"There's a whole lot of work we have done, particularly with the Victorian clubs and Sydney clubs, with active fan day, with police, security and stadia to re-engage what we were known to be," says O'Rourke. "Our game was atmospheric and we need to bring that back. "There's been a significant investment in time in that area and this year we hope to see all those things that were fantastic about our game return and build to set ourselves up for the future." Years of attempting to water down the stadium atmosphere to appeal to a new group of potential supporters has seen a big drop-off in active support and the febrile, galvanising mood that such vehement fans brought with them. Often it was criticism from the game's rulers themselves, fearful of a backlash from certain sectors of the media, that drove active fans away.

Loading Heavy-handed policing, with officers clad in riot gear and moving swiftly to break up fan marches and other demonstrative supporter displays, did not help either. In its infancy it was that in-ground atmosphere that really made the A-League stand out. Vibrant, noisy, singing, chanting supporters, often choreographed by "Capos", who led the call and response from the stands, brought an experience of active support that all the other football codes simply did not have. Most people who went to those early Melbourne Victory matches at Olympic Park will have nothing but fond memories of the interactive nature of the crowd, when supporters really became the 12th man. It was the same when Western Sydney Wanderers came into the league and turned their Parramatta base into a fortress known as Wanderland.

O'Rourke is hopeful that an FFA board meeting on Thursday will sign off on an extension of the substitutes bench, which will allow coaches to name up to seven players as long as three of those on the team sheet are under 23. Loading In addition, he says, the league's new bosses have hired staff whose sole focus will be on building membership and converting soccer's huge 1.7 million participation rate into regular match attendees. "We will have a very dedicated crew with one aim – to turn the game around from a metrics level, from broadcast metrics and attendance metrics," he said. This season the Hawkeye line will be introduced to help clarify offside while, says O'Rourke, "Fox will have access like they have never had before to the players, in warm-ups, half-times, pre-games, so the broadcast fans can get closer to the game.

"We are also working with IFAB [International Football Association Board, which makes the laws of the game] and FIFA to see if we can mic up the referees so that people in stadia can hear them like they do some of the other codes." He is hopeful that the new deal with the ABC to broadcast a Saturday evening game will lead to a lift in attendances and broadcast figures. "We expect it to be beamed to many more households than we have in the past. They will also have the capacity to launch off a lot of other ABC platforms, their digital, radio, podcasts," he said. "That will be an important part of capturing a new audience. "We have been criticised for it being boring with just the 10 teams, but we have the 11th team [Western United] coming in now this season and during the year you will see Macarthur FC, the 12th team, start to talk about their inclusion the following year.

"There are a lot of parts of Australia that will have another team to connect with, another rivalry, another fan base, and we expect that sort of news will move us in a very different way than we have in the past few years."