Leopold Method Quarterly Edition
A$25,727
of $21,500 targetyrs ago
Successful on 10th Sep 2014 at 12:50AM.
After 19 months of operation, Leopold Method is embarking on an exciting new step and needs your help.
Leopold Method has been an independent presence in the football media landscape since December 2012. We always work on the mantra of providing 'intelligent, insightful analysis', writing the stories that mainstream media can no longer do but that are so important to the development of our game.
Our next step, which is why we need your help, is to move from being an online presence to a publishing company. We see a quarterly print edition as a natural evolution for Leopold Method – a way to improve our content and provide a further platform for long form writing and in-depth research on Australian football.
By helping us reach our crowdfunding target, you will allow Leopold Method to produce the Quarterly Edition, which will not only enable us to continue into the future, but to grow and improve our content further. The ongoing sales, subscriptions and advertising revenue that the Quarterly Edition will provide enables us to bring on more talented football writers and also deliver our content on other platforms.
But there is no use in producing a print edition with the single aim to make money, it has to be of value to you, the reader. We aim to produce a publication that is better than what we currently provide on our website, and we believe we have built the right team to deliver on this promise.
Here is our story so far...
Leopold Method was launched in December 2012 as a collaboration of like-minded writers. Our mission was to provide the Australian football community with insightful, intelligent match analysis and in-depth feature articles.
The site was well received from the beginning and within five months Leopold Method was finalist for 2013 FFDU ‘Football Website of the Year Award’, pitting it against SBS’s The World Game and FourFourTwo Australia. Kate Cohen won ‘Young Writer of the Year (Digital)’ and Brett Taylor was finalist for 'Digital Writer of the Year'. In 2014 the site would also again be finalist for the same award. Kate Cohen won ‘Digital Writer of the Year’ and Joe Gorman won 2014 ‘Blogger of the Year’.
To be considered a serious player in a highly competitive football media market, we need to ensure that we have a consistent stream of quality content.
In July this year we announced the appointment of Joe Gorman as editor.
Six new contributors will be joining us for the 2014-15 A-League season: Australia's top football statistician Andrew Howe, SBS and Guardian Australia's Richard Parkin, The Cairns Post sports writer Vince Rugari, respected academic Ian Syson, FourFourTwo analyst Gilbert Albertson and Licence to Roam's Will Stratmann.
There are stories everywhere in Australian football and the role of Leopold Method is to bring them to life. As the modern game seeks to reconcile with its past, we want to educate the football community about the game's history. To take it out of the academic and anorak archives and into the public’s hands.
Our hope is that Leopold Method can continue to provide a space for voices outside of the mainstream. To analyse key issues within the game – such as cost of playing, player participation, the challenges for regional and women’s football, governance, facilities strategy, volunteerism – and to bring them to public’s attention. We only want the game to grow; and unless these issues are part of football’s debate about its future, they will be forgotten, and the game is held back.
Roy Hay - Joint author with Bill Murray of A History of Football in Australia: A Game of Two Halves, and joint editor of The World Game Downunder. With Ian Syson, he wrote The Story of Football in Victoria for Football Federation Victoria in 2009. He also wrote James ‘Dun’ Hay: The Story of A Footballer, 1881–1940, and many academic articles on the game in Australia and overseas. Roy taught at Deakin University for 25 years and has been a part-time journalist. He is a member of FFA’s panel of historians and of FFV’s History Committee.
Joe Gorman - Editor for Leopold Method. He writes regularly for the Guardian Australia, and has been published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Sports Illustrated, Roads and Kingdoms, New Matilda, Overland Literary Journal and The Roar.
Kate Cohen - Freelance football writer who writes for Leopold Method. Whereas football writing commonly tell the reader the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘when’ of a match, Kate endeavours to explain to the reader the ‘why’ and the ‘how’.
Since writing for Leopold Method, Kate has quickly become one of the best young football writers in the country, winning the FFDU Young Football Writer of the Year in 2013. Her work has also featured for the Guardian Australia, the official Liverpool FC website as well as FourFourTwo Australia. In 2014, Kate was awarded as Digital Football Writer of the Year in the FFDU Awards.
