Only the A-League could schedule three major derbies in one weekend and be forced to watch on helplessly as torrential rain threatens to ruin the spectacle in at least two of them.
How good are suburban grounds? They’re great if you want to sit close to the action, but not so appealing if you want to avoid getting soaked in a downpour.
Which makes Saturday afternoon’s Sydney derby at Jubilee Oval in Kogarah more or less the right venue at precisely the wrong time.
When it rains, it pours in football – and the heavy downpour forecast to hit Sydney on Saturday will decimate the attendance and turn what should have been an entertaining spectacle into a water-logged slog-fest.
Make no mistake, what should have been a full house will be anything but because there’s simply nowhere to shelter from the rain in Kogarah.
So it will be left to the diehards and those who fancy a spot of Euro-style wet weather football to conjure up some atmosphere in what remains the A-League’s marquee fixture.
Here’s a question though: why schedule three derbies on the same weekend anyway?
Is the thought behind it that the excitement of the Melbourne derby will lead into the anticipation of the Sydney derby and end with the blood-and-guts battle that is the F3 derby?
The powers that be cop a pasting from critics like me no matter what they do, but in a campaign that’s been crying out for some major storylines, it seems strange to want to cram three highlight fixtures into the same weekend – not to mention a couple of other manufactured grudge matches.
I get that the Melbourne media tends to focus on the Melbourne derby and the Sydney media looks after its own, but surely having two of the biggest fixtures on standalone weekends would help generate some more national coverage?
Still, when the Sydney derby is relegated to one of the ABC’s kids channels by the Victorian Open golf, perhaps football should just be happy with any media attention it can generate.
We shouldn’t be surprised by the demotion. There was even a rumour doing the rounds on social media that there might be no A-League on free-to-air TV at all next week, although it remains to be seen whether that’s actually true.
But the A-League ended up on the ABC as a last resort – presumably as part of a deal that saw ABC channels remain accessible on Foxtel set-top boxes, after the public broadcaster considered removing them as part of a cost-cutting measure – and there’s been no real appetite from anyone at Aunty to view football as anything more than cheap filler content.
A-League derbies can be great, provided they’re well organised. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
It’s all lead to a pervasive aura of doom and gloom around a competition that has always attracted plenty of glass-half-empty types – myself included.
Perhaps the difference is that unlike many of those who complain endlessly about the A-League and all its various issues, I’ll still be at a game this weekend.
And I’ll invariably watch the four other games of the round for good measure.
It’s all well and good to want a better competition, but at some point football fans in Australia are going to have to realise they need to do their part as well.
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What we’ve got now is an army of critics who freely admit they’d rather not pay for coverage or attend any matches, who then wonder why A-League clubs struggle for funds.
The competition might not be where we want it to be, but does that give us a licence to simply stop supporting it?
Maybe it does.
All I know is that I plan to watch as much domestic football as I always do this weekend.
That seems to me a more desirable alternative to having no professional top-flight competition to watch at all.
Punter
Roar Rookie
So while AR has it right about traffic & the crowds, he's wrong about the 90% of Sydney. So not sure what were you agreeing with.
Beach
Roar Rookie
Actually, punter, as well as living there I repped for a publishing company and covered greater Sydney, schools and bookshops, so I know the region unusually well.
Mick Jeffrey
Roar Rookie
Probably won't be Ballymore who released their own blueprint around election time, which was basically another "centre of excellence" waste of land with limited seating to suit the odd club or underage game suitable for parents, scouts and not many others.
Mick Jeffrey
Roar Rookie
And also because they need to be seen as a merged entity with Illawarra....
AR
Guest
“Comparing” Melbourne and Sydney is a pointless exercises. They are just too different. It’s like comparing colours and arguing which is better. But for this conversation, it is interesting to discuss Sydney’s cultural aversion to following sport. Unlike other big cities all around the world, it has never had a weekend culture of attending sport in large (and reliable) numbers. Look at the NRL crowds right through the 1920s onwards. Despite being THE sport in Sydney, crowds have always been modest. And it’s not all beaches and yachting either - nighttime sporting events are the same. It’s quite a unique thing to Sydney.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Out of sympathy for their fans I hope WP at least make a GF.
