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It’s the contract threatening to break the back of the Sydney Swans. ANZ Stadium has never been a good hunting ground for them – it’s their home ground that really isn’t a home ground.
Aside from Friday night’s win against Hawthorn and the 2012 preliminary final victory over Collingwood, I can’t think of a game in recent memory where the Swans have come out and played scintillating footy.
On the other hand, the last few years’ fixtures at the SCG have been littered with commanding performances against good teams.
Right now, the Swans are locked into a contract that dictates they play regular season games – Hawthorn and Collingwood so far in 2014 – and all finals at ANZ.
It’s fast becoming a disaster for them, both on the field and off it. From a fan’s point of view, there’s little to like about it.
As such, the Swans faithful have voted with their feet. Crowds are on a downtick now, and have been for years. You can’t blame a lot of Swans fans, who face a long trek across the Harbour Bridge or out from the Eastern Suburbs to Olympic Park.
And the return journey is, more often than not, made longer because the Swans have lost. Or, worse, been totally embarrassed.
They don’t play like it’s their home ground. Perhaps that’s because it isn’t, in all but name. The SCG is the Swans’ home, the club’s spiritual centre, and it always will be.
The ANZ Stadium contract worked well in those early years, when there were crowds upward of 50,000 at the former Olympic venue, but even the prelim final two years ago only just surpassed that number. Regular season games have become embarrassing affairs from an attendance point of view, with the television cameras showing far too many empty seats.
Not just scattered seats, either, but great big blocks of them. The fact that the Swans frequently stink up the joint doesn’t help, obviously, but nor does so many fans coming from a long way away. Having to battle the notorious Homebush Bay Drive, particularly on a Friday night, as was the case before the Hawks game, is horrendous
Then, there’s the distinct and complete lack of atmosphere at ANZ. With anything less than 60,000 people, the atmosphere is almost non-existent. It’s a shame, considering a crowd of half that would have their real home, the Sydney Cricket Ground, absolutely rocking. I mean, that joint would be quaking from the foundations up.
Nor is the surface up to standard. I’ve seen drought-stricken horse paddocks in the alpine country in better condition than the ANZ Stadium pitch. Those overhead shots of the surface are shocking, showing giant welts on the wings, where the moveable grandstands are dragged backward to make the bigger AFL ground, as opposed to the rectangular configuration needed for rugby league. Footing is always an issue – games are chock-full of embarrassing skill errors, a lot of them due to do with the surface. That, also, isn’t a good look.
Let’s face it, with the advent of the GWS Giants, who play just across the street from ANZ Stadium, the Swans don’t need to be there. They shouldn’t be there.
Particularly now when you consider that the SCG has been renovated to within an inch of its life, and it looks absolutely fantastic. The new grandstands with supreme spectator facilities ring a surface that’s always immaculate.
When the current deal with ANZ Stadium ends, the Swans need to do the right thing.
That, of course, involves turning their back on the money that the stadium is obviously going to throw their way – something rugby league clubs haven’t been able to do. They must ensure that all games are played at the SCG, where there is a genuine home ground advantage, and where the team are going to be able to take advantage of a fantastic atmosphere.
The SCG is, and always has been, a fortress. A graveyard where other teams have very little success. It is a shame that the Swans have to go out to a ground that levels the competition for a handful of times a year, playing in front of meagre crowd. Given the situation now, you can only imagine that the AFL would be very receptive to the Swans abandoning their ANZ Stadium foray.
Leave playing in the west of Sydney to the team from the west of Sydney, the team called Greater Western Sydney. I know it’s a lot of cash to turn down for a club that, even when winning premierships, isn’t exactly a giant money-spinner in an NRL-centric city, but it’s a move that has to be made. Swans fans have suffered for too long.
Let’s reclaim the SCG as our one and only home. We don’t need anywhere else.
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