There’s an air of exclusivity about a spot in a finals series. A rare, sought after sense of self-accomplishment that reminds you why you’ve earned the right to be christened as one of the best.
You battle the unforgiving monster that is the football season, in the hope of cementing yourself among the much-revered elite – knowing full well that if the opportunity for you to be crowned as king presents itself, it’ll be an opportunity that you will have unashamedly deserved.
Though what we’re seeing in the A-League’s top six finals format, is this supposed air of exclusivity polluted to the brink of mockery.
No league should reward a greater number of teams with a finals spot, than those that it leaves out. It creates an imbalance that quite frankly cheapens the integrity of the game.
For the first four seasons of the A-League, there were four finals spots available. And life was good – you knew which teams warranted a top-four position because, well, they were in the top four.
Though when North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United joined in 2009-10 to make it a league of ten, the finals series was promptly widened to accommodate a top six.
In the initial year of the top six system, the Newcastle Jets scored themselves a spot in the finals – on the back of losing 13 of their 27 games and smarting a goal difference of -12.
Fast forward to this season and Melbourne City, who currently sit outside of the top six on goal difference only, boast the unwanted honour of having the statistically worst defence of any side in A-League history.
It might be early days still, but Heart 2.0 have shipped an average of 2.38 goals a game – even the now dearly-departed New Zealand Knights of 2005-06 were able to flaunt a better record.
Yet City could find themselves in the top six with a win this weekend.
Keeping City out of the top six are the Central Coast Mariners – a team who haven’t notched a win in seven weeks, and a team who are unable a name a player who has scored more than a single league goal this season.
Tonight, we’ll see a rematch of last year’s grand finalists as the Wanderers play host to Brisbane at Pirtek Stadium.
Seven months can sure be a long time in football – of the 14 games played by the pair this season, only the Roar have been able to pick up a victory.
Yet outlandishly, should either team walk away with the three points tonight, they’ll be sitting pretty in a finals spot.
One might say that there’s still plenty of football to be played, but a quick check of the fixtures will tell you that we’re nearly a third of the way through the season. Besides, this is the type of problem that time isn’t able to iron out.
There are of course reasons as to why the top six format exists as it does.
It’s an inclusive system, one that provides season-long hope for even those on struggle street.
It’s also unpredictable, with a greater number of teams allowing for a greater number of different permutations and possible do-or-die match-ups.
And it prolongs the summer of football, providing more entertainment for fans, more publicity and exposure for the game and more corporate dollars for those in the boardroom.
But if the season were to hypothetically end today, and the Mariners went on to string three wins together to claim the title, would the wider footballing fraternity recognise them as deserving champions? Probably not.
In a country where grand final winners will always rule the roost over those who are first-past-the-post, it’s important that we at least limit the grand final accolade to those who are worthy.
Unfortunately, the reality is that this won’t change. Though with expansion not too far around the corner, hopefully this mediocrity-rewarding framework is given a serious review.
Because only the best should be able to call themselves the best.
Kyle Stewart
Guest
I realised the other day that the NBA has more than half the teams making the playoffs and on top of that the conference system makes it possible to be maybe as low as 20 of 30.
AR
Guest
I don't?
AR
Guest
"Webjet are the shirt sponsor. They pay SydFC. In return, the company gets its logo on the front of the shirt." Other profound statements from 2014 include: Grass grows on the ground. It is green in colour. People can walk and run on it. ...keep that 'gold' coming Fuss.
Bfc
Guest
At the Roar, I thought only the two marquee players are on big dollars...Broich and Mckay (would actually prefer that Oz marquee spot to go to Brattan...). By big dollars I mean $700k or so...hardly compares to the top MLS wages of $3million plus...
Bondy
Guest
melbourneterrace Agreed good post ...
Bondy
Guest
langou I was only reflecting on this yesterday in AFL the whole season proper appears to be a waste of time until pretty much the GF comes around and has been won , which is unusual ? ... Drive By's 1-0 down to Brisbane , Henrique from the spot ...
