Mike Tuckerman
Now that the dust has settled on another tumultuous A-League season, football fans in Australia are beginning to take stock of where the competition is headed. For many, an astonishing grand final was an appropriate way to end an astonishing campaign.
For the second season in a row, the A-League's showpiece showdown took place in front of more than 50,000 fans at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium. The championship decider pitted defending champions Brisbane Roar against an unheralded opponent from the west - former National Soccer League side Perth Glory. The latter had advanced through the finals series on the back of coach Ian Ferguson's no-nonsense football and the goals of New Zealand international Shane Smeltz.
Glory knocked out this season's table toppers Central Coast Mariners en route to the grand final, prompting Mariners coach Graham Arnold to claim that winning the league was more important to him than win the championship decider. If the Glory felt slighted by Arnold's snub, they didn't let it show on grand final day. Leading 1-0 courtesy of an Ivan Franjic own-goal shortly after half-time, rank outsiders Perth looked set to snatch the unlikeliest of titles. But late in the game Brisbane's hot-shot Albanian import Besart Berisha intervened and that's where things took a decidedly controversial turn.
His first goal in the 84th minute was simple enough, as Berisha ghosted in front of Glory defender Steve Pantelidis to power home a header from close range. But as the match ticked well into the third minute of stoppage time, Berisha became entangled in what is now the A-League's most infamous moment. Burrowing his way through a packed Glory defence, the off-balance Albanian collected a ricochet and swung wildly at the ball. Instead of collecting leather, Berisha hit thin air as his attempted match winning shot produced an air-swing. It wasn't the first time in the game Berisha had failed to connect in front of goal but this time referee Jarrod Gillett put his whistle to his lips and blew for a penalty. And that's when the recriminations started.
Berisha, history will show, buried the resultant spot-kick to register his 21st goal of a profitable season and hand the Roar a stunning 2-1 win. His now infamous entanglement with Glory midfielder Liam Miller prompted referee Gillett to award the penalty based on Miller's slight contact with Berisha's standing foot. The Albanian's wild post-goal celebrations reflected the passionate nature of his football. But for critics, his wild celebrations after the penalty was awarded provoked uncomfortable questions about the way football is played in Australia compared to the rest of the world. It took only seconds for the championship-deciding moment to unfold and just minutes for Australian sports fans to label Berisha 'a diver.'
What followed was typical of the chaos the A-League has invited upon itself in recent years. A post-match communication mix-up meant Roar midfielder Thomas Broich was awarded the man-of-the-match award instead of its rightful recipient, Glory hard man Jacob Burns. Eager to rectify the situation, Football Federation Australia embarrassingly awarded Burns his medal in a press conference instead of on the pitch - with most fans learning of the mix-up only in the next morning's newspapers. Critics pounced on the bizarre gaffe, insisting it was symptomatic of a chronically mismanaged organisation. And they seized on the relationship between Gillett and a part-time Roar communications employee as proof of an underhanded conspiracy.
Host broadcaster Fox Sports leapt to Gillett's defence, producing unprecedented video analysis in an attempt to prove the referee's decision had been correct. But the damage had been done as Australia's parochial mainstream media attempted to land a knock-out blow to Australia's fledgling professional football league. Numerous media outlets opined that football was corrupt and the sport would never take off in a 'fair-minded' country like Australia. Never mind that Gillett appeared to have been vindicated by video footage of the incident - for many, the A-League had been irredeemably soured.
Berisha has since gone to state that he never said it wasn't a penalty - an allegation made by several Glory players. Outgoing Roar coach Ange Postecoglou shrugged off the furore and simply pointed out that Berisha - who in his first season in Australia was embroiled in a number of heated incidents - is a passionate player. Postecoglou has since joined Melbourne Victory but there's a sense the former Roar coach didn't always understand what Berisha was talking about, let alone his team-mates or opponents.
The furore has since died down, with most critics agreeing the Roar deserved their championship win. Despite a mid-season slump the Queensland outfit were clearly the best team in the competition and largely outplayed a Glory side which barely registered a shot on goal in tense grand final. Winning coach Postecoglou has since moved on to Melbourne Victory, meaning his former assistant Rado Vidosic will take the reins next season. And if Vidosic is to make his mark, he may need to win a third straight grand final. Because for all their eye-catching football, Brisbane Roar's 2011-12 title win will be remembered for little more than the most controversial incident in A-League history.
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