Brisbane Roar player Luke Devere heads the ball over top of Gold Coast United player Joel Porter during the 1st round of the 2010 A-league competition at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast, Sunday, Aug. 08, 2010. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
I’m not sure if Football Federation Australia (FFA) was ever seriously pondering moving Sunday’s elimination final between Gold Coast United and Melbourne Victory down to Victoria. But I do know it’s a good thing for the integrity of the A-League that Skilled Park got the nod after Tuesday’s pitch inspection.
It seemed a lot of the hype around the issue of moving Sunday’s clash to Melbourne was media generated, triggered by Andy Harper’s suggestion on Foxsports after Friday night’s A-League game.
But it must be noted the FFA left the door open with their ‘subject to pitch inspection’ sub-clause which they attached when they released the A-League finals week one fixtures and dates on Sunday.
And they never outright said the fixture wouldn’t be moved to Melbourne, even if Brisbane would’ve been a sensible second option.
In my opinion, it’s a blessing in disguise that Skilled Park passed the FFA’s pitch inspection, because moving the fixture to Melbourne would have been a farce. It would have raised questions about the integrity of the FFA and the A-League.
There’s no doubt there would have been a certain commercial attraction about moving the fixture to Melbourne, given the stark contrasts between Gold Coast and Victory’s crowd figures.
In fact, plenty of fans on online forums were all for such a decision and not just Victory supporters.
But the reality is this is a decision where commercial interests should take a low priority (if any at all).
To the FFA’s credit they acknowledged this when chief executive Ben Buckley said on Monday: “We’ll make a decision once the inspection’s complete. But we wouldn’t be making the decision for commercial reasons because that does present an issue and I think it’s unfair to the fans.”
Along with the fans, it’s also unfair on the Gold Coast players and coaches who worked hard all season towards finishing as high as they could on the A-League ladder and they deserve to enjoy their rewards for that.
To deny them their hard-earned privilege of home ground advantage in a sudden-death final would undermine the integrity of the competition. United finished fourth, Victory fifth; it’s simple. They were the rules at the start of the season, you can’t change them now.
Of course, if the pitch wasn’t up to scratch you could understand a decision to move the fixture (perhaps to Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium) but it’s one thing to move the match to a neutral venue and another thing altogether to gift the home ground advantage which one side has rightly earned to their opponents.
It would have completely undermined the previous 30 matches which Gold Coast spent earning fourth spot and a home final.
And I personally would’ve supported Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer’s threat earlier in the week to boycott the fixture if it was moved to Melbourne. It would’ve been a farce.
What makes all this the more staggering is the fact the FFA recently moved three re-scheduled A-League fixtures from Brisbane (two games) and Townsville to Skilled Park, suggesting the surface wasn’t previously seen as an issue.
Suddenly, though, it had become one, with the FFA announcing their pitch inspection.
This is mere speculation but maybe commercial interests did enter the FFA’s collective minds at this point?
Maybe they’d have been better served at this point by putting to bed all the rumours of a Melbourne switch? Surely if they were going to move the fixture it would’ve been to Brisbane, but the FFA never publicly stated this.
Skilled Park’s recent heavy workload was highlighted as a reason for the need to perform a pitch inspection.
But Gold Coast United have been in line for a home final for the past two months at least, so surely there must have been some forethought by the FFA when re-scheduling the aforementioned games to Skilled Park, which has had its surface issues well publicised this season.
In my opinion, the whole issue wasn’t handled well by the FFA.
There’s been a lot of questioning of FFA decisions in recent times and this whole episode hardly helped their image, even though the right decision was made at the end of the day.
The reality is there will be a far smaller crowd at Skilled Park on Sunday than there would have been if the fixture was played in Melbourne.
But the Gold Coast United players and coaches earned the right to host the final and that’s how it should be for sake of the integrity of the A-League.
KP
Guest
If you look at it from a different angle - FFA did a good thing by suggesting the game wouldn't be played at skilled - lots of chatter on talkback, in the news etc. It keeps the game on everyone's lips and is a form of promotion. Look at the AFL and how its always hyping up really mundane topics (unfair scheduling, changing umpire uniforms, monday night games-not having a dig AFL guys, just thinking of some-albeit poor- examples). This keeps the game as a topic of conversation, and generally the governing body doesn't do the wrong thing. If it was a deliberate ploy to get people chatting by even suggesting the game may be moved to Melbourne then fantastic, its a form of promotion in itself. For all their faults the FFA aren't going to mug a team of its year of hard work.
