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ANZ Stadium not the problem, Socceroos playing second fiddle is

Ange Postecoglou (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Expert
6th June, 2016
230
2551 Reads

Leave it to a coach who will one day be renowned as one of Australia’s greatest to sum up a fundamental problem with the way we approach football in this country.

The major story from the Socceroos’ win over Greece on Saturday night wasn’t the scoreline, it was the state of the pitch.

And Football Federation Australia has compounded the problem by scheduling the second game of the series at Etihad Stadium.

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Mind you, even if the Socceroos played at AAMI Park on Tuesday night, they’d still encounter a pitch churned up by a game of rugby league a few nights before.

Postecoglou was right to label the pitch embarrassing in the wake of Australia’s 1-0 win over the Greeks.

“We’ve got an international team here that we’re hosting and we’re supposed to be the sporting nation of the world and we keep throwing around these pitches,” thundered our national coach.

“I can tell you what the Greek players were saying when they were coming off the pitch, but they’re too polite to say otherwise. But I’m embarrassed, as coach of our national team, that’s what we dish up.”

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We should be embarrassed – but the trouble is it’s generally only football people who care.

The FFA marketers charged with getting fans through the gate and the state governments paying top dollar to attract international fixtures appear to give little thought to the quality of spectacle on display.

Why else would they schedule fixtures in venues practically designed to ensure passing football is impossible?

Whether it’s the cricket square at Adelaide Oval or the effects of State of Origin on the ANZ Stadium surface, it’s hard to remember the last time the Socceroos played on a pristine pitch on home soil.

Given the sizeable contingent of Greek fans in Sydney and Melbourne, it made sense to host the two fixtures against the 2004 European champions in Australia’s two biggest cities.

But should commercial reasons always come into consideration? Especially when they seem designed to maximise the amount of fans inside the stadium supporting the away team?

Why couldn’t one of the games against Greece have been played in south-east Queensland, where none of the Brisbane Broncos, Queensland Reds or Gold Coast Titans were at home this weekend?

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Difficult as it is to plan international dates months in advance, the Socceroos can’t go on playing second fiddle to domestic footy codes forever.

If Destination NSW insists that our vital World Cup qualifier against Japan is played in Sydney – citing a recent agreement to secure at least 11 international fixtures over the next five years – then FFA should counter with a clause demanding that the pitch is up to international standards.

Or better yet, Frank Lowy could dig deep into his pockets – not for the first time, it must be said – and fund the building of a national stadium for the Socceroos.

The Westfield chairman might point to the A-League or even the Asian Cup as his legacy, but what better way to leave a tangible reminder of his contribution to the game than by building a national home for football?

And while spending someone else’s money might be an easy thing to do – and with an estimated net worth of more than $7 billion, it’s not an insignificant amount to spend – we need to start getting serious about the sort pitches our national teams play on.

Otherwise we’re left to rue one of the most frustrating aspects of watching football in Australia – the fact that government agencies, stadium operators and even some fans view the sport as something merely to be enjoyed between State of Origin and the next big AFL blockbuster.

In a week in which Postecoglou railed against our inferiority complex, the fact the Socceroos can’t play on a decent pitch at home is surely the biggest slight of all.

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