Anthony Di Pietro argued adding another A-League team in Melbourne would increase interest.GETTY IMAGES
A-League side Melbourne Victory Chair Anthony Di Pietro backed A-League expansion, "declaring that the right local addition could create mega A-League interest in Victoria," according to David Davutovic of the HERALD SUN. The "powerful" Victory exec implored football's "warring factions to put the game ahead of their own interests, as the FIFA-managed political impasse approaches its third year." Di Pietro called on Football Federation Australia to "continue driving expansion with independent A-League talks ongoing, warning that the game would stagnate unless risks were taken." Di Pietro said, "Let's not get caught up in the defensive debate that says there’s only so much in the pie and if we bring two more clubs in we have to share the pie. Let’s set up a way we can increase and grow the pie. Without knowing all the detail, southeast expansion (Team 11) has some capital behind it, location-wise it makes sense. These things are common sense" (HERALD SUN, 5/8).
'NO LOVE LOST': In Sydney, Ray Gatt reported A-League "club-in-waiting" Southern Expansion "turned the blowtorch on Sydney FC," taking aim at the team's "disappointing" crowd for the recent semifinal against Melbourne Victory and accusing the "heavyweights" of Australian football of failing to engage "the largest catchment area of any club in the nation." SE CEO Chris Gardiner suggested comments made by the Sydney FC hierarchy that the proposed new club would cannibalize the Sky Blues’ support were "ridiculous if not embarrassing." There is "no love lost" between the two organizations. But the rivalry "has now gone to another level with the new boys on the block" ridiculing the fact Sydney attracted just 17,000 to the grand final qualifier. Gardiner: "This only serves to crystallize their failure to engage Australia’s largest football market. The area that Sydney claim to represent has two and a half million people ... and yet after 12 years we get 17,000 to a final. Incredible" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 5/8).
'COLD COMFORT': In Sydney, Michael Parris reported it will "come as cold comfort to Newcastle fans," but the A-League said that it will introduce back-up technology to "guard against a repeat" of the "catastrophic" VAR failure that "blighted Saturday’s grand final." A-League Head Greg O’Rourke said that Saturday’s VAR officials "had since conceded they could have sought Fox Sports footage when they lost half their camera angles in a software crash." O'Rourke: "The question you ask about the Fox Sports feed is potentially one of quick thinking. In hindsight, they all said we could have left our room and gone to Fox" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 5/8).
