Originally Posted by
The Dunster
The NSL like the A-league failed to self regulate the bad elements of the game because they didn't want to sacrifice the short term dollar.
The ethnic divisions in the NSL killed it because they flowed on through ticket sales, media coverage, sponsorship, and people simply not wanting to attend games because the quality of the product from pitch quality, to players, to facilities... and so on was not good enough... It was a disaster on too many levels.
I was there in 1977 when the club I played for were ridiculously allowed into the competition, I was there when they were relegated at the end of the season.... and I'd pretty much had enough of what the NSL had become by the mid 1980's. [ Imagine Valentine fielding a team in the A-league - and you wouldn't be far off].
Too much attention to the short term dollar and not enough focus on the long term.
Sure its good to focus on the positives but the ruling body and pro football media do nothing to address the problems.