Apparently, expansion of the A-League is back on the agenda. No, really. That being the case, the fault lines of a debate which excites the football public like no other are about to reach a sharper focus. Derbies, or regions? New markets, or existing ones? Ultimately, that's the conversation which matters most.

Last week, semi-pro Canberra Olympic hosted Sydney FC in the FFA Cup semi-finals. More than 5,000 fans poured into Viking Park on a chilly midweek night. Cue the 'Canberra for the A-League' stories. Trouble is, we've been reading them for years. Every time the FFA bandwagon rolls into town - whether it's the Asian Cup, a Socceroos game, an A-League fixture, or the FFA Cup - the signal comes from Whitlam Square that the locals need to turn up in force to prove they deserve a seat at the top table.

In the case of Canberra, the locals have never let them down. They even raised $5 million at one stage to fund an A-League bid. The FFA treated the bid with contempt. Is that what head office really thinks of the smaller regional markets? Has anything changed?

For Canberra, read Geelong, Hobart, Wollongong. All these cities have heard the same empty rhetoric over the years. And then there's Townsville. The FFA are still public enemy no.1 in town, five years after they effectively killed off North Queensland Fury. Incredibly, the FFA point to the Fury as a reason why the A-League can't grow in regional areas, completely ignoring their own culpability in the process.