Sometimes you have to wonder whether Football Federation Australia truly understands the football culture it needs to help develop. Perhaps they're so consumed by making the game commercially viable in such a challenging climate, that they cannot see the bigger picture.

Their decision to preclude Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory from competing in the inaugural Mirabella Cup, Victoria's knockout cup competition, highlights this failing.

Having initially given Heart and Victory the go ahead to compete alongside 150 clubs from across the state, the FFA suddenly reneged. According to Michael Lynch's report in The Age, "The peak body fears that its own efforts to set up a nationwide FFA Cup - modelled on the English competition - next year could be compromised by the Victorian tournament. It doesn't want the Victorian competition to erode its chances of gaining significant sponsorship revenue and media coverage."

The decision makes little sense. For one, a state-based knockout cup competition should in no way be seen as direct competition to a national FFA Cup; it should be seen as complimenting and paving the way for the FFA Cup - helping to create a cup competition culture in Australian football.

And secondly, why is the FFA stamping on a competition that will help achieve the same goals as the FFA Cup, namely reconnecting old soccer and new football? A-League clubs desperately need to be mingling with the grassroots of the game, and the FFA should encourage this at all levels. The fact that Heart and Victory were willing participants in the Mirabella Cup makes this decision even more puzzling.

An FFA spokesman told FourFourTwo Australia yesterday, "Work is underway to develop the ideas into a viable plan that would connect the grassroots to the national professional competition in a way that's never been achieved before."

Heart and Victory's participation in the Mirabella Cup would have helped achieve this. In being so overbearing and protective over the two Victorian clubs, like a jealous partner, the FFA is putting its own interests ahead of the games, seemingly forgetting it should be working towards the wider benefits of football, not just its own interests.

Why have they not considered what has been lost for the Mirabella Cup, Football Federation Victoria, Melbourne Victory, Melbourne Heart, Victorian football fans and the 150 Victorian clubs who dreamed of a matchup with the two A-League clubs?

At least Melbourne Heart has an understanding of its obligation to the grassroots, with CEO Scott Munn saying his club will offer to play the winner of the Mirabella Cup at their home ground - all proceeds staying with that club.

A-League clubs need more freedom to operate away from the overbearing FFA. And those same clubs should be encouraged at all opportunities to connect with the grassroots, even if it doesn't necessarily fall under the FFA's direct control.  

If the Mirabella Cup example had been followed and encouraged across Australia, there would have been a clear tier structure in Australian football: A-League, FFA Cup, state cup competitions, state leagues and so on - all connected from top to bottom. This is an imperative to reconnect the divide that plagues the Australian game and isolates the A-League at the top.

Why the FFA has not seen this in the Mirabella decision boggles the mind, particularly at a time when it's struggling to appease the concerns of football fans.