Without a doubt, Besart Berisha will go down as an A-Leagues legend. Last week, just over six months on from departing Australia in pursuit of one final European run, the ALM’s all-time leading goalscorer announced his retirement, ending a journey that started at Tennis Borussia Berlin and ended at FC Prishtina, having along the way become intrinsically tied to Australian football.
As befitting his time on these shores, tributes for Berisha were quick to flow, celebrating the 36-year-old as one of the greatest ALM players of all time thanks to his exploits at Brisbane Roar, Melbourne Victory and Western United.
Yet, especially when contrasted with the reaction to another ALM milestone set this weekend, Berisha’s retirement does raise the question of how A-Leagues’ greatness can be measured.
Though undoubtedly in its upper tier, Berisha is probably not the most talented forward in ALM history. Ola Toivonen, Emile Heskey and Robbie Fowler have also had time in the competition while Alessandro Del Piero spent some games up top for Sydney FC. David Villa played four games for Melbourne City in 2014–15 and at some point, Perth Glory will be hoping that they actually get a chance to start Daniel Sturridge.
But talent does not equal greatness. And while Berisha’s resume comes nowhere close to that of Heskey or Villa in a global context, his legacy in ALM – whose story cannot be told without him – is what makes him stand out.
A player possessing both talent and success in equal measure makes identification of greatness relatively simple. Berisha, Thomas Broich, and Miloš Ninković – the “big three” in the ALM pantheon – will all be remembered not just for their ability to impact games of football as individuals, but also for the trophies and success that seemed to follow them wherever they went.
But beyond that, things get a little more nebulous.
Despite spending only two seasons in what was a middling Sydney team, does Del Piero rank as an ALM great? Certainly, the talent is there to justify it and moments such as his debut against Newcastle Jets are established league lore, but is that enough? Do off-field factors such as the surge of excitement around his signing, the mainstream press that followed and the heady heights the league was experiencing at that time confer it?
And then there are other, even murkier cases.
This weekend, Nikolai Topor-Stanley became just the second player to reach 350 ALM games with remarkably little fanfare and, when he retires, he will likely have supplanted Andrew Durante as the all-time appearances leader. Held in high regard for his professionalism, the 36-year-old was also a part of the Wanderers side that won an ALM premiership in their first year and became champions of Asia in 2014. But is Topor-Stanley – his legacy largely built on historic consistency and longevity – an ALM great? Is Durante, for that matter?
What of Leigh Broxham? The finest embodiment of a one-club player in league history thanks to his 342 league games with Victory, his trophy cabinet is bulging with team accolades. He and Kevin Muscat are the only players to have won back-to-back Victory medals. Despite never having been the most talented or important player in his team, is his intrinsic connection to the competition’s history and what he has come to mean to Victory fans a claim to ALM greatness? Or just Victory greatness?
In an ALW context, the concept has often become intertwined with the exploits of the Matildas’ “golden generation” and the transformative effect that players have had on the game; the likes of Lisa De Vanna, Sam Kerr, Michelle Heyman and Clare Polkinghorne, who have dragged the competition to higher standards and ambitions. Other arguments come for figures like Kate Gill, Sarah Walsh, Sally Shipard, and Heather Garriock – foundational players who continue to contribute as coaches and administrators. Or for players such as Jess Fishlock, international arrivals who dominated the competition before leaving with numerous trophies.
Yet there are others. Teresa Polias’s brand, for example, is almost exclusively tied to Sydney FC rather than the national team, but as the league’s appearances record holder and heart and soul of its most successful club, it would be a brave individual that argues against her being ALW great. What about someone like Gema Simon, who has played 138 ALW games – a feat magnified by its relatively short length – but has done so while playing for the perennially trophy-less Newcastle Jets? Club great or league great?
Inevitably, it’s a fierce debate. For greatness to mean anything, it has to be an exclusive club. But where the line is drawn, and why, will likely be in the eye of the beholder.
