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Opinion
Well, I certainly did not expect to wake up on Monday morning and be greeted with the news that a deal between the APL and Destination NSW would see all male and female A-League grand finals locked in to a Sydney stadium for the next three seasons.
Every business decision produces winners and losers, with the publicly stated reasoning behind them misleading at best and fraudulent at worst.
In the case of the A-Leagues, fans of interstate teams will be rightfully up in arms.
Behind the move is a misguided and insulting insinuation that long-standing club members will have the flexibility and funds to simply travel to watch their team compete on the biggest day of the season.
No doubt, some will manage it. However, thousands of fans will be frozen out of attending a match they may have waited decades to see.
Of course, it will not be a problem for fans of Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers, Macarthur FC, Newcastle Jets or Central Coast Mariners. In fact, with the next three grand finals certain to be locked into the most appropriate stadium considering the potential number of supporters, the decision will in fact benefit them.
Fans of the NSW clubs now not only enjoy the comfort of knowing they will not be travelling far and wide should they qualify for the big day, they also know that the stadium options available to the APL almost ensures them of a ticket.
Lucky for them. Not so for Brisbane, Melbourne – or, worse still – Adelaide, Perth and Wellington fans, many of whom will already know this travel is simply not an option.
With the A-League Women attendance and those regularly engaging with the competition around a fifth of the numbers of the A-League Men, it is of particular concern for the female brand.
Should the impressive Adelaide United and Western United continue their strong starts to the season and meet to decide the champions, one can only imagine the scenes on grand final day, and the barbs coming the way of the APL from media sources with a history of sinking the boot into football.
However, the APL have done all in their power to sell the idea, citing the ability to build a ‘festival of football’ around the week leading into the grand finals, as though this rests entirely on the knowledge of the venue.
Most insulting of all is the statement from Danny Townsend, naively attempting to equate a final hosted in London to an A-League decider potentially played in front of a couple of thousand fans.
“This is a unique opportunity to build a tradition for football fans,” the APL chair said.
“When you think about a cup final in England, you think about the trip to Wembley, and we want fans in Australia to look forward to the A-Leagues finals in the same way.”
Danny Townsend (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
Of course, we all know why this has occurred and the true financial arrangements behind the decision are unlikely to be released.
However, with $26 million in visitor expenditure claimed to be injected into the NSW economy when “tens of thousands” of football fans arrive to celebrate the festival, the state is certainly the most obvious winner.
The APL stand to benefit, with the deal struck no doubt financially pleasing and when Minister for Tourism Ben Franklin dropped the name of the APL’s official hotel partner, it was not hard to join the dots and understand that, once again, this decision has absolutely nothing to do with fans.
The APL has dropped the ball on this one, yet will not back down any time soon. They may even get lucky with two NSW-based teams qualifying for the grand finals and both men’s and women’s deciders played before bumper crowds.
If not, it could be a disaster and the financial forecasting will be way off the mark if people are unable or unwilling to travel.