Fan fury at final farce

A-LEAGUE officials are standing by their “conviction” despite threats of walkouts by fans this weekend after a deal was done to play the grand final in Sydney for the next three years.

Backlash has gone beyond all expectations after the move was announced on Monday by the Australian Professional Leagues, which runs the competition.

All 12 active supporter groups were scathing on social media about the decision, which ditches 18 years of the top team on the ladder gaining hosting rights.

Both players involved in the promotional video released, including Socceroos World Cup star Craig Goodwin, withdrew their support as part of the stinging and mostly negative response.

An online petition calling for the decision to be reversed was also launched as Original Style Melbourne, Melbourne Victory’s main active support group, said it and rivals City Terrace would walk out of AAMI Park at the 20-minute mark of Saturday night’s derby, one of the competition’s marquee events, in a gesture of protest at the move.

“We will be walking out at the 20th minute and not returning. City Terrace will follow,” OSM said in an Instagram post

“We strongly encourage ALL Victory and City fans to do the same. It’s the duty of anyone inside the stadium who cares about the integrity of the game in Australia to support this action.

“You can’t fight the fans. You will not win.”

The group also sent a strong message to APL boss Danny Townsend that he needed to reverse the decision or “one of your biggest fixtures will be played in front of an empty stadium”.

“We call on the rest of the league to walk out at their fixtures this weekend,” the post said.

“A unified response against this corrupted decision is the only way this can be stopped.”

But while Townsend conceded the level of outrage exceeded his own expectations, he was adamant the decision would not be changed.

“Ultimately, when we look back at this moment … we will be able to look back with pride on the decision,” Townsend said.