This time last year the A-League finals series came under the spotlight like never before. Why did we need it when the two best teams in the league, Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory, squared off in the final round of the season for Asian Champions League qualification and the Premiers Plate?
The finals series seemed largely irrelevant, unless you were one of teams fighting for that second ACL spot. Having secured a return to Asia and with the crown of Premiers (not minor premiers, as so many in the media incorrectly state), there was even talk of Sydney FC lifting their foot off the throttle in the finals series. To the football purists Sydney FC were the definitive best in the A-League, and ACL football was guaranteed. Case closed.
It's a fair argument. Who can deprive Brisbane Roar of outright honours following the season they've had? But, should they cop "one of those days" in the grand final, their 2010/11 achievements will suddenly be overshadowed - marked as the great team that couldn't close the deal.
Don't believe me? Who were the Premiers in the A-League's first season? Before you type "A-League" into Wikipedia, it was Adelaide United. Instead we remember Dwight Yorke and Sydney FC winning the grand final in front of over 40,000 fans.
Why? Cause we're Australian, and grand finals is what we do. It may pain football purists who cherish the first-past-the-post system of their leagues, but Australians relate to finals series and it is the only way of guaranteeing an ambivalent Australia stays interested in the A-League around this time of the year.
Just imagine if we didn't have a finals series this season, with Brisbane Roar comfortably cruising to the Premiership as the rest were left in their wake. What would that have done to crowds across the A-League, as the likes of Wellington, Newcastle, Sydney and Melbourne Heart were left with nothing to play for?
Artificial or not, the finals series is that vital retainer that keeps the league ticking and clubs trucking along, in the desperate hope of making the six (even if their gate from home matches in the finals go to the FFA). Without it the competition would fizzle with Gold Coast United-like crowds across the league.
The finals series must stay for that every reason, only discarded when/if the FFA Cup starts, generates some traction and emergences as a genuine alternative.
At the Melbourne Fan Forum Wednesday night, A-League boss Lyall Gorman suggested the knockout competition would start in March 2012 with a provisional final date on Australia Day.
The FFA Cup will serve many purposes - reconnecting "old soccer" with "new football" and giving state league clubs a national tier competition - but it could, in the long-term, provide Australian football with an opportunity to phase out the finals series.
If aligned in such a way with the A-League season, the FFA Cup could be the vehicle to ensure clubs have some competition to maintain fan interest and media traction, culminating in a grand final match which will have extra resonance as it incorporated so many more tiers of the game, going down to its grassroots. It could rid the A-League of its finals series and align it with leagues in the rest of the world. This could also ensure the FFA Cup's success, so it is not buried by the A-League regular season and finals series; given the status it deserves.
But that could be some way off. Until that time the first-past-the-post team most console itself with the Premiers Plate and ACL qualification - an adequate reward in my opinion. The finals are here to stay for the meantime, so just enjoy them and hope the FFA Cup isn't too far away.
