The not-so-subtle elephant in the room here is that I’m currently blogging to you from CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, despite the fact that neither of these grand final teams are from the area.
For those who aren’t aware (or, like me, have buried the information deep down in your psyches to avoid a total footballing existential crisis), this is the first iteration of the A-Leagues’ decision to sell the grand final hosting rights to Destination NSW for the next three seasons.
This means that Western United – although they won their major semi-final – have had to travel to Sydney for the game they would otherwise have hosted in previous years.
Western midfielder Emma Robers wasn’t super stoked with the decision, telling media earlier this week:
“Especially being the new club, it would have been unbelievable to have a home grand final as a new team that’s come into the competition and have all our family and friends there, continue to build this fan base that we’re trying so hard to build.
“So, I think that is a big element of that, it’s disappointing that it’s not at home.
“I understand the financial side of it and the decision that went into that. But it’s hard.”
Of all the issues that both the men’s and women’s A-Leagues have experienced this season, the grand final one has undoubtedly been the most controversial.
Rusted-on fans of every club – including those in NSW – organised protests and boycotts across the ALM earlier in the season, though unfortunately their messaging got a little lost in a bucket of sand.
From the APL’s perspective, they want to make the grand finals a showpiece event: a kind of sporting tourist attraction aimed at casual or neutral football fans, with lots of activities and activations supposedly built around the games themselves, which they want to take place across a single weekend once the season calendars align.
From the fans’ perspective, the decision is a short-sighted cash-grab from a financially desperate competition, whose leaders are willing to throw out decades of tradition (i.e. the team that finishes highest gets to host the final) for a flash-in-the-pan appeal to people who don’t really care about the leagues at all.
Today’s game will be the first test of the APL’s decision: they’re aiming to break the all-time ALW grand final attendance record, and have supposedly “distributed” in excess of 8,500 tickets already (whether they were sold or given away is unknown).
Could it be a proof of concept if they happen to break the record? Would it be a different case if none of the teams in this grand final were actually from NSW? What do you think of the whole debacle? Log in and give me your hot takes.
