Today, 18 July at 4pm at Edensor Park, Sydney, there is a super event for football in Australia. Zeljko Kalac is playing a farewell match for all his fans for Sydney United FC.
In this match Sydney United will be playing against Newcastle Jets FC. Lining up for Sydney United will be players like: Craig Moore, Tony Popovic, Mark Rudan, Ante Milicic and the coach of Sydney United is David Zrdilic.
This from a club that has never won a national championship but has produced some of the best talent Australian football has seen.
However, what has the Football Federation Australia (FFA) done to embrace this game or this club?
To the fans, just like me, it seems the FFA is playing a game of “let’s pretend these clubs don’t exist and they will go away”. Well, let me tell you FFA, they are not going away and with little to practically no media behind this event, a crowd of over 5,000 people is expected.
The time is now to embrace these clubs that have given so much to the game and treat them like they are Australians, not second-class citizens.
Clubs like Marconi FC have over 30,000 social members in one of the most iconic sporting facilities in southwest Sydney, yet they were never asked to enter the A-League, however a new club called the Sydney Rovers is being pushed and helped by the FFA.
Clubs like Sydney United FC, Marconi FC, Sydney Olympic FC and South Melbourne FC are some of the biggest brands in Australia football, and by pretending they do not exist it is killing our game in this country.
I thought the Australian way was to be honest and real, but the FFA is far from this.
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