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Tuesday was a cold, cold night in Western Sydney. Melita Stadium hadn’t hosted a game this big since the halcyon days of the Parramatta Melita Eagles playing in the National Soccer League.
National Premier Leagues Division 2 team Parramatta FC faced St Albans Saints, who travelled up from Melbourne for what was probably the biggest game of the club’s existence.
Elsewhere on the same night, the giants came out to play. Newcastle Jets and Perth Glory, and Adelaide United and Wellington Phoenix marked the A-League clubs’ historical entry into the inaugural FFA Cup.
Meanwhile, on the chilly Apple Isle, South Hobart FC hosted the ACT’s representative in the cup, Tuggeranong United.
It is the grassroots clubs that will provide the romance and talking points of the competition, all dreaming of a place in the last 16 and beyond, and a chance to match it with the country’s football elite.
Just getting to this point has taken an enormous amount of work. A dedicated band of volunteers has worked behind the scenes at Parramatta FC to ensure the stadium at Sefton was up to scratch. Coats of paint, cleaning out of now-rarely used corporate boxes, hiring security to deal with a crowd probably 20 times the regular league attendance, installation of a new electronic scoreboard, marking out of parking areas, ticketing… The heartbeat of the club, rarely seen, but indispensable.
No doubt it is a scenario repeated in Hobart, as it was in Newcastle at Magic Park, and will be at Hensley Field for Hakoah Sydney City East, and at any of the grassroots clubs who are part of the long-awaited FFA Cup.
Australian sport survives and thrives on the thousands of volunteers who turn up each week to run their club, and they all deserve a medal. However, it is rare that those volunteers are asked to double and triple the workload to bring a club up to television standard and professional expectation, as those at the clubs in the FFA Cup have been asked to.
Then there are the players and coaches. Some get paid, some don’t, but all make great sacrifices in time and energy to compete or guide those competing.
While many trudge home after an eight-hour-plus day teaching, selling, building, digging or wiring, the part-time pros are hastily packing a kit bag and taking the back streets to the training ground, trying avoid the horrendous peak-hour traffic and a late arrival fine that will find its way into the end-of-season-trip fund.
The players will push themselves for two hours on bumpy training pitches three or four times a week, icing the bumps and bruises when they get home, eating late, getting to bed later, dreading the early alarm that has them doing it all over again the next day.
Finals football in the various state leagues is the goal for these clubs, but the FFA Cup is an even bigger carrot. What other team sport gives players the chance to match it against the full timers? What more motivation does a semi-pro or amateur player need to make all that sacrifice worthwhile?
At Melita Stadium, Parramatta FC went down 1-0 to St Albans Saints, a 34th minute strike from Barry Devlin enough to ensure the Melbourne team would enjoy a rollicking trip home.
For Parramatta, attention now shifts to Saturday night where they could wrap up the premiership with a win over Sydney University.
Tuggeranong United made their trip over Bass Strait worth it with their penalty shootout victory over South Hobart. Like St Albans, they can dare to dream of a big name opponent in the round of 16.
For tonight’s losing teams, the cup run is over, but the grassroots graft will continue.
For players, coaches and unsung volunteers alike, it was nice to dare to dream.
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