If you can't play, you can't win. Or lose. As they say - the game's the thing.

A couple of small events this last week have caused me to reflect on just how happy I am that the A-League has come into existence.

Firstly, I was at a friend's house this week talking work and I looked over to see his wife editing photos on the computer; photos from the club's Family Day, of their kids standing next to Adelaide United players with great big, goofy, happy, proud smiles on their faces. (The kids looked pleased too!)

It reminded me that there's a generation of Aussie football fans growing up now who will (hopefully) never know what it's like not to have a local team to follow in the national competition; a group of fans who will not be forever looking to the other side of the world for football heroes and dreams.

Secondly, I got up on Sunday morning and switched on the computer to find that West Ham, the team I have supported for 36 years, won! I was happy. Very happy. But I was also aware that this no longer means so much to me.

You see, before the net, I followed West Ham through TV highlights programs and magazines. As soon as I got the net I was able to obsess online about every player, every win, draw or loss. I knew the numbers, the names and the gossip.

Then the A-League started and I had a home team. I started going to games. I signed up to this weird football website called FourFourTwo. I even started blogging in the end. Pretty soon I knew the numbers, names and gossip.

The big difference was that this team carried the name of my city. The ground is half an hour's drive from my door. The fans are fellow citizens and friends. The buzz is tangible - not vicarious. I am no longer an 'ether' fan. The team can hear me scream. As can the people sitting next to me with their fingers in their ears.

I read a lot of negativity and comparison on these forums in relation to the quality of the A-League. It's not this, it's not that, it's never going to be.....

No, it's never going to be what it isn't. It's going to be the A-League. Our league. Our teams. Our passion.

It's going to get better and grow.

I will always follow the Hammers but I now have a team that represents me. If you're reading this there's a good chance you do too. Bloody good feeling isn't it? Even at the worst moments.

Adelaide came last this season but they came last here. In my world. Your team's trials and successes are probably happening where you are. If there's no game in town then that can't happen.

So, thanks to all the visionary people who made this happen. Those who brought football to this point. To those who fought to keep the game alive in the dark years. To those who dreamed that a national competition was viable. To those - like the FourFourTwo team - who shed blood to promote the game.

You see, I'd so much rather come last than come nowhere. And nowhere was the previous option.

As my team rolls into our third ACL campaign with hope in our hearts I am desperate for us to do well. But I remain incredibly aware that just to be at this point is a victory. Pohang coming to Hindmarsh for an international club competition? It's real. It's tangible. It's Australian football 2010. C'mon you REDS!