Robbie Slater: Ticking time bomb was lack of governance before sickening scenes

The disgusting scenes at AAMI Park cannot be condoned, yet Robbie Slater says it was all so avoidable. There is only one solution when it comes to the survival of football in Australia.

The A-League could be about to implode.

The only answer and the only way forward after the extraordinary scenes at AAMI Park and football’s night of shame is to hand control of the A-League back to Football Australia.

The World Cup final was just a few hours away and the entire world is talking about what happened in Australia.

The positive performances of the Socceroos now ruined by images of supporters storming the pitch and attacking players and officials.

I’m devastated by what we saw on Saturday night. It makes me sick.

But it was all so avoidable if we had better governance, better decisions made by the people who we trust to run the game and better transparency with our most important stakeholders — the fans.

Fans show their disappointment with the APL before the round eight A-League match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

NO EXCUSE

There is simply no condoning what happened. Saying something was avoidable is not offering an excuse to the culprits. How do you stop idiots invading a pitch?

If someone goes with the intention to invade the pitch, how do you stop that?

That has happened in all sports, not just football.

Our crowds have been well behaved for many years, we have never seen such aggressive scenes like that in our game.

But there are issues that need to be addressed like: how did so many flares get inside the stadium?

It wasn’t like just one or two flares either, there were multiple flares all around the field and it started from the very first minute.

Flares are supposed to be banned and illegal at games. They were thrown onto the ground much earlier, so why wasn’t play postponed or stopped then?

The culprits must be brought to justice by the police and by Football Australia. They deserve life bans. That sort of behaviour should never be accepted.

Robbie Slater has questioned why so many flares found their way into the stadium. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

WHERE’S THE LEADERSHIP?

Where are the Australian Professional League (APL) bosses? We have seen Football Australia CEO James Johnson and the Melbourne Victory managing director Caroline Carnegie address the media, but we have heard nothing from the APL.

It’s an extraordinary lack of leadership and I can see a future with this imploding very quickly the way it is going.

I can see the FA taking back control of the A-League, such is the lack of faith we all have in the league’s current direction. That would be the best result for the game.

We must address what is happening to the broader game and what brought this all on.

We know what caused it — when the APL decided on Monday without proper consultation to treat their fans with utter disrespect to sell the grand finals.

That doesn’t condone what happened, but we can’t ignore that is why there is such discontent in the supporter groups.

The root cause for that is the lack of transparency in governance.

The APL signed a broadcast deal with Paramount that we now know is not delivering the same money initially projected because it hasn’t reached audience numbers that were agreed in the contract.

Disgusting scenes as fans storm the pitch in protest on Saturday night. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

What kind of deal has the game signed itself up to?

The reason we had to sell the grand final is because the league is nearly falling over broke.

So if you’ve missed your audience numbers in year one, how do you think you’ll grow the next year while upsetting your entire fanbase?

It’s frightening to think what damage this broadcast deal will end up doing to the game and how the leaders of the APL think they can operate without any transparency when that is the exact issue they accused FA of lacking when they fought for two years for control of the A-League.

Tom Glover his hit by a bucket as fans stormed the pitch at AAMI Park.

PUNISHMENT

The fear now is what happens next.

As is always the case, the minority spoils it for the majority.

A real danger is that maybe the police or even FIFA force games to be played behind closed doors after what happened. It is such a mess, nothing would surprise me.

But that punishes the real fans, not the idiots who came deliberately to cause trouble.

It hurts the families who enjoy taking kids to games and it really damages the clubs who are already struggling financially and need bums on seats to pay their bills.

This is a disaster for football every way you look at it. You couldn’t make this up.

The only way forward is for the FA to take back control and fix the mess.

Originally published as Robbie Slater: Ticking time bomb was lack of governance before sickening scenes