Wellington Phoenix have added their voice to the discontent at the A-League's decision to exclusively hold its grand finals in Sydney for the next three seasons.
On Monday, the league announced both A-League men's and women's grand finals would be held in Sydney, regardless of the teams that qualified.
Traditionally, the grand final would be hosted by the highest seeded team.
Of the 12 men's A-League sides, five are based in New South Wales, while four of the 11 teams in the A-League women's competition are New South Wales-based.
That means, conceivably, four different sets of fans could be forced to travel from the likes of New Zealand, Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide if they wanted to watch their side play in the grand final.
A deal of more than $10 million between the Australian Professional Leagues and the New South Wales government has been struck in order to secure the A-League deciders in Sydney.
The decision has been met with criticism from the Australian football community, even seeing Australian Professional Leagues director and Melbourne Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro quit in protest.
And adding his voice to a chorus of those against the move, Wellington Phoenix centre back Scott Wootton lamented the deal that will likely cost football fans outside of New South Wales.
"It's obviously not ideal," said defender Scott Wootton. "If we were to get to that point, you'd want it in Wellington.
"That's how the league's gone since it's been formed. I'm not sure what the particular reasons are for changing that.
"You're not going to get 30-40,000 people from Wellington travelling to Sydney to be our home support - or Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, whoever that might be.
"I'm not sure why they've come to that decision but it's one I wouldn't agree with, to be honest."
With a capacity of more than 80,000, Sydney's ANZ Stadium would loom as a potential destination for the grand finals.
And despite the upset of having to play away from a home crowd, Phoenix loanee Lucas Mauragis understands the incentive of playing the A-League's deciders in front of the biggest possible crowd.
"As a player, you always want to play [in front of] the biggest crowds," said Mauragis. "At the moment, I don't really know the reasons why they've chosen to go that way.
"I can't really comment on that, but as a player, you want to play [in front of] big crowds and have an awesome atmosphere."
In the 17 seasons of the A-League's current format, 13 grand finals have involved a team from New South Wales, while 10 have involved a team from Sydney.
