The NSW Waratahs will not move their Saturday night Super Rugby fixturing hosting the Blues away from Allianz Stadium despite exploring the possibility earlier today.
With the A-League Grand Final to be played at the ground, and concerns existing over the quality of the surface, the Waratahs were understood to be looking at the possibility of moving their match to another ground so as to leave Allianz Stadium in the best condition possible for Sunday’s match.
However, the Waratahs released a statement on Tuesday afternoon confirming that the match would remain at Allianz Stadium.
“NSW Waratahs can confirm that Saturday’s Super Rugby game against the Auckland Blues will remain at Allianz Stadium,” read the statement.
“While consideration was given to the request made by NSW Government late on Monday 1 May, out of interest for the NSW Waratahs fans and supporters as well as other stakeholders, the game will remain at the Tahs’ home ground, Allianz Stadium.”
FFA CEO David Gallop said effort would be made to reduce the impact of the pitch on Sunday’s match.
“We appreciate the efforts of Venues NSW, the Minister and the Waratahs to explore the option of moving Saturday night’s rugby match,” said Gallop.
“These things are always more complicated than perhaps first envisaged. The fact is our Grand Final deserves a world-class surface and the traffic on Allianz Stadium makes this a challenge.
“The standard of the pitch last Saturday night had a noticeably detrimental effect on the play and we implore the Trust to work hard on minimising the impact of the rugby match to ensure the Hyundai A-League Grand Final is played on a surface that befits the occasion and the stature of the Grand Final as one of Australia’s showpiece sporting events.”
Victory’s Daniel Georgievski was previously outspoken in his assessment of the turf.
“You can’t be playing a semi-final, and now a final, on a ground like I saw on Saturday night,” he said about Sydney’s home ground.
“It’s dreadful.
“It’s harsh words, but it’s the truth.
“For AFL grand finals, NRL grand finals, the pitch is always perfect, we’ve got to have the same.”
Perry Bridge
Guest
#punter I am greatly relieved that on this thread (unless there are 2 'punter/Punter' roarers??) that you have read the comment critically and sensibly and stuck to the topic. Anyway - at the end of the day - both teams get a turn each at each end and so it evens out.
Cool N Cold
Guest
Nemesis, Why non-sense? Did I say adjust? Both Berisha and Bobo are good in high balls . Are you really an A-league fan? Why nonsense? Why a good coach would not do something to suit situations? Are you really an A-league fan? Do you know Berisha has always been better than many A-league strikers in high ball? You are non-sense actually. Do you know how tall Cahill and Archie Thompson are? Did you say "He’s only been on the field in 19 matches for an average of 43 minutes per game"? Has he played at all? Why someone who has played 19 matches for an average of 43 minutes should not play? Who is non-sense? You are non-sense. Go to watch AFL. How can you be a soccer fan? How can you be a MV fan? Nemesis, you should go back to school and get a dictionary to learn the word called "humour".
Nemesis
Guest
What lot of nonsense. Victory has never played 4-4-2 under Muscat. The structure generally is: 4-2-3-1, or 4-1-2-3. Victory doesn't have any tall players in attack, so it would be ridiculous to send in high balls to the forwards. Berisha's headed goal was one of the few times Victory has scored from a header this season. Austin has hardly played this season. He's only been on the field in 19 matches for an average of 43 minutes per game. Does he have good aerial technique? If he does, he's never used in whilst playing for Victory. Maybe, if you watched more Aleague you would be better informed.
Cool N Cold
Guest
No problem. Both MV and Sydney FC have good forwards, BoBo, Holosko, Austin and Berisha. They have good aerial technique. Adjust a bit. Both teams play 4-4-2 and ask the mid-fielders to keep sending long high balls to the two forwards, like the style of play in English soccer in the 70s.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
People in better positions than me might be able to answer this question: Why has the SCG Trust overlooked the turf problems at Allianz Stadium and not investigated options for a better quality/type/mix of grass and synthetic similar to what AAMI Park in Melbourne has? Same goes for Suncorp in Brisbane. Sydney FC as a tenant brings the biggest crowds to that stadium each year while also providing a tenant through the summer months when the stadium would be sitting idle otherwise. In spite of that they are always and continuously shafted with the surface provided on game day as soon as the Super Rugby and NRL seasons kick off in February each year. The Waratahs will be lucky to get 10K through the turnstiles and will tear the surface up beyond repair which is a massive disappointment for the biggest A-League game of the year.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Swans are playing at the SCG on Sunday.
punter
Guest
Not often I agree with an AFL fanboy, but you are correct. While I agree the A-League GF deserves a perfect pitch, the fact that we do not know where the GF will be played until 1 week prior to GF in the middle of other codes seasons, well, this is FFA's issue.
