ANZ Stadium should host World Cup Final

The final should be in Melbourne. We know Sydney folks think they are the capital of Australia and all that but simple dollars and cents tells otherwise. Melbourne consistently outdraws Sydney for all manner of sports.

No, we have ANZ in Sydney over 80k for the final. I think for the two semis where we need 66k, Perth is one, use Adelaide oval for the other.

You'd rather we build another 80,000 square seater stadium somewhere?!? Personally I'd much rather we use the MCG.

Well, it makes a lot more sense than Blacktown does. Big match NRL games could be shifted there for the Panthers, Eels, Tigers, and Bulldogs, the Waratahs could play a few games there, the Rovers would play there... Otherwise, the best option is to upgrade and share Parramatta, Campbelltown and Penrith Stadiums. Blacktown is a horrible waste of money.

I'd rather the MCG not used at all. It is a terrible option, and only promoted because we need 1 Stadium >80k and 2 stadiums > 66k.

I agree also. I will just go to Sydney for a month to see Brazil, Argentina, England and the Socceroos while everyone else from here can stay in their comfort zone watching Essendon v St Kilda. My State does not deserve the honour.....

From an AFL perspective, I'd prefer the 2022 World Cup final to be hosted in LA or Doha. But if it has to be in Australia, having the final at Homebush rather than the MCG would reduce the time the MCG is out of bounds by a week. If the MCG isn't selected for the final, the last World Cup game there would be a semi final on the Tuesday or Wednesday. That leaves a couple of days to rip the soccer goal posts out, put the AFL goal posts up, repaint the ground and change the signage. The World Cup final is usually played on a Sunday night, so a Sunday twilight game wouldn't be feasible, but the rest of the weekend is free for the AFL to use to its advantage. So there's no reason the AFL couldn't schedule some blockbuster games for the MCG on the weekend of the World Cup final and promote them to locals as the return of footy normality and to the overseas visitors as a showcase of what Aussie rules has to offer. PS: Is there a problem with The Roar's hosting? I haven't been able to get the site to load on my laptop all weekend, but it works fine on my home computer.

I would have thought it prudent we win the hosting rights first, then we can argue about where to host the final later.....

Fez, AAMI Park is a sweet stadium and is perfect for regular season A-League, NRL and Rugby matches. However the problem is that it can't host any big events, Sydney FC will never meet Victory there, the A-League Finals will never be played there, the big rugby matches will never be played there, it's a real shame and waste. Personally i'd rather 30,000 against Sydney at AAMI Park (as most other fans do too) than 40,000 at Docklands, but the club don't feel the same way and this will never happen. And to have such a beautiful stadium not used in the world cup is even bigger insult considering the oppurtunity is there, instead they upgrade an AFL stadium in Geelong temporarily? C'mon! Screw you Lowy! Is only a 30% chance we will get the world cup anyway, USA will be favourites for marketing purposes and being in the worlds greatest nation etc!

No men's team certainly. I'd like to see the full rationale as to that particular decision and the decision to not allow a Darwin based side to compete in the S-League. Perhaps there are very good reasons, I'd like to hear them though.

Ben..you speak so much sense The World Cup Final in the only city in the world without a football team...Canberra....and the FFA /NSW still wouldn't let a team in the NSW State league or A-League.

AAMI park works well because it will be shared by 4 teams across 3 codes, in addition to attracting some "event" games, such as the England v Australia Rugby League Test later this year. A bigger capacity would let it draw even bigger matches. This is what makes it a success- its financial viability is underpinned by the strength of three codes. This is why the Blacktown Stadium at 26,000 capacity is such a terrible terrible waste of money, when there already exists 3 stadiums in Western Sydney that have similar capacities, or could be upgraded reletively cheaply. It will have only the one tenant. Every other stadium in the bid (except Gold Coast which is also a bit of a white elephant, but justified by the commonwealth games bid) will have at least 2 sporting teams occupying it, be it AFL, NRL, Super 15s or A-League. Blacktown will be a very costly white elephant so FFA can brag about a "soccer specific" stadium to FIFA. This will be okay for the bidding process, but if we win, I really hope some hard heads scrap it in favour of Campbelltown or Liverpool.

My gut reaction is to totally agree that it must be ANZ and not the appalling MCG. Then I found myself wondering: how much is my opinion affected by 2 key experiences? That is, attending Australia v Iran 1997 and Australia v Uruguay 2005. Would I feel differently if the results had been the other way round?

and here in lies the concerns of the afl michael turner - as far as the afl were concerned docklands was NEVER - repeat NEVER on the table to be used as part of the wc bid - that ffa officials sought to shop the stadium around in the face of that understanding rightly got under the nose of the afl - does that make the ffa and those who have supported the bid "unsportsmanlike"

The Blacktown stadium risks being another white elephant for the NSW government in the long term. Most of the olympic venues were poorly planned for the 10 year+ window. Stadium Australia only gets used because of a lack of better options. If the government was smart, it would build a permanent and rectangular (none of this removable seating to suit AFL crap) stadium in between the Fairfield-Parramatta-Blacktown triangle (where there is actually the most football support). There's plenty of land available along the rail lines that spiral out to the rest of the city. It should be a 50,000 seat stadium (optional retractable roof) with the correct sightlines (unlike stadium Australia). That's the stadium in the heart of Sydney's population that is missing.

"The greediness of the AFL"? The AFL right from the start said it was willing to forgo the MCG for up to 10 weeks they have been more than accomodating.

1. AFL fans have argued from day one that for anyone to expect that the AFL would give up its two main grounds for half a season or more, smack bang in the middle of the season, was simply an unreasonable and an unrealistic expectation, especially when soccer fans are hoping that the FFA will pocket millions of dollars out of the exercise without having given up one thing, with the taxpayer having to fork out tens of billions of dollars for the privilege. 2. It might get filled once or twice per annum, at a pinch. 3. Well, at least Geelong is considered a separate city - let us all recall that the FFA was struggling to come up with eight viable host cities, so Geelong actually assists in that regard.

I know... noticed I used the name Rovers above? Even if theey sell out "every week" as you claim, it makes more financial sense to have a stadium occupied all year.

They will ne called the Rovers and will fill it every week////

I have been following the whole WC thing quietly for ages, but a couple of questions come to mind: 1. Where were the AFL expected to play their Melbourne-based games if neither the MCG nor Docklands were going to be available? 2. Why would anyone consider building a 60000 seat rectangular stadium in Melbourne? When would it ever get filled? 3. If you are worried about the distance between spectators and playing field, then Geelong is going to be a shocker. At last measure that I am aware of it was the longest ground in the AFL. Anyway, as others have pointed out, the WC hasn't been given to Australia yet, and should that happen, wiser minds than ours will make the right decision. I'm sure.