The Australian Professional Leagues have doubled down on their decision to move the A-League grand finals to Sydney for the next three years despite the “overwhelming” backlash that led APL board director Anthony Di Pietro to resign.
Announced on Monday, the APL board’s lucrative deal with the NSW Government faced immediate criticism from fans and players and broke the A-Leagues’ tradition of permitting the highest-ranked ALM or ALW team to host the decider.
The Melbourne Victory chairman, Anthony Di Pietro, stepped down from his role as a director of the Australian Professional Leagues on Tuesday in protest at the finals decision.
Fans, players and clubs alike were quick to denounce the APL’s announcement on Monday that a deal had been done with the New South Wales government over hosting rights for the men’s and women’s grand finals for the next three years, regardless of whether a Sydney team would be featuring.
Di Pietro said on Tuesday he could no longer maintain his role on the board of the APL and be able to freely advocate on behalf of Victory at the same time.
“It has become clear that in order for me to act in the best interests of Melbourne Victory and football in Victoria, I needed to resign as a board member of APL,” Di Pietro said. “My resignation was ultimately driven by the decision announced yesterday, that sees the next three grand finals being hosted in Sydney.
“While I know first-hand the decision by APL was made with a view to growing the game and creating financial sustainability for the league, the fan and member sentiment has been overwhelming and I cannot support maintaining a decision which is not in the best interests of the loyal Melbourne Victory faithful and football.”
But Di Pietro’s comments have not moved the APL, which released a statement of its own late on Tuesday night.
The remaining A-League club representatives sitting on the board were listed as signatories, including Perth Glory chair Tony Sage, who said on Monday that the decision had “disenfranchised” fans.
“The Australian Professional League (APL) Club Chairs met today to reaffirm their support for the partnership with Destination New South Wales (DNSW),” the APL’s statement read.
“As a result of the consensus achieved in this meeting, APL is committed to this new and significant partnership and the resulting generation of important new funds for football - all of which will be invested into the growth of the game.”
It comes as criticism over the controversial deal intensifies and amid plans from Victory and City fans to stage a walkout from the upcoming Melbourne derby.
Western United, who won their first ALM championship at AAMI Park in Melbourne last season, slammed the decision on Tuesday.
“We do not support the A-League Men’s, A-League Women’s or the E-League grand finals being played in Sydney for the next three seasons,” United said in a statement. “Our club isn’t represented on the APL board, and we weren’t consulted on the decision announced yesterday.
“While we are grateful to Destination NSW for wanting to support football financially and the APL’s efforts to increase its commercial revenue, the reaction of our fans over the last 24 hours speaks volumes.
“Western United is a young club that is being built for the football fans in the west of Melbourne and Victoria. We strongly believe that they are entitled to attend a grand final in their home state should we be successful in earning the right to do so.”
APL chief executive Danny Townsend told ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday the clubs were complicit in the arrangement. But both United and Wellington Phoenix, who also don’t have a representative on the board, have said they were not involved in the decision making.
Victory’s active supporters, Original Style Melbourne, have announced they will stage a 20th minute walk-out alongside City supporters on Saturday night at AAMI Park.
City winger Marco Tilio hoped his own terrace would stick around.
“The fans obviously are frustrated. But for me as a player, I’ll just go out there to perform and I support our fans to hopefully stay there for 90 minutes of the game,” he told reporters.
Supporter groups of all ALM clubs released social media statements accusing the APL of betraying fans.
Townsend said the move was intended to create a “festival of football” around the final, conceding they did not expect such heavy backlash.
“We understand the fans are emotional about this and are passionate about the grand final structure we’ve had,” he said on Tuesday.
“We certainly don’t want to see walk-outs but I’m sure we’ll work with fans over the next couple of days to try and help them better understand the rationale behind our decision.”
Perth Glory chairman Tony Sage previously told radio station 6PR he was caught unawares by the decision and had believed clubs would be voting on the plan on Thursday.
