Tuesday night’s FFA Cup fixture between Sydney United 58 and South Hobart had me enthralled.
United, playing at home and coming off a 5-0 defeat to Manly in the league last weekend, were hot favourites to topple Tasmania’s finest.
South led 2-0 at the hour mark, and it seemed an upset was on the cards. 25 minutes later, Olympic hit the front. South Hobart managed a dramatic late equaliser, which sent their travelling contingent of staff and fans into raptures.
During extra time, with both sets of players giving everything to get their team over the line despite their obvious fatigue, I realised how good the FFA Cup is.
The FFA Cup connects the former NSL clubs that were alienated after the Crawford Report, which prompted a dramatic overhaul of Australian football in 2003, with A-League clubs and the mainstream exposure of Fox Sports.
The result of this combination leads to winners wherever you look. The positives for all parties make it a meaningful competition for every club that competes and aspires to compete. The appeal for people to rug up on a winter’s weeknight and walk to the ground around the corner – be it Gungahlin in the Capital Territory or Magic Park in Newcastle – is that their local club, the same one who plays every Sunday and whose early pre-season sessions wake the surrounding neighbourhood, is playing in the same competition as Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC.
It’s brilliant.
These periphery clubs are given the same chance to win the tournament as the big boys, which doesn’t happen to such a significant extent on an annual basis in any other sport.
The AFL could never replicate this type of tournament, because the David versus Goliath upsets that occasionally happen in Cup football simply would not happen – the gap between the worst AFL club and the best state league team is too big to bridge in one match. The full-timers versus part-timers mismatch isn’t as big an issue in soccer, because on the right day the part-timers can fluke a goal, have plenty of luck, and cling on to a lead against a team of professionals.
In AFL that wouldn’t happen. The superior physical aspects of an AFL team, when combined with their greater skillset, gives an opposing team of sparkies and school teachers no chance. It’s a shame for the AFL, because it’s an addition to the growing list of things football has over the custodians of Australian sport.
The FFA Cup proves that there is no better way for a grassroots sporting club to attract youth than to be competing on a national stage. The heroics of Sydney United’s goalkeeper, Justin Pasfield, in their penalty shootout win over South Hobart was witnessed by dozens of the club’s junior players.
It’s different to just being a supporter, like I have been, at a Victory game and watching a player win your team the game, because on Tuesday night those kids were more than supporters, they’re part of that club. They jumped the fence and ran to swamp Pasfield, high-fiving and celebrating around him as his teammates clambered to join in.
It’s a night that only enhances their love of the game and their club.
That’s the magic of the Cup. And football has it all to itself.
NUFCMVFC
Guest
Agree It makes such a huge difference to the vibe to have the crowd condensed Some good thinking for once by the powers that be in closing half the grounds and even changing the filming side so all the attending fans are condensed in the grandstand in the TV arc makes it look all nice and atmospheric, and certainly helps with the "brand building" of the FFA Cup
Evan Askew
Guest
Regarding the AFL cup competition between clubs from the WAFL and SNAFL etc etc, I don't follow the sport but from what I have seen of the games on tv at the gym and other such places, they seem to be playing the games at venues like Adelaide's AFL ground or Subiaco. Wouldn't it be better to be playing these games at suburban grounds rather than these concrete behemoths? We are hjaving the same problems for matches involving npl teams and A league teams. I don't know why for the life of me Palm Beach had to play South Melbourne HEllas at Robina when the crowd they got which looked pretty good would have being heaving at Mallawa drive.
nordster
Guest
This is the magic of football....inclusive, accessible, competitive.... And even if the gaps can be wide at least there is competitive play....which is better than the exclusivity of a level playing field;) The other great thing with the FFA Cup is that its Calendar season. There's something that just screams football about a chilly winter evening. It really connects the experience of watching football in oz, with playing. Im sure most of us have played or trained on similar cold nights, mid year. So in that sense there are two aspects to look forward to for some future ayyy-liiicck season worthy of my patronage. An open playing field with relegation and promotion....plus the calendar year season ....one calendar for all the football family:)
Midfielder
Guest
A good report but agree we don't need to talk about other sports ...
CG2430
Guest
I'd prefer the ROI going into a second-tier league, but apparently that's 20+ years away. That's probably why I'm so keen on the Cup right now - it's the closest we'll get for a generation.
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
AFL comparisons weren't necassary This for me though is a football specific issue, for years the fraternity bugged the powers that be for a cup competition, it made some sense to have "new football and old soccer" at around 2005/2006 to give some clear distinction and open up professional tier football After about five years though this had been achieved but the FFA seem to get full of hubris and decided to go for a World Cup instead of consolidating. Hard not to feel there's politics involved too, eg Lowy wanting to kill and bury some of the old NSL clubs better late than never the FFA Cup is finally here and it is fantatic The narrative of the FFA Cup has always been about turning "new football and old soccer" full circle and healing any rifts There's been some nice crowds, nearly 5k on a Tuesday night in suburban Sydney for the MVFC game I keenly await the day a Sydney Olympic plays WSW or South Melbourne plays MVFC One slight issue has been the FFA being funny over lighting, the romance is about seeing Professional clubs in suburban grounds for competitive fixtures, It will be good to see some weekend fixtures perhaps ala FA Cup in England, eg we can get higher crowds + there's no lighting issues Only thing I will say about other sports is that this competition, being introduced at the same time as the Asian Cup being hosted here fully points to just how dynamic the code is, eg there is Australian grassroots penetration via FFA Cup, Professional tier penetration through the HAL, continental penetration via the ACL As I've said in previous articles of my own, I think Football will get a greater return on investment by putting any fresh revenue resources (broadcast rights?) into making the FFA Cup a more substantial dual competition rather than trying to expand the HAL, just consolidate the HAL and expand the FFA Cup
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Controversial and provocative article IMO. Waiting for 'code warriors' to get stuck into the author. But nice read anyway.