Socceroos legend Gary Cole: “This is a great shot in the arm for the game in Australia”

On 10 October, South Melbourne FC and Melbourne Victory will walk onto AAMI Park for an Australia Cup Final that represents far more than a trophy.

It brings together two proud clubs from different chapters of Australian football’s history.

One is among the most successful clubs of the former National Soccer League era. The other has become one of the defining clubs of the A-League era.

The atmosphere will be extraordinary. The rivalry will be genuine. The football will be fiercely contested.

Such is the anticipation surrounding the match that it also has genuine potential to break the modern Australia Cup Final attendance record of 18,751, set at the same venue in 2016.

That would represent much more than a number on a crowd sheet. A record attendance would send a powerful message about the public appetite for meaningful fixtures, authentic rivalries and competitions that connect every level of Australian football.

But this final can – and should – mean even more.

It presents Australian football with an opportunity to bring its past, present and future together.

It is an opportunity to dismantle the tired and damaging distinction between “old soccer” and “new football”.

Most importantly, it can demonstrate what becomes possible when the entire game is connected.

We Cannot Build the Future by Discarding the Past

Australian football needed reform at the beginning of this century.

The game required stronger governance, greater professionalism, better commercial structures and a national competition capable of reaching new audiences.

The establishment of the A-League in 2005 opened an important new chapter. It created clubs, rivalries and major occasions that have contributed enormously to the development of the professional game.

But somewhere during that transformation, the idea took hold that Australian football could only move forward by separating itself from much of what had come before it.

The labels “old soccer” and “new football” became a fault line.

Too many clubs, supporters, volunteers and communities that had carried the game for decades were made to feel that their history was no longer welcome at the top table.

In creating something new, the game sometimes appeared determined to dispense with everything associated with its past.

That included the clubs and development pathways that identified, nurtured and produced many members of Australia’s Golden Generation.

Australian football should never be embarrassed by that history.

It is one of our game’s greatest competitive advantages.

Traditional clubs were built by migrant communities that brought their passion, culture and football knowledge to Australia.

They established clubs, built grounds, developed players, created lifelong supporters and sustained the game when it received little mainstream attention or investment.

These communities did not merely support Australian football.

They built it.

Recognising that contribution does not require us to reject the progress made during the A-League era. Both can be true.

The game needed to evolve, but it did not need to marginalise its foundations to do so.

This Is Not “Old” Against “New”

It would be easy to promote South Melbourne against Melbourne Victory as “old soccer” meeting “new football”.

It might create a convenient headline, but it would miss the greater significance of the occasion – and perpetuate a division the game must leave behind.

South Melbourne is not a relic from Australian football’s past.

It is a living and ambitious club with generations of supporters, a distinguished record of national success and an enduring role in developing players and representing its community.

Melbourne Victory is not separate from Australian football’s history.

It is another important chapter in it – a club that has built an enormous following, delivered some of the country’s most memorable sporting occasions and demonstrated the scale that professional football can achieve in Australia.

These clubs were created in different eras, but they belong to the same game.

The future of Australian football is neither “old” nor “new”.

It is one football.

Supporters Want a Connected Game

This final arrives at a time when the appetite for a properly connected football pyramid is becoming impossible to ignore.

Supporters want clubs to have something meaningful to aspire to.

They want success on the field to create opportunity.

They want to see a genuine connection between grassroots football, state competitions, traditional clubs, national competitions and the professional game.

A connected pyramid is about more than promotion and relegation.

It is about unlocking aspiration, investment, relevance and growth throughout the sport.

When clubs can see a pathway forward, they invest in facilities, coaching, academies, commercial capability and community engagement.

When supporters believe their club’s journey can lead somewhere, they become more deeply invested.

When local rivalries carry national consequences, new audiences, media attention and commercial partners follow.

That energy already exists throughout Australian football.

Our opportunity is to harness it.

The Platforms Are Demonstrating What Is Possible

The Australia Cup has repeatedly shown what can happen when clubs from every level are given the opportunity to compete on a national stage.

It connects the grassroots and professional game. It creates genuine jeopardy. It brings national attention to clubs, grounds and communities that rarely receive that level of exposure.

It also produces compelling stories that cannot be manufactured through marketing alone.

The Australian Championship represents another important step. It gives some of the country’s most historic and ambitious clubs a new national platform and creates a stronger bridge between state-based football and the professional game.

Neither competition should be viewed in isolation.

Together, the Australia Cup and Australian Championship can help reconnect the game, restore national relevance to important clubs and build momentum towards a more integrated competition structure.

They also demonstrate something commercially significant.

These communities are not simply part of football’s history. They are active audiences with passion, identity, purchasing power and an enduring commitment to their clubs.

When those communities are respected and properly engaged, they respond.

That creates value for broadcasters, commercial partners, governments and the wider professional game.

A Perspective Spanning Different Eras

My perspective has been shaped by experiencing Australian football across different clubs, competitions and eras.

I served as CEO of South Melbourne Soccer Club during one of the most successful periods in its history.

After leaving in 1997, I returned 12 months later for the 1998/99 season, when South secured its second consecutive national championship under Ange Postecoglou.

Nearly two decades later, in 2015, I returned to the professional game as CEO of Perth Glory in the A-League.

I subsequently joined Football Australia as a senior executive, where I played a key role in strengthening the Australia Cup as a national platform and developing the Australian Championship.

That journey has reinforced my belief that Australian football’s future will not be secured by choosing one part of its history over another. It will be secured by bringing the best of every era together.

The game will fulfil its potential when it connects its professional clubs, traditional clubs, grassroots participants, diverse communities and national teams within a coherent and ambitious system.

This is not about returning to the past.

It is about carrying the best of our history into a stronger future.

More Than a Final

On 10 October, AAMI Park – the spiritual home of football in Melbourne—should become the stage for more than an Australia Cup Final.

It should be a celebration of the people and communities that built the game, the progress achieved during the professional era and the possibilities presented by a connected future.

South Melbourne supporters should be proud of what their club has contributed to Australian football and excited about what may lie ahead.

Melbourne Victory supporters should celebrate what their club has built and the role it continues to play in growing the professional game.

Every Australian football supporter should be able to look at this occasion and see something bigger than a contest between two clubs or two eras.

This final is not “old soccer” against “new football”.

It is Australian football – proud of its entire history, united around its future and ready to unlock its true potential.

One game. One history. One future.

One football.