Ben Folami’s dramatic late winner in Perth at least made one thing clear to the A-League Men’s long-suffering fan base – Melbourne Victory really are now top of the table.
Only the Australian Professional Leagues could conjure the sort of bureaucratic nonsense we endured last week when a tongue-in-cheek fan account on Twitter – no one calls it X – pointed out it should have been Wellington Phoenix, not Victory, who were top of the table according to the APL’s latest rule change.
The problem was that no one seemed to be aware of the change – not the clubs, not the broadcaster, not even the A-League itself.
It took a fan on social media to remind the APL that according to their new rules – which now sees total wins used as a tiebreaker to separate teams, instead of the global standard of goal difference – it was the Kiwi side, not the Melburnians, who were top.
After some back and forth online, with no one quite certain of when to actually apply the tiebreaker, the APL eventually released a statement and updated their own league table to reflect the fact they had been publicly celebrating the wrong league leaders all along.
You couldn’t make it up.
At a time when the A-Leagues desperately need to claw back some credibility, the competition’s administrators don’t even know their own rules.
Fortunately for the APL, Folami’s 96th-minute winner in a topsy-turvy affair in Perth on Saturday night moved Victory top of the table outright and once again flexed their championship credentials.
With the scores locked at 1-1 at half-time, the complexion of the game changed when Glory attacker Bruce Kamau was handed his marching orders seconds after the restart after he received a second yellow card for a dive in the penalty box.
Yet Glory clung on grimly and thought they had snatched a point when substitute Kaelan Majekodunmi came off the bench to curl home a last-minute equaliser following Eli Adams’ own stunning long-range strike.
It was a thrilling introduction in front of a raucous crowd in The Shed, only for Folami to spoil Perth fans’ fun with an even more dramatic late winner.
There was a terrific atmosphere at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night as well, with The Den turning up in big numbers to watch Brisbane Roar turn in a battling display in their 2-1 defeat to Sydney FC.
The hosts got off to the worst possible start when Fabio Gomes headed home a Jaiden Kucharski cross barely a minute in, and Kucharski went close to doubling Sydney FC’s lead when his header hit the post soon after.
Instead, it was Fabio who impudently flicked home a superb counter-attacking raid led by Joe Lolley, before Nikola Mileusnic smashed home a response for the home side in a frenetic end to the first half.
The sizeable contingent of Sydney FC fans in the away end did their best to will their side on to a third, yet there was genuine relief when a series of late attacking raids from the Roar failed to find an equaliser.
About the only real negative for Roar fans in what was a promising debut for new coach Ben Cahn was the abysmal state of the Suncorp Stadium pitch.
It’s a problem the APL should be stepping in to try and help resolve, but they’re too Sydney-centric to notice what’s going on in the rest of the league.
They’re already admitting privately they’re not expecting big crowds for next weekend’s Unite Round in Sydney, while the decision to schedule a Melbourne Victory game at Allianz Stadium right before Sydney FC play seems fraught with danger.
If only we could get our administrators to concentrate on fixing the problems that actually need fixing – journalist Michael Cain messaged me during the week to remind me it was the third anniversary of former Newcastle Jets owner Martin Lee being stripped of the licence – the A-League Men would be in a much better place.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
remind me how much we'd planned to spend on an interim stadium for The Gabba'? Now is the time, Olympics 32. We shouldn't settle for fifth best, aim for what is needed.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Great read - post more Saffi.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
MSM are the perfect example of generational perspectives, opinion and mindset. They don't get it. They stick to their backyard sports because that is what they've grown up with. Anything else is not Australian, they don't belong because they're foreign and they don't illustrate themselves as "real sports". Chris as you say, the MSM only woke up to the Women's WC due to interest. In my opinion be it in 5 or 10 years maybe longer, the MSM is in for a rude shock and one day they'll realise that their generational adherence and lack of progression was a bit of an error.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I’m a year too early - next year.
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
I hope not I'm in QLD and already have to do Council Elections in March and State in October.
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
Retractable Roof will never happen it would be far too expensive
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
The only places that could host Unite Round are Sydney, SEQ and Auckland, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth don't have enough stadiums and anywhere else is too small.
