Why FFA needs to give us a break

The Terry Antonis saga that developed this week over his eligibility for Sydney FC became nauseating very quickly as the club and Football Federation Australia (FFA) got locked into a back and forth argument.

For those living under a rock, Antonis was called up to the Socceroos squad to play Japan this weekend but was injured in a car accident on the way to the airport and subsequently withdrawn.

However, despite his injury (concussion), he may physically be able to take the field for his club in their massive game against Melbourne Victory on Saturday. The FFA had other ideas, though, and released a statement that read:

"Following comments made by Sydney FC head coach Graham Arnold earlier today, Football Federation Australia would like to clarify that in accordance with the FFA statutes, players selected for international duty who are subsequently withdrawn due to injury or illness cannot play for their club during the period for which the player should have been released. Therefore, FFA confirms that Terry Antonis is ineligible to play for Sydney FC against Melbourne Victory this Saturday."

Case closed, right? Well, no.

Sydney boss Graham Arnold kicked up a bit of a fuss and poor fantasy football team owners couldn't decide until Friday afternoon whether to sell Antonis or keep him in their side should he play at the last minute.

The thing is, this could have all been avoided with a break for internationals.

There are currently three FIFA windows during the A-League season – October, November and March – and for this particular weekend, there are 27 players unavailable for club duty.

The horribly nicknamed “Big Blue” between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory is one of the country’s showpiece games every year, yet this edition will be robbed of Antonis, Mark Janko, Corey Gameiro, Mark Milligan, Kosta Barbarouses, Connor Pain, Daniel Georgievski, Jason Geria and Scott Galloway.

Having so many players missing for a huge clash between two sides that have been performing well so far this season is not the best way to build momentum on and off the park.

Perth Glory, meanwhile, will have their depth tested as they lose four players for the clash with the equally-depleted Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.

Wellington Phoenix supporters know all too well about the difficulties that come with an international break given how many of their squad also represent New Zealand.

They lost six players to the All Whites this weekend and it could have been more if Nathan Burns’ great form was rewarded with an Australian call-up.

Playing second fiddle to the national side is fine when a clash is unavoidable but, in the A-League’s case, there is room to extend the season given the current five-month break at the end of it.

The obvious reason for no international break is Fox Sports – they simply wouldn’t want a free weekend at this time of the year when there is no AFL, NRL or Super Rugby to fill the void left by five football matches.

While that’s understandable, and the FFA is susceptible to Fox’s financial muscle, there needs to come a time when the governing body chooses integrity over money.

A possible solution to the gap created by the international break is to schedule FFA Cup games over the course of the weekend.

This week we have had the controversy over where next month’s final will be played, with Adelaide United given the gig as opposed to the host team being drawn out of a hat like every other round.

The head of the A-League Damien De Bohun listed a number of reasons as to why Perth Glory were not considered viable hosts, and some of them were valid, including the disappointing turnouts at nib Stadium so far this season.

The time difference between the east and west would have seen two possible scenarios were Perth to host:

1) A 7pm WST/10pm EST kick-off that would have attracted a poor audience on the eastern seaboard, and
2) A 4.30pm WST/7.30pm EST kick off that would have made it very difficult for locals to attend given the game is being played on a Tuesday night.

The simple solution here is to play the cup final on a weekend, like the FA Cup Final in England.

The FFA Cup has been a revelation this year and added a lot to the football landscape in this country so the final, of all games, should be showcased to the nation.

A weekend final would also alleviate the issue of time difference and allow all parts of the country the opportunity to host as far as time zones are concerned.

Of course, the issue of crowd figures still stands but it’s hard to believe that was high on De Bohun’s list of priorities when you consider that the Central Coast Mariners, whose average attendance is lower than Glory’s, would likely have claimed the hosting rights had they beaten Adelaide.

The idea of an extended season would appeal to many and will need to be put in place anyway once more teams are added to the league under the next phase of expansion.

Trialling an international break at the very least is a must and it would give Graham Arnold one less thing to go on about.