Vince Rugari - Writer for Leopold Method. Currently a sports reporter for The Cairns Post, he is the former sports editor of The Area News in Griffith, NSW, one of Australian football's most passionate regional outposts, and is the former Gold Coast/Brisbane correspondent for Sportal. A regular columnist for The Roar, he has also been published by Guardian Australia, The World Game, AAP, Goal Australia and more.
Ian Syson - A senior lecturer in literary studies and professional writing at Victoria University and he runs the Vulgar Press, an independent Melbourne publishing company. Despite this he is also a football historian interested in the deep dark histories of the football codes (particularly association football) in Australia. In Ian's mind, if it happened after the Second World War it's too fresh in the memory to bother with.
Doug Kors - Currently studying a degree in Sports Coaching and Administration. He is currently completing an internship as a performance analyst and holds accreditation in Football coaching, Strength and Conditioning and Sportscode.
Shaun Mooney - Publisher of Leopold Method, and has contributed to the Guardian Australia.Shaun writes features on the business of football, grassroots issues and player development. He interprets the ‘cause and effects’ to provide an alternative approach to the discourse. Previously, Shaun wrote articles for retail and small business marketing, which were syndicated across six countries. He has also co-authored two business books.
Leopold Method has been an independent presence in the football media landscape since December 2012. We always work on the mantra of providing 'intelligent, insightful analysis', writing the stories that mainstream media can no longer do but that are so important to the development of our game.
Our next step, which is why we need your help, is to move from being an online presence to a publishing company. We see a quarterly print edition as a natural evolution for Leopold Method – a way to improve our content and provide a further platform for long form writing and in-depth research on Australian football.
By helping us reach our crowdfunding target, you will allow Leopold Method to produce the Quarterly Edition, which will not only enable us to continue into the future, but to grow and improve our content further. The ongoing sales, subscriptions and advertising revenue that the Quarterly Edition will provide enables us to bring on more talented football writers and also deliver our content on other platforms.
But there is no use in producing a print edition with the single aim to make money, it has to be of value to you, the reader. We aim to produce a publication that is better than what we currently provide on our website, and we believe we have built the right team to deliver on this promise.
Here is our story so far...
Leopold Method was launched in December 2012 as a collaboration of like-minded writers. Our mission was to provide the Australian football community with insightful, intelligent match analysis and in-depth feature articles.
The site was well received from the beginning and within five months Leopold Method was finalist for 2013 FFDU ‘Football Website of the Year Award’, pitting it against SBS’s The World Game and FourFourTwo Australia. Kate Cohen won ‘Young Writer of the Year (Digital)’ and Brett Taylor was finalist for 'Digital Writer of the Year'. In 2014 the site would also again be finalist for the same award. Kate Cohen won ‘Digital Writer of the Year’ and Joe Gorman won 2014 ‘Blogger of the Year’.
To be considered a serious player in a highly competitive football media market, we need to ensure that we have a consistent stream of quality content.
In July this year we announced the appointment of Joe Gorman as editor.
Six new contributors will be joining us for the 2014-15 A-League season: Australia's top football statistician Andrew Howe, SBS and Guardian Australia's Richard Parkin, The Cairns Post sports writer Vince Rugari, respected academic Ian Syson, FourFourTwo analyst Gilbert Albertson and Licence to Roam's Will Stratmann.
There are stories everywhere in Australian football and the role of Leopold Method is to bring them to life. As the modern game seeks to reconcile with its past, we want to educate the football community about the game's history. To take it out of the academic and anorak archives and into the public’s hands.
Our hope is that Leopold Method can continue to provide a space for voices outside of the mainstream. To analyse key issues within the game – such as cost of playing, player participation, the challenges for regional and women’s football, governance, facilities strategy, volunteerism – and to bring them to public’s attention. We only want the game to grow; and unless these issues are part of football’s debate about its future, they will be forgotten, and the game is held back.
