Tradition is everything when it comes to sports but this notion that football must have a finals series to enhance the product and make it more entertaining is not valid.
The AFL and NRL have over 100 years of history that rely on the format of the finals as their respective showpiece events for the season.
The A-League has been around for less than 20 years. There’s no doubt that the finals series has produced some epic memories, but Australian football is at a stage now where it is no longer required.
Without question, finals football attracts the most interest for the code. But if the A-League feels as though they need finals to stay alive and relevant, then there is already a problem.
Outside of Australia, football traditionalists are accustomed to just a regular season of home-and-away fixtures to determine an overall champion.
It makes total sense. The team who finishes top of the table is recognised as the best team in the competition.
When the grand final comes to a close, it’s difficult to accept this and it almost feels as though the hard work achieved by the premiers goes to waste if they are not the eventual champions.
Melbourne City was the perfect illustration of this point, as last season they were head and shoulders above the rest of the league, winning the minor premiership and playing some of the most attractive football the A-League has ever seen.
Instead, they cruelly lost the grand final to Western United.
Western United. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)
It just seemed so wrong and undeserved, with all due respect to John Aloisi’s men who overachieved.
Who said football doesn’t contain an excitement factor without finals in place?
The interest springs from witnessing clubs battling it out for the top spot, and top-three placements for Asian Champions League qualification, on top of the always dramatic race to survive relegation at the bottom of the ladder.
It can be argued that the thrill of the final day of the season is more captivating than a grand final itself, as all games are played simultaneously, which creates a tension that no other sport can provide.
It would be incredibly foolish if the second division would have this, but the A-League still went ahead with a grand final.
The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) have already secured a deal to host the next three grand finals in Sydney, which makes this debate kind of pointless considering the money involved.
However, when fans across Europe gathered to protest the idea of a Super League being implemented last year, they set the example that football comes first.
There is no room for stubbornness anymore. The blueprint needs to be copied from the rest of the world.
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