A-League Needs To Engage With Asia

The A-League does need to engage more with Asia

Paul Williams

Chris Fong is right. The A-League does need to engage more with Asia.

Chris Fong is wrong. The A-League should NEVER be home to a team from South East Asia.

The Brisbane Roar chairman told The World Game last week that the FFA should consider adding a team from the populous region to our north when the A-League expands to 12 or 14 teams. It's a suggestion we've heard before.

His reasoning is that it could "provide unheard of and fantastic growth for the A-League."

While that may be true and it's his role as a club chairman to look for growth opportunities, it's time Australia stopped simply looking at what it can get from the relationship with Asia. Relationships are a two-way street.

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane is the home of Brisbane Roar. — Suncorp Stadium is the home of Brisbane Roar

It may provide "unheard of and fantastic growth for the A-League", but where is the benefit for football in South East Asia? Will it help develop local football and the local infrastructure? How will it benefit the existing domestic leagues and clubs?

In this case, the A-League appears to be like the corporate goliaths that are the EPL clubs that make their way to South East Asia every year to suck the local fans of their money, give lip service to development and generally do nothing to grow the game in the countries they are visiting.

As a full member of ASEAN, Australia should be looking at what is best for the entire region and that is not having a team in the A-League. It's by working with ASEAN and the various member nations to grow and develop football in the region.

The FFA and A-League clubs could do worse than look towards Japan and look at the efforts the J.League and JFA are going to to forge genuine links with South East Asia.

MOU's have been signed with six associations - Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Myanmar and Indonesia - for the development of football on and off the pitch.

For the last two years the head of the V.League Organising Board in Vietnam has come from Japan, as has their senior men's and women's national team coach, while there are a growing number of Japanese officials working in different clubs and associations across the region.

The J.League has teamed with large Japanese corporations to subsidise the costs of broadcasting the J.League into those six nations, giving the league a greater presence and profile in the region.

The clubs too are playing their part.

Three clubs - Kashiwa Reysol, Kawasaki Frontale and Gamba Osaka - have teamed up with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to help develop football in the region. Kashiwa and Kawasaki have conducted 'soccer schools' in Thailand and Vietnam respectively, while Gamba Osaka has done likewise in Indonesia and undertook a pre-season tour of the country last month.

Yokohama F.Marinos is another club looking to develop links in South East Asia, signing partnerships with Suphanburi in Thailand and Yangon United in Myanmar. Off-the-field they've also developed an "Asian Partner" sponsorship, helping club sponsors develop links with other corporations in South East Asia, which has benefits for the organisations from both countries.

This increased focus on South East Asia has offered extra opportunities for players too, and an increasing number of Japanese players are now choosing to continue their careers in the various South East Asian leagues, particularly Thailand where no fewer than nine (along with eleven South Koreans) are lining up this year

It's not just a one-way street, however. As part of their partnerships, J.League clubs are encouraged to sign South East Asian players in the seasons past stars such as Le Cong Vinh and Irfan Bachdim have signed with J.League teams. While their impact on the pitch has been minimal, it won't be too long before the best in South East Asia make their way to Japan and make an impact.

And all this is happening without Japan being affiliated in any way with ASEAN. As a full ASEAN member there should be a greater requirement for Australia to contribute to the development of football in the region.

It's not all bad news as far as the A-League is concerned.

Melbourne Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro recently announced that his club are looking to develop greater links with Asia. The big piece of the puzzle is their plan to develop an offshoot of their successful Victory in Business coterie group, focusing on Asia, employing Michael Yang, the president of the Australian Hubei Chamber of Commerce and 2015 AFC Asian Cup ambassador, to run the new group.

It's a good start, but it's just one club. What is lacking is a concerted plan from FFA and the clubs.

While everyone remains focused just on what they can reap from Asia, we continue to miss the bigger picture. A stronger South East Asia is good for Australian football. The gap between the best and worst teams in Asia remains large and the only way to close the gap is to improve the standard of the base.

Japan and the J.League has realised this and is working strategically to help towards that goal. It's time Australia and the A-League did likewise.