Death to the NSL and rise of the A-League: 20 years since the new era launched, it’s clear Australian football is in better shape

As the A-League celebrates its twentieth season, it took just a round of football to remind everyone of just how far the competition has come and how much better off we are than living in the dark days of the NSL.Over the years, I have suffered something of a rather nasty battle against many people still determined to prove that Australian football was in better shape when clubs based on ethnic profiles of people dominated the landscape.As soon as I became football-aware as a young boy, I believed the opposite and that despite all the wonderful contributions of the people who helped establish Australia’s first national league, the game needed to be inclusive and all-encompassing.We now have such a league and even the considerable slashes to club funding in the lead-up to the 2024/25 season haven’t managed to damper what does appear likely to be one of the best seasons on record.Some years back, my description of NSL dinosaurs’ criticism of the modern Socceroos and the…