The state of the SCG pitch has come under strong attack from all quarters, with Victory coach Kevin Muscat labelling the decision to stage such a huge game on such a shocking surface as a "disgrace".
Sydney won 2-1 with a late goal from Milos Ninkovic but the main talking point was the embarrassing pitch, a point that was not lost on the Sky Blues.
"It was a sub-standard pitch but we were obligated to play there," Sydney chief executive Danny Townsend said.
"However, we will consider moving the game against Perth on April 18 to Kogarah if the SCG cannot provide us with a pitch that is conducive to high-level A-League football".
Wouldn't that be a strong statement from the club!
The sorry spectacle of an A-League classic with a history of passion, drama and entertainment being played on a cow paddock that goes by the name of SCG should be enough to persuade fans that the only way to stop being treated like cattle is a boycott.
Only by thumbing their noses at officialdom will the country's frustrated fans have a chance to be treated with the same degree of respect afforded to stakeholders in other spheres of life.
And if we as a football family continue to treat our game with such contempt and utter disregard for the spectacle and more importantly the players' safety, how can we expect governments, stadiums and mainstream Australia not to treat football as a joke and a sport to poke fun at?
Foreign stars Keisuke Honda, Ola Toivonen, Siem De Jong and Milos Ninkovic are probably too polite to say what they really think of being asked to perform in such unusual surroundings.
To make matters worse, Antonis appeared to lose his footing in the central part of the pitch and badly damaged his left knee.
Sydney may or may not have been responsible for playing the blockbuster with their arch-rivals at the SCG and fans at large have every reason to be miffed.
Why is it so hard to understand that football is not meant to be played at cricket grounds?
Why is it so hard to accept that players are far more likely to get hurt on hard, uneven pitches?
Why is it so hard to realise that for the sake of a few more thousand spectators the goodwill lost among fans is far greater?
Why is it so hard to acknowledge that playing football at the SCG, MCG or Adelaide Oval is a backward step for our game's image?
Why is it so hard to admit that all this nonsense makes Australian football look like a basket case in Asia?
It is just wrong for supporters, who put up with so much, to be treated so badly and the powers-that-be would have to be living on a different planet to expect these people to keep coming to matches.
There were other grounds in Sydney where the Sky Blues could have fitted the 14,000 crowd that watched the 'big blue'. Jubilee Oval in Kogarah, for example, was available on Saturday but the choice was made to take the game to the SCG presumably in the hope of a larger crowd.
Once again, it looks like a football decision made way for a business decision.
Frustrated fans across Australia should organise boycotts of matches that are scheduled for cricket venues.
The players won't act because that course of action would get them into trouble.
The clubs won't say too much because sometimes they are partly to blame.
And, believe it or not, there are some within the media who see nothing wrong with playing football at a cricket ground.
Muscat deserves high praise for speaking out against the lunacy of playing such a big game at the SCG.
"If we accept that as a code of football we are not going anywhere in a hurry. It's a disgrace," he said after his side lost 2-1.
It's just a shame that his fortnight comments will be taken by some as a losing coach having a whinge not as an honest appraisal from a man who has become the face of the A-League after his achievements as a player and a coach.
His words of wisdom will probably go unheeded. What would coaches know about metrics anyway, administrators might say.
So perhaps an official fan boycott is the much-needed jab where it hurts most.
It's a drastic measure but the only one that would make our game see sense.
