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Opinion
Perhaps when you create a competition out of thin air, it should come as no real surprise when administrators feel the need to invent the excitement that goes along with it.
If the A-League received points for trying, it would be one of the most entertaining leagues in world football.
First the Australian Professional Leagues said they tried to bring down Paris Saint-Germain to play the A-League All Stars, then they claimed to have asked Bayern München.
They failed on both counts – and it didn’t seem to occur to anyone at the APL that both teams were busy winning their respective domestic titles over the weekend.
When it comes to what’s happening on the pitch, that seems to be an afterthought for the APL.
But you can’t blame them for trying.
Too many A-League fans bemoan the fact that when it comes to media coverage, the Australian Football League and National Rugby League seem to be everywhere.
They’re all over Channel Seven and Foxtel, which both have financial interests in the AFL, just the same as they’re all over Channel Nine, Foxtel and the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, which have equally invested in the NRL.
And the same cadre of online fans who cheered until they were blue in the face for the A-League to leave Foxtel are now the same ones who can’t understand why it currently receives virtually no media coverage.
So you can’t blame the APL for trying to generate some extra revenue. They’re just short on ideas of how to get it.
It started with the decision to rebrand the W-League as the A-League Women – thereby ignoring 13 years of storied history.
That might have been acceptable, were it not for the fact the A-League practically abandoned the competition the second it became apparent it wasn’t generating the TV viewership they required.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t Townsend’s fault only two of his proposed shortlist of 35 marquees signed for an A-League club – again, at least he tried – but neither Nani nor Charlie Austin lasted beyond the season.
Nani only managed nine appearances in the Victory jersey (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
And Townsend has been hung out to dry by the likes of Paul Lederer, Simon Pearce, Chris Fong and the rest – none of whom want their names attached to the most hastily-conceived decision in recent Australian sporting history.
The fact that Townsend claimed he was “not prepared for the scale of fan hostility” over the decision to sell A-League Grand Final hosting rights to Sydney is simply an admission that he – and the APL – have no idea what A-League fans want.
And that, heading into the 2023 A-League Grand Final, is the most glaring issue with the competition.
That’s why the APL turned their back on 17 years of tradition – and numerous sold-out deciders – and said “who cares?”
That’s why the APL stared down active supporter groups across the A-League and said: “Your opinions mean nothing.”
That’s why the APL hires social media influencers no one has ever heard of and lets media broadcasters with minuscule followings lob them softballs over issues the rest of social media is raging over.
That’s why they’ll host an A-League Grand Final Party at Moore Park in Sydney some 30 kilometres from where the actual decider takes place in Parramatta the following day.
It doesn’t matter to Townsend and the APL where any of the activities take place, because they’re not the ones paying for tickets – and they can’t understand those who do.
So we now have an A-League decider that no one wants, overseen by an administration that everyone thinks is doing a terrible job.
And we’re locked in for the next three seasons!
We shouldn’t be scared of telling the APL they’re doing a terrible job, just on the off chance a few APL employees who are paid to keep their opinions to themselves might take offence.
The APL are doing a terrible job.
So it is we await a Grand Final that no one asked for, paid for by a clueless Destination NSW, put on by an administration that seems determined to ignore what A-League fans actually want.