The autumn/winter of 2005 was a strange time.
Axel F’s “Crazy Frog” topped the billboard charts, Juicy Couture were doing a roaring trade in garishly-coloured velour tracksuits and movie goers were actually paying money to watch Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous.
And there were some unusual goings-on in Australian football too.
The year-long hiatus between the end of the National Soccer League and the advent of the new A-League competition was coming towards an end and that meant some sorting out had to be done.
Most Glory fans had presumed that having won the NSL Championship in 2004 courtesy of Nik Mrdja’s fabled Golden Goal in the Parramatta rain, the men in purple would be Australia’s representative at the 2005 OFC Club Championship which was set to take place in Tahiti in early June.
The winner of that tournament was slated to represent Oceania at the FIFA Club World Championship to be held in Japan that December, so a sense of excitement among the Glory faithful was more than understandable.
But the football authorities had other ideas.
Of course they did.
Rather than the reigning Champions automatically taking the spot in Tahiti, it was decreed that in fact a qualifying tournament was required to determine who would fly the flag for Australia and have a tilt at making it to Japan.
And so with New Zealand Knights obviously not eligible to represent Australia, the other seven founder members of the soon-to-be-launched A-League were forced to battle it out among themselves.
Glory’s sole reward for being the last NSL Champions was to be granted a bye in the first round which also handily meant the other six teams could face each other in an even split, with three progressing to join Steve McMahon’s side in the semi-finals.
As it was, the Mariners and Adelaide both made it through via penalty shootouts, while Sydney FC swatted Queensland Roar aside 3-0 and it was the Sky Blues who were drawn against Glory.
A tournament-high crowd of 9968 decided that they were keen to see Glory back in action at what was then known as Members Equity Stadium (HBF Park), but the vast majority were destined to leave disappointed.
After Ufuk Talay’s own-goal handed Glory the lead early in the second half, Sydney hit back through David Carney and Sasho Petrovski to book their place in the Final which they duly won against the Mariners courtesy of another goal from Carney.
So dreams of a Shed Tour of Duty to Tahiti or Tokyo were shattered, but there was at least a modicum of consolation in the form of another upcoming competition to break up the long wait for the inaugural A-League Season to get underway.
Entitled rather unimaginatively the 2005 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup, it ran from late July to late August and featured the eight A-League teams split into two groups of four, with the top two from each progressing to the semis.
Glory’s Group A campaign began with a lively 2-2 away draw at Adelaide United in which current Brisbane Roar Head Coach Michael Valkanis scored at both ends and eight days later, an Archie Thompson goal consigned the WA side to defeat against Melbourne Victory at Olympic Park.
That meant Glory had to beat Newcastle Jets at home in their final group game and hope Adelaide failed to defeat Victory in theirs in order to make the last four and that is exactly what transpired.
A Bobby Despotovski double proved enough to see off the Jets 2-1 and with the Reds and Victory battling out a 0-0 draw, the West Aussies progressed as group runners-up.
Having seen Sydney FC snatch what many Glory followers felt was their rightful place at the OFC Club Championship, there was a bit of a feeling about the semi-final clash between the two clubs at Sydney Football Stadium.
Eight yellow cards were dished out before Nicky Ward, resplendent in a strikingly elegant all- white away kit, bagged the only goal of the game in the final minute of regulation time to spark wild celebrations among players and staff alike.
And so to the Final which saw Glory on the road once again, this time heading to Gosford for a showdown with Central Coast Mariners.
In truth, it was not a game that would live long in the memory as a goal late in the second half from Stewart Petrie proved enough to secure a first piece of silverware for the hosts.
And the Mariners would go on to win by the same scoreline in Perth when the sides met again in Round One of the A-League just six days later.
We know now, of course, that the transition from the NSL to the A-League was to prove a painful one for Glory and McMahon’s reign as Head Coach was destined to end quickly and badly.
But for at least a couple of months in 2005, there was genuine cause to hope that the future might be bright.
Not quite as bright as some of those Juicy Couture tracksuits, but bright nonetheless.
#ONEGlory
