- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
There is just something about watching football in front of big crowds. It happens every week in Europe and the Melbourne derby brought a taste of the old world to Australian shores.
Anyone who doubted the value of packed stands to a football contest needs only to have witnessed the action at AAMI Park on Saturday night to understand just how much the intensity lifts in front of a full house.
At times the clash between a resurgent Victory and a desperate Heart resembled an English Premier League encounter, such was the pace and tenacity of both sides in what was an exhilarating contest.
Both teams played some attractive passing football at breakneck speed and the three goals scored were all of high quality, particularly Archie Thompson’s dramatic stoppage-time winner (though did it actually cross the line?).
Thank goodness the city of Melbourne finally has an adequate rectangular stadium to host marquee football fixtures, although for the neutrals among us perhaps it’s a shame the Heart haven’t been able to take bigger advantage of the fact Victory play so many games at the unloved Etihad Stadium.
It was interesting to see a couple of media outlets contrast the sold-out derby attendance to some of the crowds in the Twenty20 Big Bash cricket league.
There’s a bit of talk around the traps about the Big Bash League’s dwindling attendances, particularly as the competition was seemingly launched with the idea of capturing the youth market in mind.
It seems that at least a portion of that youth market has opted to attend A-League fixtures instead and surely that’s in part because of the atmosphere on offer at games like the Melbourne and Sydney derby.
Which is why it’s a shame that at least two clubs are playing out of stadia that are simply too large for their market.
Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix cannot command the support they need to create the kind of atmosphere at Suncorp Stadium and Westpac Stadium respectively which makes casual fans want to return.
The sight of row upon row of empty seats at Suncorp Stadium is always a depressing one and to put it bluntly, the best football stadium in Australia is sadly wasted on the Brisbane public.
I’m taking my sister-in-law’s Wellington-born partner to the match between the Roar and the Phoenix on New Year’s Day and I don’t quite know how to explain to him that the A-League is indeed growing in popularity, despite the alarming sight of tens of thousands of empty seats.
In Brisbane’s case they really need a 20,000 capacity-stadium if they want to generate any kind of atmosphere, while Wellington aren’t helped by the ‘Cake Tin’s’ unhelpful shape.
But with Roar owners the Bakries in some financial bother back home in Indonesia and the Phoenix already running on the smell of an oily rag, both clubs will have to make do with the grounds they’ve already got.
Fans of certain clubs like Major League Soccer outfit Seattle Sounders have shrugged off the disadvantage of multipurpose venues and generate outstanding atmospheres regardless.
And that’s something we need to see more of in the A-League, particularly if football finds itself in a genuine battle with domestic 20/20 cricket for fans and corporate dollars.
The Newcastle Jets enjoyed their biggest crowd of the season for the visit of Sydney FC to Hunter Stadium on Saturday, but would it have been an even larger crowd had it kicked off two hours later instead of underneath a blazing sun on a hot afternoon?
A balancing act between the interest of fans and broadcast rights holders is clearly required.
The A-League is doing a good job of winning the hearts and minds of the summer sports crowd, but with the festive season a good time to sit back and take stock, it’s also worth noting there’s still plenty more to do.