Stars slam A League grand final deal for Sydney

Socceroos’ World Cup hero Craig Goodwin has slammed the decision to sell the A-League grand final to the NSW government amid a hail of blowback from players, clubs and fans.

For a cost understood to be close to $20 million, the Australian Professional Leagues committed to Sydney hosting A-League grand finals for the next three years

Previously, A-League grand final hosting rights were awarded to the side that earnt them as the highest-placed team.

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Adelaide United skipper Goodwin, who appeared in a promotional video released by the A-League as part of the announcement, was quick to distance himself from the decision.

“I wanted to clear things up publicly. I may be in the video for the @aleaguemen choice to host Grand Finals in Sydney, but I do not support it. I am a player, but I am also a fan,” Goodwin posted on Twitter.

“The fans are the most valuable thing in football and as we have seen from the support throughout the country for the Socceroos at the World Cup, they are the ones that create the atmosphere and culture, and what makes the game great.

“Like many fans around the country … I too am disappointed in this decision.”

It was a stance backed by his Reds coach Carl Veart.

“The team that earns the right should host the grand final,” Veart said.

“That’s especially the case in Australia where the team that finishes first on the ladder aren’t called the champions.

“We have the final series as well, so the highest-placed teams deserves the advantage of hosting the grand final.”

The A-League claimed the decision by the seven-person board, which features the chairs of Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers, Melbourne Victory, Brisbane Roar and Melbourne City, had reached a unanimous decision to make the deal.

But Victory released a statement on Monday disagreeing with the decision.

“Melbourne Victory’s preference is, and always will be, to play any grand final (that we earn the right to host) in front of our fans at our spiritual home and what we believe to be the best football stadium in Australia, AAMI Park” the Victory statement said.”

“Post the League’s announcement today, we will work with our members, fans and partners to make sure they can support Melbourne Victory and continue to be a part of these big games.”

Perth Glory chairman Tony Sage said the decision would “disenfranchise” A-League fans outside of NSW and claimed clubs were supposed to vote on the decision before it was made.

“It is a slap in the face,” Sage told 6PR in Perth,

“I woke up this morning and had all these text messages. so it‘s the first I knew about it as an owner of the club.

“This was on our agenda and I thought it was going to be decided by a vote on Thursday.”

An online petition was even started to reverse the decision which attracted more than 2000 signatures.

Brisbane Roar coach Warren Moon said he would be “disappointed” if his team earnt grand final hosting rights but had to play the match in Sydney.

However, Roar chairman Chris Fong, who is also on the APL board, said his club – winners of three grand finals in front of crowds in excess of 50,000 at Suncorp Stadium – had to “respect the bigger picture”.

“The APL executive team believes it’s for the good of the game considering the dynamic and challenging landscape we are currently facing,” Fong said.

“I know that we haven’t all aligned with this decision but it’s done and we need to support it.

“The bottom line is we need more funding for the sport, and this is just the beginning.”

APL boss Danny Townsend said while he expected harsh initial feedback, he was confident the move would be a success, adamant everyone, including fans, had been consulted.

“There was consultation with (all) the clubs we wouldn’t go to this decision without that, we certainly had a spirited debate amongst CEO’s and fans in the fan groups we did,” Townsend told SEN.

“The one thing that everyone landed on is that we need to do things differently, our game is 18 years old, and we don’t have the tradition of other codes and we need to start building them somewhere.

“Change is difficult, the initial reaction is always going to be emotional… this is one we’ve worked on for some time, we hope and think in the fullness of time we will look back at this moment and people will be grateful that we had the confidence to make this decision.”

Football Australia chief executive officer James Johnson, who wasn’t involved in the decision, said the APL needed as “much support” as possible.

“I know from my own experience that there are lots of considerations going into these decisions,” Johnson said.

“Ultimately, we all want the A-League to succeed. It’s a great time for Australian football, and what we’ve already seen this year is broadcast numbers and attendances up from last year, and with the Women’s World Cup coming, it’s a great opportunity for the league to really piggyback on the success of the Socceroos but also the journey towards the women’s World Cup.”

Sports reporter

Marco Monteverde is a Brisbane-based sports reporter for NCA Newswire. He worked in a similar role for The Courier-Mail from 2007 to 2020. During a journalism career of more than 25 years, he has also worked for Th… Read more

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