The A-League can’t afford to play more games. It also can’t afford not to

One of the world’s longest off-seasons is finally over … and thus begins one of world football’s shortest seasons. Which also happens to be the longest of any football code in Australia, but still not quite as long as it used to be. There are structural issues galore across all of Australian soccer, but one of the biggest things holding back the development of local players - and thus, the financial position of their clubs, and the progress of the code - is how often they play.