The league has seen bumper crowds in the opening two months including the record breaking week three crowds where over 87,000 fans came through the gates.

Melbourne Victory and the “Kewell Effect” has been the main driver for these numbers with two crowds of 40,000 so far in Melbourne.

And while Gold Coast’s numbers continue to bump along the bottom, there have been other instances of growth, although FFA admit it’s the figures at season’s end that they will be judged on.  

“This season has currently seen a 47% increase in crowds across the league,” an FFA spokesperson told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"While this is promising, we are only into week eight of the season and the hard work both on and off the field needs to continue in order for this increase to result in a stable and significant until season end,

“Individually the crowd increase in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Central Coast and Newcastle are very promising with Adelaide, Wellington and Perth also continuing to produce strong crowd averages.

"There is still much room for growth and we will continue the hard work needed to reach our potential."

He added: “I think you can say that the October start has been vindicated by the strong crowds.

"The start of the season and draw also saw some significant changes to ensure the season kicked off with a bang, with some key fixtures including a Grand Final re-match and Victory v Sydney FC match as well as the local derbies that are continually proving to bring in strong fan support and crowds.”

New Zealand continues to provide food for thought to those who want to see more games across the country and not just at Wellington’s “Cake Tin”.

On the weekend, around 20,000 fans turned up in Auckland to see Phoenix and the Reds draw 1-1, while in pre-season, a bumper crowd of around 15,000 saw a Phoenix friendly against Brisbane Roar in Dunedin.

The two teams return to Dunedin in mid-December for the round 10 clash at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium.  

“FFA and the Welnix Group will look at these options when building the Hyundai A-League 2012/13 season draw," said the spokesman.

“What we have seen in pre-season at Dunedin and at the weekend’s match in Auckland is that there is an appetite for football and the Wellington Phoenix team in New Zealand.

“This is a positive for football and continues the excellent work that Phoenix have done on and off the pitch since joining the competition.

"Don’t forget that Wellington too have had excellent crowds including the 33k crowd at the semi-final in the 2010 finals series."

The FFA are now keen to see the crowd numbers for the A-League’s upcoming regional games when Melbourne Heart head to Morwell and Adelaide play newcastle Jets in Bathurst.

However FFA were not willing to comment on Gold Coast’s crowds or what they can do to jump-start attendances which, while still the lowest in the league, have improved slightly this season.

In other news, FFA confirmed there’d been some feedback from AFC regarding the format and allocation of places for the 2012 AFC Champions League.

Currently Australia has only two teams in the ACL with Central Coast Mariners and Brisbane Roar the A-League representatives on the continental stage.

An announcement regarding the 2012/3 format  is set to be made in the coming weeks but reports in Asia suggest Australia may soon have 2.5 places, with Australia's third team playing-off against an Asian rival for the additional Champions League spot.

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