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Macarthur Bulls take to the field on Saturday night against Melbourne Victory in search of a second Australia Cup.
Heading into just the club’s fifth season in the A-League, it would be a wonderful achievement for a team many felt was surplus to requirements. Expansion into the south-west of Sydney and an additional club in Victoria in the form of Western United brought many a cynical opinion.
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In retrospect and as some pointed out at the time, accessing new fans and bringing people from ever broadening urban communities into the A-League realm is the best and most effective way of building the competition for the long term.
Whilst many looked more favourably on the re-establishment of clubs like South Melbourne, Wollongong Wolves or Sydney United as top-tier teams, the move into the south-west of Sydney is already paying dividends. The culture is growing, the cowbells are annoying the heck out of everywhere not connected with the club and the results are consistently coming on the pitch.
During their inaugural season, the Bulls managed to drag an average of 3488 people through the gates, in what was a rather nervy time as the pandemic subsided somewhat and then threatened to bite for a second time.
The impact of that medical re-emergence was seen in the 2021-22 numbers, yet there were signs of life in 2022-23, with a new average gate record for home matches occurring off the back of the cup victory. Last season, the bar was raised even higher.
Valère Germain celebrates after scoring a goal (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Average home attendance of 4161 translated into a 19 per cent rise since the club’s year of inception. It was interesting to note that South Melbourne drew just 4138 for their clash with the Bulls in the cup semi-final last Sunday.
One would have thought that the fixture was potentially the biggest South Melbourne had played in for near 20 years, and the irony of the poor numbers drawn and the A-League presence of the opposition visiting for the night should not be lost on anyone.
Bluntly, it is why expansion is the correct path forward and not a delving back into the past to clubs that will, in time, earn their right to compete in the top tier, if and when it ever arrives.
Mulling over numbers is one thing and the Bulls will be hopeful of 5000-plus crowds throughout the upcoming season, yet the real value of the Bulls and what the future holds for them in the long term lies in something far simpler. A trip to the south-west of Sydney is all one needs to consolidate the view that Macarthur Bulls will be a powerhouse of the league in the not too distant future
For anyone not familiar with the catchment area from which the Bulls are drawing junior players, it is important to note just how briskly the Macarthur region is growing and expanding.
Encompassing the local government areas of Campbelltown, Camden and the Wollondilly Shire, its population is estimated to be around the 310,000 mark.
For reference, the Mariners supporter base comes mostly from an area containing roughly 350,000 residents on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The region is growing at around 1 per cent annually, a stark contrast to Macarthur, which by 2036, is set to house a population of somewhere between 500 and 600,000.
By then, the region will have become a south western metropolis, with an A-League team possessing a decent history and ample fans to clamour into Campbelltown Stadium or a boutique venue that would surely be a long-term goal for the club.
Whilst population growth does not always directly result in increased attendances, the people flocking to Macarthur from within Australia and abroad are well aligned to the round-ball game.
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According to the 2021 census, 47.4 per cent of respondents lived in families where both parents were born overseas. A total of 59 per cent of Macarthur residents had at least one parent who had migrated to Australia, compared with just 35.7 per cent of the population who were the product of two Australian-born parents.
India, England, Philippines, New Zealand and Bangladesh were the biggest migration providers at the time. Over the last four years, the number of South-East Asian and African migrants has continued to rise and whilst the AFL has done an excellent job of identify young talent and exposing it to the colonial game, Macarthur FC will have an embarrassment of riches in the future in terms of talent and the fans to support it.
If you remain cynical, the work being done at the Bulls Academy should challenge your thinking, with three graduates already having advanced to A-League representation and plenty more certain to follow as the programs become entrenched and the talent identified.
Macarthur FC will be a well-supported and dominant A-League club before too long and there will be some humble pie eaten by plenty who questioned the wisdom of building a club in the region. Another Australia Cup will sit nicely in the trophy cabinet and Saturday’s opponent in the final Melbourne Victory has already won their fair share of silverware.
Join me for a live call of the Australia Cup Final on Saturday night from 7pm (AEST).