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Manuka Oval did a tremendous job in staging the latest ODI between Australia and South Africa and rightly was complemented across the media. However, the success of the event in the city should not mean that Canberra is entitled to more international events.
Canberra is a town that loves to revel in how good everything is. Locally, the biggest news item recently was when Canberra was voted the best city in the world by the OECD.
Much pride is taken in the education and living standards of the citizens, the mix of art, culture and political knowledge, and the participation of locals in sports for health and fitness. However, for a city that is affluent and with a decent population, the support of local sporting teams has been atrocious.
The Brumbies, arguably the most popular team in the ACT, only managed to attract an average crowd of 12,500, while the Raiders had the second-worst average across the three major winter codes, barely beating the new GWS in the AFL. And speaking of GWS, their three home games played in the Nation’s Capital should have done better than an average of 8,000 when they are the only game on at the 2pm Saturday time slot.
Let’s compare this to when Canberra has the opportunity to host quality international events.
Both recent cricket internationals at the redeveloped Manuka Oval saw near-capacity crowds and a great atmosphere. Regardless of the lack of quality from the A-League players involved, 20,000 still turned out to see the Socceroos lose to Kuwait back in 2009.
The Kangaroos managed to draw a capacity crowd of 25,000 at Canberra Stadium for rugby league’s showcase international against New Zealand for Anzac Day 2013. Even a Wallabies match against lowly Fiji attracted a crowd of 15,000 in the middle of winter back in 2010.
Sports administrators must look at this evidence and be mystified. On the one hand they see a city that is too busy to regularly attend sport, and on the other hear complaints from Canberrans when large crowds turn up to showcase events demanding that they receive more.
What the city needs to learn is that sports will be given to those that show up regularly. The uncertainty of drawing a crowd is what stops events being awarded to Canberra rather than a perceived biased against what is often referred to as ‘a sleepy town’. Why would a major event be shifted from Sydney or Melbourne, where you can get a guaranteed 20,000 to a game of tiddlywinks, when the alternate option is to risk it all on whether the weather will be nice and the crowd shows up in Canberra?
However if Canberra is true to form, it still can become a viable option for one-off events.
For all concerned, it is in the best interests of all to offer regular international fixtures.
A guarantee from the ACT Government to bring one national team from the major sporting codes to Canberra each year would provide the event that locals are looking for and could offer the administrators a sense of calm that the local sporting community would show up and support the teams.
In addition to this, teams from fringe sports such as baseball, hockey, and basketball should try to establish Canberra as their home field and work to promote their teams as the big event in the town.
In time, the capital of Australia can become the capital of national sport.
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