What the media have to say about Leopold Method
"The team at Leopold Method has delivered some of the best analysis of A-League and Socceroos matches consistently since it's creation. Not to mention delving into some of Australian football's forgotten history. I can't speak more highly enough of the people who work tirelessly at Leopold Method. They're a credit to themselves and football in this country."
Mark Rudan
Fox Sports football analyst, Sydney United 58 coach and former professional player
"Leopold Method is an extraordinary avenue for quality football journalism. It provides something that appeals to the broader base of football followers covering many aspects of the sport from in depth analysis of games to wonderfully written opinion pieces and historical features."
Ray Gatt
Chief football writer - The Australian
"Australian sport is awash with those covering it seemingly in minute detail. But rarely does the mainstream allow itself the time or inclination to step back and ask why and show how. Leopold Method does that, and more. It's a breath of fresh air for Australian sport, let alone football."
John Stensholt
Journalist - Australian Financial Review
“Leopold Method not only lives up to its tag line of 'intelligent, insightful analysis’, but I would add another - ‘independent’. Even if the reader doesn’t agree with the analysis presented - and diversity of opinion is part of the DNA of football - Leopold Method is a ‘must read’ publication that adds significant value to the Australian football media. Long may it continue."
Bonita Mersiades
Guardian Australia, My Football Today director and advisor to Northern Fury FC
“The analysis and insight provided by the crew at Leopold Method is top class and continues to make an outstanding contribution to the growth of our great game, the likes of Kate Cohen, Joe Gorman and Shaun Mooney demonstrate a tactically astute and high level understanding of the complexities of the game. Everyone can see what’s happening on the field, Leopold Method explains in great detail why.”
Alistair Edwards
Football analyst, AFC Technical Study Group panel member and former Socceroo
"As a brand we pride ourselves on our football coverage and I was looking for writers and analysts who could carry on that tradition in Australia. The website stood out for me was Leopold Method: it contained strong analysis with respect for the history of football in Australia. It's where I found Joe Gorman and Kate Cohen, two of the best young football writers in Australia."
Tom Lutz
Sport Editor – Guardian Australia
"Since its inception, Leopold Method as a publication, has without question, lifted the bar in terms of game analysis and excellent features on the business of football, to a level never seen before in Australian football or indeed Australian sport. The publication more than living up to its tagline - Intelligent, insightful analysis.
Their enthusiasm, informed and outstanding quality of writing is to be admired, and I believe Leopold Method has a vital, invaluable role to play in the continued development of a plural and highly educated football cultural milieu."
Francis Awaritefe
SBS Football Analyst & Former Australian International
"Leopold Method has established itself as an authoritative reference across the breadth of Australian football matters. The content is a function of talented and professional journalists who value thorough research and evidence based analysis. In Leopold Method, we have a resource that has identified the core elements of Australian football’s DNA, thereby enabling it to make an outstanding contribution to the journey and evolution of our game in this new era."
Kimon Taliadoros
ABC Radio football commentator and former Socceroo
Mark Rudan
Fox Sports football analyst, Sydney United 58 coach and former professional player
"Leopold Method is an extraordinary avenue for quality football journalism. It provides something that appeals to the broader base of football followers covering many aspects of the sport from in depth analysis of games to wonderfully written opinion pieces and historical features."
Ray Gatt
Chief football writer - The Australian
"Australian sport is awash with those covering it seemingly in minute detail. But rarely does the mainstream allow itself the time or inclination to step back and ask why and show how. Leopold Method does that, and more. It's a breath of fresh air for Australian sport, let alone football."
John Stensholt
Journalist - Australian Financial Review
“Leopold Method not only lives up to its tag line of 'intelligent, insightful analysis’, but I would add another - ‘independent’. Even if the reader doesn’t agree with the analysis presented - and diversity of opinion is part of the DNA of football - Leopold Method is a ‘must read’ publication that adds significant value to the Australian football media. Long may it continue."
Bonita Mersiades
Guardian Australia, My Football Today director and advisor to Northern Fury FC
“The analysis and insight provided by the crew at Leopold Method is top class and continues to make an outstanding contribution to the growth of our great game, the likes of Kate Cohen, Joe Gorman and Shaun Mooney demonstrate a tactically astute and high level understanding of the complexities of the game. Everyone can see what’s happening on the field, Leopold Method explains in great detail why.”