Kevin
Roar Rookie
Im hoping the two face off in a grand final (and Sydney has an off day in the semi-final) and the spark might reignite with those two.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
We're not bashing cricket Jimmy - we're bashing BBL. Different games.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Yes, they keep trying to make the "Distance Derby" a thing, the problem is Wellington (& the rest of NZ) is far closer to the majority of Australia's population than Perth is, so I don't really sympathise with them, or feel any connection, as their distance to the majority of teams isn't that great.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Yep, WA is just Perth, that's their plan. It literally doesn't have the water supply to cope with a huge population, but they keep expanding it. Instead of a decentralisation plan that would make places like Bunbury, Busselton, Albany, Geraldton etc into planned 100,000+ cities (which they could presumably cope with), they just keep expanding Perth, and spending billions on new water resources. I assume it's the same elsewhere.
Kevin
Roar Rookie
The Distance Derby, but I guess its not noticed like the other ones. Probably I only notice it cause i’m from Perth.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
St George rarely play there cause apparently the rent is very expensive.
MarkfromCroydon
Roar Pro
It's impossible to know, but just guessing based on club budgets, potential salaries and results of reported matches without knowing or seeing a large number of matches in all of the leagues, I reckon maybe the top two divisions in the big 5 (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France) would probably be of a higher level than us. Who knows? I watch a lot of the Argentine, Colombian, Mexican and Brazilian top divisions and I can say all of those are of a higher standard than the A league. That's not to say Sydney Fc or Melbourne City or Perth couldn't be competitive in those leagues, just that overall, the quality seems higher. Not generally in physicality or skills, but more so in 'nous' or 'game awareness' eg tactical fouling, knowing when to sit back, knowing when to go hard, managing the clock. I also reckon there would be other top tier leagues who are of a higher 'overall' quality. eg. Portugal, Turkey, Russia, Netherlands, Japan, Korea, China, United States. It's just not possible to really compare all leagues. As I said also, there are some teams in some leagues that could easily compete in a 'higher' rated league. eg Sydney FC, I feel, would compete in the South American Leagues I mentioned that I watch.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
Why has this forum become all about bashing Cricket? Yes the sport has problems particularly with attendance but what has that got to do with Football.
JGK
Roar Guru
Only Sydney can spend billions of dollars on transport to the major sporting precinct that is actually slower than walking. Plus knockdown one of the stadiums just before it opens.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Oh you ‘old romantic’ - not necessarily old in a literal sense!
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Although even when you live in beachside suburbs, you still have to travel and roads such as New South Head Rd are a nightmare and living on the other side of the Spit bridge just makes commuting to the city a daily torture. I worked with a guy who got three fines in one day driving to work. All for red light infringements born out of frustration of those queues...not an excuse, just a fact of life.
Randy
Roar Rookie
Melbournians have this idea that west Sydney is a hell hole not worth setting foot in, have you ever driven through West Melbourne?? yikes….
Punter
Roar Rookie
Yep far too immature to get into an argument about which a better city. I have been to Melbourne, I do like the city.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Yeah which part of Sydney do you know? The beaches that run all the way from Palm Beach to down past Cronulla & the all the suburbs that are 10-20 or so minutes away, covers more then 5-10%, the city itself. The harbour side suburbs, both north & South, unbelievable & the inland harbourside that leads to Paramatta river that goes past Parramatta. the inner suburbs with it's lovely vibe, the beautiful leafy & trendy suburbs of the upper & lower Nth Shore, the lovely National parks in the North & north West of Sydney, some great bush walks that makes you forget you are in the biggest city in Australia, the North with the Hawkesbury river leading up to the lovely Central Coast. There are many national parks in all of Sydney, the lovely vibrant and diverse city of Parramatta & it's surrounding areas, the waterways of the west at the base of the historic Blue mountains. Then you have the Shire, down south where many call it God's country, which leads you down to some of the most beautiful beaches on the south Coast. Maybe it's South West, where my knowledge is not so strong, but leads to the wonderful Southern Highlands. Yes confused which part do you know, oh the travel jams, shame every major city in the world has it.