Victory for Melbourne
Mathematically at least it took until the final game of the regular season before Melbourne Victory were finally crowned premiers. And few impartial judges would argue with Victory being deserving of their first silverware in six years. After some indifferent recent performances they turned on the style at times against Central Coast Mariners on Sunday, showing flashes of just why they accumulated an A-League record 56 goals this term. The Victory’s achievement is also notable for Kevin Muscat becoming the first player to do so as both a player and as a coach. The A-League is finally starting to develop some real history of its own. Indeed, one had to do a double-take when players first talked of joining the A-League club they supported as a boy. In a similar vein, there was a heart-warming story as Dylan Smith made his debut for Adelaide United in the Reds’ impressive 4-1 win over Melbourne City on Saturday. The midfielder was at the club’s first training session back in 2003 and said at the time he wanted to play for the club one day.
Meanwhile, the match in Melbourne also marked John Hutchinson’s retirement after an 18-year career. Like the Victory’s Archie Thompson, Hutchinson commenced his career at Morwell Falcons last century. It is hard to imagine a greater contrast with football at Mobil Park in Gippsland during the late 90s in comparison to the present day. Eddy Bosnar will now assume the mantle of grand old man at the Mariners. His goalscoring success in consecutive matches with the dead ball, following countless wayward misses, means we can expect to see plenty more of the Jeff Thomson run-up throughout next season.
Kings of the road
Should Sydney FC make the grand final, they might secretly be satisfied with playing away from home. Their 2-1 win at Wellington Phoenix on Sunday means they have completed their regular-season away commitments undefeated with an incredible 10 wins from 14 matches. (It is just the third time it has happened in Australia’s national league – once previously by the Sky Blues themselves and, curiously enough, the club that could in some ways be considered their forebears, Sydney City). Meanwhile the relatively modest capacity offered by AAMI Park could also assist the Sky Blues should Melbourne host the season decider, although the Victory players would perhaps prefer to play in more familiar surrounds.
It was a curious scenario for the Phoenix heading into Sunday’s match. A win would sew up second place with all the advantages that offers. A loss would mean a finals meeting with Melbourne City, but a draw would mean an arguably tougher semi-final match-up against Brisbane Roar. A feisty contest provided an early taste of finals football featuring, as it did, an extra competitive edge which occasionally threatened to boil over. Indeed, neither side did themselves credit on a few occasions in an otherwise entertaining affair. Disrespectful behaviour towards match officials continues to remain a blight on the modern game, and is an area where football falls far behind many other sports.
Two fronts, two teams
For the second A-League match in a row Brisbane Roar chose to field a severely weakened line-up, with just one player who featured in last year’s grand final. Last week there were no less than four debutants for the Roar, while their 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets on Friday was achieved with a litany of no-names on the Roar teamsheet. It prompts several questions. Primarily, is it fair to other teams? Indeed is it fair to the paying spectator? Does it compromise the integrity of the competition? The timing of the AFC Champions League, and the necessary timing of the A-League season, means this scenario will likely be repeated over coming years. Certainly it is an imperfect and vexed situation.
Yet oddly the Roar’s lesser lights impressed in last week’s second match against Melbourne Victory, more so than did the club’s headline names against the same opponents four days earlier. What is not up for debate is the quality and quantity of Queensland’s talent production line over the past decade or so, often to the benefit of both the national team and the A-League. Recent evidence suggests that is showing little sign of abating.
Clubs under fire
On the surface there has rarely been a more unnecessary A-League match than Saturday’s Western Sydney Wanderers and Perth Glory encounter. In the end there was plenty of colour, though not necessarily for all the right reasons. The spectacular pre-match hail dump on Sydney necessitated a 50-minute delay to kick-off and will make for a quirky image for any pictorial documentation of the season. On the downside, negative headlines followed Wanderers fans once again. A sense of anarchy has long pervaded the home end, and a reported hindering of police removing an alleged flare offender, and subsequent stand-off with police once again adds to that perception. Generally where there is smoke there is fire (no pun intended).
On the field the two combatants now face a hugely testing off-season. The Wanderers used an A-League record 36 players during a bizarre season of polar opposite highs and lows. Only a handful of the Asian Champions League-winning team will likely be on the club roster next year. Glory boss Kenny Lowe faces arguably a bigger challenge. Sixteen players are said to be contracted for next year yet the club must significantly reduce their wages bill having breached the salary cap by some 20%. Throw in the threat of PFA action for a breach of contract by the club, and an unholy mess remains for the Glory.
Football’s Anzac bond
Australian football has long been accused of ignoring its rich and vibrant history. That, happily, has started to change in recent years. It is generally an accusation which cannot be aimed at rival football codes in Australia. Equally other sports have long engaged with Anzac Day, even if those actions are not completely for altruistic purposes, given sport’s desire – and perhaps commercial interest – in fitting in with the prevailing zeitgeist surrounding 25 April.
It was, however, impressive to witness the level of engagement and respect paid at all five A-League matches over the weekend to Anzac Day. And in many ways football is a particularly suitable vehicle for modern Australia’s annual engagement with the day. Several prominent local players are Turkish-Australian, a list which notably stretches back to the early 1990s and silkily-skilled Socceroo midfielder Aytec Genc. Meanwhile, Australia and Japan have rapidly developed one of Asia’s best rivalries; one consistently built upon mutual on-field respect. Particularly overlooked down the years has been football’s Anzac involvement. The nation’s working class suburbs and the industrial hubs of Newcastle and Wollongong were the football heartlands of yesteryear, and naturally were strong contributors to the armed services, especially during WWI. Among them were Australia’s most prominent early-era captain, Judy Masters, who served both at Gallipoli and in France. It is time Masters’ story, and others like him, are told.
