As a way of moving beyond such discussion topics as CrapShootouts, Promotion/Relegation, Clocks, etc. (much as they continue to be 'fun' to discuss), let me try to suggest another topic for our continuing 'seminar':
The State of the A-League
There are clearly a lot of advantages with the new merged structure, but there are also some areas that merit some serious discussion and examination. I'll start the discussion by listing some of the plusses and minuses.
As always, comments and flames mandatory!
The Plusses:
1) The Expansion of the 2nd Division has been a huge boon to the development of a solid structure beneath MLS. Perhaps the most important factor was Umbro's role in brokering the deal between the old A-League and the USISL structure.
2) Regionalization of Conferences and Divisions has enhanced and developed regional rivalries and reduced travel costs. No longer, for example, does Atlanta have to make 6 trips a year to Vancouver (or whatever it was).
3) Attendance. Clearly, Rochester is the bellweather, but so too are clubs like Hershey, Vancouver, Seattle, Connecticut, and others too numerous to mention. The number of clubs that are regularly cracking the 3,000 mark (as reported by Soccer America) and going beyond that can only be to the benfit of the league. There are a few too many teams showing n/a as a crowd, which I'm assuming means under 1,000, but more seem to be in the 3,000+ club.
4) Explicit links to MLS. While "unconventional" in the sense of the rest of the world, this arrangement seems akin to baseball and hockey in North America, in the sense of developing players who need experience but can't (yet) cut it in MLS.
5) Participation in the US Open Cup. If anything this wonderful, historical tournament can blur the lines between "major" and "minor" leagues (two terms we should _avoid_ at all costs if we want to see soccer succeed at all levels). Rochester's continued gate success is in no small measure due to its ability to knock off the Mutiny and the Rapids in last years Open Cup.
There are certainly more plusses, but I'll let the rest of the list add to this, while I highlight a few minuses.
The Minuses:
1) Number of Foreigners. While MLS has a limit of 5 per club, the A-League has a much more generous arrangement. Teams may have up to 26 "active" players, 13 of which must be Americans or permanent residents. This leaves a huge number of slots open to foreigners. While many of these players are skillful and entertaining, they clearly are taking slots that would otherwise go to Americans. For a league that is supposed to be a developmental league for MLS, this clearly presents a problem.
2) Refereeing. If getting skillful and competent referees in MLS has been a challenge in a 10 team league, the challenges for a 24 team league are 2.4 times more difficult. The fiasco of a brawl in Rochester is just one dramatic indicator of referees that are being asked to perform at a level that -- clearly for some of them -- they may not be able to attain. Compared to MLS games, the level of rough play and cheap shots allowed in the A-League does not bode well.
3) The Clock. At least 3 games have produced demonstrable errors due to inconsistent "coordination" between the referee and clock operator. As reported by Alan Douglas in Vancouver, the method of timekeeping there varies substantially from the way it is done in, say, Atlanta. Yet the league has made no clear clarification about what the policy is here. De facto, many refs are using the foolish "stop-clock, coundown" that MLS is doing, but others are not. The League has been silent about this. Both MLS and the A-League need to do this the way it was done before MLS in the A-League, let the ref keep the clock and -- if the clock can't count up to 45 -- turn it off with 2 minutes left and state "official time is kept by the referee."
4) CrapShootouts - No further discussion necessary.
5) Jock-Rock and Motor-Mouth PA announcers. No futher discussion necessary, other than the fact that this simply says to the viewing public, "the game isn't capable of standing on its own, so we're going to blare noise at you to 'entertain' you."
6) Substitutions Why does the A-League allow 4 field substitutions plus a keeper, while MLS allows 3 plus a keeper? Not only does this slow the game down even more, forcing more stopped clock shenanigans and time wasting, it does not allow the players to establish and retain a flow neccesarry for good soccer.
7) Back-to-Back Weekend Games
(One might surmise that the number of subs allowed was created to deal with this problem. Folks, 2 Wrongs Don't Make a Right)
MLS coaches and players rightly complain about Friday-Sunday 'doubleheaders', yet it's far worse in the A-League. . Too often we see teams playing Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday, almost always with travel involved and in high heat/humidity condiditons. Have many of your seen the deterioration of play during the 2nd half in a team who's playing it's second match in 24 hours? Come on, is the league cutting itself so thin that it can't cover meal money and a group motel rate for another day so we can at least have what MLS is complaining about, namely Friday-Sunday 'doubleheaders'? What the league might lose is costs, it will gain is better soccer on the pitch and have more people come back and say "this is something I'd like to see again." And, lets' make more use of holidays during the season, as Montreal and Toronto did yesterday on Canada Day. In the US Memorial Day, by comparision, was a wasted opportunity for spreading out some of the weekend double dips.
Are there any missing "Plusses" and "Minuses"?
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