The statewide Victorian cup competition formally known as the Mirabella Cup was dealt a major blow last week with A-League clubs, Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart, forbidden from taking its places in the innovative knock-out style competition.
Initially Football Federation Australia endorsed the idea of having the A-League representatives compete in Victoria’s version of the FA Cup, however the head governing body has completed a u-turn, expressing the opinion that their own efforts to create a nationwide FFA Cup competition next year could be comprised by the Victoria-based competition.
The A-League outfits were originally scheduled to come into the competition at the quarter-final stage (final eight).
With the cup at the last 24 at the moment, the structure of the tournament will need to be amended as there cannot be six teams remaining when the quarter finals commence.
There is no doubt that the FFV, major sponsor Joe Mirabella and the Victorian football fraternity are extremely disappointed with this decision.
The Mirabella Cup was a fantastic opportunity for many people within the Victorian football community to grow the brand of the game within the state and promote grassroots football amongst the nationwide A-League sides.
It’s extremely disappointing that at this stage of the tournament, the FFA can enter the frame and make an unprecedented decision like this.
An FFA spokesman claimed that the football landscape has changed remarkably since the FFA originally gave the Victorian based A-League clubs permission to play in the Mirabella Cup in February.
“Since the initial discussions about Victory and Heart participating in the Mirabella Cup, the landscape has changed significantly,” he said.
“Having one state and two A-League clubs preempt a truly national cup competition is liable to erode the work that has been done and diminish that essential ingredient.”
“Many stakeholders want to see the FFA Cup come to life and we need to give the idea every chance of success.”
Many throughout the Victorian football community feel betrayed, disheartened and saddened by the lack of respect for grassroots football and direction the game currently obtains. By acting in this manner, the FFA is only denting the relationship with community clubs and is further alienating the prospect of having a positive association with the local communities.
The landscape of football has scarcely changed whatsoever since the announcement of the Mirabella Cup. When the competition was announced, there was talk simultaneously about an FFA Cup coming into fruition next year in March and having the final on Australia Day the following year (2013).
Hence, it doesn’t make any sense or sound logical what is being said.
The FFA has not announced any details on how the FFA Cup will be structured, potential sponsors, if it will be televised on free to air or pay TV, what the prize money will be involve and if the winner will gain entry into the ACL.
With barely any details or structure put into place, it doesn’t seem logical that the FFA can come to such a quizzical decision given the amount of uncertainty sounding the hypothetical competition.
If the FFA felt that the inclusions of Victory and Heart would diminish the glamour of a proposed FFA Cup competition, then why were they allowed to enter the competition from the beginning?
The Mirabella Cup was an ideal opportunity to allow the Victorian A-League clubs to engage with the local community and strengthen the relationship between the A-League and local football. Many people were looking forward with great anticipation to seeing the VPL and state league-based outfits participate against the powerhouses of Australian football.
Due to the FFA’s inability to manage their own business affairs in a coherent and sophisticated manner, the dream of facing Victory and Heart is long gone.
The actions from the FFA seem somewhat selfish and unjustified. The Mirabella Cup was brought onto the Victorian landscape with great appraisal from stockbrokers, clubs, players and the fans.
This unprecedented decision gives many the indication that grassroots football and community engagement isn’t a high priority for the nation’s governing body. If the FFA were affiliated with the competition and consumed a decent amount of revenue, one must wonder if they would still have the same viewpoint.
If the FFA didn’t want the Victorian based A-League outfits to participate in the Mirabella Cup and the FFA Cup simultaneously next year then why not let the clubs take part in this year’s version. After all, the FFA did give the authorisation to the FFV, major sponsor Joe Mirabella and the 150 clubs competing that they (A-League clubs) would take part.
Both A-League outfits were looking forward to the prospect of playing a Victoria-based competition, and were dumbfounded at the untimely decision made by the FFA.
“Us (Victory) and Heart were well and truly happy to be part of this and looking forward to joining the cup.
The FFA are now working on an FFA Cup, similar to the FA Cup in the UK and that is proposed to be rolled out in the following year,” new Melbourne Victory CEO Anthony Di Pietro said.
In a goodwill gesture, Melbourne Heart chief executive Scott Munn announced via Twitter that Heart will play the eventual winner of the Mirabella Cup in a friendly, with all proceeds to go towards the club.
It’s evident that both Victory and Heart are displeased at the recent turmoil surrounding the Mirabella Cup. In some respects, it is a little disappointing that the A-League clubs didn’t make a stand up for their own rights and what they truly believe is the best outcome for the Victorian game.
Although the clubs may not have been able to change the FFA’s decision, it certainly would have made the FFA think twice about how to better organise their business dealings.
With the FFA controlling each A-League club on a franchised run basis, clubs have little independence or say on what they can and can’t do which is unfortunately the landscape of the game presently.
The FFA has accomplished some wonderful things with the inauguration of the A-League, the continued success of the Socceroos and other football developments. However, dealings like this with the Mirabella Cup give many people little confidence in the organisation’s capacity to run, organise and productively improve community engagement with the local football authorities.
Hard work put in by the FFV, sponsors, community clubs and the thousands of Victorian football fans seems rather wasteful when national governing body acts in this manner.
Hopefully in the future a more common sense approach is upheld by the FFA and a greater respect is shown towards grassroots football.
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