Sydneysider
Guest
Rugby can't fill out ANZ for the biggest rugby game on the planet - Bledisloe Cup. Nice try SHM.
Perry Bridge
Guest
Daniel G from the Victory saying “For AFL grand finals, NRL grand finals, the pitch is always perfect, we’ve got to have the same.” Ahh.....what's he getting at there?? Surely he realises that through September the MCG has no other activity other than the AFL - BUT, and it's a BIG BUT - - the Grand Final venue is FIXED. During September - the old Stadium Australia largely has only NRL matches (used to run the risk of a Swans AFL finals match too. But again - the Grand Final venue is FIXED. Knowing the venue from year to year allows the venue to be managed specifically. The A-League (and the Sheffield Shield) doesn't have that luxury. So - you get what you get, and fit in where you can. At least this time people aren't bleating about the AFL and grander conspiracies - - what instead we see is D.Gallop making a reasonable statement of "These things are always more complicated than perhaps first envisaged." So - I hope this will see the end of the usual anti-AFL chorus when there's scheduling issues in Melbourne in future??? #Ren - we saw previously that soccer would try tentatively book the multiple venues around the country - however - that wouldn't provide them exclusive access across the full weekend - - rather - - it might provide them a 'slot'. A bit like a landing slot at an international airport. So - at Etihad for example the AFL might have a Friday night game and a Sunday game and leave the Saturday free for the FFA. There's realistically very little hope of the FFA GF having a totally clean stadium in Sydney or Melbourne simply because it's smack bang in the middle of the AFL and NRL seasons and Super Rugby too.
Ian
Guest
Nice rant where you can't even finish sentences. Football isn't 4th by the way. And the qualifying team gets to play the GF at their home ground. Sorry to put you in your place.
Eden
Guest
The A-league seem to want the cake and eat it too. If you want to give the grand final to a home team so that it gets all the benefits that entails, then you have to pay a price...book out multiple venues with clauses, negotiate with your rivals and fork out the compensation. Not many leagues would leave so much to chance. Most cup or finals based leagues have venues booked at least a year in advance
mds1970
Roar Guru
Of course the Waratahs weren't going to move their game. It was a completely unreasonable request. They'd booked the ground months ago. Advertised the game. Sold tickets, corporate boxes & ground signage. It would have been a logistical nightmare to reallocate those sales at short notice. And why would they do it just so a ground can lie vacant to help a rival code? It's no surprise they ruled it out. The only surprise was it took all day to do it - any other sporting organisation would have killed the idea within 30 seconds of it being suggested.
ren
Guest
i dont understand why the a-league wouldn't shift their game. you can't expect the earth to move for you on a week's notice. I can't recall specifics but soccer has form doing this in Australia. Just because you're not as organized as the other leagues doesn't grant you a free pass. Soccer should be booking any of the prospective grounds for the GF months in advance- basically as soon as the fixture is done, especially when you're not the sole/primary tenant.
SmithHatesMaxwell
Guest
Why don't Soccer Australia move the game to ANZ Stadium? 80k capacity v 45k capacity. Can't soccer fill an 80k seat stadium for the biggest match of the year? Soccer is the least attended of the 4 football codes in Australia. Need to know their place.
Robbie
Guest
The problem is the FFA didn't know where the Grand Final was going to be played until a week before the game. The AFL and NRL Grand Final venues are booked in before the season starts and they're off limits for the week before the game, maybe something for the A-League to consider
Kevin
Guest
Can they play at the SCG?
Xavier Smith
Roar Rookie
That would be ideal, but can that apply to Etihad Stadium, Adelaide Oval and Suncorp for the entire weekend as well? It would be quite a logistical challenge to manage the shifts for each of the other codes
Waz
Guest
You just can't move a game with five days notice. You just can't.
Benjamin Conkey
Editor
It's going to be a tough ask for the groundstaff to have the ground in top condition. If it rains before or during the Waratahs game it's going to be impossible. They needed some kind of clause in this arrangement that IF Sydney FC made the grand final then they had exclusive use of Allianz for the weekend.