Why the A-league must have its own FA Cup | Thebigtip

The time has arrived for the A-League to introduce a cup competition. As of next year, 12 teams will be battling it out to be crowned champion of Australia/New Zealand. Ideally it could be run in the same vein of the FA Cup where the tournament is open to all teams based in the two countries, and possibly the pacific islands in the future.
With player poaching happening in the main football codes of Australia, the FFA should take the bull by the horns and run with the cup. In traditional footballing nations there is a romantic feel about the competition, history, memories, and so many great underdog stories.
The first cup has to be run in 2011/12 as an invitational tournament with the 12 A-League teams and 52 other teams, comprising of state league winners or league representative teams. You could seed the A-League teams, and 4 other teams, then hold the games during the 2011/12 season.
This would give football the chance to promote itself into new regions such as Tasmania, the northern and southern points of New Zealand, and throughout Australia.
The 52 invitational teams should try to encompass both the spread of talent, and areas involving football across the regions.
The state federations would be given the power to invite their selected teams, but to enhance the corporate marketability of the cup sponsors, they should be able to invite 1 or 2 teams each.  This would only add up to 6 games for the winners/runners up for the A-League teams.
The scheduling of the preliminary games would be a great boost to local or regional clubs, with possibilities of Sydney United traveling to Ballarat or Perth Glory heading down to Tasmania.
You could also promote great attacking football by adopting the same final hosting rules of the preseason AFL competition with the most attacking team rewarded with a home final.
The setup costs would probably outweigh the financial benefits in the first few years, but it would give football a great way of marketing the games, and would benefit the game from the grassroots upwards.
The Cup competition would give the FFA a strong foothold in all areas involved.  From 2012/13 all teams could have a chance to get involved in the Cup, although financial restraints may keep some teams out of the running.