This week’s news that the Macarthur Bulls will train at Fairfield Showground is the latest bizarre twist in the short history of the A-League’s 12th club.
The Bulls were originally born out of a merger between two rival bids, namely United For Macarthur and South-West Sydney FC. The two bid teams joined together and won a licence in December 2018, with their debut set to commence next season.
There have always been rumours the Bulls were puppeted by Sydney United power brokers including former president Sam Krslovic.
The Sydney United influence at Macarthur is strong with former player Ante Milicic being the club’s foundation coach.
(Photo by Power Sport Images/Getty Images)
Sydney United played in the former NSL and have a strong Croatian following and are a stone’s thrown from Fairfield Showground.
One of the selling points for the Bulls was their home facilities at the lavish Western Sydney Uni campus in Campbelltown.
The Bulls were supposedly going to train there before a new complex was built for them. They will play their games at Campbelltown Stadium although that must now surely be in doubt.
The move to Fairfield for training will raise many eye brows, particularly at FFA headquarters where James Johnson and his board will be concerned already since the Bulls didn’t pay their latest licence fee instalment.
The Bulls’ financial woes have left many other expansion bidders furious.
The Bulls got into the A-League ahead of Canberra, Wollongong and Southern Sydney. The Southern Sydney bid had a rich Chinese consortium set to invest heavily into the club. Canberra and Wollongong have been fan favourites for a long time.
It is also unknown what is happening with the club’s Indigenous program, the Charles Perkins Academy.
The academy signed former Socceroos coach Frank Farina as head of their program. Farina is one of the few Indigenous footballers who played for the Socceroos.
The Bulls have had a number of changes in their back office with Archie Fraser, Rabieh Krayem, Ken Stead, Lang Walker and Neil Favager all departing the club in the past 18 months.
Walker’s loss is especially telling with the billionaire funding the Bulls’ first $2 million licence instalment.
Time will tell how much the Bulls engage with Macarthur but the move to Fairfield is bizarre for sure.
Sydneysideliner
Roar Rookie
They may still have fans in the west, but did the club ever feel at home there? Have a look at how many forays they've made out there to engage with fans and you'll have your answer about who they truly represent. You can't deny WSW's early success came out of fans not feeling a connection to Sydney FC, and the same can be said of WSW and their negligible history with SW Sydney.
At work
Roar Rookie
Maybe they've chosen Fairfield because it's more convenient for the players, considering they will live all around Sydney, training at Fairfield on a daily basis makes travel times better...
Tom
Guest
*north west
Tom
Guest
Nah, Sydney FC is still a team for all of Sydney, we've got fans from north, south, east, west, training base in the north east, current home stadiums in the south east. Wanderers and Macarthur will always be small teams compared to Sydney FC.
Sydneysideliner
Roar Rookie
My thoughts exactly. Second Bull-bashing article in a week. Everything's "bizarre" and "raising eyebrows" apparently. I'm sure SFC fans were in uproar when WSW dared to set up base in metropolitan Sydney and now WSW can apparently lay claim to the entire western half of the city unchallenged. Fact is SW Sydney is among the fastest growing parts of the country. They will double in size by 2040, about the population of Wollongong. They're not just entitled to have another team there, it's a good idea that they do.
Admiral Ackbar
Guest
The same thing was said about the Wanderers when they were starting up.
Marcel
Guest
Lift your game Eds...this article is nothing more than a petty hatchet job from someone with a very clear agenda against the Bulls. SFC's training ground at Macquarie U is closer to Parramatta than it is to Moore Park...what are we to make of that?
Glen
Guest
They are called Mcarthur so they should bloody stay in Macarthur. At least pretend to represent the area. If they ever branch out beyond Macarthur the proposed Liverpool Stadium sharing with the Bulldogs would be a safer bet than Fairfield. What is the point of being in Fairfield?
chris
Guest
All the kids around Fairfield wear WSW gear. Will be interesting as it is on the border of being west and south west. Its a huge area and can easily accommodate both.
Coastyboi
Guest
Another possibility would be to upgrade Marconi Stadium at Bossley Park.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
It's directly South of Parra, I would have thought it's around the dividing line between the two clubs, not that there is a strict border or anything.
Coastyboi
Guest
Fairfield seems like WSW territory, but, more power to the Bulls if they can muscle their way through the back door. Sneaky, sneaky.
Nick Symonds
Guest
FAIRFIELD CITY CHAMPION, 2017: Fairfield City to unveil plans for boutique football stadium for A-League expansion - With one grandstand already in place, at least one more large covered stand will be built alongside the sideline of the football-specific venue, while earthmovers will create standing hills behind both goals. The designs will include options for the venue to expand to a larger, boutique, all-seated stadium with a capacity between 15,000 and 20,000. Fairfield hired Complete Urban to provide costings for the first stage of the new complex, which is the first step towards creating a venue suitable to attract a professional football team. - If we get an A-League team operating out of the showground, it would give the whole south-west Sydney region a huge identity," Fairfield City Mayor Frank Carbone said. - Three local football clubs Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC, SD Raiders FC and Sydney United 58 FC have already signaled their intentions to apply for licenses to enter the proposed National B-League. - Fairfield put forward an option to the FFA to use the showground venues as a potential "home of football". - "For the first time you have a council coming out saying we want to develop a sporting complex in south-west Sydney and the paramount sport is football," Mayor Carbone said. - https://www.fairfieldchampion.com.au/story/4549296/fairfield-city-to-unveil-plans-for-boutique-football-stadium-for-a-league-expansion/ NOTE: Frank Carbone is still the current mayor of Fairfield
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Sour grapes from losing bidders? So what if they are training at Fairfield. This is the system we currently have, a handful off people call for bids, and they sell a license to someone, the losers hang around for another opportunity to buy a license. If nothing else, it helps boost the value of existing licenses. But it's definitely anti-football. Anyway, whoever is behind Macarthur won the bid, the people behind the license have changed, they want to train somewhere else. I reckon they can train wherever they want, that was hardly a condition of the license. If it ends up being a way for an old NSL club to find a way back in, I say good on them.
pete4
Guest
I doubt it Popovic was WSW foundation coach. Rudan was Western Utd foundation coach and Milicic now Macarthur foundation coach sure they all played in the same Sydney United team but very long shot to suggest the club is somehow involved. Walker is still the major sponsor of the club for next 5 years
Phil Gg
Guest
Strange they move out to Fairfield. What’s for them out there when they are MacArthur