-day batch of games to complete the 2019-2020 season, which concluded with Sydney FC’s 1-0 win over Melbourne City on August 30.
The number of passes per minute of possession is a measuring tool for tempo or ball speed. Six teams competed more than 14 passes per minute post Covid, and no team was below 13 passes. Pre Covid, by contrast, only two teams had more than 14 passes per minute and four were below 13 passes.
The W-League season, which kicks off on the same day as the A-League – December 27 – for the first time, will also play a chunk of its season in cooler months, with the finals series set to start in April. The W-League season usually concluded in the summer heat of February.
GLOBAL COMPARISONS
In a measure of Europe’s top five leagues (English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga and France Ligue 1 plus the Asian Football Confederation leagues), Mitch Langerak and Ned Zelic’s former club Borussia Dortmund had the highest ball speed, with Ange Postecoglou’s Yokohama F. Marinos ranked no.2 and Barcelona completing the podium.
UEFA Champions League winners Bayern Munich, Manchester City, J1 League pair Oita Trinita and Kawasaki Frontale, PSG, Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen rounded out the top 10.
The best A-League clubs compared favourably to the European and Asian heavyweights, based on the post Covid data alone, with the ball zipping around at 90 per cent of the speed of Europe and Asia’s best.
While the A-League season will kick off in summer, the bulk of the season will be played in cooler months. The A-League finals series look set to be played at breakneck speeds, kicking off in June 2021.
SEASONAL CHANGES
Football is traditionally a winter sport but the National Soccer League (NSL), which started in 1977, shifted to an summer slot in 1989-90.
The winter season is familiar to a host of famous names in the Australian football fraternity, although most of their kids were not yet born when the last winter season was played in 1989.
The fathers of Brisbane Roar’s Corey Brown (Rod Brown, APIA Leichardt), Melbourne City’s Jamie Maclaren (Don Maclaren, Sunshine George Cross), Sydney FC’s Paolo Retre (Carlos Retre, Footscray), Western United’s Luke Duzel (Ivan Duzel, Melbourne Knights) and Aussies Abroad Ryan Edwards (Alistair Edwards, Sydney Olympic), Emily van Egmond (Gary van Egmond, Footscray), Jason Davidson (Alan Davidson, Knights) all featured in that ’89 season.
So too did current Socceroos coach Graham Arnold (Sydney United), Fox Sports commentators Andy Harper (St George), John Kosmina (APIA) and Victory football chief Paul Trimboli (South Melbourne).
The first six seasons of the A-League kicked off at the end of winter, before October starts commenced in 2011-12, coinciding with Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton’s returns.
Pre Covid, Melbourne City (then Heart) and Perth Glory played the last winter match, with Robbie Fowler scoring the last goal in winter – his first for Glory – in a 2-2 draw with Gerald Sibon and Nick Kalmar netting for City.
Robbie Kruse netted Melbourne Victory’s winner away to Gold Coast United on the same day.
