The real
test for John O’Neill’s “build it and they will come” strategy arrives this weekend when
Melbourne’s Olympic
Park and Adelaide’s Hindmarsh
Stadium get to host their first A-League games.

After a
promising start to the
A-League last weekend with big crowds turning out in Sydney and Brisbane, it is
now crunch time. If soccer can’t pull big crowds in Melbourne then half the
equation for the new Hyundai A-League (HAL) “unite the tribes” strategy is not
working.

Already there is a feeling in the
southern sporting capital that O’Neill’s soccer revolution is far too
Sydney centric. Three of the four new Australian HAL franchises are located in
NSW and Victoria only got one. Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane are essentially old
NSL franchises and the Kiwi Klub is based in another country closely associated
with Sydney’s “East Bondi” expat community.

Luckily
this weekend Adelaide gets to play
Queensland Roar in their white change strip. Their egregious home strip of orange shirt, royal blue shorts
and maroon socks is disgusting. The orange shirt comes from the fact that
they used to be known as the Dutch-backed Brisbane Lions Soccer Club – so next
time John O’Neill tells you he’s ethnically-cleansed all the old “tribes” from soccer, tell him he’s dreaming.