FOOTBALL supporters around the nation are throwing their support behind Aussie flag-bearers Adelaide United in the Champions League final. And so they should be, for now.

Many have been behind the Reds since the continental competition kicked off back in March and it seems that Perth Glory fans are no different.

In a show of support from the world’s most isolated club, even Glory coach Dave Mitchell and captain Jamie Coyne have publicly stated their hopes for a United win and a red-letter day for Australian football.

But the people of Perth have a right to be envious of South Australians and their club, which has grown with the rest of Australia since the end of the NSL as opposed to turning to face extinction like Glory.

They could be jealous of United’s strength in the crowded marketplace of an AFL-mad city like ours and bitter about the controversial 2-1 loss at Hindmarsh two weeks ago.

However, the general consensus out west is that a win for Aurelio Vidmar’s men, known somewhat crudely as the ‘Barrel Boys’ to some Glory supporter groups, would be good for the game.

“Good for the game”... No doubt it’s a tired cliché but it’s one that has a place in contemporary Australian battlegrounds where up to four sports (I hate the word ‘codes’) are fighting for football supremacy.

So it’s fine to cheer on the Reds in Asia for the moment, as we did with Melbourne and Sydney before them, but wouldn’t it be nice to be able to sit back watching a final in a few years and laugh when your Aussie rivals get thrashed without having to worry about ‘the game’?

Liverpool fans smirk at the prospect of Manchester United being humiliated in Europe and you can bet Atletico fans were backing Juventus to win at the Bernabeu this morning.

As in Europe, or anywhere overseas where football, real football, is king, it will be a pointer to the relative health and status of our game in this country when we can finally sit back and hope for a Gamba Osaka victory in a final like this.

And that’s why it will be great when that day comes.

Bragging rights over rivals, locally and league-wide, are what football competitions are all about. It is about being the biggest and best club in your country and telling your neighbours all about it.

When national supremacy becomes the major ambition for clubs and their fans, rather than for the game itself, football will truly have arrived. Until then it remains perched in a delicate position on a branch of the Australian sporting tree.

But to help the game arrive at that destination a little faster, Adelaide must claw back the 3-0 deficit at Hindmarsh next week. Come on you Reds! Australia, and Perth Glory, are behind you...