A-leagues capital punishment

ACT SPORTS chief Andrew Barr today warned the FFA that furious Canberra fans may boycott this weekend's capital-hosted clash between Central Coast Mariners and Adelaide United in protest at their failed A-League bid.

The territory is now also set to pull the plug on funds for football which could make this week's match the last A-League game to be held in Canberra.

"I am worried because I have heard pretty extensively that fans will show their displeasure of not getting the A-League licence," Barr told the Canberra Times.

The ACT is now set to turn its back on the A-League after the way their bid to be the 12th team was dismissed by the FFA last month, with the franchise instead handed to the hastily formed Ian Rowden-led Sydney Rovers consortium.

The rejection came after more than 20,000 turned out to watch the Socceroos play Kuwait and more than 5,000 came to see Central Coast Mariners play Perth Glory. Although the crowd figure was derided at the time, it was more than both Gold Coast United's last two home matches.

Barr said Canberra's interest in football will now focus on the Socceroos after the A-League snub.

He added: "Our recommendation to the FFA is that if they want to build momentum then the Socceroos are the way to do that and we're very keen to host our national teams.

"One of the things we need to talk to the FFA about is if they want to continue to play matches in Canberra that in fact they might be better served bringing the national team here if they want to promote the sport.

"What you want is high-quality football and certainly the Socceroos can provide that. That's where we'll be pitching for future football in Canberra."

However Barr has also threatened to pul the plug on Canberra's World Cup bid involvement, and instead famble on being the venue for AFL and NRL games forced out the big cities by the glamour tournament.

'They are going to have to move away from Sydney and Melbourne and it might be strategically to our advantage not to have anything to do with the football World Cup and take extra AFL, rugby league and rugby union instead,'' he said.

''It could be a bonanza for Canberra so we'll just be strategic in what we do in Canberra because we may be able to get the big tourism benefits that we want without having to outlay $200million on a new stadium.''

Despite the stayaway fans warning, Capital Football boss Heather Reid was still predicting a crowd of 7,000 for this weekend's game.

And Canberra bid leader Ivan Slavich said he continued to be hopeful of one day winning an A-League licence and said he hoped fans would turn out for the Mariners match.

"It'd be extremely disappointing if fans did in fact provide a backlash by not attending the game, that's the wrong approach to take," he said.

"While I share many of the frustrations, we did put forward a credible bid, but I think the absolute worst signal we can send to the FFA is to boycott the game.

"We are still in the mix to be part of the A-League in the future and that will just hurt our chances of getting an A-League team."

TBH, Barr is acting just a bit selfish. Especially after reading that article on the front page of todays Times.

Andrew Barr is sending the exact opposite message that he should be.
He should be pushing harder than ever to get us a team. You're right, it's selfish and petty, almost childish, the way he's handling this.
Someone suggested watching the girls play then heading to the Tradies to stick it up the FFA. Good idea, but they still get ticket sales.