HERE’S something that’s not been said for a while. That was a pretty good seven days for football in Australia.

The national team finally has a sponsor (Caltex), who will sponsor the Socceroos for the next four years — thus ending a near three-year wait to replace Qantas.

Brisbane Roar announced a partnership with Logan Council, who will help provide a permanent training base for the three-times champion. Meantime, Malcolm Turnbull will today (Friday), officially open the Central Coast Mariners Centre of Excellence in Tuggerah.

On the pitch, the Matildas made a flying start to their Olympic qualifying campaign in Japan, while Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory took four points out of six in their Asian Champions League encounters with Guangzhou Evergrande (twice Asian club champions), and Gamba Osaka (champions in 2008).

Furthermore, new FFA Chairman, Steven Lowy, played his hand superbly at last weeks FIFA Presidential election, in which Australia cast its vote for Prince Ali — signifying both solidarity with an Asian candidate, but also a refusal to cow-tow to regional politics by ticking the box of the AFC President. What’s more, FFA announced its vote publicly, 24 hours in advance, showing the sort of transparency FIFA has preached for so long, but has — as yet — been unable to deliver.

Lowy was right to do so. Although in truth, no candidate guaranteed the sort of reform FIFA desperately needs, Prince Ali’s manifesto was the closest to it. By forging what Lowy called “good relations” with the winning candidate, Gianni Infantino, FFA also tried to ensure it will have support from head office, if the nation is to suffer “blowback” for it’s refusal to endorse the regional leader, Sheikh Salman.

These are crucial months for Lowy and his new board — so it was vital he put in a strong performance. With the new four-year plan about to be unveiled, a new TV broadcast deal yet to be finalised, and unease still lingering at the way he (and his fellow new appointees), came by their roles, Lowy needed to show both strong leadership, and an empathy with the various stakeholders of the game.

In my opinion, he achieved that.

In contrast to his father (who, it must be said, achieved more for football in 12 years than anyone dared dream), Steven Lowy appears to be a little more conciliatory, willing to listen, and keen to lead by consensus.

That may just be my impression of course — I don’t have access to the inner workings of FFA on a daily basis — but nonetheless, the feeling remains he is determined to forge a different path to that of his father. In all probability, he must, having stood without a manifesto, or (some would say) much of a mandate.

Ange Postecoglou, Julian Segal, David Gallop and Bruce Rosengarten announce Caltex as the Socceroos’ new sponsor. Source: Getty Images

His biggest task remains monetizing the game to fund its growth, but the signs are promising if the last week is anything to go by. Having a team of investment bankers on the board should help in that regard, and the A-League clubs are showing signs of getting their acts together, with the construction of long-term projects, such as the academies and training bases.

If there was one disappointing facet of the last week, it was the lack of Sky Blue jerseys in the stands at the Sydney FC/Guangzhou Evergrande Champions League encounter.

A crowd figure of 18,149 seems excellent on the surface — but many of those were wearing red, and one of the challenges for clubs like Sydney, is to attract those casual fans from the various diasporas, (most of whom have football in their blood, to a certain degree at least), to feel enough a part of the local club to turn out regularly for A-League matches.

Gaining publicity for the game was tough, with the local media obsessed by the start of the Rugby League season, but clubs need to be creative — and perhaps Guangzhou’s example (in giving away free tickets), is one to explore for future Champions League games.

Still, all in all, a great week. The A-League, despite the hostility, apathy and paucity of funds, continues to press forward. The sport still has many flaws, but little by little, we’re getting there.