A-League decider means little

Whereas the AFL and NRL rightly hold up their grand finals as the pinnacle of their sport, this is certainly no longer the case for football.

For the two other ‘football’ codes there is no serious progression beyond a grand final – it marks the team, certainly in the case of the AFL, as the best not only in the country, not only in the region but indeed as the best in the world in a similar way to which American sports tend to operate.

The difference now in Australia is that two (and hopefully more in the future) clubs are afforded the opportunity to take the A-League onto the continental stage – with that in itself being a stepping stone to the even more financially lucrative and prestigious FIFA Club World Cup.

And that’s why, with Melbourne already qualified for the 2011 ACL, Victory should basically play with its National Youth League side in this Saturday’s A-League ‘season finale’.

The challenge for Ernie Merrick’s side no longer lies against Sydney – in fact this is almost an irrelevance compared to the tussle with Kawasaki Frontale next Tuesday.

As I’ve written before the big selling point for Australian football is that it can spread the A-League word on the continental and global stage – so much so that clubs like Adelaide United and indeed Melbourne are now household names throughout Asia.

Yet most followers of the game from Mongolia to Iran and back to Indonesia couldn’t even name an Australian grand final winner.

The same is true conversely – due to the ACL Australian supporters are now awake to Asian football and most could probably reel off five or six Japanese, Korean or Saudi Arabian clubs but how many could name or even care who won the J-League or the K-League last season?

The ACL means something – both financially and in terms of prestige.

Due to the FFA taking total control of the ‘finals series’ the clubs receive no income from the gate, have limited control over marketing and earn precisely zero dollars in prizemoney.

Compare that to the continental championship where clubs can chase new sponsors (both Adelaide and Melbourne have done that this campaign) that can bring sizeable financial benefits to struggling outfits, and where the prizemoney is substantial; $21,900 for a draw or $43,800 for a win in the group stages that rises all the way up to the $2.7 million that is on offer in the final.

Then, if further success follows, comes the CWC, which can financially ensure a club’s future for years to come – and that’s why Melbourne, after a dreadful start to this season’s ACL must prioritise Asia over the grand final.

What is the benefit (outside of an Australian notion of ‘bragging rights’) to the club of grand final success in this instance – no new sponsors, no revenue and no prizemoney?

I just don’t understand why that should be a priority when (due to Sydney’s reaching the grand final as winners of the Premier’s Plate) the Victory has already been assured of a place in the 2011 ACL.

Of course, if ACL qualification was still on the line it’s an entirely different matter but it’s not and so therefore the grand final should be a distant second on the priority list.

Victory officials even suggested last month that should the club qualify for the ACL through winning the Premier’s Plate then it would have considered giving precedence to Asia – and now having nothing to play for it should do exactly that.

Yes, the scheduling is unkind but in this regard Melbourne is hardly in a unique position.

A quick glance at the previous week’s ACL fixture list shows Sepahan, Al Ahli, Jeonbuk, Suwon, Pohang, Kashima, Hiroshima, Kawasaki and Gamba all having to back up from weekend matches – and many of them with international flights thrown in and all did so with a minimum of fuss.

An easy way to fix the problem is to align the A-League season with that of the ACL – a March start and December finish; until then if Melbourne wants to succeed in Asia there’s only one realistic solution and that’s for the big guns must simply stay fresh for Tuesday.