The A-League grand final produced one the best atmospheres seen anywhere in Australian sport, but did the quality of football match the occasion?
One of the most memorable moments of a gripping title decider came when Sydney FC star Milos Ninkovic’s reacted to a thumping challenge from Melbourne Victory midfielder Leigh Broxham.
Ninkovic tends to let his football do the talking, so when he squared up to Victory skipper Carl Valeri just after the half-hour mark – Ninkovic hadn’t even fingered the right culprit – it sparked an all-in melee that suggested Victory’s niggling tactics were getting on Sydney FC’s nerves.
There were five yellow cards handed out in the first half alone – eleven in total – and when my Dad rang me at full-time after watching the game on TV, he mentioned he’d never seen a game with so many cautions handed out.
I found that a noteworthy remark, because although I played football throughout my childhood, my Dad is more of a casual observer of the sport.
And when we’re broadcasting the game to a massive domestic TV audience – some of whom don’t tune into the A-League every week – it’s worth asking whether Sunday’s grand final showcased the very best of the A-League.
The question was put to me on my Facebook page by lawyer and radio broadcaster Ezequiel Trumper during the week. Trumper is an often outspoken critic of the A-League, and he wrote of the title decider, “at times it felt like I was watching a rugby league game with a round ball”.
Not everyone is enamoured with Trumper’s strident tone, but I appreciated his willingness to kick-start a discussion around the style of football on display in the A-League.
And it got me wondering, is it a style we’re happy to have broadcast to some 150 other countries around the world?
I personally viewed the match as a typically bruising affair between two teams desperate to avoid defeat in the biggest game of the season, although it wasn’t until I watched a replay that I realised quite how many fouls were committed on the night.
Watching from inside the stadium, it didn’t feel like the game was any more ill-tempered than usual – although it was certainly stop-start – and the sheer intensity of the occasion kept the crowd on the edge of their seats, even if the standard of football failed to satisfy the purists.
(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
This sort of navel-gazing is probably best left to the AFL, whose baffling trip to Shanghai has already produced some truly embarrassing media coverage.
We’ll leave it to the supposed big guns of Aussie sport to battle it out for the hearts and minds of the mystified Shanghainese, however the question remains – does the A-League produce the sort of football we’re looking for?
Whatever the case, it will be interesting to see if former Argentine national team legend Gabriel Batistuta can enhance the competition, with the once free-scoring Fiorentina striker linked with a move to Adelaide United to take over from the departing Guillermo Amor.
Batistuta earned his coaching licence years ago in Argentina, yet he’s never coached anywhere, and he’s famously on record as saying he never even liked football in the first place, calling it “only my job”.
It seems he’s in need of a job now, and having lived for a couple of years in Perth following his retirement, Batistuta is at least familiar with the country.
Yet a sceptic would surely question how a man with no coaching experience is automatically supposed to improve Adelaide United’s fortunes.
That’s the beauty of football though. There’s no one way to play a game enjoyed from Adelaide to Shanghai, and pretty much everywhere in between.
I thought the A-League grand final was predictably tough, but immensely enjoyable.
But was that the case? Or was the standard of football not befitting of the occasion?
Perry Bridge
Guest
#Lionheart Working through your points - my view at anyrate. (1) They would love to have an international game, : Mostly people would say no. For most followers of the AFL - it's precisely the NON-international aspect that is attractive. Many, many AFL followers also follow international sports so the AFL is a local treasure that even killed of SoO so as to not compromise the week to week club competition. (2) a champions league : I've never heard anyone lamenting for this - - I do hear some lamenting for SoO - and I'd like a real SoO tournament perhaps every 3 years. (3) even another competition anywhere they could look to.: Unsure that would be the case. Mostly we are grown up following footy in winter and cricket in summer. The BBL is big across summer hols. Don't need footy all year 'round. Soccer people seem more hell bent on total domination which actually bemuses me - - when do your partners get a break? It's even in the Olympics. (4) I feel sorry for them really, theirs is a good game and they should be proud of it, : It is a good game - you're right, it's got some points of difference (far greater than Rugby U vs Rugby L vs American Football) to the other football codes that I'd rather the greater family of football to not lose. It's also a cultural institution and Australia isn't that rich in those (and tend to snub it's own). (5)but it is what it is, a scrappy game played with hands and feet in some parts of Australia. It’s not football, : Well - no - it is football. It's "Australian Football" and has been since the first rules of 1859 (4 years before the London FA rules). The use of hands and feet is very common amongst the football codes - ironically in soccer you don't even have to use your feet to score a goal. It's a game played with heads and feet and limited use of hands. Scrappy - yes - got us there. It's due to the absence of off-side and knock-on rules. It creates a contest. Soccer has a bit of a contest but they tackle with their feet/legs - an action that would get you suspended from AFL. The irony here being that what is legitimate in one code might be illegal in another - so - sure as heck the way play is viewed can be very much in the eye of the beholder. (6)not a global game, and never will be, they just have to live with that I’m afraid.: Not a global game - correct. Certainly not at professional level. There are international elements that can be savoured (I do via certain interaction that I feel privileged to have enjoyed) - this year with be the 6th (3 yearly) International Cup. Anywhere between 10-20 nations making their own way (I wish the AFL could cover costs) to Melbourne for a 2 week tournament. No expats. All amateur (PNG reigning mens champs). And very accessible in a way that the professional codes can only provide with school-aged tournaments (I suspect). All good fun. Not sure I'd want to lose that anyway. There's even been a womens div the last 2 tournaments (Canada reigning champs).
