Melbourne City will host this year’s A-league Grand Final in Sydney – and in a near nightmare scenario for the club, they will be facing the NSW based Central Coast Mariners. The away fans will outnumber the home fans, and the tantalising David vs Goliath narrative is also expected to see the neutrals in attendance support the Mariners. We probably shouldn’t bother calling Melbourne City the home team at all, they certainly don’t have appear to have a home ground advantage.
Yellow in the stands
Not only are more people expected to support the Mariners on gameday, but their active fans have also been allocated the traditional home end of the stadium (which features a safe standing configuration to create a better atmosphere). Melbourne City’s active fans will be in the stadium’s traditional away end, which appears to eliminate even symbolic features that the home team would have expected.
From a business perspective however, these decisions make sense. Melbourne City’s home semi-final was less than half-full, and their active support was not existent due to ongoing protests against the Australian Professional Leagues (who decided to host the Grand Final in Sydney). Central Coast on the other hand played their semi-final in front of a sold-out crowd and are expected to provide a better atmosphere on Grand Final day as their fans are not protesting the APL as vocally.
It all comes down to one game
Melbourne City did however annihilate Sydney FC in their semi-final in yet another emphatic display of footballing dominance. This Grand Final will be the club’s fourth in a row and follows their third premiership in a row. Everyone knows they are Australia’s best football team, and yet the Sydney Grand Final stands in their way, and more so then ever, the A-League’s competition integrity has been brought into question.
Concerns of regular season fixture inequality are somewhat nullified by the existence of a finals series but now even the integrity of the finals series itself has been brought into question. This is not the usual question of whether a finals format is fit to crown a champion, but rather are the finals fair at all? In the recent A-League Women’s Grand Final, the home team Western United was demolished by Sydney FC in front of a partisan Sydney crowd which undoubtedly helped the Sky Blues get over the line.
There is also a week break for between the semi-finals and the Grand Final. We are unsure if this was for an all-stars game that never precipitated, or to help market Grand Final tickets, but what we do know, is this will impact the clubs competing. Melbourne City looked lethargic in their first semi-final leg and coaching staff openly brought into question the week break they had to endure before that game.
Neutral Experiences
But then here’s the weird thing – Melbourne City have played in three other grand finals, and each of them has been held in similarly strange circumstances.
Their 2020 Grand Final loss to Sydney was in front of a government restricted crowd of 7,000 people at the neutral Western Sydney Stadium. Their 2021 Grand Final win against Sydney, also had government restriction, resulting in 14,000 people in attendance rather than 30,000. The 2022 Grand Final finally saw Melbourne City host a maximum capacity Grand Final – and they lost to Western United! You could be forgiven for thinking the club does best when it avoids its own fans – its previous home final in a neutral venue was back in 2021 when it beat Macarthur in Sydney in front of 2,000 fans. No other club can claim to be more prepared for Grand Final at a neutral venue, that is except Central Coast.
Central Coast Mariners have hosted one Grand Final at a natural venue. In 2008 they were forced to play their rivals Newcastle at the Sydney Football Stadium and they lost. The existence of this game is also the reason Mariners fans aren’t protesting the APL decision as vigorously as other fan groups – the Mariners are already used to not having a fair go – but sometimes they still come out on top. In the 2013 Grand Final, the Mariners were the away team to the first season Western Sydney Wanderers – who were forced to host the game at the Sydney Football Stadium (sounds familiar Western United Women?) – but that time the Mariners won.
Advantage City
You couldn’t find a more experienced pair of clubs to play a Grand Final at a neutral venue, but that will be little solace to Melbourne City fans. The off-field advantage will be with the Mariners. They are expected to have more fans in the stands and their story will win over the neutrals in attendance. Unfortunately for the Mariners through the game isn’t played in the stands and the on-field advantage is clearly with Melbourne City.
The Beautiful Game 