Football Federation Australia’s Ben Buckley came under vigorous siege at the recent Fan Forum in Sydney. The event was organised by Lee Sutherland, who conducts the group Footy Fans Down Under.
The night encompassed many issues surrounding the landscape of the Australian football environment, however it was Buckley’s outlook on the Mirabella Cup which has distressed many fans and outraged the Victorian football community.
Buckley had this to say on the FFA’s recent decision to disallow A-League outfits – Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart – from participating in the inaugural Mirabella Cup: “We aspire to have a national cup competition as soon as possible.
“Our timeline is currently starting next year in 2012. We are all excited by it. We all understand it will be a great tool to help us connect down through the various levels of the game. Having said that, we don’t want to confuse the cup competition with a whole series of state competitions that include the A-League clubs and that’s why the decision was taken.
“I know there’s a lot of people that don’t support that but we are all excited about getting the cup competition right from next year on. We don’t want to launch the A-League clubs into a number of state competitions that will ultimately confuse the public. I know there are some people in Victoria were disappointed about that but we are only 12 months away,” Buckley said.
There are so many faults in Buckley’s speech, it’s difficult to know where to begin.
Buckley’s assessment of the Mirabella Cup further establishes the indifference for grassroots football. When the Mirabella Cup was formally announced in February, the FFA already envisaged a potential FFA Cup competition commencing next year – having the finale on Australia Day in 2013. If the FFA felt the Mirabella Cup would hollow the image of the hypothetical FFA Cup competition, then why give the FFV, major sponsor Joe Mirabella, clubs and fans the hallucination of facing the A-League clubs? It’s selfish on the FFA’s behalf in many aspects.
The FFA has often stated its endeavour to build and grow a true football culture within our Australian sporting landscape, reminiscent of what we envisage overseas in Europe. Abroad, clubs often compete in more than one cup competition. We only need to glance at England, the successful EPL competition runs simultaneously with the prestigious FA Cup and Carling Cup competition.
If the FFA felt that the inclusion of the Mirabella Cup would halt the progress and image of the FFA Cup, then why include the A-League outfits when the competition was announced? It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever and further illustrates the incapability within the FFA to run their business dealing in a sophisticated, structured and coherent manner.
Using the lame excuse – the public will be confused if clubs are competing in more than one cup competition – is offensive to football followers and is an extremely poor justification for trying to cover up the faults within the head governing body. Treating fans with ill diligence and in the vein of an uneducated horde of people will surely not give football followers confidence and assurance in what the FFA are trying to achieve.
The FFA has assured their plan to improve fan engagement by connecting with community clubs and building the bridge between the A-League outfits and the local grassroots district. Although, dismal explanation to the public will only further alienate fans from the A-League competition and additionally plant supporters offside with the FFA. If fans are treated with intelligence and respect, then many supporters will return the favour towards the head governing body.
In many respects, the Mirabella Cup was a perfect opportunity to test the waters before the proposed FFA Cup competition is brought to life. If the FFA didn’t want the interference of the Melbourne based A-League clubs in the Mirabella Cup next year, then that’s another story in itself. But to prohibit the clubs from taking their places during the competition demonstrates a lack of respect for the FFV and ruins the integrity of the tournament. With the exclusion of the A-League outfits, there are now six teams at the quarter-final stage. The FFV will unfortunately need to make amendments at the penultimate stage of the cup.
As the A-League is managed on a franchised basis, clubs have little say in what they can and can’t do. It’s an unfortunate situation, in an ideal world clubs would be able to hold more accountability on their own business affairs.
It’s quite simple: the FFA needs to let A-League clubs have some type of independence and let them build their own dynasty. If the Melbourne based clubs – Victory and Heart – were happy to compete in the Mirabella Cup and help promote and build football within Victoria, then they should be permitted to do so. It’s for this very reason as to why many football fans feel aggravated and disheartened by the FFA’s dealings with the local communities.
Buckley needs to hold accountability and take more of a responsibility for his business dealings. Yes, we all knew the FFA wanted a national cup competition in the next year, that’s all well and good. Nevertheless, why couldn’t the FFV try help their own brand by establishing a successful cup competition of their own?
After all, the promotion of grassroots football is a high priority for the governing body.
Courtesy of Goal Weekly – Follow Robbie on Twitter
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