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
I actually like the Idea of Wins over GD but its dumb to do while we have an unbalanced schedule.
Saffi
Roar Rookie
Re attendance at A League games, we’re obsessed with numbers aren’t we? Every Aussie sport fan is. I was reading about Ronaldo’s beautiful body on some site and thought, here is one of the greatest footballers ever to play and is one of the highest earners currently and he’s playing (with many other great players) in front of nobody in the Saudi League. Does he worry about the crowd numbers? Does FIFA worry? Should we worry? Not a zot, because if the products good and enjoyable you go with it, celebrate it. We have a wonderful, high goal scoring, passionate league and it’s a great watch. The crowds are getting better but I watch regardless because it’s ours and it’s fun.
Sydneysider
Roar Rookie
they've only got Hindmarsh Stadium to host games so it's not a possibility for them. Adelaide Oval has a cricket pitch in the middle of it during our season, so no chance there. South Australian government also not interested in showing $$$ to host football matches. sad but true.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
why would the SA government entertain the idea of having a whole round of football in the state many believe to be the true capital of football in this country since the 90s (this was even mentioned by a commentator again recently) when they are putting all their eggs in a rugby league/union sized basket, that they somehow believe will work in sa haha
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
he cant say anything publicly yet while still under the NDA from that ordeal - that NDA should be up in the next 18 months and i still dont think you'll hear the actual full truth from him
NickA
Roar Rookie
yes but not if they are 'mutually terminated' - and I wonder how much clubs actually care if foreign players have broken contracts to come and play for them? Especially from Aus, which isn't a destination league.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Still awaiting the real reason he was sacked from the Matilda’s ! Plenty of speculation but I thought the truth would be out by now
Garry
Roar Rookie
Because soccer is on ch. 10….the other channels have a large inert audience that mainly stays tuned to them
Garry
Roar Rookie
Breaking contracts would be expensive and give them a bad name which could hurt them in the future..I’m sure there would be the usual give and take
Garry
Roar Rookie
Well it would a difference for some.it’s an extra round so it means a third game against someone..obviously it can’t be a big derby game as they are already played three times
Garry
Roar Rookie
And would Sa for one have the facilities to host all the games both mens and womens
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
last time i checked its the Australian league, not the nsw league - therefore every club should be treated fairly and with respect when it comes to all decisions by the APL. there are ways of making the draw fair for all clubs in the league (ive even provided 3 different ways to do this, which would still see all nsw sides play 2 matches in thier state before going interstate) do the math on 30+ people travelling interstate from SA, WA, NZ to the east coast every second week and everything associated to travel (flight there and back, hotel rooms, transport, food). these 3 sides are spending several hundred grand each season more than majority of the leage - wheres the parity there? what abou the refs and 'east coast bias'? adelaide have been very hard done by with refs over the past 3 weeks, its no coincidence that 2 of those sides were from the east coast. ive mentioned on here that adelaide officials have been in contact with the a leagues head of refereeing multiple times this season wanting clarification on certain situations. *from what i am aware they have made complaints against daniel elder 2 years in a row now, with the belief that he purposely refs adelaide harder than any other side because he is from adelaide. The club are by no means implying that he should favour adelaide, they want him to ref adelaide how he does the NSW sides and be impartial - he may never ref adelaide again after 2 complaints now *im also aware that refs have been given specific instructions to ignore the crowd at hindmarsh, due to how close the fans are to the pitch and being the most parochial in the country - so they will make a lot of noise when decisions dont go thier way. can crowds influence a ref? potentially, especially with 2 big screen replaying footage - but refs should never come to any staidum with that pre conceieved notion. *the club have also provided several videos of fouls going against hiroshi ibusuki and shown videos of other players in the same situation winning fouls - ibusuki gets consistenly punished for his height and awkwardness of his movements
Grem
Roar Rookie
They have nowhere near that many - they wish. You’d be lucky to have 100000 registered players from 2 states only. I also found the cricket follow up fascinating - we beat Pakistan 3-0 in cricket (and I’m glad we did), but it was like we did something extraordinary. We beat one of the other 7 or 8 countries that play the game and they aren’t considered good, but it was big news. It will be the same when we beat the West Indies 2-0.