With the vacuum created by the Sydney Rovers axing, there has been much speculation about who will bid for the second, now vacant, Sydney A-League license. 

It’s unrealistic for NSW Premier League clubs such as Olympic and Marconi to find start-up investment and sponsorship required for an A-League franchise bid (around $5m).

However, with vast junior development structures already in place and growing at clubs like Olympic, Marconi, Manly and Sydney United for example, they provide a ready-made solution for potential A-League bidders who don’t already have those networks in places.  

Not only does such a partnership provide a link with the game’s past but those networks also provide potential new players and, perhaps most vital, a ready-made fan-base of junior talent.  

Sydney Olympic director and secretary Peter Phillips told au.fourfourtwo.com the club have begun engaging with lower division clubs in their catchment area and have just launched a first-ever women’s super league side.

Olympic sees a market of around 3000 players they can potentially engage as they look to widen their support base through these latest measures.

“It’s not just an issue of putting $5m on the table – that maybe the easy part though still difficult. The hard part is to maintain a critical mass and going forward and building on it and ending up with a tribal fan situation in Sydney," he said. 

In a city where the only A-League team is pulling crowds of under 10,000 Olympic’s vision of playing an under-pinning role is food for thought. And with grassroots numbers booming, a community approach to A-League junior club structures is one solution.

“We’re happy to be involved in a process that underpins the teams available – we are more than happy and we believe with what we have, are more than capable,"  he added.

“We take a long-term view and that’s to bring more and more crowds. Our ability to be around to this very day is because of our crowds.

“We don’t have TV or a club with poker machines, so we are focused to bring our fans in. So it’s about also getting fans from that lower division level.”

The NSW Premier League kicks off a week or so after the 2011 A-League finals series following an about-turn by FNSW prompted by FFA.  

While a number of clubs such as Olympic supported the move to summer, they are now readjusting for winter.

But with reform in the air at state level following the FNSW presidency campaign by former NSL player Kimon Taliadoros – himself a one-time Olympic striker – there is guarded optimism about the future of the second tier of football in NSW.

Phillips added: “In principle, we support reform that give clubs like ours opportunities to be involved in the future.”