Hello people! Found this article regarding the possibility of an FFA Cup... http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/73545,ffas-up-for-the-cup.aspx All I can say is: about bloody time!! I'm sure we can all agree that this would greatly increase the spice into what is already a great game! Interesting to see what format the FFA will adopt/create.
Obviously its a needed part of the calendar, and it would be good to get the old school, state level teams like Sydney United, Marconi, Sydney Olympic etc up against the major clubs. Good novelty value and more fixtures would be a good thing!
Do we really really want to be put through Blacktown vs Lanceston city if you think the A-l is frustrating to watch you have seen nothing yet
An FFA Cup that anyone can enter is a good idea. I would organise it so that A League sides came in at the last 16 stage. Joining them would be two teams each from NSW/NTH NSW/ACT, QLD/NT, SA/WA, VIC/TAS. Each region could work out their own methods of getting down to the last two. The round of 16 to be held just before the start of the A League season, with 1/4's and semis to be played leading up to a final in the XMAS period.
i dont think we need a comp like this. it only works in england due to years of tradition. if we did have to have it you'd be better off merging it into the aleague preseason cup to give the aleauge clubs some match practise before the season starts. i dont really see any market for it - TV etc.. Money and effort would be better spent on developing youth league ,expanding aleague and performing in the asian champions league.
Yer, this is good. I'd rather see the preseason cup demolished and the FFA cup played throughout the year. In an ideal world, I reckon we should get rid of the finals series and just let the cup provide for knockout competition but seeing as knockout finals matches seem to be embedded in Australian sporting culture (thanks to AFL and other codes), it would be hard to implement and attract those who find a simple position on the ladder result as "boring".
I would like to see a knockout cup within each state/ federation to whittle the teams down. Even within the states you would regionalise it to reduce travelling until you get to the top 2 or 3 "country" teams that would join the "city" teams. The first time teams would play outside of their federation would be at the final 32 stage - which would include the A-League clubs (32 is to allow for future expansion of the A-League as the final 16 would be too many clubs from the A-League, even exclusively A-League in the future - it could stay at 16 for the first season or 2 though). At this stage the clubs that are left should be of sufficient quality and size to make it worthwhile - besides which the "prizemoney" at this stage should be sufficient to cover travel expenses. I would also seed the A-League clubs in this first round so they do not play each other - but from then on it should be unseeded like the FA cup. The main question I have though - is do Wellington compete in this comp??
Well, as Cardiff (Wales) plays in the English FA Cup, yes they do play in this cup. They are part of the A-League, and hence part of any Cup comp. Remember, from Sydney, its no further to get there then it is to get to Perth!
Does this mean we should include othe NZ teams though or is Wellington considerred Australian (as Cardif is "considerred English" for the FA cup)? Being part of OFC, does the NZ team then get to compete in ACL if they win?
The, they are considered Australian for the purposes of this Cup, argument! Re: Whether they qualify for Asia if they ever win it. We can cross that bridge if we ever get to it! However, I think we could put if they do win, we could make it that the the runner up, being an Australian side, would qualify for Asia via the cup spot if we went down that route. Wellington would just get the glory and the $! That is to say if we even did award the Cup winner an Asian spot. We could also keep qualification from the A-League based solely on the league results.
what a load of BS!! no one watches rugby now cuz noone can understand the rules... and rugby league has a fanatical following in qld but noone gives a rats about the local leagues. anyway about this new cup comp, aren't the aleague and state leagues played at opposite times of the year. surely only time it could be done is aleague preseason. actually i'm pretty sure the roar plays local league sides for match practise in preseason already.
Re: Season 2009/10 Draw Released Yeah, I've had good ideas about a true "National" Cup before but I don't think it would quite work out for a while. My idea was to take representatives from each state and put them into seeded groups with A-League teams then go Round-Robin from there. Maybe we'll see it happen - one day.
Re: Season 2009/10 Draw Released good draw, especally for AU. As for cups: The List of the Dead Ampol Cup/s Australian Cup NSL Cup Dockerty Cup (VIC) A-L pre-season cup have I missed any?
Re: Season 2009/10 Draw Released Well at least its still on their minds! http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/fo...lved-for-a-year/2009/05/04/1241289100801.html
******** yeah. But please, make it viable and make it interesting. I would make an argument for clubs to be seeded by area, perhaps, in order to make the process much easier on State League teams. I've had ideas about a Group format to begin with, with progression to a Round Robin style of play but it might be too long, even if there were only 3 teams in each group.
Say they did give the winner of the FFA cup a ACL spot it would be nice to see Marconi Stallions or Sydney United one day make a name for themselves and show the aleague that they cant keep avoiding history and pride forever
More on it........... http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/next-step-the-fa-cup-for-your-local-team-20100327-r3zp.html
I've been thinking about this and think it could be a very good idea in a few years time when we get 3 places in the ACL and the A League is expanded to 12 teams. The format could be that any team can enter, and a knock out system be run to whittle down the teams to 20 non A league clubs by the start of the A League pre season. ith the 12 A league teams this leaves a field of 32 teams. Over 5 weeks we can run a knock out competition which will give us our Cup Champion, with the winner getting an ACL spot. It will be early enough that this could be the 3rd team and they will be in the ACL at the end of the season they win it, meaning at least one of our 3 teams will be in the ACL within 12 months of qualifying for it. It could create a big match to kick the A league season off. The logistics of running such a comnpetition may cause some hassles to State League clubs as the final 32 part of the cup may conflict with the business end of the state league seasons for those that qualify.