Phil Osopher
Guest
Might be the right thing to do having it at the rightful teams home ground. But considereing its the GC where no one truns up, its a crying shame for the game itself. I assumed it was to be in melbourne for some reason, and thus a game with a decednt noisy crowd. Nope. How disappointing. Games at Skilled Park are hardly worth watching, I cant stand empty stadiums, it kills the game. This final series was a real chance to show some packed noisy stadiums to the infidels, a real marketing chance, but with this, no. How embarressing for the game. At least the Adelaide ground should put on a good show.
TomC
Guest
No, I think you're the one missing the point on the pitch inspection. What matters is whether or not it's appropriate for a football final, not whose fault it is. As for being Buckley being asked about the possibility of moving the game to Melbourne, this is news to me. I do recall Buckley being quoted as saying that the venue decision wouldn't be made on commercial grounds, which suggests to me that the FFA didn't need to be told that 'this is a decision where commercial interests should take a low priority (if any at all)'. I've dug up a link below. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/14/3138571.htm?site=melbourne
Ben Somerford
Roar Guru
I think you're missing the point with the pitch inspection, TomC. The FFA re-scheduled THREE A-League fixtures to Skilled Park recently, thus creating a heavy workload at the venue which has had its surface issues, before suddenly deciding for this finals match the pitch needed to be inspected, following a heavy workload! Sure it's common sense to have a pitch inspection but they may have created the problem themselves. Gold Coast Utd were always in a good position for a home final so I'd say it's fair to say there was a lack of foresight there. As well, Buckley was asked about the possibility of moving the game to Melbourne (FYI not once about Mars) and never outright said it wouldn't be going there. Why not say Brisbane was the back-up plan? Why fuel the hype of a Melbourne home final? I'd said they were a bit too passive there and it wasn't a good look.
gazz
Roar Pro
so players and coaches get punished for their club's off-field performance? seems a bit strange dont u thnk?
gazz
Roar Pro
"Do you think the Grand final should be played in Gosford rather than Sydney should the Mariners win v Brisbane? Sounds like the FFA will play this in Sydney regardless (no advantage to the Mariners should it happen) so what’s the differance here?" Difference is deferring home ground advantage from the side who earned to the side who didn't. big difference to moving it to a neutral venue.
Fuming
Guest
If FFA have no qualms about banning Central coast from ever possibly hosting a GF, why should they care about this match? A GF in Sydney wont sell out anyway, if Sydney isn't playing. Also, why allow teams to win the rights to host a GF, then take the prize away when it's been won? Yes I am p---ed off.
TomC
Guest
Never outright said it wouldn't be moved to Mars, either. 'Subject to a pitch inspection' doesn't sound damning to me. Sounds like common sense. Nothing about that implies they're thinking of moving the game to Melbourne. Could have been thinking of moving it to Brisbane, or to another pitch, or delaying the game until mid-week. Seriously, if thats your justification for writing an article about this, its pretty flimsy. There are plenty of geneuine reasons to criticse the FFA without needing to make up fake ones.
Ben Somerford
Roar Guru
As I also said in the article TomC, the FFA never outright said they wouldn't be moving it to Melbourne, when Brisbane would've been a suitable back-up plan should Skilled Park have been unfit to use. Also the fact the pitch was 'subject to a pitch inspection' following a heavy workload due to games the FFA re-scheduled at Skilled Park is damning too. These are the key points and the key reasons why I decided to write this column.
TomC
Guest
Agreed that it would have been a farce. As Ben says himself, there's no indication that it was ever considered by the FFA, so I'm surprised anyone would bother writing an article about it.
Moonface
Roar Guru
It's not a farce Ben - its commercial reality. Then the AFL and NRL are an even bigger farces, because they always play their GFs at the same ground. No home ground concideration at all The NSW government had to even pay News Limited $50M to keep the NRL GF in Sydney - isn't that farcical and a waste of NSW taxpayers money?
RedOrDead
Roar Guru
Err...Sydney FS is a one hour drive from Blue Tongue Stadium whereas Skilled Stadium is a 20.5 hour drive and that doesn't include stops for fuel, food and sleep...it'd hardly be fair! If it was moved to Suncorp stadium, fair enough; better surface, bigger capacity...just like moving a Central Coast final to SFS would be kinda-fair because it fits more than twice as many people as BlueTongue Stadium and only an hour drive away ;-)
Football United
Guest
i reckon their should be a minimum average attendance clause that if you fail to pull an average of more than say 6000 then you lose the right to host a final.
pete
Guest
Do you think the Grand final should be played in Gosford rather than Sydney should the Mariners win v Brisbane? Sounds like the FFA will play this in Sydney regardless (no advantage to the Mariners should it happen) so what's the differance here? I think the FFA has the right to move final series games where-ever it wants to boost revenue into the game