A-league Future Uncovered In West

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday May 4, 2007

Michael Cockerill

WESTERN Sydney will one day have its own A-League team - it's not a question of when but where. So put down May 2, 2007, as the day Penrith put down a convincing marker to become the base from which one of the competition's great rivalries could be built.

When Sydney FC arrived at the CUA Stadium on Wednesday night for an Asian Champions League warm-up match against the locals, nobody quite knew what to expect. The game had only been organised at the end of last week, thanks largely to the relationship between Penrith-Nepean United's new coach, former Socceroos striker Abbas Saad, and his Sydney FC counterpart, Branko Culina. So hasty was the arrangement, deadlines had already passed for two of the three local papers to publicise the fixture.

But as Sydney FC's 13 fit players were warming up in semi-darkness behind the western grandstand, something strange began to happen. A queue started to form in front of the only open turnstile. It grew longer and longer - so much so that when the scheduled kick-off time arrived, it was agreed to postpone the start by 10 minutes to allow all the spectators inside. Sydney FC have played a series of ACL warm-up matches against NSW Premier League opposition in recent months, and all have been reasonably well-attended. But none managed to draw a crowd of this size. And all this with virtually no promotion, no publicity, just word of mouth.

Ecstatic Penrith-Nepean officials could scarcely hide their surprise, or delight. The main game became not the game itself, but guessing how many people were there to watch it. Ultimately, the consensus was somewhere between 4000 and 5000. And while they were there to see Sydney FC, they weren't there as fans of Sydney FC. Asked how many locals were in the habit of travelling to Moore Park to watch the A-League, a Penrith official replied: "If you're lucky, maybe a couple of hundred."

This was the biggest football crowd at the stadium since Sydney United visited in the old NSL in 1994. And what can be comfortably surmised is that the vast majority of fans were watching A-League players in action for the first time. Which all suggests the edge of Sydney offers a vast untapped market - perfect conditions for a new A-League franchise to exploit.

There are about one million people in the corridor between Parramatta and Penrith, and a further 200,000 in the catchment area of the Blue Mountains and the central west. And while rugby league has a strong presence, football is booming. Twenty-five thousand registered players illustrates the potential.

Sydney FC founding shareholder Peter Turnbull says when eventually sells out of the club, he wants to put his money into a western Sydney franchise. What he is less sure about is where to play the games - Campbelltown, Homebush and Parramatta have all been touted as venues alongside Penrith. But if people power counts, Wednesday night's impressive turnout puts Penrith ahead of the pack.

Significantly, apart from the brief existence of Penrith City in the mid 1980s, this area has never had a top-level team to call its own. By contrast, the other areas of western Sydney have all housed a multitude of NSL teams, and some of those markets have been burned by the experience. Parramatta Leagues Club, for instance, blew about $12 million on the Parramatta Power.

But the edge of Sydney truly is virgin territory, and the fact it is further removed from Sydney FC's natural catchment area than other parts of the greater west also works in its favour.

What is against Penrith at this stage is money. Panthers boss Barry Walsh told the Herald this week that backing a new A-League franchise had "never been mentioned, never been spoken about" at board level - leaving a distinct impressive the state's richest social club is not yet inclined to pour money into the venture.

But with Turnbull's seed money, and a huge interest from the grassroots, investors will eventually climb on board. Sydney FC's visit to the outer west has lit the fuse, and it's going to keep burning. Rarely has a football community produced such a spontaneous show of support.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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