As a blogger that tries (mostly unsuccessfully) to stay in touch with the thoughts and wants of all Australian Football supporters and pundits, I did something that I've never done before in the history of the A-League a few of weekends ago.

I attended a match not involving my own team as an active supporter of the home team and took a place in The Shed on a dire Sunday afternoon in Perth. Wellington were in town and I was gearing up for the worst overall team Vs. the worst away team.

If I'm being fair, the football is not worth writing about. The ground and the atmosphere, however, made me pine for the days of old (circa 2005) as a fresh-faced Melbourne Victory supporter on the terraces of Olympic Park.

Aesthetically, it was hard to disagree with my mate Dave's observation that the inhabitants of The Shed were "The ugliest supporter group" he had ever seen. Being the most isolated city on the planet has thrown the majority of Perth inhabitants on the strange side of the fence, and this was only reinforced by seeing two lads in full Glory kit wearing one pair of gumboots between them.

My reply? Yeah, they're not the most attractive of blokes and yeah, they're a bit weird. Above all else, I'm completely jealous of what they have and extremely saddened when I remember that the club and the supporters that I enjoyed so much are but a mere shadow of the success and glory (pun totally intended, just in case you didn't know) that the city of Perth enjoyed during the days of the NSL.

Still, they never stopped singing and they never stopped ringing that cowbell, even if it was as self deprecating as "We're Shit, And We Know We Are" to the tune of Go West. The general feeling was that although crowds were down and the team was playing with the skill and poise of a Sunday morning pub league team, they were still having a blast with their mates. I can't help but wonder how Melbourne has fallen so far away from that fundamental benchmark.

Recent weeks and months has seen a significant push from the owners and officials of certain clubs for a shorter season which be shunted out of alignment with global (or, European) football windows to make clubs commercially more viable in an allegedly congested marketplace.

Grantley Bernard wrote in the Herald Sun this week "The notion of fewer games is sound, given most clubs do not make money from their stadium deals.", whilst also going on to discuss football departments likely opposing the ideas due to 20-25 games simply not being enough to be able to develop our burgeoning stocks of future football stars. My initial impression went something to the effect of "Naaaaah duuuuuh".

It's at these moments that we as fans need to stand up and show the FFA and the clubs that for continued development and a sustainable competition into the future, it's imperative that Football matters be the focus of any A-League reform and solve commercial issues around the game, not bend the game around commercial issues.

If you're not making money on stadium deals - move to a smaller stadium. If you're dumb enough to sign a lengthy contract with a stadium that is constantly abused by other codes and incessant concerts and events as Melbourne Victory have been - it's in your own interest to break the contract and take the short term financial hit for the good of the game.

The socialist inside me is crying out - give the game back to the people, and the people will reward you with their patronage in kind. Ignore the people, and this league just might go past the point of no return that it is quickly approaching. Shoehorning the A-League into a bastardised version of AFL or NRL is not the answer.

As fans we have a vested interest in having the best product available to us as possible, and taking a step back in the amount of games we play will do nothing to better the product that we love the most - the Football.

If you also feel that Football must come first, I implore you to email your club as well as A-League Chief Lyall Gorman and tell them exactly that.

Contact:

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