Friday night football in Brisbane, and a chance to complete a useful comparison. This was my second A-League fixture of the series, with Brisbane Roar hosting Auckland FC at Suncorp Stadium for a 6:35 pm kickoff. Having seen the Roar play Wellington Phoenix at Redcliffe’s Kayo Stadium a week earlier, this felt like the natural next step: same league, same team, but in the city’s main sporting cathedral.

Saturday afternoon football in Queensland, and this time it was finally the A-League’s turn. After weeks of being told “it’s not great” or “you’ll see why people complain”, curiosity got the better of me. Brisbane Roar were hosting Wellington Phoenix in a 4:00 pm kickoff, with the Roar sitting an impressive third after significantly outperforming preseason expectations. Wellington, meanwhile, arrived in 10th and under pressure.

I’ve watched a lot of football in my life. Mostly European, to be specific. In Köln, the average midtable game in February would comfortable draw fifty-thousand electric fans. So turning up to an Australia Cup Round of 32 tie between two semi-professional clubs in suburban Brisbane might seem like a strange decision. But as I've learned in my time here, the soul of the sport in this country very much resides below the top tier. And with two local teams in Brisbane Olympic and