The FFA Cup – the greatest thing the FFA did. Now they've ruined that as well.

The FFA Cup is just about the only thing that the FFA has done that has had a positive impact on the game in this country.

It gives the teams from the State leagues a chance to pit themselves against higher league opposition, and to make a few much needed dollars in the process. In a country bereft of promotion or relegation, this is looked forward to every year by people like me, and all the clubs that take part.

Now they have ruined it for those that it really matters to.

In the first year the competition was played, the mighty Sydney Croatia drew a crowd of over 8,000 to their Edensor Park home for the game against Sydney FC. This brought a huge amount of revenue to the club and gave the supporters a night to remember. Let's be honest; the comp is for the teams outside of the closed shop of the A-League. A-league clubs couldn't care less about the Cup, choosing to play the games at smaller venues and treating it as simply a pre-season warm-up. The fans see it the same way. Look at this week's Melbourne Croatia vs Adelaide United game – they got a larger crowd for this game than Melbourne Victory did against Newcastle in the same city.

I for one love this comp. Throughout the preliminary rounds, I was on edge about qualifying for the last 32 and getting a draw against an A-League team at Edensor to promote the club and for them to make some much needed cash. Oh, and most importantly to see a huge crowd roar on Croatia. We made it to the last 32 and were drawn against St George Budapest in Rockdale – and what a game it was, 5-3 after extra time! By this point, I already knew that we had been banned from playing at Edensor against A-League teams for the spurious reason the pitch was not up to standard. It was fine for anyone to play on it except the franchise teams. I almost boycotted the St George game in protest but could not bring myself to do it, in the vain hope that such a poor call would be reversed if we did draw a home game against A-League opposition. The draw comes out and we get a great draw against WSW. This could have made the club in excess of $200K and been one of the great occasions. But no. Common sense did not prevail and today it was confirmed that the game would be played in Campbelltown (losing our home advantage). All I wanted was to watch my team play at home in front of a full house. What's the point in a draw otherwise?

Campbelltown!? A ground used by WSW every year for Cup comps, in the middle of nowhere. How is that a home game for us? We lose our home advantage, there is no atmosphere, no Cevapi, and a grass pitch to give WSW even more of an advantage. They should have just played it in Parramatta, at least it would be easier to get to.

I don't see why our pitch is perfectly good to play on for anyone else except the A-League? We have a stadium that can accommodate 12,000 and we own it, yet now we can't use it?

When will the FFA grow up?

You can't have one rule for the A-League and one rule for the NPL clubs. I would like to say that I would boycott the game in protest. But I will probably go, and you know why? Passion for the club. A passion that the FFA will never understand.

So well done to the FFA. You have ruined the only good thing you ever did for the sport in this country.

Apologies for the rant, but it had to be said.