It's the season opener tonight and W-League next week.
You get to the stage where you think What took you so long, A-League? But, of course, that's a function of the fact that we have only ten teams and the season is only 27 rounds. As almost every football fan in Australia says – except those who remain vehemently opposed to the A-League in the first place – Bring on expansion!
On that front, of course, the FFA Board met during the week to discuss the expansion bids and left us with six: Team 11, West Melbourne Group and South Melbourne; South West Sydney and Southern Expansion; and Canberra.
Sources inside the Board Room suggest that it was a heated discussion between Board members: some wanted to get on and make the decision after the presentation from FFA staff, while others – notably Steven Lowy – did not want to. The Chairman won that battle and, instead, we got a decision that was highly political.
Why do we say 'political'?
Look at who's left. The decision to include all three from Victoria means no-one from that state is upset. Southern Expansion are not wanted by Sydney FC; South West Sydney are not wanted by Western Sydney Wanderers (for at least two years). The contract with FOX Sports requires the two teams to be in two of either Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane. And Canberra is in there as back-up, and could well end up being the 'Steven Bradbury' bidder.
It was a 'farewell from us' decision with, perhaps, some hollow laughter in the background.
While it's cloaked in a rationale of 'the outgoing Board shouldn't make the decision', what they've really done is left it so a new Board has, as one of their first decisions, a hard call that will risk disagreement/derision/unhappiness from some people from day one. Politics.
In the meantime, enjoy your football! We will.
This is the editorial comment provided with our monthly e-news of 19 October. If you want to read more, please subscribe via the link on our home page or directly here.