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.
clipper
Guest
Nothing wrong with ccl, seafood buffet is pretty good, but it would be nice to have a more boutique club if it was developed along the lines suggested.
Michael
Guest
You may not be offended by this information but I for one, am outraged and would expect the FFA to investigate this situation thoroughly and seek remedial action for professional damages from the AFL through the court system!!
Michael
Guest
It will be the ONLY time in their sheltered lives that they will ever be able to experience what a TRUE derby atmosphere actually looks AND sounds like
Michael
Guest
So the reality is that you are NO fan of football at all and never have been.
Michael
Guest
" or any trouble between soccer & cricket fans" Or perhaps it should have been written as trouble between football and cockraoch fans.
clipper
Guest
mds1970 - I've been around that area and it is as you say, very picturesque, but Balmain (and especially Birchgrove) is no longer, demographically, a league area. The irony about the whole Birchgrove saga is that league went in fighting against the Aussie Rules club and completely ignored the Football submission, which wanted more time and in the washout got more time at leagues expense. Perhaps if they had spent more time on this angle they may have ended up with the same or more time. It's interesting to read all the submissions - don't know if they're still on the council website, but the league response to it all is to say 'we don't want AFL there' - that's it - no studies, no stats etc. Although I will say the AFL response was flawed with participation numbers, whether it was a mistake or an exaggeration, it did give ammunition to it's regular foes.
Josh
Guest
But but but the AFL just wants to coexist in Western Sydney don't they ? They are exactly as everyone in Western Sydney sees them.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Derby with only a handful of tickets left to go. The venue will likely start selling tickets in the members area soon to reduce the effect of most of its members attending the cricket next door.
mds1970
Roar Guru
In actual fact, the local AFL never asked for Birchgrove Oval. They put in an expression of interest when the playing fields were opened up at Callan Park (across the road from Leichhardt Oval), and ended up getting that. But when it was being opened up, someone in the Council suggested giving the AFL Birchgrove instead of Callan Park. Then that stink blew up, and it ended up with the AFL getting what they'd originally asked for. On a complete tangent, am I the only person on The Roar who has ever actually been to Birchgrove Oval? Except for the playing arena, the rest of the area is an off-lead dog park. A good friend of mine takes her dog there regularly; I've driven them there several times. One of the most picturesque sporting grounds I've seen, spectacular Harbour views; although its days as anything more than a grassroots venue are long gone. But there's a plaque which was restored a couple of years ago marking that a double-header was played there to start rugby league in 1908 - Souths beat Norths and then Balmain beat Wests. (Ironically, all these years later, Norths are Souths' reserves and Balmain and Wests are a merged club). It's got a turf cricket pitch. But there's a fairly sharp cliff from the houses on the western side to the oval, which I would guess has significant water run-off when it rains. Without anything more to go on than guesswork, I'm thinking it probably gets closed by the Council quite often. I've got an idea for a series of articles featuring old sporting grounds in Sydney - I might have to bring my camera next time I go there and get some pics.
punter
Guest
Fair enough mate. Sometimes I wonder what my kids (now young adults) thought when I slid across the room on my knees (not carpeted) when I thought Timmy scored that (offside) goal against Chile, only to fall into a heap when it was called offside. Who is this crazy 50 year old I call Dad? No light hearted entertainment there. Hey Kaks, did I tell you who are top of the table?
apaway
Roar Guru
Agreed, KP. That is bloody-mindedness on the part of the AFL, and I hope it backfires on them savagely.
KP
Guest
This isn't the only scheduled cock up big sporting double header this year in Sydney. The morons at AFL house decided to schedule Sydney vs GWS on the same night as Arsenal vs WSW. And yes I'm calling AFL house morons because the Arsenal fixture has been out for 9months. Plus if you follow AFL at all you'd know the guys running the show are morons, articulate, greedy morons. I genuinely love both sports and was hoping to come up for our yearly footy trip with some mates and watch a Sydney/GWS game and the Arsenal game but now I'll only be heading to the Arsenal one. Why can't the guys running the sports let us enjoy other sports as well??
BrainsTrust
Guest
The biggest issue will be before not after, any chaos will be be caused by all those arriving by car, if enough attempt to come by car, they could gridlock the entire area.If they grid lock the entire area the buses will go at a crawl then you will have a massive queue of people waiting for the buses. FOr those who are not bothered by walking I can see no problems. However I can see a lot of people arriving late or not at all by car or if they wait for the buses. AFter a while those in the grid lock will give up going to the game, and the traffic in the area will lessen anyway at night. I presume they will be using a lot of buses and a lot of gates, along with traffic control so getting away by bus I don't think will be a problem. With the overhead bridge straight off the SCG there will be no problem leaviing that way by foot.
Josh
Guest
A cricket derby, that's the funniest thing I've seen all day. They're both called Sydney.
Al
Guest
We (Football derby) will be called the loud neighbours on Saturday night. They will probably hear us in SCG
Truth Bomb
Guest
Maybe get fuss to do a voxpop at the next business luncheon?
Chris
Guest
Hey AR no problem. Will keep the torches burning as long as AFL employs dirty tactics to take over where they are not wanted :)
DH
Guest
I would suggest that the majority of MVFC and Storm supporters are AFL members of a club as well. Most of the ones I know are, but that's probably because I've known them since before Storm and MVFC even existed.
Kaks
Roar Guru
I take it for what it is, light hearted entertainment. It's nice to switch off sometimes and just enjoy something that doesnt take it self seriously.
peeeko
Roar Guru
Caltex, great attitude