Spotless Stadium was anything but on Friday night – and the Western Sydney Wanderers would be within their rights to rescind their contract with the venue.
The Wanderers are holding a media conference at 11am this morning, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they moved their W-League and A-League double-header on December 7th to an alternative venue.
The biggest problem with the state of the pitch in their 2-0 loss to the Newcastle Jets on Friday night was not that it was virtually unplayable, it’s the fact that for many stadium operators, the condition of the playing surface is irrelevant anyway.
Like it or not, there are plenty in Australian sport who view the A-League as a second-class competition – and that includes a handful of stadium operators.
There’s no point insisting that football needs a better surface to play on than other codes because the unspoken reaction tends to be: ‘who cares, it’s only soccer?’
Perhaps if the stands were full at A-League games, clubs would have more leverage to bargain with.
But when it comes to sharing multi-purpose venues, the reality is that most A-League clubs are simply viewed as just another tenant.
Little wonder there was so much fanfare around Sydney FC’s first game at Jubilee Stadium in Kogarah yesterday – even if Sky Blues fans won’t want to relive the 2-1 defeat to Melbourne Victory.
The ground looked a treat with more than 19,000 fans packed in, the playing surface was pristine and everyone on social media was quick to proclaim that all the A-League ever needed was boutique venues to draw a crowd.
But you know what else is a boutique venue? NIB Stadium.
Yet the ground was only half-full as Perth Glory swept to the top of the table with a 3-2 win over the Central Coast Mariners.
Why? Because it takes a lot more than just a boutique venue to draw fans through the gate.
If it didn’t, the Mariners would be the best-supported team in the A-League.
And Glory have some of the highest ticket prices in the competition – in part because owner Tony Sage has to try and claw back some of the costs for playing at the stadium.
It reportedly costs Glory more than $100,000 per game to play at NIB Stadium, with Sage having been at loggerheads with the Western Australian government over stadium costs for years.
(Photo by Ross Swanborough/Getty Images)
And what Perth have now is a decent-sized rectangular stadium they’ll never fill thanks to a combination of high ticket prices and fan apathy.
What the A-League desperately needs is for clubs to control their own destiny, and the first club that builds their own stadium will effectively monopolise the competition.
The new FFA board should give preference to expansion bids that plan to do exactly that – which surely puts the Western Melbourne Group at an advantage.
As it stands, A-League clubs not only regularly give up the chance to play on decent pitches, they also effectively generate no income from food and drink sales as well.
At least Sydney FC managed to turn Jubilee Stadium into something akin to a home ground yesterday, although the litmus test will arguably come in a fortnight when they host Wellington Phoenix at the same venue.
The jury is still out on Steve Corica’s side after they dominated possession but barely created any clear-cut chances in their 2-1 defeat to Victory.
Perth Glory, meanwhile, rode their luck in their last-gasp 3-2 win over the Mariners.
Defeat was tough on the visitors – who probably deserved at least a point from another battling display.
But the real talk of the round was Friday night’s playing surface and the fact it surely endangered players’ livelihoods.
Western Sydney’s stadium saga has descended into a nightmare. Unless they do something about it, this could end up becoming yet another wasted campaign.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
My memory is that the Canberra teams were not just name changes, but different clubs altogether. The Canberra Arrows was a different club to Canberra Olympic which was a different club to Canberra Cosmos.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Gold Coast stadium is in Robina in the suburban heartland of g c. It is a difficult ground to drive to unfortunately.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
The same in nsw. Many massive crowds pre nsl
Mister Football
Roar Guru
I don't think the Gold Coast stadium was an oval. It's just a little bit far out and fans didn't go to games in large enough numbers (in fact, attendances were nothing short of atrocious).
jbinnie
Guest
Con - thank you for the correction but I think you missed the point I was trying to make. There was much name changing went on,Fitzroy weren't the only one.Canberra had 3 or 4 different name changes, but even as Heidelberg they did drop out of the league in seasons 1988 and 1989 and there are many people around who consider this as a form of relegation for they came back in in 1990. The truth is it was becoming harder and harder for these clubs to raise working capital and as an economy tightened so did the social club' funding upon who many depended, becoming harder and harder to source from. The Hakoah club annual report points out that in season 1985 the social club had forked out $300,000 for the football team and were not prepared to do that any longer. Hakoah left the NSL in season 1986/87. and remember they were the most successful team in the NSL up to that point in time. There is little doubt there is, as you say, some support around for former NSL clubs but for you to mention an 11,000 crowd that attended an FFA Cup game as proof, is a bit tongue in cheek, for you know as well as I do that the average FFA Cup crowd is probably around 1,500 on a good night, but that is nothing to be sorry about,the FFA Cup is an excellent idea.. I checked my records and found that in season '98 Heidelberg averaged around 5000 to their home games and in season '84, (Yankos etc),they were averaging around 4,500 per home game. The point I was trying to make to Leonard was the fact that he appeared to blame all the trouble that existed in the NSL was due to the efforts of one man. You don't think that do you?. Cheers jb.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
con many on here would not be aware that back in the 60s and 70s, pre NSL days, there'd be a couple of games every weekend in the VSL getting decent crowds. In fact, one VSL game used to be broadcast every weekend on FTA TV pre NSL.