Neil
Guest
I like the Grand Final system, it is Australian.
Arto
Guest
Actually, I think you're shooting the wrong target... It's the players you should be pissed off with as if Gillett had in fact done what you suggest, the game would have been a disaster and everyone would have been talking about the ref. I think Gillett had a good game and I'm an SFC supporter - a part of me feels he let Valeri & Broxham get away with too much, but those were Muscat's tactics (and we can't say he isn't known for them!). The last thing we want in the GF is for it to be played with less than 22 players on the pitch...
Steve
Guest
I was at the game and yes, the atmosphere was great, but it wasn't a very good game to watch because the incompetent referee allowed it to turn into a grubby hack fest. The fact that there were only 11 cautions speaks volumes of the referees performance because there probably should have been over 20 cautions and a couple of send offs.
Robbie R
Guest
Not so sure. The article still leaves the question open and unanswered, as well as the fact that asking the question in the first place... suggests that anyone expects anything other than ordinary football in a final.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I am not sure who you are railing against as the article reaches the same conclusion.
Robbie R
Guest
For christ's sake, it's a FINAL!! Of course it's not gonna be a great game, in a pure football sense. Where on the world is the final usually not a scrappy game? FA Cup finals, World Cup finals, all other cup finals in all other countries... Theyre all pretty ordinary games usually. I don't see how you could expect the A-League grand final to be as good as or better than a regular season game. It's not like that anywhere else...!
JR Salazar
Guest
Well, the winner does play in an NRL ground for starters so there's that, and the double winner is based in Roosters territory. Otherwise, I hope Trumpo doesn't quit his day job. The other one in our back yard across the Pacific though...
Lionheart
Guest
Majority of us enjoy your articles Mike, I just do not get the rather bizarre efforts of the "footy" boys to drag your quite appropriate reference to their groundbreaking game off-shore down. They swing away at most articles throughout the season, and now lead with a glass jaw.
valhalla
Guest
is tuckerman being ironic here???
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Click bait? What absolute nonsense. If you're not grown up enough to handle different points of view, maybe you're not grown up enough to comment on them?
Lionheart
Guest
yeah, it's a takeover. They'll be going international next. In truth, watching the AFL boys comment on the Football tab I have concluded that they (the AFL boys) are terribly jealous of what football has, and they are all out to stop the game growing on their own door step. They would love to have an international game, a champions league and even another competition anywhere they could look to. I feel sorry for them really, theirs is a good game and they should be proud of it, but it is what it is, a scrappy game played with hands and feet in some parts of Australia. It's not football, not a global game, and never will be, they just have to live with that I'm afraid.
Beerball
Guest
Football is like beer. Europeans enjoy the world's best beer and others stick up for dam water piss ;)
Hunter
Guest
The roar used to value quality sports journalism and unsurprisingly meaningful sports discussion would follow. Bizarre that in the weeks either side of the HAL Grand final close to 50% of the comments on this tab have been AFL related.
Kavvy
Guest
CLICK BAIT. The Roar is (was?) better than this but every fifth article seems to be a quasi-controversial headline designed to drive comment numbers
Perry Bridge
Guest
#Midfielder That's nice. But does that contradict the previous statement? And - as an Australian - aren't you pleased to see both the story you've linked to plus the current activities with Port/GCFC. The Gold Coast Mayor and business/tourist leaders are over in China with this game spruiking (or junketing...) their little hearts away. Port have already covered the $4mill costs plus $1mill profit before the game is played. Whatever it takes hey? The good thing about this - they could fixture it for every year - same weekend, make it an annual event to mark down on the calendar. Y'never know - it might grow legs.
Perry Bridge
Guest
#Johnno Not sure how you figure 'Americanised'. That would be to have a finals series best of 5 or 7 matches or something silly like that. Granted the NBL has a finals series. But - the established sports in Australia, footy, rugger, league, netball, cricket even - have a single grand final.
Arto
Guest
You might want to do a bit more research before submitting such a comment. Sydney FC is 3rd on the list of most fouls committed this season - average 16.3 per game, but behind both Melbourne clubs and only marginally above the mean of approximately 15.3 per game. Additionally, in Gillett's noble effort to let the game flow and remain 11-a-side, he neglected the obvious that MV played to foul as often as they could get away with in order to disrupt Sydney's rhythm and they succeeded for the majority of the game in that regard.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
I thought it was a gripping and tense match Mike. It's what you would expect in a one off cup match. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and I'm not sure why. It was bruising, bodies flying everywhere, yellow cards galore. You sometimes get those matches and you take it for what it is. I prefer my football a little bit more technical, and certainly more skillful than what was showcased last week. The way I have always viewed football is that it is a game of skill, it's is brains over braun, It is game which can be played by giants and midgets and you would always wonder who has the advantage between builds. The answer is there is no clear advantage, which is what makes the game so beautiful, anyone can play. It's probably one of the reasons I enjoy La Liga so much. It is easily the best league in the world and there is a reason for it. Highly skillful and technical players who make football a joy to watch.
punter
Guest
Just like the AFL fans have to come on the football tab, lol.