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I have a couple of confessions.
I am not a football expert. If you look at my profile you will see that I generally write on rugby league. I am however a football fan that enjoys watching the game particularly when Sydney FC, West Ham and Panathinaikos here in Athens are playing.
My second admission is that I can’t lay claim to having the idea of playing the FFA Cup Final in Canberra.
When debate was raging last week over whether this year’s final should be played in Sydney or Melbourne, entrepreneur Lou Sticca suggested Canberra as a neutral venue for the final.
Mark Bosnich asked for opinions on this issue on Twitter recently and I replied saying that holding the final in the capital every year would add to the prestige and tradition of the Cup.
This sparked reactions both positive and negative including from Bozza who suggested that if the final was between Brisbane and Perth there would distance issues for fans.
The FFA Cup has been successful in engaging fans because it is not a de facto A-League competition. Right up to and including semi final time we have seen the Bentleigh Greens, the Balmain FCs and the Canberra Olympics go up against the big professional clubs at their suburban home grounds.
That is a big part of the competition’s charm and attraction. The commentary encompasses the kebabs, souvlaki, gyros, kranskys etc sold at the small grounds by the clubs.
What would add further to the competition’s unique charm would be to hold the final in Australia’s capital city with fans of the competing clubs could making the ritual journey to Canberra for the decider.
Canberra’s population is craving more top level football. You only have to look at the crowds that turned out at Bruce Stadium recently for the Asian Cup and the Socceroos game against Kyrgyzstan.
The ultimately failed bid to have a Canberra team in the A-League led by Ivan Slavich received large and sustained support locally.
Soccer participation in Canberra leads the four football codes and continues to enjoy large percentage gains year on year.
Canberra United is arguably the best supported club in the W-League.
While FFA said that Canberra wasn’t ready population wise for an A-League team the city is well equipped for the FFA Cup final.
GIO stadium has a capacity of 25,000. The first two finals have averaged crowds of around 15,500. All six finalists so far have been A-League clubs.
The ACT Government and Canberra Tourism embrace events like this and I am confident they would tip in generously with funding and promotion
With the competition in its infancy there is an opportunity to take a few risks and shape it into an event that is both prestigious and keenly anticipated.
Fans in cities that have A-League teams currently enjoy the opportunity to see their team on numerous occasions during the home-and-away season and during the finals if they are lucky.
This is about the FFA acknowledging a football stronghold by allowing the city to own a key event on the sporting calendar.
Since 1923 nearly all of the FA Cup finals have been played at Wembley. The exceptions being when the new stadium was under construction and one at Old Trafford in 1970.
Let’s make the FFA Cup final something special by holding it in our capital city from 2017.
Worth a try?
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