FOR years it has been described as the sleeping giant of Australian sport, but I can't help wondering if soccer - sorry, football - is actually on its deathbed.
Events over the past week have hardly filled anyone with confidence that the round-ball code Down Under is in safe hands, and looking forward to a bright and prosperous future.
Let's start with last weekend's inaugural "Unite Round", in which all 12 A-League men's and women's teams played in Sydney from Friday through to Sunday.
So 12 games in total, for an overall attendance across the weekend of 47,425 for the six men's fixtures.
Compare that to the astonishing regular-season turnout for the Sydney derby in 2016-17 at the Olympic stadium, which drew a record crowd of 61,880. To one game.
Unite Round, of course, was some sort of last-ditch compromise after A-League officials abandoned plans to stage three consecutive grand finals in the NSW capital, which prompted a fan backlash.
Yet who in their right mind would assume that Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix would draw a decent turnout at CommBank Stadium, or that Newcastle's clash with Brisbane Roar at Allianz Stadium would be well patronised?
The first of those fixtures was attended by 1632 diehards. The Jets and Roar pulled 3948 through the turnstiles.
So a weekend that was touted as soccer's equivalent of the NRL's Magic Round or AFL's Gather Round proved to be more of an embarrassment than a masterstroke.
The dust had barely settled on this disaster when news broke that Australian Professional Leagues - the collaboration of club owners who took over the management of the A-League competitions three years ago - were poised to make 50 per cent of their workforce redundant.
In amongst these reports, I stumbled over a figure that truly astounded me - $30 million.
That is apparently how much the APL have pumped into KeepUp, described as "their digital and content arm", which is apparently now about to disappear down the S-bend.
How many people, who are not A-League aficionados, are even aware of KeepUp's existence? And why is it even necessary, when there is already an aleagues.com.au website?
Meanwhile, like the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, A-League officials seem to be insisting it's a mere flesh wound as they press ahead with plans that would appear equally as crazy.
At a time when two incumbent A-League clubs - Newcastle and Perth - are under caretaker ownership, A-Leagues Commissioner Nick Garcia was "very positive" that a Canberra franchise would soon be confirmed, to join a new Auckland outfit for the start of next season.
"We're in advanced discussions with a party for Canberra," Garcia said this week.
By my count, that will leave the new club in the national capital roughly nine months to assemble a squad and find a coach before their first game. Good luck with that.
Even more unbelievable, a new second-division competition - featuring at least eight clubs - is still in the pipeline, according to Football Australia.
"It's happening - we're not changing our plans," an FA spokesman was quoted as saying this week.
So at a time when A-League clubs are struggling to make ends meet, apparently the governing body believes there will be still be enough cash floating around to fund another tier of semi-professional teams, playing against interstate rivals.
I find it all quite mind-boggling, and sad.
It wasn't so long ago that the A-League seemed to be thriving, with healthy crowds, big-name imports and a growing brand.
Then came the so-called "unbundling" (is that even a real word?) process that handed control of the A-League to the people who own the clubs.
It's been all downhill ever since, and the real worry is that football in this country may not yet have hit rock bottom.
