Gold Coast United club chairman Clive Palmer (right) and head coach Miron Bleiberg speak at a press conference at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast. AAP Image/Laine Clark
Mother Nature showed she’s no fan of Gold Coast United or the A-League last Sunday when incessant rain at Skilled Park forced Clive Palmer’s free admission match to be called off due to a water-logged pitch. Over 10,000 fans had turned up but only got 20 minutes of action. So was it a disaster?
On face value it was a major anti-climax.
Many of those 10,000 people who turned out for the fixture would have gone home more than a little disappointed at not getting 90 minutes worth of entertainment.
In fact, the 20 minutes they got was far from great with the standard of the match clearly affected by the rain and the playing surface.
United owner Clive Palmer is also faced with the prospect of forking out the cash for another home game now too (free or not free, he’ll lose money), with the fixture re-scheduled at Skilled Park for February 9 (which, might I add, is midweek and after the school holidays break).
Palmer was always going to lose big money when he threw opens the gates for last Sunday’s game, with hiring costs at Skilled Park estimated to be in the range of $100,000 to $200,000 a game.
But for the game to be called off after 20 minutes, Palmer certainly won’t have made much return on his investment in terms of tempting fans to come back for more.
And you can understand his frustration and stance with Stadiums Queensland, who run Skilled Park, for the playing surface they provided which United management claim was the reason the game got called off.
Whether or not that’s right I don’t know (to be fair, it was bucketing down with rain), but if it is United do have a decent legal claim to ask for the costs of the fixture to be waived.
That would please most A-League fans as Palmer is understood to be willing to throw open the gates again if that happens, which would present another opportunity to the club.
If this does occur that would be a brilliant result for Gold Coast United, in the way that Palmer will have had two opportunities to throw the gates open, attract fans and show the club’s product for the price of one.
We’ll wait with bated breath on that one, although Palmer – as a shrewd businessman – will do everything in his power to get his way in this instance.
In most of those respects, though, Sunday’s abandonment was a disaster for United.
But on the positive side, the whole exercise has generated plenty of decent PR and goodwill towards Gold Coast United.
Palmer (formerly public enemy number one in South-east Queensland) has won plenty of friends for the gesture coupled by his decision to underwrite North Queensland Fury’s upcoming home game against Wellington Phoenix under the Queensland Nickel sponsorship banner.
As well, Palmer’s stance against Stadiums Queensland has impressed fans too.
Whether or not it’s all enough to bring 10,000 fans back next home game is unlikely, but the United owner is repairing relationships and building some bridges. He’s part of the Gold Coast United product and it’s positive stuff for once, even in the face of a big negative.
And the good thing for once is this negative was in no shape or form created by United management and as a result there’s been a certain level of sympathy afforded to the club for Sunday’s fiasco.
But without doubt the biggest positive of this episode was the fact that 10,147 people turned up on Sunday, despite the horrendous weather on the Gold Coast. It certainly shows the region has an appetite for A-League football.
And that’s what United management can take heart from, if they can get their product right.
Okay, Sunday didn’t work out according to plan but for once the Gold Coast public appear to be sympathetic towards the United cause.
And if United management can keep the locals onside then there’s hope yet for this fledgling club.
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