Congratulations to all concerned with Flexible Signage Solutions Top Five Final on Saturday between Perth Soccer Club and the Western Knights.
Whereas I personally feel the champions are the team who win the league, and this is just an added interest, it was a great day for football. The crowd was back up to levels we should see at state league finals. The pitch was in immaculate condition, the referee was superb and both teams added to the whole event, and the best team won.
Now we do not want to rain on the parade but as with everything in life if you do not want to look at ways to improve then you will eventually die as others pass you by.
The first issue is this season has dragged on far too long. We are November and have only just finished the finals series. A finals series that saw the three teams who finished in the top three be the last three standing, the same three teams to have won all of the silverware this season, so what did the finals series prove, apart from extra games? If you want this format, do we really need to have five teams playing, why not keep it to four? Let’s also have it finished before the last weekend in October.
Next is the hoary issue of prize money, we are lead to believe that Perth SC received more money for winning the finals series, which at most would be four games, than the team that won the league title, over 22 games. That cannot be right, as it is a far greater achievement to win a league title than a cup competition, isn’t it?
Finally it was great to see that the West Australian ran a story on the final on Saturday but how come the trophy featured in the photograph, was not the one they were playing for that afternoon, even though the caption advised otherwise?
This is a minor issue, but again comes down to professionalism.
We raise these issues because although Saturday was a success, and a good advertisement for the game we cannot rest on our laurels, there are still many things that need to be sorted out before the game to be where it should be.
I too would like to see the season longer as it will ultimately produce better players, but they must be games that have meaning.
Most clubs started training in December, the Night Series started in February and these part time players will be back in training in a month. For many that is too long and thier wives will not put up with it, so we will lose players as the pay doesn’t warrant the time, and the league will never improve.
I would like to see the Night series played as a midweek competition at the start of the season. The season starting in February/March with evening games and if we are to have finals, end in October.
This season there were too many weeks where there were no games, and the finals series dragged on. You had the Knights not playing for three weeks before they started their finals campaign. The planning of the season and cup games needs more thought.
Firstly, there is no way that the prize money for the finals should be more than winning the league. It’s something that I’ve found unbelievable about the AFL system, that the team that wins the Grand Final is celebrated more than the team that finishes first. The same happens in the A-League, we only ever talk about the Champions and not the Premiers.
The season is rather long but you could argue that, as has been pointed out in various reports about player development. Aussie players don’t play enough football. In Europe they get barely three months off before they are back into it all over again. I see no issue with the season here being this long!