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Opinion
There are no fans of COVID-19 and everybody is craving for life to return to even something like the normality we all took for granted in the past.
However, in the desperate scramble to revive a seriously compromised A-League season, the current scheduling is simply inequitable and unjust.
All of our lives have been turned on their heads ever since the early days of March 2020 when a cancelled Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne brought into focus just how serious things had become. Like all sports, the A-League competitions have suffered from indecision and a complete lack of predictability and continuity ever since.
Now, with some space finally available to get a host of postponed matches completed, the onus has fallen directly on the clubs, with many asked to back up on incredibly short turn arounds.
Sadly, within the ad hoc scheduling there appears to have been little consideration given to player welfare, the maintained quality of the product and the overall presentation of the competition to fans; who simply do not know whether they are Arthur or Martha, as we enter what should have been Match Week 14.
Over the next seven days, nine matches are slated to be played. Two of those will involve Wellington Phoenix.
Off the back of a brilliant 3-1 win against Macarthur last Sunday the Phoenix tackle Victory on Wednesday in Wollongong before hosting Adelaide on Saturday in Sydney, with Ufuk Talay and his squad expected to play three matches in seven days and somehow maintain the level they produced against the Bulls.
Doing so will be near impossible, with injuries and fatigue almost a certainty and after the courage shown in overcoming myriad challenges over the last 18 months, Wellington are the last club in need of such an absurd draw.
However, they will not be the only team under the pump in regards to the host of fixtures looming; fixtures requiring a superhuman effort should they hope to be navigated, less the dropping of too many valuable points at a crucial time of the season.
Central Coast Mariners spent a great deal of petrol in their brave but ultimately failed effort to raise the FFA Cup last Saturday night. Now, the little engine that could faces Macarthur FC on Thursday before reporting for duty against Perth Glory this coming Sunday.
To inflame the problem, Western Sydney await the Mariners next Wednesday; a grand total of four matches in 12 days.
Two hours prior to that Wanderers and Mariners fixture, Wellington will do battle with Brisbane in a match that will complete a run of four in 11 days for them. When they host Sydney FC on the 19th of February, it will end a run of five matches in just 14 days.
Should all the currently listed fixtures actually go ahead, Melbourne City way well have the toughest run of all, with six matches due to be played over the next 19 days; a trip to Newcastle and two visits to Sydney amidst the chaos. Macarthur FC too, are in the middle of an awkward six matches in 21 days.
While cognisant that the playing of a complete season is paramount to the A-League decision makers, one wonders at what cost. Furthermore, were all teams in the same boat and paddling away equitably, perhaps the situation could be deemed acceptable.
However, I can assure you it is not.
(Photo by Pete Dovgan/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
As Wellington, Central Coast and Melbourne City live the nightmare and debilitating road ahead, other teams will enjoy far larger breaks between fixtures and potentially make important moves when it comes to the race for semi-final positions.
At the time of writing, Brisbane Roar has just five matches slated across the entire month of February, Sydney FC enters its match with Western United this Saturday off a seven day break, followed by another six days of preparation before its next fixture against Wellington on February 19th and United have a full week to prepare for the Sydney clash and then another eight days before taking on the Wanderers on the 20th of February.
How this is even disguised as maintaining competition integrity is beyond me, although with an already compromised draw, I guess there is little need to even attempt to construct a guise.
Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory also have a reasonable draw ahead, yet the outcome of the busy period that is being presented as a potential highlight of the season for fans, could would signal the end for clubs like Central Coast and Wellington; potentially unable to accumulate the number of points they may have, had their opponents also be forced to play a similarly demanding number of matches in such a short space of time.
Instead, some teams will turn up to games riddled with injuries, mentally and physically exhausted, while others will cash in on their good fortune.
There may well be a distinct lack of other solutions to the challenge of squeezing all the required fixtures into the time available to complete the 2021/22 season, yet that in no way, shape or form makes the current scheduling justifiable or fair.