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The A-League needs to get back to what it does best - football

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4th October, 2018
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Thank goodness for this weekend’s FFA Cup semi-finals – and the fact that the new A-League season kicks off in a fortnight.

Are we done with all these Congress issues? I have a feeling there are going to be more than a few teething problems to sort out between now and whenever an independent A-League kicks off.

But that’s to be expected of any regime change, and it shouldn’t be forgotten that the last A-League season – with its illegitimate title-winning goal – was hardly a showcase of Football Federation Australia’s best work.

Nor should it be overlooked that – not for the first time – another A-League season looks set to kick off with very little fanfare.

Maybe that’s because FFA wanted some ‘clear air’ once the NRL and AFL seasons were over.

Or maybe it’s because they were too busy playing politics instead of investing their time and energy into what really mattered.

For those who haven’t seen it, there’s an ad out featuring Tim Cahill and former Matildas defender and current W-League host Amy Duggan spruiking the new A-League and W-League seasons under the tagline: “Where heroes are made”.

It’s not the worst thing the FFA has ever done – which is saying something – but it’s not exactly the best.

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In another curious decision, they’ve picked two personalities who have nothing to do with the A-League this season, shoehorned the women’s narrative into what resembles a cut-price ad, then executed the whole idea poorly enough so that by the end you’re left wondering what is it exactly you’ve just watched.

They’d have been better off focusing their campaign on Riley McGree’s scorpion kick – presumably Fox Sports will do exactly that – although maybe there’s a follow-up ad to come that shows some clearer footage of actual A-League action.

Riley McGree of the Jets scores a second-half goal from a 'scorpion' kick

Riley McGree’s scorpion kick – a good news A-League story. AAP Image/Darren Pateman

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the video itself gained very little traction on social media upon its release.

It garnered only 65 likes and 14 comments on the A-League’s official Facebook page, and fared even worse on Twitter, where just four people retweeted it and the comments it generated were largely negative.

Who cares? Well the FFA should. Aren’t the kids who spend all day on their phones precisely the youth demographic football is supposed to be targeting?

But the social media side of things is just another element of the game that feels like it’s been tended to as an afterthought – I noticed the FFA Cup account on Twitter quietly unfollowed me a few weeks back – and so it’s largely left to fans themselves to create their own buzz.

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Fortunately we’ve got the FFA Cup semi-finals to tide us over this weekend, and the two clashes between Bentleigh Greens and Adelaide United tonight, and Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC tomorrow, should be crackers.

I hope Bentleigh can put behind them their dramatic National Premier Leagues Victoria semi-final defeat to Avondale FC, and really take the game to an Adelaide side missing the increasingly influential Craig Goodwin through illness.

And I couldn’t care less what happens in the Sydney derby just as long as a decent crowd turns out in Penrith.

Who am I kidding? Of course I care!

And if there’s one problem the A-League needs to solve if the 2018-19 season is to be a success, it’s to get a lot more people to care about the competition.

I’m relieved the Congress resolutions have passed because I was sick to death of sitting down at my laptop to write about politics.

It’s time to talk about football again – starting with tonight’s FFA Cup showdown at what will hopefully be a packed Kingston Heath.

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I’ll be smashing a glass of wine or two and dreaming of another cupset when I tune in on Fox Sports.

And I hope we’re all back here on Monday morning to discuss what happened on the pitch, instead of worrying about everything that’s happening off it.

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