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On Thursday, Adelaide United announced that the FFA Cup final against Perth Glory had been sold out. Fantastic news, but it also left the feeling that it could have been so much more.
The final will be held at Coopers Stadium, which has a capacity of 17,000. Given tickets sold out in just three days, it’s a foolproof sign of just how popular the fledgling competition has been.
Considering the fast take-up, however, would it have been feasible to hold the match in a bigger stadium?
For the cup’s inaugural year, I think Football Federation Australia have made the correct decision in awarding the hosting rights to one of the finalists. But in the future, should the governing body look at finding a permanent home for the tournament’s final?
The FFA Cup has quite obviously been modelled on the FA’s cup competition in England, with a vital connection between professional and grassroots clubs being established. Since 1923, the FA Cup has been held at the iconic Wembley Stadium, apart from a brief sojourn in the Millennium Stadium.
A tradition was formed, whereby fans would travel across the country to watch the country’s biggest match in a vibrant atmosphere, and those watching on television would identify the cup with Wembley’s twin towers.
It all added to the magic of the competition, which has sadly declined in recent years.
While FFA are on a learning process in the FFA Cup’s inaugural year, surely it should be a long-term aim to find the competition a permanent home, to go along with the yet-to-be-initiated tradition of an Australia Day showing.
But where would that permanent home be? Sydney or Melbourne are the obvious choices, but which stadium?
And is football at such a stage where we can be guaranteed to sell out a match in Melbourne if either Victory or Heart aren’t involved? Or similarly, would Sydney turn out if the red and black or sky blue were both absent from the playing field?
It’s a tough question. While A-League fans are beginning to feel a strong and passionate affinity with their club, there’s still debate about whether there are enough football fans out there to fill out more than 30,000 seats for a cup tie that doesn’t feature their colours.
I’m talking about football fans that will happily rock up to a state league grand final in the pouring rain just because they love the game, not because they hold an affiliation to either participating club.
Would you buy a ticket to the FFA Cup final, every year, regardless of whether or not your club was competing for silverware? What if the match was between Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners, would Sydneysiders or Melbournians rock up?
Having a permanent ground as host for the FFA Cup final may be possible in the future, but at the moment I doubt even the magic of the competition could draw people on such a consistently high level.
So should FFA continue with awarding the big game to one of the finalists? It’s a contentious policy to run with, given how Perth Glory have reacted to the decision to stage the game at Coopers Stadium.
FFA announced the ruling shortly after the conclusion of Adelaide’s semi-final victory over the Mariners. What criteria did they use to decide the ruling?
Perth certainly weren’t too happy, with chief executive Jason Brewer taking to Perth radio station SportFM to vent his frustrations.
“It is bitterly disappointing but they’ve decided to play the game there without any real consultation with the club,” Brewer said.
“Obviously it was decided before even yesterday’s game finished that it wasn’t going to be played in Perth for any number of reasons at the FFA’s discretions.”
Owner Tony Sage was equally upset and also took to radio to vehemently oppose the decision, calling it “an absolute disgrace” and claiming FFA had given Perth “their word” that a call would not be made until this week.
Despite fears of being accused of having an anti-FFA agenda, which is far from the case, this is another example of poor communication from the governing body. Make hard decisions, by all means, but make sure you engage with stakeholders beforehand to avoid controversy.
(While on the topic of FFA engagement, make sure you have your say on the Whole of Football Plan, if you haven’t already. You can also keep track of the consultation process, which includes dates and locations for upcoming forums.)
Personally, I don’t see how choosing one finalist to host the final can be sustained in the long-term. It’s a nice way in which to ‘share the cup’ around Australia, but if a club such as Bentleigh Greens had made the final, it’s unlikely FFA would have chosen their quaint Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.
So, if a permanent home for the Cup final is too soon, and staging the game at one of the finalists’ home grounds is unbalanced and prone to bad will, what can be done with the FFA Cup showpiece?
Could we follow the route of the current UEFA Champions League and Europa League formats, where a ground is predetermined before the start of every tournament? That could be a way to spread the magic, but also runs the risk of pulling disappointing crowds, depending on the two competing clubs. At least giving the game to a finalist ensures local interest.
The next two years could be used as an experimental stage. Place one of the finals in Melbourne and one of the finals in Sydney, and see how it goes. The FFA Cup’s popularity is only going to grow and I think its success this year has surprised a lot of people, including the FFA.
A crowd of 16,000 for the inaugural FA Cup final is great start, absolutely. But it’s just a short-term solution for now. We may be selling the game short confining the final to a smaller stadium, as well as snubbing one finalist.
Does the FFA dare to dream big and find the cup a permanent home? Do you think the crowds would show up Roarers?
*Update*The Roar contacted FFA for comment regarding the decision-making process behind choosing Coopers Stadium.
“The selection of the Westfield FFA Cup Final venue was based on the objective of maximising the attendance and the TV audience. It’s a cup final and we want as many Australians engaged as possible,” head of A-League Damien de Bohun said.
Follow Janek on Twitter @JanekSpeight
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