Alistair Edwards
Football analyst, AFC Technical Study Group panel member and former Socceroo
"As a brand we pride ourselves on our football coverage and I was looking for writers and analysts who could carry on that tradition in Australia. The website stood out for me was Leopold Method: it contained strong analysis with respect for the history of football in Australia. It's where I found Joe Gorman and Kate Cohen, two of the best young football writers in Australia."
Tom Lutz
Sport Editor – Guardian Australia
"Since its inception, Leopold Method as a publication, has without question, lifted the bar in terms of game analysis and excellent features on the business of football, to a level never seen before in Australian football or indeed Australian sport. The publication more than living up to its tagline - Intelligent, insightful analysis.
Their enthusiasm, informed and outstanding quality of writing is to be admired, and I believe Leopold Method has a vital, invaluable role to play in the continued development of a plural and highly educated football cultural milieu."
Francis Awaritefe
SBS Football Analyst & Former Australian International
"Leopold Method has established itself as an authoritative reference across the breadth of Australian football matters. The content is a function of talented and professional journalists who value thorough research and evidence based analysis. In Leopold Method, we have a resource that has identified the core elements of Australian football’s DNA, thereby enabling it to make an outstanding contribution to the journey and evolution of our game in this new era."
Kimon Taliadoros
ABC Radio football commentator and former Socceroo
Our Contributors for the 1st Edition
Roy Hay - Joint author with Bill Murray of A History of Football in Australia: A Game of Two Halves, and joint editor of The World Game Downunder. With Ian Syson, he wrote The Story of Football in Victoria for Football Federation Victoria in 2009. He also wrote James ‘Dun’ Hay: The Story of A Footballer, 1881–1940, and many academic articles on the game in Australia and overseas. Roy taught at Deakin University for 25 years and has been a part-time journalist. He is a member of FFA’s panel of historians and of FFV’s History Committee.
Joe Gorman - Editor for Leopold Method. He writes regularly for the Guardian Australia, and has been published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Sports Illustrated, Roads and Kingdoms, New Matilda, Overland Literary Journal and The Roar.
Kate Cohen - Freelance football writer who writes for Leopold Method. Whereas football writing commonly tell the reader the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘when’ of a match, Kate endeavours to explain to the reader the ‘why’ and the ‘how’.
Since writing for Leopold Method, Kate has quickly become one of the best young football writers in the country, winning the FFDU Young Football Writer of the Year in 2013. Her work has also featured for the Guardian Australia, the official Liverpool FC website as well as FourFourTwo Australia. In 2014, Kate was awarded as Digital Football Writer of the Year in the FFDU Awards.
Vince Rugari - Writer for Leopold Method. Currently a sports reporter for The Cairns Post, he is the former sports editor of The Area News in Griffith, NSW, one of Australian football's most passionate regional outposts, and is the former Gold Coast/Brisbane correspondent for Sportal. A regular columnist for The Roar, he has also been published by Guardian Australia, The World Game, AAP, Goal Australia and more.
Ian Syson - A senior lecturer in literary studies and professional writing at Victoria University and he runs the Vulgar Press, an independent Melbourne publishing company. Despite this he is also a football historian interested in the deep dark histories of the football codes (particularly association football) in Australia. In Ian's mind, if it happened after the Second World War it's too fresh in the memory to bother with.
Doug Kors - Currently studying a degree in Sports Coaching and Administration. He is currently completing an internship as a performance analyst and holds accreditation in Football coaching, Strength and Conditioning and Sportscode.
Shaun Mooney - Publisher of Leopold Method, and has contributed to the Guardian Australia.Shaun writes features on the business of football, grassroots issues and player development. He interprets the ‘cause and effects’ to provide an alternative approach to the discourse. Previously, Shaun wrote articles for retail and small business marketing, which were syndicated across six countries. He has also co-authored two business books.
