What does the future have in-store for the A-League’s perennial underdogs: The Central Coast Mariners?
The Central Coast Mariners were formed in 2004, under a new plan to grow Australian football with a new national league entitled: The A-League. The club created a first, being the first professional sporting team to represent the Central Coast area in a national competition. The club are arguably the most consistent and most successful club in the A-League’s short nine year history with one Championship, two Minor Premierships and three stints in the prestigious Asian Champions League.
All things seemed good at the Mariners, or so fans thought. Off-field news recently saw a proposed plan by the Mariners board to move home games away from the idyllic Bluetongue Stadium to the old North Sydney Oval to try and stem the money losses within the club. $1 million dollars is reportedly being lost every year. Also the long standing Group General Manager of the Mariners Peter Turnbull announced his resignation from his position. This has now created an aura of uncertainty especially from fans of the club and fans of the A-League.
The Central Coast Mariners were formed in 2004, under a new plan to grow Australian football with a new national league entitled: The A-League. The club created a first, being the first professional sporting team to represent the Central Coast area in a national competition. The club are arguably the most consistent and most successful club in the A-League’s short nine year history with one Championship, two Minor Premierships and three stints in the prestigious Asian Champions League.
All things seemed good at the Mariners, or so fans thought. Off-field news recently saw a proposed plan by the Mariners board to move home games away from the idyllic Bluetongue Stadium to the old North Sydney Oval to try and stem the money losses within the club. $1 million dollars is reportedly being lost every year. Also the long standing Group General Manager of the Mariners Peter Turnbull announced his resignation from his position. This has now created an aura of uncertainty especially from fans of the club and fans of the A-League.
As a passionate Mariners supporter, it is saddening to think that a club so deeply rooted in this fantastic regional community could be forced to relocate to the North shore of Sydney to cut losses. Although the proposed move has come under heavy fire from Sydney FC supporters who see the North Shore as their territory, and are greatly opposed to the move. So the questions arise. Why relocate? Why leave us behind?
The club have publicly stated that they have no intention to relocate the Mariners, and that the North Sydney Oval game scheduled for December 19th against the Wellington Phoenix is a one-off and if successful will become a tradition in future seasons. But as fans, we don’t know what exactly goes on behind closed doors and this aura of uncertainty will continue to grow. Reports from the FFA have said that North Sydney Oval needs a major revamp to be considered an A-League ground with the field, stands and dressing rooms in desperate need of modernisation.
So why the move? Well, crowd attendances of Bluetongue have been perceived as below-average. Friday night’s scoreless draw against Melbourne Victory only attracted 5,787 on a cool, but overcast night at Bluetongue. Yes, the crowd was very underwhelming, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Mariners have the best membership per capita in the A-League with a region of 350,000 seeing close to 6,000 members. The Mariners may cop flak for their poor attendance and their reasonably low crowds, but as many can attest to. All fans are loyal and will stick behind the club no matter what.
The club’s Centre of Excellence in Tuggerah could be a reason for the losses. This modern training base is a first in Australia with world class facilities, this obviously did not cost little, and so if the Mariners are moving away, what was the point of building the CoE? Another question is: Do the people of the Central Coast even want a football/soccer team? The support the Mariners get may be a little below average as the rugby league dominated community have cried out for a team in the NRL for many years. The Central Coast Bears a non-existent sporting team may have more support than their existing football club.
The Mariners problems maybe way more complicated than anyone could have predicted. The amount of factors that would come into a move would be much higher than most think. Only time will tell what the future of this overachieving club has in store.
The club have publicly stated that they have no intention to relocate the Mariners, and that the North Sydney Oval game scheduled for December 19th against the Wellington Phoenix is a one-off and if successful will become a tradition in future seasons. But as fans, we don’t know what exactly goes on behind closed doors and this aura of uncertainty will continue to grow. Reports from the FFA have said that North Sydney Oval needs a major revamp to be considered an A-League ground with the field, stands and dressing rooms in desperate need of modernisation.
So why the move? Well, crowd attendances of Bluetongue have been perceived as below-average. Friday night’s scoreless draw against Melbourne Victory only attracted 5,787 on a cool, but overcast night at Bluetongue. Yes, the crowd was very underwhelming, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Mariners have the best membership per capita in the A-League with a region of 350,000 seeing close to 6,000 members. The Mariners may cop flak for their poor attendance and their reasonably low crowds, but as many can attest to. All fans are loyal and will stick behind the club no matter what.
The club’s Centre of Excellence in Tuggerah could be a reason for the losses. This modern training base is a first in Australia with world class facilities, this obviously did not cost little, and so if the Mariners are moving away, what was the point of building the CoE? Another question is: Do the people of the Central Coast even want a football/soccer team? The support the Mariners get may be a little below average as the rugby league dominated community have cried out for a team in the NRL for many years. The Central Coast Bears a non-existent sporting team may have more support than their existing football club.
The Mariners problems maybe way more complicated than anyone could have predicted. The amount of factors that would come into a move would be much higher than most think. Only time will tell what the future of this overachieving club has in store.