Lachlan Avil 
The Mariners and Phoenix duke it out at Unite Round in 2023/24. Photo: Texi Smith
The Unite Round concept was not born out of some desire to drive widespread attention to a marquee round in the A-League.
It wasn’t created to generate a sellable product that could form a not-insignificant portion of revenue for the APL. It wasn’t even trying to recreate that supporter-mixing atmosphere only really seen at international tournaments.
It was the tedious replacement assignment that you’ve been given on 48 hours’ notice, desperately trying scrape a pass mark after you failed the last one, so you can just move on and forget the semester ever happened.
The sheer relief from fans over the return to the earned grand final hosting system, was enough to paper over the cracks of poor execution, a lack of marquee fixturing and a ‘one city’ experience that largely did not live up to expectations.
But despite its messy origins, there is no reason that Unite Round cannot be an exciting and productive fixture on the A-Leagues calendar moving forward, if it is given a real go.
This year, the APL are doing just that to see if it is an idea worth continuing.
What’s new?
The raft of changes from the 2023/24 edition, announced on Thursday, display many significant improvements from last year’s attempt. More planning time undoubtedly boosting the APL’s ability to come up with a more comprehensively thought-out event.
Perhaps the biggest improvement is the presence of marquee fixtures that will guarantee to bring large crowd numbers. A Sydney Derby in Saturday night prime time, and an F3 on the Friday – a slightly imperfect placement forced by the Mariners’ possible international travel in the Asian Champions League Elite the following week.
If Unite Round is going to be a marketable asset, then the matchups themselves have to fit the bill. With the league scaling down to just two triple-up games beyond a true home and away season, throwing in third editions of the NSW derbies makes perfect sense.
There may have also been room for an Original Rivalry, given Unite Round would be the only opportunity for a third dose of that particular matchup in the 2024/25 calendar. But preserving the weight of that fixture from a neutral ground is a fair enough reason to think otherwise.
The event is also moving from January to November. The APL says a big factor to moving outside of school holidays was the lower associated travel costs and venue availability.
You would ponder that additional benefits of this move would also be avoiding heat issues in the afternoons of summer months, and the ability to capitalise on the optimism of fans so early in the season.
There will be two games across each competition on every day of the weekend, with the men playing exclusively out of Sydney Football Stadium, and the women at Leichhardt Oval. Closer to the CBD and with easier transport options, big tick.
The venue change also more accurately represents the wants of supporters who will largely gravitate towards one league or the other. But, in another very welcome quality of life improvement, each club’s respective men’s and women’s teams will play on different days, allowing fans to attend both games for their club if they wish.
In another big change, full season club members will gain free access to the double-headers their team is playing in – a long term play aimed at growing the wholistic value of a future contract with attendance numbers, rather than cashing in on a few gate receipts in the short term.
Similar flight and accommodation deals will return. To what extent they alleviate the financial pressure of travelling across one of the largest countries in the world, remains to be seen. But the ticketing deal and complimentary public transport are a step in the right direction.
Further details of grassroots clinics, activations, fan sites and other events will come in time.
Perhaps the only negative change is that one men’s team won’t be coming. Although, a Q&A forum released by the APL seemed to imply at least some kind of discussion with Melbourne City.
“With a 13-team Isuzu UTE A-League Men competition, at least one team each round will have a Bye in season 2024/25. As part of the fixture building process we sought feedback from clubs on when they may prefer to have their Byes with those clubs being allocated into a pool as part of the fixturing process. Melbourne City FC have been drawn against the BYE during this round,” the page read.
What about a new deal?
The question probably needs to be asked: do we even want Unite Round to stick around, longer than the necessary two years?
The obvious negative is that it detracts from the competitive integrity of the regular season. Like many other Australian codes however, the A-League never has been fair in its fixturing. Until we have a true home and away season, that integrity will always be breached anyway.
But is it even necessary to adjust to global footballing norms with true home and away, or shall we look more locally to Australian sporting standards and capitalise on commercial opportunities during the season, given the equaliser that is the finals series.
Some form of that ‘Australia vs Global Football’ debate has gone on for decades and will continue for many more.
There is rarely an answer that even comes close to satisfying both camps. Who knows? Maybe this is finally the issue that everyone can unite behind!
At the end of the day, it will all come down to what kind of deal the APL can get if they decide to take it out to tender again. Will the sale price justify the fixture disruption? Maybe they don’t even view it as disruption, but that’s the decision to be made.
All the changes at least make this edition feel much more like a real version, compared to what was dished up last season. It will allow both the APL and fans the ability to decide for themselves if this is a future they want for the league.
Will Unite Round be the next big thing in Australian Football? Probably not. But it may be something worth keeping around.
Last year certainly wasn’t the time to make that call. This year is.