Could the biggest rivalry in Australian football exist between two clubs that have never actually played a competitive game, or even shared the same league?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those questions might be laced with hyperbole, but they are worth asking nonetheless, and may be among the many answered this weekend when Melbourne Victory take on South Melbourne in the Australia Cup Final at a sold-out AAMI Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact the final was effectively sold out within 48 hours suggests there is genuine feeling in this one, pitting two giants from different eras of Australian football against each other for the first time since the \u2018old soccer\/new football\u2019 divide was created in 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time, it felt like a necessary distinction for football to reposition itself within the Australian sporting hierarchy, but the phrase left wounds that, two decades later, are still yet to fully heal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it the biggest club game in Australian football history, as some are claiming? That is entirely subjective, and there have certainly been occasions that can lay claim to being bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It may well be among the most significant, however, at least when it comes to the future direction of the game – not just in Melbourne, but across Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the game, in both city and country, could do with a boost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n