I hope the people of the Central Coast can send a message to the FFA this Saturday night. That message should be when we earn the right to host this year's Grand Final (I am practising my positive thinking) that game should be played at the Bluetongue Stadium.
To do this I am think every person who is attending the game should try to bring along three or four people who do not normally attend a game. If we can just get an average of just one extra person for every person that attends a game we can almost fill Bluetongue. Given we got an impressive number to the game last Sunday (hairs width under 10,000) on such a horrible and disgustingly miserable day we should be able to kill the ground record for the season. It appears it is down to us supporters to get the extra ‘bums on seats' for the final as the Mariners and the FFA have not been publicising this game as heavily as could be expected.
It is completely understandable that the club has not been putting a huge effort into the publicity of this match. The match is actually being held and ran by the FFA and the profits of the game go to the FFA instead of the club. So why should the individual clubs bother to run advertising and media which would come out of the their pocket unless they stand to make a profit from the match. The club would also be very reluctant to put in the low cost publicity of sending players out on meet and greet missions as this could detract from the preparation of the team for what will be the most important game of the year so far. So I completely understand and support the lack of publicity from the Mariners.
On the other hand I think that the FFA has completely dropped the ball on getting punters through the gate on Saturday night. The mighty Central Coast Mariners are the only NSW based team in the finals series this year. Surely the FFA can invest some time and money into advertising this crucial game on the Coast, are the Mariners worth that little to the FFA?
In a time when clubs are having so much trouble with cash flow and staying above water why is it that the governing body which is investing millions per season into clubs cannot spend a far smaller amount of money on trying to re-engage the supporters of a single team town. The Mariners as an organisation would have to be seen as a shining beacon on how an A-League club should be ran, not only have they enjoyed a history of on-field success but they are leading the A-League in the off-field development as well. In the very near future the Mariners will become the first club to own their training facilities and accommodation facilities for visiting teams.
Now that is not to say the Mariners have not had to tighten the belt in other areas (such as our unfortunate closure of the W-League squad), however the Mariners have had far less issues than other clubs. So how much could it have really cost the FFA to run advertising in all the local newspapers, on local radio and a few ads on the local television stations? They may even have ran a few adds on the Sydney radio stations given the number of Coasties who have to commute into the city each day and have nothing else to do while sitting on the F3 in 80km/h traffic (oh how I miss that hell).
The biggest problem I have with this lack of publicity and hype for the game on the weekend is not to do with anything that will occur this week or even this year. The real issue I have is the lack of vision and foresight by the FFA in terms of professional sport on the Central Coast. The North Sydney (Central Coast) Bears rugby league team is trying to regain entry to the National Rugby League. There was a poll very recently in the Daily Telegraph and the Central Coast was the leading location that readers thought should have an NRL team. This must be of some concern for even for the short-sighted FFA management.
The Mariners have fought tooth and nail for the support they have, the FFA have made any number of silly decisions to undermine this support, the most notable the 2008 Grand Final re-location. Surely the idea of another professional sporting team coming into the Coast region and competing for some of the entertainment dollars currently going to the Mariners (I know many people are NRL or Football but not everyone is, some will need to choose what sport they spend their hard earned dollars) has to be a concern. This alone should have been the concern enough to have the FFA yelling from the roof tops about the A-League finals.
So what should the FFA have done to try and improve the image of the A-League on the Central Coast?
The first and the most important thing the FFA could have done was make an announcement that if the Mariners secure a home Grand Final it will always be played at the Bluetongue Stadium. This may start to heal some of the wounds from the 2008 debacle. Secondly they should have yelled this announcement from every roof in the Central Coast region with the added line ‘get there on Saturday night to help the team make this a reality'.
Alas the FFA has let this opportunity, just like so many before it go by without a whimper let alone any action. So yet again it has been left to us supporters to try and keep the A-League alive and well on the Central Coast. So I guess the only way we can do this is to get to the game in numbers and make our thoughts and feelings for the Mariners heard.
This team has earned the right to fight for this seasons Grand Final, they have been head and shoulders above all other teams excluding Brisbane. The boys deserve the support of this region and in hopefully all other NSW football supporters during this finals series. The boys will continue to put in the effort and will yet again do the Central Coast and their supporters proud.
The least we can do is to support them, if you are able to get to the ground be there and yell, if you are unable to get to the ground then get to the nearest Foxtel coverage and yell, chant and cheer at the screen. No matter how you have to do it, on Saturday night show the Mariners how much you appreciate the effort they have put in so far this season.
COME ON MARINERS!
