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The A-League finals series should be scrapped and replaced with an end-of-season State of Origin-style tournament.
This tournament’s purpose would be threefold: to create heightened interest in football by galvanising fans along State lines, to generate profits for the FFA as a result of that interest and to give players a chance to stake their claims for Socceroos selection in a pressure-cooker environment.
Abandoning the current finals series format would only serve to strengthen the A-League by ensuring Australia’s domestic championship falls into line with the majority of football leagues around the world, and ends up with one clear, undisputed champion.
Who won the A-League this year? The majority of fans will hail the grand final winners, the Central Coast Mariners, as the champions of Australia, however many serious football types will tell you that the premier side in the country are the Western Sydney Wanderers.
You know, the guys who topped the ladder and qualified directly for the Asian Champions League.
Mariners coach Graham Arnold believes the Wanderers are the true champs.
“I look at the Premiership Plate with more value with more value than the trophy for winning the grand final. Finals games are lotteries,” Arnold said after bowing out of last year’s finals series to Perth Glory on penalties.
He reiterated those comments earlier this season as his side fought for top spot on the table with the Wanderers, saying the knockout format of the finals series was an unfair way to decide who wins the title.
Perhaps he has changed his point of view since his Central Coast team finished second in the league but went on to claim grand final glory by beating the Wanderers. Maybe he hasn’t – I don’t want to be the one to ask him.
The point is, the fact that there is even a debate about who the true champions are devalues the achievements of both the Wanderers and the Mariners. Let’s dump the finals series and end the uncertainty.
Meanwhile, a State-against-State competition would offer up something entirely different after 27 A-League rounds, but also keep the ‘no grand final is un-Australian’ crowd happy.
The mini-tournament, played over a four week period after the end of the A-League season, could take a number of forms.
One possibility is a four-team round robin format comprised of sides from the three most populous states, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, plus a combination All Stars team from the rest of Australia.
Each side plays each other home and away before the top two teams contest a grand final.
Imagine this scenario.
Three days after the A-League has wrapped up in mid-April, as the winning club’s celebrations are just starting to die down and the media is about to turn its full attention to other codes, the four football State of Origin squads are announced.
The best local players in the domestic comp are delighted to be given the chance to represent their respective States on this prominent stage after busting their guts in the latter part of the season to gain the attentions of selectors.
The banter has been going on for weeks between club mates from different states, and now it’s finally time for scores to be settled.
Club fans around the country switch hats and keenly anticipate a dose of do-or-die, high-stakes football, while sports lovers who follow the A-League less closely are sucked in by the prospect of the old inter-State rivalries flaring up.
A month of intense, entertaining competition follows, highlighting all the best aspects of Australian football.
Journeymen players who rarely make the back pages during the regular season suddenly become cult heroes in their home states on the back of gutsy performances.
Bigger names falter under the pressure, or demonstrate that they are unable to adapt to a different style of football.
The national team coach watches on with great interest, grateful for the opportunity to see all the best locally-based footballers matched up against each other.
Who knows, if overseas-based players in less visible leagues see it as their best shot at earning a Socceroos call-up, they may put their hand up for State selection as well, further bolstering the standard of the competition.
And it all culminates with a grand final that nicely wraps up the football season on a celebratory note.
What are your thoughts? Would you prefer a State of Origin-style tournament to the current A-League finals series? Would you perhaps do it differently to the example model above?
Which State would have the strongest team if such a competition did take place?
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