2015 – A Quick Look Back
What a year 2015 was. The Socceroos became Asian Champions on home soil; Melbourne Victory dominated the domestic scene and for the FFA remains blissfully unaware about running our game whilst sitting in their Sydney tower.
January seems a great place to start and opening with the triumphant Asian Cup. Both on and off the field the tournament was an amazing success and the coming together of football fans across those cities lucky enough to play host to the competing nations. Australia needed extra time to defeat a well drilled Korea Republic outfit to become champions of Asia in front of 76,685 passionate fans. The tournament attracted over 700,000 fans for the duration and was a triumph for everyone involved.
On a personal level it was the highlight of my short writing career gaining access to media accreditation and being able to present the tournament to the ‘From The Stands’ readers from a completely different angle. I cannot thank the tournament organisers enough for the experience.
On the home front the success of the Asian Cup wasn’t replicated when the A-League recommenced with the FFA failing to engage the many people who came out and watched the international tournament.
On the field Melbourne Victory led the way and were crowned deserved Champions after a dominant 3-0 win in the Grand Final over Sydney FC at AAMI Park. The win was overshadowed by the Frank Lowy stage dive during the trophy presentation. Thankfully Frank wasn’t injured during the fall.
The game was played at AAMI Park after the AFL ruled with its iron fist that Etihad was being used and would not available for the competing code. Personally I was more than ok with playing the grand final at a real football stadium and not the concrete jungle that Etihad is.
Melbourne Victory went onto win the FFA Cup later in the year and became the first A-League club to hold all three titles at once to affirm their current dominance.
Off the field the game has fallen apart during the later parts of 2015 with the well documented financial struggles of Newcastle, Brisbane and Central Coast. Any momentum driven by the recent success of the Socceroos has been met with mismanagement at every corner and really sums up where the game is in Australia at this moment in time.
The recent fan boycott that was started off by two bit journo Rebecca Wilson was hopefully a flash point in the way the FFA perceives fans and their importance to the game in Australia. Personally I am looking forward to a far better 2016 for our A-League competition and for the thousands of fans involved. Our league has many issues in its present state and I expect a very busy off season next year.
On a personal note I would like to thank the contributors (both previous and current) to the site in 2015, you guys are the glue that holds the site together. Of course there would be no need for contributors if we didn’t have such a great loyal reader base for the site. At different times of the year it may have been easier to pull the pin on the ‘FTS’ project but the hard work of different contributors and supporters kept the site going and now with the column format gave ‘FTS’ a new lease of life.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our readers out there and if you are travelling over the festive season stay safe out there. Enjoy the football over the break and thanks again for your support in 2015.
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