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Like most Australian football fans, I was pleased to see Harry Kewell finally sign on the dotted line for an A-League club after months of speculation and a protracted transfer saga.
In the end, Kewell signed for Melbourne in spite of the FFA’s efforts to obstruct the deal at the end and the preferences of the local football media.
Kewell signing a notion that would have raised eyebrows a few years ago given the notion that as a player who was born and had his origins in Sydney and given his profile.
Sydney FC, with its “bling FC” marketing pitch seemed a more natural fit than Melbourne Victory, which generally pitched itself as a more subtle and cultured powerhouse club geared towards progressive football, for which Melburnian born Mark Viduka would have been a good fit.
Despite suggestions that Sydney FC were ‘in it to the last minute’ and a number of articles spruiking the concept of a Kewell move to Sydney or the Middle East, Melbourne always had the clear sense of frontrunner with Kewell’s eye more firmly fixed on Melbourne above other A League destinations.
There could be a myriad of reasons behind Kewell’s move to Melbourne, including family considerations, but in footballing terms and incentive-based deals, the reasoning is clear.
The Victory’s proven track record of being able to get a relatively high number of fans through the gates consistently, and the city’s proven responsiveness to the A League made them a more attractive proposition to a player and agent negotiating an incentive based deal.
Perhaps this could be part of the reason for the 18,000 full-member cap quickly being put in place after Kewell’s arrival, to help quantify the benefits of Kewell’s arrival. Without being privy to the contract, fans and media pundits alike are left to speculate.
While not quite on the same level marketing-wise and while not quite as creative a talent as Kewell, Sydney FC’s follow-up signing of their other option Brett Emerton, is good news for Sydney as it will give their fans some consolation after missing Kewell’s signature and prevent further crowd harming disaffection.
Emerton’s signing as a returning Socceroo is also a solid signing for the A-League and helps to prop up the football integrity of the competition after last year’s star performers Marcos Flores and Matt McKay have left the competition.
Football-wise, it makes sense for an efficient and technically competent player like Emerton to complement the creative and flair-oriented Nicky Carle.
For Melbourne, Emerton would not have been suitable given the fact that Carlos Hernandez posseses Emertons technical ability, if not quite the consistent fitness, while being more creative.
For Sydney, Kewell would have been a clash with their current marquee Nicky Carle which would have harmed the team’s football diversity.
It could have been completely different, as illuminated by the cynical perspective adopted by some football writers to Kewell’s return to Australian through a Melbourne shirt.
The fate of returning Socceroos is not always a positive experience.
Returning to play in the A-League can in fact damaging to the esteem in which they are held which will give the highly regarded ‘golden generation’ second thoughts, as suggested by Mark Schwarzer recently.
Not too much of a surprise that Lucas Neill and perhaps Mark Viduka as well have foregone the opportunity to play in the A-League.
Thankfully, both Kewell and Emerton have signed, giving the A-League a sense of anticipation that has not been felt for some seasons.
Football in Australia has a chance to reinvigorate itself, correct the mistakes of the past and re-establish a firm footing as it approaches its post-2013 television rights deal and extract higher financial revenue to help fund the league and a variety of other football initiatives.
This has to work in conjunction with other initiatives, and there are some encouraging signs. Melbourne Victory have dropped (or been allowed to) the stagnation and apathy-inducing allocated seating system for AAMI Park games.
This should help for greater flexibility for match day arrangements amongst members and fans to bring non-members along to sit beside each other.
It should also allow for fans to spontaneously join in the fun of active support at either end and become more fully engaged with their A-League team.
It has been a long offseason, so readers may have forgotten the collapse of the North Terrace active supporter section that occurred at the end of last season and the negative headlines for the game that occurred as a result of the security paradigm.
While there is still much work to do the new there is some hope that a better policing and security regime may be established, despite Lyall Gorman’s confirmation at the Melbourne fan forum that the FFA had controversially extended security firm Hatamoto’s contract and were committed to the same failed security policy.
Melbourne Victory’s new senior management team have come in with a clean slate and an open mind, despite some awkward comments from some senior police officials at the end of last season, comments by other officials following a regrettable twitter feed during the Melbourne versus Celtic match.
Hopefully, this illuminates a cultural shift in thinking amongst some elements of the police force.
One hopes that the police, rather than just merely following what the FFA and their advisors give as advice on risk behaviour by fans, recognise the imperative that they develop their own institutional know-how in football crowd management with the 2015 Asia Cup on the horizon.
It is in their institutional interests to better engage with knowledgeable active fans to assist in this.
The closeness of an agreed charter despite the FFA’s stance is encouraging and a step in the right direction, and hopefully it will help facilitate a high calibre atmosphere and add to the buzz around Kewell’s arrival.
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