MELBOURNE, Australia -- In the modern sporting landscape, it can be difficult to figure out where actually winning things actually ranks in terms of importance. Not with dynamics such as profits, market size, amortisation, marketing and a thousand other modern sins becoming an increasingly ever-present part of the scene.
Take the current state of play in Australian football, as one example, where the fraught relationship that the game Down Under has between earning things on the pitch or on a balance sheet is, again, coming into focus.
Because in case you missed it, South Melbourne have started banging the drum once more about ending its two-decade long exile from the Australian top-flight, announcing their desire to take up now-defunct Western United's place in the A-Leagues. And with the board of the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) understood to be meeting this week, with the fallout from the Western United saga to be one of the items on the agenda, their efforts to deliver on those ambitions can properly commence.
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After missing out during multiple previous rounds of expansion, both formal and informal, South Melbourne feels they're well-placed to make the leap this time around. Work has been undertaken across the past year seeking to strengthen their commercial base, while their entry to the OFC Pro League and Australian Championship has grown their administrative capabilities. The club has also been encouraged by the response to the initial statement of its ambitions and the subsequent media blitz conducted by co-president Bill Papastergiadis, too, finding that there has been a distinct shift in mood amongst the Australian footballing public compared to their previous attempts to re-join the Australian top flight.
And much of this change in reception, one expects, is down to growing fatigue amongst A-League supporters surrounding newly created entities.
This motley crew has now watched on as three newly established expansion sides -- Western United, Gold Coast United, and North Queensland Fury -- all folded. They've observed Western United and Macarthur FC record the lowest attendances in the league every year since their entry. They see a planned Canberra men's expansion on track for 2028-29, four years past its target date and after inflicting years of existential dread on the existing women's side. And there's still no word on two further expansion sides that, when plans were first announced in 2023, were supposed to follow Canberra and Auckland FC in 2025-26. Increasing real-world evidence suggests that, unless one can find a billionaire to bankroll a new entity as Auckland did with American businessman Bill Foley, creating new sides out of thin air doesn't augur all that well in the modern A-League.
Thus, when confronted with the prospect of further expansion, one can see why the idea of a South, who would arrive with their own stadium, identity, fanbase, history, and a built-in rivalry with Melbourne Victory, would appeal. At least to those not negatively polarised by social media.
Of course, more than just popular sentiment will guide the APL's thinking as it attempts to navigate a post-Western United scene. Considerations of expansion against consolidation will be made, an examination of current and projected market sizes, broadcast ramifications, potential sponsor bases, existing footprints, the size of licence fees, and a gamut of other things that probably sound very exciting if you're an accountant. Everyone knows that's how the process is going to go; it's just how things work in Australian football and has for decades, even before the A-League was a thing. Another Queensland side, a team in Tasmania, Wollongong, Christchurch in New Zealand, and more, have all been thrown up as alternative potential or desired destinations, as well (even if most of these options would run into similar, something-from-nothing challenges, while Wollongong Showground isn't exactly being hospitable to the Wolves right now).
But perhaps before these discussions -- before we dive into the maths, politics, and skullduggery that will go into determining which team is anointed as deserving a chance to play in the Australian top-flight by those granted exclusive rights to serve as its gatekeeper -- we should take a pause. Perhaps, then, we can ask: as the A-League looks to fill a hole in its roster, again, just what role does the novel concept of actually proving yourself worthy by doing actual football stuff come into things?
As when it comes to being an actual football club, South Melbourne can't have done much more to earn an opportunity in the top-flight. In the span of 12 months, its men's side has won the first iteration of the Australian Championship, which we're told is supposed to represent our national second-tier, and finished as runners-up in the OFC Professional League. Last week, it defeated Preston Lions in the quarterfinals of the Australia Cup, earning progression to a clash with NPL QLD side Lions FC in what will be its third-ever Australia Cup semifinal. If it somehow defies the odds and becomes the first NPL side to win the Cup, it will earn the right to represent Australia in Oceanian and Asian competition, despite being locked out of the exposure and revenue opportunities that come with being in its top-flight for 21 years.
South Melbourne has accomplished this while maintaining its commitments in the NPL Victoria, where both its senior men and senior women's side -- the latter one of the historically strongest in Victoria and a foundation for an A-League Women side -- are set to play finals this season. It also continues to field full junior boys' and girls' setups, while maintaining a long-term deal to play at Lakeside Stadium. As men's coach Siniša Cohadzić asked ESPN: "What else can we do as a football club?"
Now, as preferable as it would be to have an open pyramid in Australia, in which clubs could rise and fall based on what they earn on the pitch -- something that should surely be a long-term aspiration for the sport -- that's not the case just yet. South Melbourne haven't done all their behind-the-scenes work because they thought they could just win their way in to the A-League, either. And even the most laissez-faire proponents of on an open system envision a requisite level of off-pitch standards and investment to move up the tiers.
But on a spiritual level, couched in the disillusionment that's come with how the A-League has failed with so many previous expansion teams, it's worth asking just how much weight the actual winning of football games bears in 2026. Really; what is the purpose of all this? Is the goal of the A-League to use football to drive profits? Or is the goal of the A-League to become profitable enough to support football? It's an important differentiation.
Two decades into its existence, and once again confronting the disappearance of one of its clubs (while several others confront ongoing financial challenges), A-League administrators would appear to be confronted with a scenario that will clearly signal which one it is. And while it being South Melbourne brings its own layer of narrative, it would be just as relevant had an Adelaide City, Lions FC, Marconi, or Preston or any other NPL club been banging on the door with the same kind of resume.
What, exactly, does Australian football want existing clubs to do to earn a spot in the top-flight? Do the challenges presented by the current system mean said system needs to be perpetuated in search of "stability"? Or has a catalyst to try something else arrived?
