- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Sydney FC's team coach, Branko Culina faces the media after their match against Persik Kediri during the AFC Champions League game in Manahan Stadium Solo, Indonesia, Thursday, April 12, 2007. Persik Kediri beat Sydney FC 2-1 AAP Image/Ardiles Rante
Oh, Branko Culina, how I love thee. The Newcastle Jets coach might regularly suffer from a case of foot in mouth disease, but he’s often not wrong.
The man knows football even better then he does coffee (before moving to Newcastle he used to drive from one side of Sydney to the other every morning just for “the best brew in Sydney”).
He also has a real passion for the game.
So when he makes comments about Australian football, it comes from a good place.
While a couple months back Culina was wrong to take a pot shot at Viteslav Lavicka, this week, when critiquing the A-League, he was right on the money.
“We’re only a finals team because all the teams around us are pretty shit as well,” Culina was quoted as saying. I’m still laughing at that comment as I write it.
The old adage of “it’s funny because it’s true” is appropriate here.
The tightness of this season’s competition has been hailed by many, but not me. I think there’s an element of charm that things aren’t always predictable in the A-League, but I also think it is one of the key problems with the competition.
Amongst all the celebration from Football Federation Australia over the A-League’s openness, I wonder whether it has occurred to the governing body that maybe there is a link between the low crowds and the unpredictability of the competition.
Sounds farcical? Well, hear me out.
The English Premier League has never been more predictable then over the last few years, but it is also as popular as ever before. The English top flight is so successful that it has diluted the ‘magic’ of the FA Cup, once an English institution, to a passing interest.
Furthermore, fans turn out when their side is winning and if they don’t expect their team to win when playing at home, then many will, and do, stay away.
I am certain in my belief that the league is worse off for not having any great sides.
In fact, there has never been one in the A-League’s five seasons (don’t even mention Melbourne Victory in season two. Any team with Steve Pantelidis in it isn’t ‘great’).
I’ve spent most of the last week hopping between AC Milan’s Milanello training centre and the San Siro, and trust me when I say grandness inspires others. As I write this, I’m in Florence at Fiorentina’s Stadio Artemio Franchi.
The city was a buzz ahead of French giant Lyon’s visit. Just as it was before Liverpool arrived and is when any of the Serie A’s big names visit (especially Juve).
Clubs and cities ‘get up’ for these sort of games.
While the A-League can’t just create teams with that kind of history (though arguably Lyon’s ‘history’ is only a recent one), we can see quality A-League sides be assembled.
The presence of such a club would draw in fans both at home and away.
Whether it’s those who like to indulge in a bit of tall poppy syndrome, or neutrals that will turn out to see the country’s best club side in the flesh, it will help draw crowds across the country.
I don’t believe allowing a club like Melbourne Victory to flourish will see them dominate every single season, but really I don’t care too much either way.
A bit of competitiveness is good, but football is still the ‘world game’ despite it being dominated by a select few in nearly every domestic league and at international level.
Still, I’m not proposing we scrap the salary cap, but those who have the means to go beyond its limitations should be permitted to do so. At least, to an extent.
I’ve been speaking to a lot of players across Europe and the sounds about the new Melbourne Heart side are promising.
The biggest problem will be fitting all the interested players under the salary cap. You could have one very special club next year, but it probably won’t happen thanks to these limitations.
All of this without mentioning the continued risk that Asia is providing to the quality of our competition.
So FFA should drop their campaign of political correctness, which they are continuing by pulling up Culina for expressing his opinion (do they want players and coaches to say nothing at all? That’ll be great for headlines).
Instead, Ben Buckley and company should spend that time focusing on how to improve the football in the league.
We don’t need another debate on whether we should ‘speak no evil’ when it comes to frank opinions of the A-League. However, we do need a debate about whether this concept of ‘evenness’ is actually one of ‘blandness’.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.