Another A-League season begins amid feelings of existential dread

As the A-League Men looked ahead to its 21st season, commencing on Friday evening when Adelaide United host Sydney FC, before Brisbane Roar welcome Macarthur FC to Lang Park, some of the most important figures of its history looked to its past. The past 10 years, to be precise, with the players' union (PFA) bringing together some of the most celebrated names in the league's history in Melbourne to unveil its player-voted "Team of the Second Decade."

Inevitably, the squad revealed was dripping in that most seductive of vices: nostalgia. Isaías, Jamie Maclaren, Besart Berisha, Miloš Ninković, Bruno Fornaroli, Diego Castro, Alex Wilkinson, and more; they evoke memories not just of moments burned into a generation of supporters' hearts and minds but also of a time when the league felt like it was soaring, when crowds were pumping, mainstream interest was booming, and it felt like the league was riding the crest of a wave to something great as it entered the second half of the 2010s.

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Those who have been paying attention, though, or even those who only drop in to read the yearly "crucial year for the A-League" preview pieces, know this promise remains unrealised. As a montage of the highs of the past decade played at the event, Western United's move into hibernation, the ongoing upheaval at the Central Coast Mariners (which would see coach Mark Jackson soon quit the club), and the wave of austerity still gripping the league, hung as something of an elephant in the room -- one acknowledged in the remarks of PFA chief executive Beau Busch.

"Twenty years into the A-League, it is time to take a hard look at ourselves and ask: where do we want to be in 10 years' time? What's our five-year plan?" Busch said. "We are the most popular game to play, interest in football is surging, but we are failing to capitalize on it.

"We face a level of economic uncertainty and instability we have not seen since the days of the National Soccer League. There is legitimate concern.

"Outside of the dedicated fan groups, the A-League is no longer a topic of conversation in workplaces or group chats.

"We know there is attention for football; people stay up all night to watch a Premier League team, the Socceroos or Matildas. But fewer and fewer are coming out to watch the A-League on the weekend."

It wasn't your standard speech for these occasions, but with representatives from both league administrators the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) and Football Australia present, Busch had opted to wield the bully pulpit. And there didn't seem to be any disagreement with his messaging coming from the players he represents, either.

"The battle to secure the future of the professional game starts now," Busch ended his speech with. "A line in the sand to build a better future."

And really, this juxtaposition presented by the speech, of celebration, genuine concern and the awkward bedfellows they make, serves as somewhat of an apt way to examine the launch of a new season, too.

As there is with any new campaign, there is a desire to revel in the expectation and joy that comes with the start of any new season. A year on from breakout seasons by the likes of Adrian Segecic, Noah Botic, and Nicolas Milanovic, it's an inclination to extol the waves of young players seeing the field as a result of the league-wide austerity, as well as the transfer fees they are increasingly attracting when they head overseas.

It's to share in the optimism being felt by supporters of the newly crowned Australia Cup champions the Newcastle Jets, the desire of an Auckland FC faithful yearning to go one better after last year's historic debut season, or the hope being felt by Roar fans under Michael Valkanis. It's to relish the launch of the Australian Championship and the feast of football and range of experiences being offered as the two competitions run side-by-side.

It's to get swept away in the excitement and speculation that will be created by next year's Women's Asian Cup and men's World Cup, knowing that in the coming months, there will be two guaranteed moments when the eyes of the Australian mainstream will swing almost universally towards the world game. In the A-League Men specifically, excited speculation will swell as players young and old alike desperately seek to prove their bona fides to Tony Popovic ahead of next year's tournament.

"We want players to stand out," Popovic said on Monday. "And you want to see the consistency of those players. I'm sure there will be many players who will perform. But what we're looking for is: can those players can keep backing up those performances week after week, to give them a chance to be called up for the World Cup?"

And above all else, it's a chance for the true believers, for the tribes, to come together once again to celebrate with the community and the family that some have chosen and an increasing number have been born into. It's an opportunity for those who make this all possible, through their season tickets and patronage, the monetization of their viewing habits through television ratings and sponsorships, and their desire to consume content about the league, to raise their voices and provide the color, noise, and spectacle that serves as any game's lifeblood.

Speak to many of the legends of the A-League, especially those who have made Australia their home, and it's the decline in these fanatics that brings them the most sorrow; the sight of empty stands and the knowledge that you'll be able to hear every word that's said on the pitch, especially when contrasted with the rush that comes from fixtures such as the Sydney Derby. It's something that weighs heavily and above all else they want to see reversed.

And therein lies the rub. As much as there can be a desire to talk up the positives, especially when one only needs to look at last year's Melbourne Derby Grand Final to see the bad-faith analysis that can hit the game from the disinterested mainstream, one can't ignore what is happening right in front of one's eyes and ears.

One can't ignore Western United being placed into hibernation just months out from a season that, fewer than three years ago, was being pushed by league officials as being the first of a 16-team, 30-round era. One can't ignore the silence surrounding a Canberra expansion or the Mariners seemingly teetering on the brink. One can't ignore the uncertainty surrounding the next broadcast deal or collective bargaining agreement. One can't ignore that the wave of youth minutes has been accompanied by a reduction of veterans who help raise the base quality of the league. One can't overlook the league's diminishing ability to find new heroes (and villains) as young players increasingly leave at the first opportunity and veterans are squeezed out.

Hope. Perhaps that's the biggest thing. It's an almost irrational feeling, one that we sometimes feel like we would be better served without. Yet there is nothing more destructive to the soul than its absence.

Heading into a new season, there is hope. There always is -- it's the lifeblood of sport and something universally shared by all attached to it. But there's a moroseness that has accompanied the build-up to the 21st season that speaks to the need for the league's custodians to lay out what follows the austerity and consolidation and how their new, welcome, focus on football will be backed by governance, leadership, and strategy that provides a stable base for growth.

Present to hear Busch's speech was the person entrusted with leading this, APL executive chair Stephen Conroy. What he made of the sermon isn't certain, because the former federal communications minister, eight months into what was nominally going to be a six-month stint, and on the eve of a new season, has spoken with football media only once since his ascension -- revealing back in April not a plan to grow the league but instead one to cut the salary cap.

And so the 21st season of the A-League Men looms as crucial. Heroes will be made, silverware claimed, dreams realized, and memories that will last a lifetime forged. But for those heroes, dreams and memory makers, perhaps the biggest hope is that, come the time to write previews for the 22nd campaign, they don't have to worry about it being framed as existential.