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In 2011 the FFA made a decision to begin the A-League season later in the year – in October instead of August – which meant finishing the season in April instead of February or March.
While this meant there were good television ratings and attendances for the seasons early rounds, the decision is having ramifications for stadium availability on the grand final date.
While all may turn out fine in the end for this season – a bullet was dodged in 2008 when the Mariners and Jets played at the Sydney Football Stadium and turned up in numbers – the question needs to be asked whether this challenge can be repeated on a yearly basis.
Then there is the re-jigged format of the finals which makes it more truly in the spirit of a cup competition.
The grand final hosting rights being between one of the top two teams, with either being rewarded with a double-chance has been controversially removed.
Some people like The Roar’s Vince Rugari argue that this has merely knocked the A-League finals series down a peg, but the reality is that this now makes a complete mockery of the home and away season.
Mediocre mid-table teams that have been off the pace all year can prospectively host the grand final and be crowned A-League champions.
Vince further puts forward the argument regarding the finals that, “Australian sport has decided over the years that if you’re a good side but can’t manage that, you’re a pretender.”
But the fact is that the A-League isn’t merely a part of the Australian sporting ecosystem, it is simultaneously part of a greater international football ecosystem.
This is reflected through the participation of Australian teams in the AFC Asian Champions League, and in some rare cases the FIFA Club World Cup.
What is the international football community’s verdict? The AFC answered that quite clearly when they gave the sole remaining automatic AFC Champions League spot to the A-League premiers Central Coast, who had proven themselves over the entire course of the season.
To them, it is the grand final winners – glorified cup winners – who are the pretenders.
And considering the way the Brisbane Roar were knocked out on Wednesday, who can blame the AFC for not being convinced they deserved to be automatically put into the group stage.
The fact is, as soon as Australia’s ACL spots were reduced to 1.5, with the premiers getting the full spot, there has been a cloud over the finals series, and that was before anyone really began to notice the implications of the format changes.
This then raises the question of whether it is worth continuing with the finals series once the FFA Cup is belatedly introduced?
The Australian sporting public now has enough familiarity with the concept of both the English Premier League winners being the home and away winners and the distinction with the FA Cup, given decades of exposure, that this dynamic can be articulated into Australian landscape in terms of its domestic competition.
This may also prevent confusion of having the Premiers who are recognised as top team by the AFC, the grand final cup winners recognised as the top team by the FFA and the FFA Cup as ‘something else’?
It’s all rather like the old ‘golden goal rule for FIFA competitions, silver goal rule for UEFA competitions’ debate. In the end they decided to scrap the silver goal.
Instead, we can have an indisputably recognised top team.
While the A-League came to be known as ‘football not as you know it’ as a way of distinguishing ‘new football’ from ‘old soccer’, the FFA Cup can be identified as something to take the football fraternity full circle, helping to reconcile ‘new football’ with ‘old soccer’.
If timed during the winter months from say late March to early May, it can operate as an undercurrent to the AFL/NRL/Super Rugby seasons rather than as a direct competitor and in alignment with the state leagues.
In this way – especially if group stages are introduced – we can have a good mix of A-League club’s seniors and younger players getting more first team football opportunities.
If the early rounds are regionalised, we can have the purpose of the FFA community rounds fulfilled on a much grander scale as the bigger A-League clubs are taken to the regions and suburbs.
Money can be poured into the grassroots of the game by A-League fans and we can fulfil Mike Tuckerman’s idea of creating a better away fan dynamic at matches as the tyranny of distance is reduced.
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