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The 2000 Olympics in Sydney saw the creation of an Olympic precinct that was second to none. The facilities spread from the Aquatic Centre to the Athletics Centre to the pinnacle of the lot – Stadium Australia, now known as ANZ Stadium.
Over the past 14 years we have seen some incredible events at Homebush, from the “best Olympics ever” to numerous NRL grand finals and a plethora of sporting events in between. But there has been one consistent call when it comes to ANZ Stadium – it should not be an AFL ground.
Saturday afternoon saw the Sydney Swans take on the Fremantle Dockers in one of the biggest AFL games to have ever been played in Sydney. The Swans, as minor premiers, took out the game with star man Buddy Franklin proving the difference. They are now looking to deliver a second premiership to Sydney in three years.
Living in Sydney, I am of the opinion that there is no better live sport at the moment compared to that of a Swans game. Earlier in June, the game against Port Adelaide at the SCG with 41,317 people had the best atmosphere I’ve ever witnessed at an AFL game.
What concerns me is the contractual obligation that the Sydney Swans have with playing games out at ANZ Stadium. The first point I want to raise is that now the Greater Western Sydney Giants have entered the competition, there is no longer a need for the Swans to be playing games out in that region.
Besides South Melbourne, the SCG is and always will be the Swans’ spiritual home. While this may be harsh on Swans fans who only go to games at Homebush, my second point will address this further.
The surface of ANZ Stadium is consistently criticised for being not only patchy, but unsafe for top level AFL. With so many different sports played on the field, in particular rugby league, this tears up the grass. For a sport that is so reliant on running and athleticism, it can be dangerous.
Not only this, but on numerous occasions pieces of metal, yes, pieces of metal were found on the surface during games. While I understand the urgency with which they have to change field structures from a Friday night NRL game to a Saturday night AFL game, there is no excuse for that sort of oversight.
Especially when they have a ground like the SCG, which is used for AFL only (except on the odd occasion the Rabbitohs play a game there).
The one point that must be made is the capacity that ANZ is able to hold. With more than 80,000 seats to be filled, that sort of atmosphere would be incredible. Every year the NRL manage to sell the venue out when it comes to State of Origin and the grand final, yet even for big games the Swans never quite get to full capacity.
The best game I’ve ever witnessed was about 70,000 against Collingwood in 2007 where even the nosebleed sections were rocking. For me though, it still didn’t match the 42,000 at the SCG. Whether that was because of the Buddy magic or the boutique venue – I think it was the latter.
There were only about 35,000 fans at Saturday’s preliminary final match. I believe that the SCG should hold all Swans finals at the very least. While I don’t mind the odd game at Homebush this should be during the home-and-away season only.
Just think back to Nick Davis at the SCG against Geelong in 2005 and how great AFL can be, when at the SCG.
Editor’s note: ANZ Stadium strongly reject the claim of “numerous” pegs being found on the playing surface. There was one peg found on the field, on one occasion. We have also changed the initial crowd figure of the Port Adelaide fixture earlier this year to reflect the exact number, which is below the figure stated when this article was published.
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