Incredibly sad state of affairs here at present. One would have thought that the people that run the football here would have been satisfied with the Australian teams run in the World Cup creating hopefully burgeoning interest in the local game.
What happened is unfathomable. I think the A league is the only Football league in the world where the league leader at the end of the season is not crowned champions. They then move on to an Australianism "The finals series' which is a knockout competition for the top 6 teams who are then crowned Premiers as opposed to the Minor Champion in winning the league. This is in lieu of not having enough local interest in the cup competitions here or the 2nd division for relegation and promotion. The finals series is a well-established end-of-season finale for all football of all codes in Australia.
The A leagues grand final always takes place in the top finishing team's home city... Resulting in well-attended finals in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth over the past 18 years. What happened is the Football Authorities (APL) have decided that the Grand final should now take place in just one City Sydney for the next 3 years. This decision has been met with uproar and that's putting it mildly. The vast majority of all club's supporters are 100 pct against it, even the Sydney-based fans. Home ground advantage and the resulting game is seen as the ultimate reward for the fans at the culmination of a season.
We are now in a state of turmoil, and it looks like the local fans' protests will kill the A league, with mass membership cancellations, Walkouts at the 20-minute mark, and other major protests. Today I'm going to the Melbourne Victory v Melbourne City sell-out derby at the 30K capacity AAMI stadium. Both sets of supporters will walk out a 20th-minute mark, including myself.... so that will almost certainly mean 20K people plus will abandon the game This kind of protest is set to continue for the rest of the season. There is a fairly high chance of real anger at todays game here in Melbourne, so I'm not sure what to expect. You may get to read about it tomorrow for all I know.
Looks like it's over here folks as the APL has said it won't reverse its decision, and the Fans won't back down.
What happened is unfathomable. I think the A league is the only Football league in the world where the league leader at the end of the season is not crowned champions. They then move on to an Australianism "The finals series' which is a knockout competition for the top 6 teams who are then crowned Premiers as opposed to the Minor Champion in winning the league. This is in lieu of not having enough local interest in the cup competitions here or the 2nd division for relegation and promotion. The finals series is a well-established end-of-season finale for all football of all codes in Australia.
The A leagues grand final always takes place in the top finishing team's home city... Resulting in well-attended finals in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth over the past 18 years. What happened is the Football Authorities (APL) have decided that the Grand final should now take place in just one City Sydney for the next 3 years. This decision has been met with uproar and that's putting it mildly. The vast majority of all club's supporters are 100 pct against it, even the Sydney-based fans. Home ground advantage and the resulting game is seen as the ultimate reward for the fans at the culmination of a season.
We are now in a state of turmoil, and it looks like the local fans' protests will kill the A league, with mass membership cancellations, Walkouts at the 20-minute mark, and other major protests. Today I'm going to the Melbourne Victory v Melbourne City sell-out derby at the 30K capacity AAMI stadium. Both sets of supporters will walk out a 20th-minute mark, including myself.... so that will almost certainly mean 20K people plus will abandon the game This kind of protest is set to continue for the rest of the season. There is a fairly high chance of real anger at todays game here in Melbourne, so I'm not sure what to expect. You may get to read about it tomorrow for all I know.
Looks like it's over here folks as the APL has said it won't reverse its decision, and the Fans won't back down.
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