Who cares about the A-League?

Will football ever catch on in Australia? Will Australia ever be good enough to win a World Cup? Who cares about the A-League? These are the questions that a growing number of Australian sports fans are asking. The honest answers to the first two are no, probably not. The third is an altogether more difficult question but my first A-League experience went some way towards providing an answer.

Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory (Photo credit: Helen K)

It was probably an example of the Australian game at its best. Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory, billed as the league’s biggest rivals met to see who would go top in the A-League. Former United star Marcos Flores returned to face his old team after crossing the rivalry to join the Victory. A near capacity crowd including a relatively large away following had forced Adelaide’s two sets of supporters clubs to sit closer together and with bragging rights and league position to play for the game was set for a memorable atmosphere.

Despite it being surprisingly easy to get a ticket for such a big game last minute, everyone and anyone I knew refusing to come with me and my confused girlfriend sending me on my way with a disapproving mutter of ‘the A-League is so lame’, I was confident of enjoying myself.

The game was entertaining. The crowd booed Flores mercilessly as expected. In the first two seconds he was hacked down by a United player and within the first two minutes there had been two yellow cards, a mild 10-man brawl and a goal. In the first half there were five in total. Adelaide won 4-2, went top of the league and their fans partied in the streets.

Despite the 6 goal thriller I left with a cringing feeling that the atmosphere and passion for United was a bit forced, copied from a mixture of sources that probably include the film Green Street Hooligans and cheesy documentary Being Liverpool. The loudest supporters were a group of about 50 spotty looking teenagers who seemed more eager to create a mosh-pit than an atmosphere and were watched closely by security for their tendency to throw flares on the pitch. The main supporters group showed their love for the Reds by decking themselves out with colours and flags, singing the occasional song and by their admirable commitment to standing for the entire ninety minutes.

United fans set off a flare after the first goal of the game, 2 minutes in

It just didn’t feel right. Perhaps it was the sight of football fans wearing scarves in 35 degree heat or two sets of home fans jostling for control of the stands. Maybe it was because when Adelaide scored their fans did The Poznan, the dance made famous by Manchester City supporters. Maybe it was because at the start of the game when the lineups were read out the applause for each player was muffled by the announcers mention of each man’s personal sponsor.

So the answer to question three is that actually lots of people care about the A-League. You just had to walk past Hindmarsh Stadium after last night’s game and see the hundreds of fans dancing, singing and lighting flares in the streets to know that. But the real question is how much do they care? And can they sustain that passion to propel the league to popularity? If Adelaide were bottom of the league instead of top, would there have been anywhere close to 15,000 people at Hindmarsh last night. Are the so called die-hard fans there to cheer on the team or get their picture in the paper holding a flare and fighting a security guard. Do they honestly believe they are ‘Reds forever’ or is that just something they say because they think thats what a football fan should.

The most notable difference for me between the A-League and the Premier League was the cheer after each goal. Compared to the roars that will be heard tomorrow when teams across Europe take the field it was more like a light round of applause. I enjoyed my first A-League experience and my love of football will draw me to another game but despite signs of potential I see a long road ahead of the A-League in its pursuit of genuine interest, passion and popularity.