OPINION | Does The Cap Fit ?

Perth Glory experienced one of their worst days off the field yesterday when David Gallop handed down the ‘no finals and significant monetary fine’ action yesterday at the afternoon press conference.  Fast forward just a few hours and their players fell to a determined Sydney in a 3-0 rout.  Whilst the timing of the announcement should be called into question given it was only hours before Perth took the field at NIB stadium there is no doubt the matter needed to be dealt with haste given we are nearing the business end of the season.

Fans are now left with a bitter taste every time the 2014/15 season is mentioned and a trust issue with the current Perth Glory management and any incoming administration.

Whilst we must remember the club appears to have gone out of its way to cheat the very ambiguous salary cap setup of the league and any punishment handed down by the FFA must be accepted, it does raise the issue of whether a salary cap is needed in our current league setup.

Australian sport does love a level playing field; it suits the Australian psyche of giving everyone a fair go and doesn’t create the ‘haves and have nots situation’.  AFL, NRL, Big Bash, NBL, and every other sporting competition in Australia have a salary cap and a perceived level of fairness; it’s one of the key elements of sport in Australia.  We are very much a tall poppy society and are very quick to cut those down who become successful and dominate their chosen field.  We couldn’t possibly have two or three teams dominated a competition whilst we see others struggle, tread water or continue to fall agonisingly short; Or could we?

We must remember football is a global sport, and very different to those insular sports that dominate our sporting landscape such as Aussie Rules and Rugby League.  We must compete on a global scale when building playing squads and attracting new fans or even keeping an existing audience.  Asian football is ever improving and the sadly the A-League is falling behind and losing many of our better players to not only Europe but Asia.  We are unable to compete with the promise of future opportunities that lure youngsters to follow their dreams in Europe or chase the petro dollars in the Middle East.  AFL and NRL simply don’t have that threat because there is not level of interest outside of Australian, for those two codes Australia is the pinnacle for either sport and that cannot be discounted.

So why not abolish the salary cap in the A-League in an attempt to build a better league in Australia and create some ‘Super clubs’ like we have in England, Spain and most other football playing nations across the globe.  Clubs such as Victory, City and Sydney would likely dominate the competition with their deeper pockets, whilst the Mariners would once again have to depend of shrewd recruitment and no doubt the financial uncertainly in Newcastle would continue.

The abolishment of the salary cap wouldn’t suit most clubs but it could suit the future of the league and help the retention of players, but like many things I don’t think the league is mature enough for the cap to be abolished.  Financially many clubs are still struggling in the current competition and a change to the current cap would only further complicate things and muddy the already dirty waters.  A club like Melbourne Heart would’ve struggled to survive without the salary cap restrictions, but fast forward 12 months and the cap only hampers the endeavour of the Melbourne City entity with their financial riches.

The current salary cap situation is hardly ideal but neither is the fixture, NCIP stance, lack of promotion/relegation foresight and many other issues at FFA HQ.

There is much work to complete before the A-League reaches its potential and plenty of tough decisions to be made by those who run the game.  The salary cap issue must be revisited in the future but not just because of the current Perth Glory situation.

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