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Pick a moment. Any moment. Thomas Love’s slalom to tear apart the Western Sydney defence and create the first major FFA Cup upset.
A crowd of 8000-plus at Edensor Park for an enthralling Sydney derby (of sorts). Rani Dowisha’s penalty shootout heroics for South Springvale.
When the inaugural FFA Cup has been won, there will be minimal disputation about its success.
The stories of yesteryear have been retold as the clubs of bygone, but not forgotten, eras return to the spotlight.
The tangible barometers have been met and surpassed; crowd numbers and viewership figures alike doing no harm for the cup’s future.
The magic has been there in abundance. See: Bentleigh Greens. Few outside of Victoria would have had heard of Bentleigh – the club or the suburb. But two wins on the trot against NSW National Premier Leagues opposition and the Greens have been dealt their own slice of fame.
From the back page of the Herald Sun to the small screen on Fox Sports, the last two months have been a ride.
“You can’t beat that exposure,” coach John Anastasiadis told The Roar.
“We’ve been blown away with all the commitments we’ve had, the people we’ve spoken to and all the things that have come with it.
“No one knew Bentleigh before all of this happened and that’s why we love the FFA Cup. Especially us clubs in the lower divisions, because it gives everyone a reminder that we’re still here.
“We might’ve been forgotten with the A-League coming in so it’s good to know the cup gives us some sort of recognition.”
While the short-term success has been relished by ex-NSL clubs and other teams from the state leagues, the FFA Cup serves a larger purpose.
In his State of the Game address, FFA CEO David Gallop identified the FFA Cup as “proof” that “the football community is moving as one”.
It’s indicative of the direction that the Aussie game is headed in. For all its romanticism and nostalgic joy, the FFA Cup is more than merely a nod to the past; it’s a path for the future.
The competition can only be deemed fruitful if it succeeds in setting the path and improving the stature of the game below A-League level. It has a key role to play in reducing the barriers that have thus far created a far too significant gulf between A-League and the NPL.
For clubs like Bentleigh the FFA Cup has been a glorious celebration, but when the curtain closes on their campaign they return to the worries of managing a club stuck in a semi-professional world with professional demands.
The costs and effort put into running an NPL club are scarcely rewarded during the regular season. The fans that flocked to Edensor Park last Tuesday night indicate there is a football hungry population in the west of Sydney, but they are faces that have been missing from the NPL circuit.
If just one-third of them turned up for an average Sydney United league game, football would be years ahead of the target.
Having a national second tier competition, closely followed by promotion and relegation, must be the next realistic objective and the best way to prove such a move wouldn’t be in vein is to raise the profile of the NPL.
It’s a challenge to everyone who has jumped on the FFA Cup bandwagon to not forget about their local club when the 2015 NPL season kicks in. Because even when the cameras stop rolling, the players of the future continue to plug away in search of the A-League dream.
Take Bentleigh’s Ryan de Vries as an example. The striker has returned to New Zealand after scoring a goal from the top shelf against Sydney Olympic, but must feel hard done by to have been overlooked by A-League clubs.
The 22-year-old has been among the many revelations from a tournament that has great allure in that the A-League’s eyes are fixed on its little brother.
The challenge hereafter remains to use the FFA Cup to boost the profile of the National Premier Leagues across the country.
It could be to the point of implementing a ‘super cup’ between the winner of the NPL finals series (which pits NSW’s Bonnyrigg White Eagles against South Australia’s MetroStars in this week’s decider) and the winner of the FFA Cup.
Or having a national NPL day, akin to England’s Non-League Day.
But for now, NPL coaches like Anastasiadis will settle for having a few more bodies in the stands.
“I’m hoping the powers that be will look at [the FFA Cup exposure] and think ‘how can we get these people involved?’” he said.
“We’ll have 4000 to 5000 against Adelaide City [in the FFA Cup quarter-final] and if we can get a third of them every week, then the club will be very healthy financially and it’ll give the players more motive to play.
“At the moment we’re playing in front of 300 to 1000 people a week so that isn’t crash hot for a player. You want to go out and see a lot of people supporting.
“I’m hoping the club has put in place that kind of promotion. Time will tell next year if people will come and support the club. If you’re looking at 500 to 1000 members for an NPL club, you’re doing quite well.”
So many have been coerced by the FFA Cup’s passion, here’s hoping they come back craving more at a local ground in 2015.
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