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@AR Your hypothesis was: The drop in MVFC's finals crowds could be attributed to the overall decline in crowds as the season unfolds. I used data to show this is RUBBISH - i.e. notwithstanding the usual decline in crowds as a season unfolds, the crowds for MVFC's finals in early years was higher than average. But, in the past 2 finals' campaigns it's lower than average. If you can't follow this basic reasoning, I can't help you any more. PS: I used SydFC in my example because ... MVFC played SydFC in March in a H&A match & we played the same opponent - SydFC - in the finals 3 weeks later. That's what you call removing sample bias from the analysis.
tut es weh
Guest
I like that there is a grand final.It's the only A-League game I watch as I only watch big games.
AR
Guest
"AR – I have seen the same tendency in AFL & particularly the NRL where the first week of the finals draw crowds less than regular season games" That's certainly true for the NRL, less so in the AFL, but it's possible. The first week of finals this year saw significant crowd increases compared to the regular games, except for Hawthorn v Geelong which dropped from 80k to 75k. As Brian says, that's more about price than anything, and the fact it's not a knockout final.
Justin Mahin
Guest
In that case, let's go back to 4 between passer and the goal for offside, get rid of the crossbar and eliminate substitutes, you know, the way association football used to be played. Seriously, the finals series it's football in its culture - the way football is adapted beyond the Laws of The Game all over the world.mif people keep,arguing t get rid of the finals series I am going to have to start calling the game soccer again :-)
AR
Guest
...but pointing to a big-drawing opponent like Sydney FC and saying "look, the attendance of that game was above the season average", doesn't tell us anything.
AR
Guest
You're quoting figures from seasons 5 years ago which operated at a different time of year - so they're irrelevant really. If we follow you're example of examining Victory games in Melbourne against SFC, what we see (from an admittedly small smaple) is that games played at the start of the season attract significantly higher attendances than games at the end of the season, finals included. So a host of conclusions can be drawn as to why...
rmc
Guest
FFA should adopt the post season MLS Cup model. Their 2-legged finals competition is exciting. MLS have made the post season eliminations series look entirely different from that of the regular season home/away premiership. Seeing the Seattle get beat via the away goals rule leaves me no doubt that Galaxy didn't make it to the Cup final on luck. IMO 3 trophies up for grabs should be regular season HAL Premiership, post season A-League Cup, and the multi-tier FFA Cup. A two-legged post season cup playoffs will ensure that no would really dispute the winner as being a champion team.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@Terry Do you understand basic economics and how markets operate? The football market is a global, fairly deregulated market. The price of labour will be far less likely to be inflated than insular small local markets like: NFL, AFL, NRL, SupeRugby, BBL, etc .. where there are only a few teams and a limited number of players. Can you provide 5 examples of "inflated salaries in the A-League"? I want real evidence of the contracted wage - not just figures you conjure up.
Brian
Guest
Yes but isn't this due to much higher ticket prices in Finals for all codes as well as Finals more likely to be on FTA. In the case of MV they also hosted 3 of the first 5 HAL GF, but have not come near that in the last 4 seasons.
Terry
Guest
The other way that mediocrity is being rewarded is through hugely inflated salaries in the a league. Most of if not all of the a league players would not be in the current top 5000 players globally (Duff would have been a few years ago) and yet they are exceptionally well paid. The MLS, a clearly superior league by any measure pays it players much less despite the average MLS players being Clearly superior to the average a league player. No wonder Charlesworth is seeking to get extra revenue at the mariners- he has to compete with these ridiculously inflated prices.
Michael
Guest
A simple way of doing this would be to call the League the 'A-League Premiership' and the finals the 'A-League Championship Series'. Make them seem like separate comps, in which you qualify for the latter via the former. It would also help if the media also then referred to both comps in this fashion.
Terry
Guest
Punter, there is another Terry who follows rugby league more closely than me. I rarely post comments about league and was happy that the Kiwis won.
Terry
Guest
browncity - no, nor would I want them but your leader fuss disputes that the Asian cup is struggling to sell tickets and even claimed earlier this week that 80% of tickets had been sold. Clearly he is relying on some erroneous data.
70s Mo
Guest
AR - I have seen the same tendency in AFL & particularly the NRL where the first week of the finals draw crowds less than regular season games