The move to print: The Quarterly Edition
The easiest way to describe the Quarterly Edition is a cross between the world renowned UK football publication the Blizzard and Australian current affairs journal Quarterly Essay.
It will be more like a book than a magazine. The format for the Quarterly Edition will be slightly larger than trade paperback. Each edition will be approximately 160-pages in single column format. Digital versions for each edition will also be available to purchase via iBooks, Amazon Kindle, Android and other formats.
Issue 1 will cover topics on regional football, coaching and development, Aboriginal football, and a historical narrative on a migrant community football club.
Roy Hay will write on the history of the national cup competition, the Australia Cup, drawing parallels with the newly launched FFA Cup. Kate Cohen interviews Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, about the differences and difficulties in managing a national team versus a club side, and how he will implement further changes to the national team set up. Joe Gorman assesses the impact of Alessandro Del Piero's time in Australia, both for Sydney FC and for the A-League more broadly, as well as commenting on the role of the marquee player in Australian football.
The Quarterly Edition is a key component of our revenue model. This will help fund the operations of Leopold Method so that our writers can dig deeper into the issues and spend more time researching to produce even better content for our readers.
We needed to bring in expertise to help produce a quality final product, someone who has a passion for publishing and has vast experience to make this project run as smooth as possible.
So we have employed the services of Sydney-based publishing agency Xou Creative to produce the Quarterly Edition. For more than a decade, Xou Creative has been the ‘team behind the trade’, producing standout covers, typesets, and sales and marketing collateral for a range of publishers including Random House, University of Western Australia Press, Pan Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, NewSouth Books and Wiley. Xou Creative has worked with bestselling authors such as Di Morrissey, Matthew Reilly, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, and Peter FitzSimons, Ted Prior and Robin Barker.
We have chosen Xou Creative to manage the production process for us because they understand the needs of independent publishers. They have worked on developing a product that will help ensure we are a sustainable publication for years to come.
Because this will be more like a book than a magazine, we feel it is important that we make it a collectors piece. So we have commissioned Australian-based artist Jamie Osborne to produce a pencil sketch artwork for the cover of the Quarterly Edition. Osborne is renowned for his portraits of famous footballers such as David Beckham, Romario, Shinji Ono, Harry Kewell and various Socceroos.
Osborne's beautiful artwork, along with stories that will last for years to come, makes this an item that people would be proud to have on their bookshelves.
The portrait for Issue 1 will be of the man who inspires our name - Leopold Baumgartner.
It will be more like a book than a magazine. The format for the Quarterly Edition will be slightly larger than trade paperback. Each edition will be approximately 160-pages in single column format. Digital versions for each edition will also be available to purchase via iBooks, Amazon Kindle, Android and other formats.
Issue 1 will cover topics on regional football, coaching and development, Aboriginal football, and a historical narrative on a migrant community football club.
Roy Hay will write on the history of the national cup competition, the Australia Cup, drawing parallels with the newly launched FFA Cup. Kate Cohen interviews Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, about the differences and difficulties in managing a national team versus a club side, and how he will implement further changes to the national team set up. Joe Gorman assesses the impact of Alessandro Del Piero's time in Australia, both for Sydney FC and for the A-League more broadly, as well as commenting on the role of the marquee player in Australian football.
The Quarterly Edition is a key component of our revenue model. This will help fund the operations of Leopold Method so that our writers can dig deeper into the issues and spend more time researching to produce even better content for our readers.
We needed to bring in expertise to help produce a quality final product, someone who has a passion for publishing and has vast experience to make this project run as smooth as possible.
So we have employed the services of Sydney-based publishing agency Xou Creative to produce the Quarterly Edition. For more than a decade, Xou Creative has been the ‘team behind the trade’, producing standout covers, typesets, and sales and marketing collateral for a range of publishers including Random House, University of Western Australia Press, Pan Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, NewSouth Books and Wiley. Xou Creative has worked with bestselling authors such as Di Morrissey, Matthew Reilly, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, and Peter FitzSimons, Ted Prior and Robin Barker.