con tripodis
Guest
all those silly ethletic non used facilities will all go once south show what crowds they get the council will give south what they want they can easially go to 15000 crowds as they used to get av of ten thousand easily so now with so much media thru the summer and tv ,radio they will fill it up and be asking for more space
con tripodis
Guest
wrong mate fiztroy did not drop out as it was fiztroy alexander and when they got a lease on Olympic village they moved there and changed their name to hiedleberg alexander, great team, great players like jim tansey, chalie yankos gary cole ,captains of the socceroos , a great defensive and counter attack team or and the got 11000 at an ffa cup game two years ago so sorry to say but the support for the old nsl teams is still there
con tripodis
Guest
not all stadiums are good stadiums the gold coast suffered from a very bad stadium first it was a oval groung good for cricket bad for soccer second it took an hour to walk around the entrance from the car park because that mad man they had as owner was toscunchy to open all etrances pity as gold coast could have worked but fell on bad hands and brisbane would still have their derbies big pity
con tripodis
Guest
u are correct they will do well back close there area ,but you would reckon the ffa would see this problems wsw are having and when there handing out licences to teams without stadiums they need to give the a licences on condition and a time frame of three years to get in, build their stadiums and get it right than come in
con tripodis
Guest
for all new team bids and the planning and pushing to create new teams and develope new stadiums the long term vision is quite a low bar 15000 capacity big deal ,that just shows you how they lack confidence in their own bids and how our sport is thinking so small, if they say south east team 11 are throwing out figures well there is 2million people in the rigion there are 30,000 reg players than why only build a 15000 cap stadium smells of no confidence boys in 1975 i went to a state league match at olimpic park 25000 spectetors south melb and fiztroy alexandra ha ha bit that a league no fox news no media no nothing
Freddie
Guest
The A-League is only a few thousand per game less than the NRL, which has infinitely longer history, a TV deal that dwarfs the A-League, and has wall-to-wall coverage on the Eastern Seaboard through almost every media outlet. The A-League has none of those advantages, and still draws comparable crowds.
clipper
Roar Rookie
It's funny how the NRL is getting hot under the collar saying they'll move the GF out of Sydney - as if they'd ever do that - risk sliding even more in Sydney and losing 40k worth of ticket sales!
clipper
Roar Rookie
Not so much TV ratings, although they are slowly improving, but certainly attendances, especially the Swans.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
But even that is not without its controversy, given that Sassuolo effectively kicked Reggiana out of their own stadium. Sassuolo itself lies around 20 kilometres from Reggio Emilia - where some locals believe they've moved in by stealth thanks to Reggiana's perpetual struggles. It's not just Australia that struggles with stadium issues.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Juventus is one of three Serie A clubs which own their own stadium, the others being Sassuolo and Udinese. Juve's stadium only has a capacity of 41,000, and its average attendances are nothing to write home about (the club is far more popular outside of Turin than it is within Turin). Juve was always a huge club, it hasn't become big in the past decade.
jbinnie
Guest
Leonard- Don't know how old you are or what your in-depth knowledge of the NSL is,but the latter part of this statement of yours raises huge doubts as to your credibility. You go on to say the HAL is a "rich old man's (Lowy) competition which deliberately destroyed the long standing NSL". This part of your statement is actually utter rubbish and shows a distinct lack of knowledge as to how the NSL was run,and by whom,and why it failed.. Here are some figures for you to digest. 1977 - the NSL started, a 14 team competition,entry fee $50,000. 1978 - First casualty ,Mooroolbark, replaced with Newcastle. 1979 - Second casualties ,Fitzroy, & Western Subs. replaced by Apia & Heidelberg. 1980 - One casualty,Sydney Olympic.replaced by Blacktown. 1981 - No casualties but the league increased to 16 teams by including Preston and Woolongong. 1982 -Casualty Blacktown dropped out. 1983 - 16 team league remained in place. We now get to the most farcical decision ever made in Australian Soccer Federation history,the creation of 2 separate leagues. Overnight we had our top comp. peopled by an extra 8 clubs and this was to extend by 2003 to 20 "new" clubs for as the failure rate increased so did the league return to it's 14 team configuration,in fact on a few occasions was reduced to 12 and 13 participants. Now you are asking us to believe that all this coming and going of teams (around 40) who participated in the NSL was the fault of a man who had not been active in the game since 1984,ie 20 years.!!!! You are kidding are you not? Cheers jb.
reuster75
Roar Rookie
That may be true in the short-term but long term any benefits from that are outweighed by the fact that by only renting they will struggle to make any money. The TV deals aren't ever going to be on the scale that the EPL gets whereby stadium income for them is largely irrelevant so money generated from stadium is a big deal. Look at Serie A - Juventus are the only club to my knowledge who own their own ground, all the others lease them from local councils and this is in part why such a huge financial gulf exists between Serie A and the EPL. Fans want to feel part of something, a place they can call their own but that can only happen with clubs owning their own grounds. As Simon Hill often points out whenever he goes to commentate a Sydney FC home game for example there are barely any visible signs that there is a game is on. When the Matildas played at Penrith recently there were signs all around the ground for the Penrith Panthers. At AAMI park during the off-season the Melbourne Victory club shop isn't even there, it's replaced by one for the Melbourne Storm.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
You're right, it was always going to be a difficult decision, not easy to be without a home for 3 seasons. But ultimately, it's a question of short term pain for long term gain, I have little doubt that the Wanderers will flourish once they move back to Parra.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
The Wanderers should be congratulated for what they are doing within the community. They are a valued member of the local community, and can proudly boast a valued position in the local sporting landscape. Even in the examples you mention above, I note that the Swans and Swifts share the training facility, which is a massive boon for womens' sport, and in the case of the Giants' new facility (well, it was new back in 2014), I note that it was partly funded by the AFL, and it too is used by their netball team and womens football team. It's very important that we look after womens' sport. We should all applaud these developments in raising the level of womens' sport in this country.