We Are the Champions… No We Are!

What a season it has been in local football.

Sadly one that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

All administrators across all sports were faced with a challenge to create a format that would see competition resumed albeit in an abbreviated season in 2020. Some came up with a format that did not harm the integrity of the history of their competitions, while others it is fair to say made a complete hash of it.

Football West has copped a great deal of criticism over the past week for the structure that they came up with for the National Premier League and State League competitions in 2020. However all of those who were quick to go to social media and slam the Governing body, should also remember that the clubs signed off on the format. In other words the clubs agreed in the majority that what was put forward was acceptable. Had minutes been kept of their standing committee meetings we would be able to go back and see how the voting went on the proposed format, and which clubs were against it and which were in favour. However as we all know there are no minutes kept. Now we have a number claiming they voted against it, and we have to take their word for it.

In the annals of Football in Western Australia it will go down as the Year of Confusion, or Anno Confusionis

First of all in each of the semi professional leagues each team played each other once. The league was then split into two with the top six teams playing off for a place in the finals.. The only strange thing about this was that all the teams returned to zero points, when the league was split in two, making the form of the first half of the season pointless.

In the NPL Floreat Athena finished top at that stage on 25 points two points ahead of Gwelup Croatia. Perth finished in 10th position and were 13 points behind Floreat.

In division One the Western Knights finished top, eight points clear of Kingsway Olympic. While in Division two Murdoch Uni Melville were four points clear of second placed Dianella White Eagles.

Had the points earned at the start of the season carried over to the second phase Floreat Athena would have remained top of the NPL with 34 points ahead of Gwelup Croatia and Cockburn City both on 30 points.

In Division One the Western Knights would have remained top with 36 points ahead of Kingsway Olympic on 30 points and Fremantle city on 24 points. While in Division Two Carramar Shamrock Rovers would have finished top on 32 points with Murdoch Uni Melville second on 30 points and Dianella White eagles third on 29 points.

Instead ECU Joondalup, who with all points counting would have finished fourth, were crowned NPL Champions. Kingsway Olympic were crowned Champions of Division One and Carramar Shamrock Rovers were the Division Two Champions. The latter being the only team to finish top under either format.

Now none of the players, or coaches can be blamed for the outcome. They did not make the rules. The simply played under them, and all deserve to be congratulated on their success.

You would think that any confusion would end there, but that would not be football in Western Australia if that were the case!

The Australian way has always been that if you finish top of the league ladder you are only the Minor Premiers. The Champions are the team that wins the finals series, which is often played off between the top five teams, sometimes between the top four or even six teams. This year the Finals were to be contested by the top four teams due to the shortened season. However in 2020 the winners would not be crowned Champions. The winners of the Top 4 Finals were to be exactly that. However this was not helped by the fact that these finals were billed as being the NPL Grand Final, Division One Grand Final etc. Perth Soccer Club who made their way to the NPL Grand Final, when many felt they had no right to based on their league position, was busy promoting the fact that if they beat Floreat Athena they would be NPL Champions, when the Governing body had already declared ECU Joondalup to be the Champions, when had all points been taken into account Floreat Athena would have been the Champion. .

Confused? You are not the only one. 2020 is meant to refer to perfect vision, but whoever came up with the format for this season clearly did not have that. Neither did the clubs who signed off on the format. Some clearly did not actually understand what they had signed off on!

For the record in the NPL Floreat Athena will feel that having seen what would have appeared as their Championship status taken away from them due to the anomaly with the points , went on to prove that they were the top team in 2020 by winning the Grand Final. Olympic Kingsway in Division One made sure that there was no confusion winning the Top 4 as well as the league, to be deservedly crowned Champions and Top 4 winners. The Western Knights like Floreat may have felt hard done by, but Floreat went on to make a statement. While in Division Two Carramar Shamrock Rovers won the Grand Final to show that they were truly the best team in their competition which ever way you try to look at it.

It sure has been a strange year, and this one will be a very hard one for the historians in years to come to not only understand, but also try and explain. Be grateful that there was no promotion or relegation as that would have been the cause for even more confusion and argument!