We have chosen Xou Creative to manage the production process for us because they understand the needs of independent publishers. They have worked on developing a product that will help ensure we are a sustainable publication for years to come.
Because this will be more like a book than a magazine, we feel it is important that we make it a collectors piece. So we have commissioned Australian-based artist Jamie Osborne to produce a pencil sketch artwork for the cover of the Quarterly Edition. Osborne is renowned for his portraits of famous footballers such as David Beckham, Romario, Shinji Ono, Harry Kewell and various Socceroos.
Osborne's beautiful artwork, along with stories that will last for years to come, makes this an item that people would be proud to have on their bookshelves.
The portrait for Issue 1 will be of the man who inspires our name - Leopold Baumgartner.
How The Funds Will Be Used
The target of $21,500 is to help fund the production of the first year of production of the Quarterly Edition. That is to pay for contributors, artwork, editing, typesetting and cover design.
If we hit our unit sales/subscription targets within the first 4 editions, it will then fund the second year of production of the Quarterly Edition. This is sustainable model we have developed with the help of Xou Creative is to ensure Leopold Method is around in years to come.
Any additional revenue made above this target from selling the Quarterly Edition is to help fund Leopold Method's online operations to improve the quality and quantity of articles on the website, to enable us to produce content on other platforms, and help to accelerate our future plans.
The recent additions to our team and the editor is only the first steps to building a professional publishing company. To continuously provide better quality content, to find even more stories that are below the surface, we need to continuously recruit talented contributors.
If we hit our unit sales/subscription targets within the first 4 editions, it will then fund the second year of production of the Quarterly Edition. This is sustainable model we have developed with the help of Xou Creative is to ensure Leopold Method is around in years to come.
Any additional revenue made above this target from selling the Quarterly Edition is to help fund Leopold Method's online operations to improve the quality and quantity of articles on the website, to enable us to produce content on other platforms, and help to accelerate our future plans.
The recent additions to our team and the editor is only the first steps to building a professional publishing company. To continuously provide better quality content, to find even more stories that are below the surface, we need to continuously recruit talented contributors.
LEOPOLD METHOD SUPPORTER
Being a supporter will earn our gratitude and your name will be listed in Issue 1 of the Quarterly Edition as one of our founding supporters.
15 chosen
Est. delivery is Nov 14
ISSUE 1: QUARTERLY ED
You will receive Issue 1 of the Quarterly Edition delivered anywhere in Australia/NZ. Also your name will be listed in Issue 1 of the Quarterly Edition as one of our founding supporters.
99 chosen
Est. delivery is Nov 14
ISSUE 1 & 2: QUARTERLY ED
You will receive Issue 1 & 2 of the Quarterly Edition delivered anywhere in Australia/NZ. Also your name will be listed in Issue 1 of the Quarterly Edition as one of our founding supporters.
25 chosen
Est. delivery is Nov 14
1-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION
A full year subscription of the Quarterly Edition delivered anywhere in Australia/NZ (valued at $100). Also your name will be listed in Issue 1 of the Quarterly Edition as one of our founding supporters.
98 chosen
Est. delivery is Nov 14
OVERSEAS SUBSCRIPTION
A full year subscription of the Quarterly Edition delivered anywhere in the world (valued at $120). Also your name will be listed in Issue 1 of the Quarterly Edition as one of our founding supporters.
8 chosen
Est. delivery is Nov 14
1-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION PLUS
A full year subscription of the Quarterly Edition delivered anywhere in Australia/NZ (valued at $100). Plus first 4 issues in digital format (valued at $52) and 2 tickets to our launch party in Sydney. Also your name will be listed in Issue 1 of the Quarterly Edition as one of our founding supporters.
42 chosen
Est. delivery is Nov 14
2-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION PLUS
A 2-year subscription of the Quarterly Edition delivered anywhere in Australia/NZ (valued at $100). Plus first 8 issues in digital format (valued at $104) and 2 tickets to our launch party in Sydney. Also your name will be listed in Issue 1 of the Quarterly Edition as one of our founding supporters.
52 chosen
Est. delivery is Nov 14