The new Western Sydney Stadium will be a game-changer for the A-League, even if the Wanderers have a bit of work to do between now and next season to fill it.
The news that the Wanderers have signed a deal to play all 13 home games at Bankwest Stadium next season was the feel-good story the A-League needed.
Judging from the photos alone, the new stadium will not only be the best in the A-League but also one of the most amazing venues anywhere in the southern hemisphere.
The safe standing terrace will give Bankwest Stadium a major point of difference, but even without it the stadium has all the ingredients to become an even more formidable fortress than the old Parramatta Stadium.
Wanderers fans will get the chance to check out the new venue when their side faces English heavyweights Leeds United in a friendly on July 20. They should definitely take it.
That the Wanderers have finally announced plans to move into the venue can probably be interpreted one of two ways.
An artist’s impression of Parramatta (Western Sydney) Stadium (supplied)
Firstly, a multimillion-dollar government stadium isn’t cheap to build, and the fact that NRL side the Parramatta Eels originally baulked at the cost of the tenancy agreement probably said much about how the New South Wales government planned to claw back construction costs.
The Wanderers are no doubt being charged a pretty penny to play there as well, but the two clubs were always going to be the stadium’s anchor tenants, and the fact that the Wanderers deal has only just been announced probably had more to do with the government wanting to give the Eels some clean air to sell tickets.
Those will invariably be in short supply when the first Sydney derby at the new venue rolls around, but the best thing about the stadium is that it should be an attraction in itself.
If people can’t be bothered checking out a ground with the steepest seating rake and no doubt the best atmosphere in Australia, then perhaps they’re not football fans at all.
Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to how things at the Wanderers are currently going.
‘Not well’ would be the short answer.
Last October I wrote a column suggesting it was a myth that the Wanderers are a well-supported club and that they languished behind Sydney FC in the city’s pecking order.
Not surprisingly, Wanderers fans didn’t take too kindly to the suggestion, with a few of them more or less offering me explicit instructions on where to go.
But here’s the thing: I was right.
Before last Sunday’s dramatic 1-1 draw with Perth Glory at Spotless Stadium, the Red and Black Bloc released a statement to say they would be “present but not active” for all remaining home games at Sydney Olympic Park.
It was a reasonably eloquent statement as far as these things go, and the suggestion that A-League games continue to be “over-policed” and that stadium bans are “still not being addressed” certainly has merit.
But the problem for the RBB is that they’re the fan group equivalent of the boy who cried wolf.
Having complained about practically every single aspect of supporting a football club, everyone else started tuning them out long ago – including the Wanderers.
And there’s a lingering suspicion that more than a few fans who chanted “Wanderers ‘til I die” at the old Parramatta Stadium only to disappear in Homebush, will conspicuously reappear as soon as the new stadium opens.
That’s fine – we are in the entertainment business after all – but it hardly makes the Wanderers the best-supported club in the land.
To put it simply, Western Sydney officials will have to do a bit of legwork to reconnect with a fan-base that has disappeared into the ether.
Fortunately the new Bankwest Stadium looks so amazing it should do a lot of the hard work for them.
If the new Wanderland doesn’t get you excited about the A-League, then nothing will.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Rodger King At the time I was getting sick of our (North Melb) losing our identity by our own hand - we'd been 'selling' home games to Canberra, to Sydney and then to the Gold Coast.....what did we stand for? I just wanted a commitment.....no more girlfriends - time to get married - either on the Gold Coast or in North Melbourne. At the time it was perhaps beyond ones wildest dreams that by 2019 we'd have Arden St getting back in order to host games (VFL and AFLW), and that North as a club would have over 40K members and be generating (small) profits without pokies!! So - all good now. Point of this being - - crystal ball gazing came sometimes be the biggest waste of time!! But the other point - you can have 40K members - but - as my family of 5 illustrates - sometimes it's a stretch to even get to 5 games (with busy lives and other commitments). And North are a great argument for a 'boutique venue. A 30K stadium......hmmm.....a bit like Carlton's oval which North used to host the Eagles and Port at back before the AFL shut it down because Ian Collins (Carl boss at the time) was trying to corner the broadcast rights at that venue......which gets back to the centralised revenue that the AFL were willing to shut down an oval to retain control of!!
Pablo
Guest
Do you mean your bandwagon fans will take a break from constantly moaning about something and return ........................... until results don't go their way of coarse
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Thanks Mike. It does seem a shame that a club like the Roos have to use Docklands instead or Arden Street, their true home ground. Maybe it would of been better for them in the long run to have relocated when it was on offer.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
But why Glen? The Tigers are or were the old Balmain surely the game hasn't deteriorated so badly in the inner west that they can't draw a crowd a decent crowd to their heartland? Or has it?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Typical RBB lover, doesnt remember their hundred flares but remembers the odd one from others.
Glen
Guest
I don't live in Sydney but the past 10 or so times I have visited Sydney for various NRL and A-League matches, about half have been affected by trackwork. It is an underlying frustration which probably affects crowds in Sydney more than we anticipate.
Glen
Guest
The Tigers have been nomadic for years. 3 Leichhardt, 3 Campbelltown, plus a mix of Homebush, SFS and others. They were always going to start ditching the 'others' for the new Parramatta.
