Why the A-League Grand Final must stay

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By Jono, 20 Mar 2010 Jono is a Roar Rookie

Tagged:: A-League, A-League grand final, Asian Champions League, FFA, football

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With both Asian Champions League places for the 2011 tournament sewn up for Australia’s participants, there has been much debate surrounding the worth of an A-League Grand Final with virtually ‘nothing’ at stake.

However, in this fledgling young competition that is Australia’s A-League, a Grand Final is essential. It provides the sport with a showcase, a ‘climax’ if you will, which generates a level of exposure within Australia’s sporting scene that it rarely enjoys throughout the regular season.

The Grand Final is domestic football’s chance to hog the limelight, to showcase what is great about the game in 90 minutes.

A Grand Final provides an opportunity for the FFA to plea to the uninitiated.

To be frank, for many people, the game between the Sky Blues and the Victory may be the only time they have watched an A-League game all season.

If the A-League’s two biggest clubs can put on a spectacle at Etihad, some of those people will be converted and be left wanting more.

For the first time in the short history of the A-League, Melbourne and Sydney will meet in the final, and it will arguably be the biggest yet.

The FFA has pulled out all stops for this one.

Etihad Stadium’s rectangular seating formation will be brought into action, creating an electric atmosphere for the fans and players alike.

After 90 minutes, the Champions will be crowned. This may not be normal when comparisons are drawn with Europe, but let’s remember, football in Australia is not normal.

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The Crowd Says (8) | Page 1 of Comments

rovingto2011 said | March 20th 2010 @ 8:05am | Report comment

A cup final would provide us with the same climax. And be more in line with what football fans are familiar with overseas.

Perhaps it would be good if the grand final did provide the game with a spot in the limelight. But looking at the papers in Sydney and Melbourne this week, the build up seems pretty minimal. Not much better than a regular week and still behind rugby, cricket, afl etc …

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MV Dave said | March 20th 2010 @ 8:14am | Report comment

GF has to stay…agreed Jono. Will be cheering the mighty MV on today with 50,000 others at ES.

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Football Person 2 said | March 20th 2010 @ 10:26am | Report comment

Traveling back and forward on whether or not we should have the finals series. At the moment i am at yes we should have it.
But to be fair I will most likely change my mind again when I hear of some exciting title race news from a far off land .
Happy to let the FFA just work this one out.

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Football Person 2 said | March 20th 2010 @ 10:27am | Report comment

Traveling back and forward on whether or not we should have the finals series. At the moment i am at yes we should have it.
But to be fair I will most likely change my mind again when I hear of some exciting title race news from a far off land .
Happy to let the FFA just work this one out

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- MV Dave said | March 20th 2010 @ 10:37am | Report comment
  
  But we have both…exciting title race aka SFC v MV last game of season!! and now…50,000 to watch GF! Best of both worlds!
  
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Scott B said | March 21st 2010 @ 10:08pm | Report comment

As in most leagues in Europe I think the A-league should introduce a “Supercup”/charity sheild etc.
The weekend before the 1st round of the A-league.
The winner of the league the season before (home) vs the winner of the gf.
If a team wins the double then the losing team from the gf game would play in this match. Could be a “revenge match feel” and i think both teams would take it seriously

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ItsCalledFootball said | March 21st 2010 @ 10:50pm | Report comment

A GF is part of the Oz psyche and the best way to get more cross coders interested in the game.

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Football Person 2 said | March 26th 2010 @ 3:48pm | Report comment

Who the hell cares about “cross coders” aren’t they the people on this very site who never shut up about footballs down comings, do you really think they will become interested, they have their own Grand finals to look to.

It’s not like every one will abandon the sport if we don’t have finals, well have a cup instead.
It may hurt some people for a few years, but they’ll get used to it.
Think about it, if we didn’t have the finals then we could have had Sydney in the ACL ( although I wouldn’t mind replacing Melbourne with Adelaide).
And rivalries would revolve around rivalries, just like the football lords intended, not over finals spots.

Can you imagine Sydney vs Melbourne, last day of the season, a win for Sydney and the Championship ( premiership) is theirs.
The premiership would be much bigger if there weren’t finals after it.
Also going off a different article, we could have the charity shield between the winner of the cup and the champions. (although we could have it now)

And finally, there would be no more toilet seat

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