The inaugural fan forums were held in Sydney and Melbourne over the last month each featuring a panel of football industry experts from print media, TV, A-League clubs and FFA.

FourFourTwo publisher Andy Jackson, Fox Sports' Mark Bosnich and The Age's Michael Lynch and A-League boss Lyall Gorman were just four of the industry expert to take to the stage.

And with strong turnouts from fans and passionate debate, organisers will take the forum to Brisbane on March 10 with Central Coast, Adelaide and Perth to follow.

The forums have been a success due to the fact that for too long many fans had felt their opinions fell on deaf ears.

“At last we created an event where they had an opportunity to put those views directly to the people who run the game,” Lee Sutherland, from forum organisers Footy Fans Downunder, told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“The panelists have also found it useful as they have been able to gather feedback direct from supporters which can only help in taking the game forward.”

And Twitter has been a key element to the nights’ success. Sutherland was the inspiration behind last year’s football tweetups and it was this that spurred him to look at taking the concept to a live format.  

“Those who have attended have provided great feedback and discussion within social media such as Twitter has been buzzing," he said.

“Those who have attended really appreciated the fact that they have been able to raise their views in a constructive manner and receive answers from the people who have the ability to make the relevant changes in the game.

“Others have been happy to sit amongst the crowd soaking it all in and then tweeting their thoughts live throughout the evening.”

The main issue to come out of the forums has been fan culture, with supporters feeling they cannot express themselves during the game.

“Basically supporters feel that those in charge of match day experience fail to have an understanding of the culture of a football crowd and that security often overact when not necessary, stadiums need to understand that football crowds create an atmosphere completely different to that of other codes,” said Sutherland.

“The A League is still at its very early stages and football here in Australia is still behind in the pecking order against other codes, but if we can all sit together and have discussions such as this then together we can all help taking the game forward, which ultimately is what we all desire.”