MItcher
Guest
You mad
josh
Guest
I don't need to explain how popular WSW is in Western Sydney.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Rodger King The AFL only assumed ownership last year. The contracts the 'home' clubs have with what is now Marvel stadium have been a bone of contention across much of the history of the venue. The first couple of clubs to sign on got very much friendlier deals. A club like North Melbourne at the time of 1999 were co-tenant at the MCG and didn't volunteer to go to Docklands. In the end the AFL effectively fixtured them out of the MCG. They had no bargaining power and no support from the AFL when they signed a deal there. As home club - there is a break even point - yes, the home club does benefit from the gate. I recall one week where North drew about 26K to a home game hosting the Swans and they were billed $1000. Doesn't seem so big a deal....a very minor loss - but in real terms Geelong down the road at Kardinia Park were clearing about $600K for a crowd of similar proportions. It's also why North often have the top tier shut when hosting Gold Coast or Freo etc. Reduce the game day costs. Home club controls their signage and pre-game 'entertainment' elements and the like. But yeah - it's hard when it's co-tenants facing off to feel like you've got any advantage!! Also note - the MCG - Coll and Melb are co-tenants - and play each other every Queens Birthday Monday. For about 10 years Collingwood allowed Melbourne to 'host' that match because they knew Melbourne were in financial troubles. The AFL centralise their own revenue - i.e. broadcasting and the like - however - the 'gate' (and in reality there's only so much match day cash entry anymore) is for the clubs. The major factor of course these days - maximise you revenue up front via the big membership push. It used to be the big focus was signing up members in the first month of matches - now it's so much more online and rolling over - my club North has a smidge under 33K with 3 weeks still to the first round. It's money in the bank but gee - - try to compete with Richmond with 87.5K already!!! (not quite an even playing field).
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Post_hoc Note the MCG has co-tenants and if you're going down that path, Richmond, Collingwood and Hawthorn......one might suggest 100K is about right if not potentially on the small side!! Reality though - all the crawl out from the woodwork 'members' who complain when they can't get to the biggest H&A game of the year but are no where to be seen week in week out.......how much should anyone really cater to them?? And Wise Old Elf is correct - the MCC had established the MCG and later formed the MFC who in the early days were playing in the adjacent parkland becasue in the 1860s it was a bit of a stretch to prepare and maintain a perfect cricket pitch!!! The other factor too - the Govt's over the decades have put stuff all into the MCG - (the ~$576mill to 100% rebuild the venue included only $77mill from Govt) - it's mostly funded by the MCC and by extension the AFL as the major revenue stream. So - a bit different to this Bankwest stadium being built by the Govt. Compare more so to AAMI park??
marron
Guest
The RBB have pretty much complained about 1 or 2 things since very early on. And they might sound like a broken record, but they are very similar to the things other active groups have complained about (in several cases, before their demise). Cut back on the over-zealous security and policing, and make actions match words when it comes to treatment of active fans. It's actually quite simple - if there is something that you don't like, you have a few options. 1) Try and change it. 2) Just give up and take it. 3) Just walk away. Active groups tend to try option 1, but often find that there is a brick wall in the way, and before too long are forced into one of the other options. And forgive me, but option 2 is a copout and is the reason why bad things happen in our society. Apathy, giving up because it's too hard, stuff that. But after 5 or 6 years, I can understand why people walk away. Personally I hope that getting away from the temporary home - for which options 1 and 3 applied to ALL fans, not just active ones - will give the fans the club back. The new stadium promises a bit more stability with venue management in for the long haul and thus perhaps more willing to listen. But on top of those issues, the club I knew has been gone for a few years anyway, because the club I knew was about more than a ticket to watch a football match in a sanitized corporate hellhole. I'm not talking about the organisation when I say club, i'm talking about the unpaid community around it. The whole package. And the reality is, that package included game day in a CBD in western sydney, where you could feel like you were part of something a little bigger than a method by which to sell merchandise on behalf of third parties. I recognise I'm looking at the wrong spot in the a-league, perhaps, but, there it is. And, as others have mentioned, the commitment to the footballing community of western sydney that the club (official entity) is making in the background while all this is going on - that's great. And the thing most wanderers fans are excited about aside from the stadium, I might add - even if they are only watching on TV - has been the first signs of some of the youth products coming through this season.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Christo do, you think the 'home team' on a match day actually pays the AFL a hire fee? I would of thought the AFL would take all of the gate takings and catering profits, deduct the stadium ' management fees' and either hand over any profit or send the club a bill if there is a short fall. When I was referring to a 'home ground, i was infact thinking in a traditional sense, where teams train, have their club rooms and social and functions. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen at Marvel Stadium, I may be wrong but I doubt it.
David McDaniel
Roar Pro
Not as sparse as 8,000 in a 52000 seater like I'm Brisbane
Beach
Roar Rookie
And aren't these forums so much more civilised as result? An astonishingly toxic personality.
Beach
Roar Rookie
Eastern Europe is a state of mind
Punter
Roar Rookie
I played cricket for 20 years, I follow every Test match Australia plays intensely, I been to Cricket ODI world cup matches in England, but I can't stand BBL, no skill no test, just a bit of fluff.
Waz
Roar Rookie
They had massive ticket giveaways, fantastic pricing and marketed the hell out of it. They did a good job but it was a “one off” and it’s very questionable whether this indicates a latent demand for an Auckland team
Waz
Roar Rookie
unfortunately Fadida you’re just consumed by spite when it comes to Brisbane. Its a shame.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
I'd put MV higher, otherwise I agree. Careful putting Roar near the bottom though. Roar fans are a touchy lot!