Its fair to say that had the grand final against Sydney — a club with whom Victory shares just as much enmity — been played at the same venue, the crowd would have been at least as big again. Instead, Etihad will host the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle in a regular home and away round seven clash. In the 30,000-capacity AAMI Stadium — really 25,500 capacity once tickets for sponsors, FFA affiliates and those set aside for participants and the great and the good are subtracted — it will only be members who get the chance to attend. No casual fans, no supporters who could not afford a season ticket and very few youngsters. Both clubs are also losers – most obviously Victory. Their supporter base would have crammed the Docklands venue making it a sea of navy blue and creating a hostile environment that would have made a difficult task even harder for Sydney. But the Sky Blues are also losers. Their players do not get the chance to perform on the biggest stage on the A-League's biggest day and their travelling support will be restricted to around 3500 - much less than it would have been in the bigger venue. The State Government is a loser given its failure to broker an agreement between the two football codes. Victoria likes to describe itself as the sporting capital of Australia, if not the world, yet here is the biggest match in one of the country's biggest leagues being played in the stadium equivalent of a rather large shoebox.

What does that do for the state's reputation as a sporting mecca, especially with soccer fans? It already took a blow earlier this year when Victoria opted not to bid to host an Asian Cup semi-final, wrongly thinking that there wouldn't be much interest as the Australian Open Tennis was on. Melbourne then had to then look on as provincial Newcastle hosted the Socceroos as they swept past the UAE en route to the final against South Korea, with Victorian fans scratching their heads wondering why there was so little faith in the tournament. The FFA will be out of pocket by millions of dollars, cash that it desperately needs to underwrite not the A-League teams but to fund other operational areas – junior and grassroots development and national teams among them. Had the game been played at a larger arena, more fans would have meant more cash for the governing body as it takes all receipts from the finals series. The AFL's reputation also takes a whack – if not from its dyed-in-the-wool Victorian fans, who will probably see this weekend's debacle as a "win" for Australian football because of the embarrassment it causes for soccer, but from soccer fans and other sports lovers both here and in NSW. They simply cannot fathom why the code's governing body did not flex its muscles and re-arrange its fixture list to show some goodwill, if not to the FFA but to the Victory and Sydney fans, many of whom (particularly the former) support footy clubs during the soccer off-season.