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This Saturday night, Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers clash in one of the marquee matches of the A-League season.
The game, to be played at Allianz Stadium, will be the first between the neighbours since the opening weekend Sydney derby, which drew over 60,000 fans to ANZ Stadium, smashing all kinds of attendance records.
It matters little where the two sides are on the ladder, but with the Sky Blues leading the competition and the Wanderers desperate for a win to force their way into the top six, a sell-out crowd is a given.
Meanwhile, this Saturday night, reigning Big Bash League champions Sydney Thunder travel to the Sydney Cricket Ground to face cross-town rivals the Sydney Sixers in a must-win game for the Thunder, who sit at the bottom of the ladder.
However, due to an extraordinary sequence of results, they are level on points with fourth place and are out of the top four on net run rate only, while the Sixers are two points better off in third place. The SCG is expected to be packed.
Wait, what?
How the hell was this allowed to happen? How could the two major sporting competitions of the Australian summer have come to schedule the two biggest games in this city on the same night, in the same area, at the same time?
At the best of times, the Moore Park precinct resembles a tail-gating party without the partying, as patrons struggle to arrive and leave.
And these are not the best of times.
The area is a giant construction zone, with the State Government’s mythical Light Rail development chugging along predictably late and over budget. Anzac Parade is a giant serpent, now winding along its previous straight run, with a 40km/h speed limit. Bus lanes are closed and buses travelling in any direction do the familiar Moore Park crawl in among the cars.
The traditional march by Wanderers fans from Central Station up to the stadium will be an exercise in practicality this Saturday as it will likely be the most efficient means of getting in and out of the place. Thunder fans might join them – the Red, Black and Lime Bloc?
The schedules for the BBL and the A-League were released on virtually the same day back in June 2016, so it’s not as if one competition had a head start on the January 14 date.
I don’t remember the scheduling causing consternation at the time, after all, it was six months into the future.
However, surely there is someone from the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust who is responsible for event organisation and who might have peered at the date and thought, “Jeez, that’s not going to work…”
Perhaps the BBL and the A-League are relishing the chance to go head-to-head to claim some sort of moral victory over the other in terms of crowd size, even though the two competitions have about as much in common as Donald Trump and good sense.
If that’s the case, they’re not factoring in those fans who will stay away due to the impending hassle of attending. While my evidence is admittedly sketchy, I know of at least one fanatical Wanderers family who are contemplating watching the A-League at a pub, and a family of BBL fans who won’t be exercising their members tickets to be at the SCG.
In this era of constant chest-beating by all the major sporting codes about numbers, ratings and who’s damn well best, it might be pertinent to remember that there are people who might have liked to have gone to both games.
It is possible to enjoy football and cricket, just not this Saturday night.
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