Of all the popular arts, there is arguably none that is quite as divisive as music. In my brief time on this strange little planet, every person I have ever met has expressed at the very least a passing interest in some form of ditty, dirge or doof-doof.

Most profess much more than a passing interest though. The dying often stipulate what music should be played at their funeral, lovers swoon to the saccharine sentiment of ‘their song’, and t-shirts emblazoned with the logos of bands can effortlessly cross gender and generational gaps.

I have even, to my unceasing amazement, witnessed people with pronounced hearing impairments find something visceral in the vibrations produced by musical instruments. While it has also been reported in scientific journals that some members of the blind community can effectively ‘see’ music amidst their personal darkness.

As such, the point I wish to make is that music is terribly important. A fact that I’m sure isn’t lost on my fellow football fanatics.

You see, unlike other sports, music plays a vital role in our game. Whether it’s the competing chants of rival supporters that parody popular songs, the seductive rhythm of samba drumming, or the disturbing predilection of the English national side to hit the recording studio before every World Cup Finals, music as much defines who and what we are as supporters as anything that occurs on the pitch.

This is why I don’t believe it frivolous for this blog to take aim at the music blasted inside A-League venues on match days, and more specifically as per my own experiences, that played at Suncorp Stadium.

For those who haven’t for whatever reason been able to attend an A-League venue this season, allow me to briefly explain the situation.

The Football Federation of Australia, in their capacity as administrators of the A-League, have mandated that popular music be broadcast over the various stadium’s sound systems to coincide with certain match-day moments.

As the federation’s Marketing Manager Kate Gillmer put it to me earlier in the season, “We review popular tracks and choose the most appropriate based on how they fit with the moment in play. The tracks are very important as they help to create the mood of the event, for example the walk-out track should create a sense of anticipation and excitement, the half-time track is generally more upbeat.

“The other key to choosing the play list is to ensure the music is ‘on-brand’ which is why many of the tracks chosen are taken from the Top 40 and not more traditional and dated pump up anthems. Much like the We Are Football campaign this distinction helps in some way set us apart from competitor mass entertainment sporting events.”

Unfortunately, and this is purely my opinion, it also results in your humble blogger feeling as if he has been transported to a discotheque against his own will.

Now I’m not saying that my taste in music is any better than anyone else’s – de gustibus non est disputandum after all – however I believe that by blaring chart filler tunes the federation has overlooked the one factor that truly does “set us apart from competitor mass entertainment sporting events”. That is, the voices of our game’s active supporters.

Football supporters are loud and they sing in unison. As such, the federation and A-League clubs should be seeking to support the fans in the same way they support their clubs instead of drowning them out with flash-in-the-pan pop songs that will ultimately fail to build any long-lasting cultural attachment to the clubs or the game as a whole.

Of course, this isn’t to say that popular music – even if I can’t quite fathom why it is popular – doesn’t have its place at Roar games or at football matches in general.

The DJs located outside each end of the Suncorp Stadium pumping out their middle-of-the-road mix of mainstream pop, rock and dance provide a more than adequate accompaniment to the assortment of sideshows that litter the venue’s outer concourse on match-days.

However, I believe that once through the turnstiles the musical responsibility should become the exclusive domain of the supporters rather than marketing gurus armed with little more than the ARIA charts and radio play figures.

If the federation believes the active supporter groups are unable to achieve the desired level of noise then the onus should be on them, via the clubs and stadium management, to assist these groups by allowing additional instruments, bullhorns or other means to improve the in-stadium atmosphere.

But broadcasting popular music, no matter how well-researched the selections may be, is not the way to achieve the federation’s stated aims. The chosen tracks may be “on-brand” but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still off-putting.

As Brispop institution Custard once succinctly put it, “Music is crap!”

And when it comes to music being broadcast inside the stadium on match days, I could not agree more.