On August 26 2005, a new era kicked-off in Australian football.
EnergyAustralia Stadium (now known as McDonald Jones Stadium) – situated in the heart of Newcastle – was the epicentre of the first game in A-League history as the Jets hosted Adelaide United in-front of a boisterous crowd, eagerly anticipating the commencement of what was essentially a reset for professional football in Australia.
After the closure of the National Soccer League (NSL) in 2004, Football Federation Australia created the A-League as its successor, which was made of eight teams, including four brand new franchises and four hold-overs from the aforementioned competition – Adelaide, Newcastle, Perth Glory and New Zealand Knights.
Lucas Pantelis was one of the 22 players to start on that history-making evening on the Hunter, after previously playing for the likes of Adelaide City and Parramatta Power in the NSL.
19 years on, Pantelis has fond memories of the night.
“You could tell there was a different vibe,” Pantelis reflects to the PFA, as the competition prepares to celebrate its 20th season.
“In terms of the first game… we didn’t know what to expect, really… It was definitely nothing new to us in terms of where we were playing, because we had played there before (in the NSL).
“But when we rocked up to the first game, it was just a great vibe. It was the first time it was being televised live on TV, so that was really exciting.
“For us players it was a whole new team… I’ll say half the squad was the old Adelaide United team as such, with the old National League. The last season of National League I was at Parramatta Power, so I obviously came back home to Adelaide, but I was still new to the squad, along with many other players as well. It was great to be part of it.”
But their trip to New South Wales didn’t come without its hiccups.
“We had a few little hiccups with the travel… I recall that we didn’t have the right coloured shorts. Back in the day every away team wore white shorts.
“So someone flew up from Adelaide on the day and we got our shorts literally half an hour before kickoff. It was a bit crazy on that side of it.”
Adelaide went on to win the game 1-0, courtesy of a first-half strike from now Reds coach Carl Veart – who made history by scoring the first goal in the new competition.
“It was just a good experience,” Pantelis said.
“Recalling that team, we had some quality players. We had Carl Veart… Ross Aloisi, the ever reliable Angelo Costanzo and ‘Micky’ Valkanis at the back there so you had your older guys who proved themselves, then you had the younger guys, like myself. We were probably still around that 23, 24 mark.
“There was me, Travis Dodd, we had a pretty settled youngish-to-mature squad and to get the first win on the board of the first season of the A-League was something special.”
It was the beginning of a successful season for the Reds who went on to win the first-ever A-League Premiership after finishing in first place.
However, they ultimately bowed out in the finals in straight sets as Sydney FC took home the maiden A-League Championship.
When reflecting on the entirety of the first-season of the league, Pantelis believes the professional standards at Adelaide weren’t too different from his time in the NSL – particularly at Parramatta.
“When I was at Parramatta Power, we were all professionals,” he said.
“We were training in the mornings or training twice a day, doing pre-season, doing gym sessions.
“For me, it was more the years prior to that, when I was at Adelaide City… it was a different, definitely a different step up, compared to Parramatta Power, you almost like a semi-pro team where guys work during the day, and then we trained at night time. When I went to Parramatta Power and that was just totally on the flip side.”
However, there were key differences when the A-League started.
“I guess the difference between the tail end of the NSL to the A-League was the exposure. A lot more interviews. There was a lot more hype about it,” Pantelis added.
“We were starting to be in the papers here in [Adelaide’s newspaper] The Advertiser. Whereas, when I was at Adelaide City, we’ll play a game, it’ll just be a small section at the back page of the sports section.
“We got the exposure, and we started getting recognised down the street. That was, for me, the difference.”
Since then, Adelaide have established themselves as one of the most important clubs in the competition, particularly through their boisterous home support and ability to develop some of the best young prospects in the country.
Despite being a perennial finals contender, the Reds haven’t always had the success to match their consistent appearances in the finals, with their only league success since the 2006 Premiership being their Premiership/Championship double in the 2015-16 season, to go with three Australia Cup (FFA Cup) crowns.
“As an ex-player and as an ex-professional, you get their thinking and their mentality. Ask a fan, you might get a different answer, because fans want trophies, they want Championships,” he said.
“Last year Adelaide sold Giuseppe Bovalina, Joe Gauci, Nestory Irankunda, Craig Goodwin left before this season actually started, Alexandar Popovic…
“As an ex-professional, that is great. I love seeing that, [and] Carl Veart is doing a tremendous job in doing that. The club is doing tremendously in identifying these players and giving them opportunities and then selling them off, and that’s keeping the club viable. And that’s great to see.
“On the flip side, you might ask a fan, and you’re like, is that what you want to see, or you want to see trophies? They want to see trophies.
“So it’s a catch 22, like damned if you do, damned if you don’t as such. And I feel the club itself and the way it’s progressing to be one of the most viable clubs.
“Back when I played, it was ‘little old Adelaide’. Now we’re not little old Adelaide. We’re actually a club that is quite viable and doing extremely well, within the whole A-League, financially, and that’s great to see.
As for the current state of the league heading into its 20th season?
“There’s probably two sides to it. I feel that when I started in 2005 there was a good period there of quality players coming in, foreigners coming into the country, playing in the A-League.
“Pre-covid [the League] was going in an upward direction. I feel that covid kind of halted a few things. The separation of the league hasn’t quite worked out.
“I feel the standards never disappeared. The standard has been quite good. I think last year was a good standard.
“I do feel in the A-League, there’s quality players that need that stepping stone towards going to Europe or Asia or the Middle East. We’ve developed some quality players a lot along the way.
“Look at Nestory Irankunda, he went from a little club called Adelaide Raiders, to Adelaide United to now Bayern Munich, so there is talent here. We have just got to get the model right.
“So I feel that you always have that period of where from 2005 to 2021-2022 when we had a good 15-16 years where the league was going, up and up and up.
“Now it’s probably declined a little bit. But you can always have that. The MLS had that same transition period where the first 20 years of existence, they were unbelievable, and they kind of went missing for a little while, and now they’re back up again.
“Hopefully this is our period that we can find a way through it. But the only way we’re going to do that is we’ve all got to stick together.
“We’ve all got to find a way, whether that’s coaching community football or kids, we all have to kind of band together and get this back where it should be and back where it deserves.”
