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Opinion

The best atmospheres of any code is the A-Leagues' biggest selling point

9th October, 2022
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Expert
9th October, 2022
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There was a moment before Robert Mak scored, when if you squinted through driving rain lit up by the Allianz Stadium floodlights, you could have sworn you were watching a game in Europe.

Melbourne Victory’s 3-2 win over Sydney FC at the new Allianz Stadium was exactly the start to the new season the A-League Men needed.

Not because the football was of an especially high quality, or because new foreign signings like Mak, Joe Lolley and Nani all had an influence on the game.

No, the reason Saturday night’s instant classic was must-watch football was because the 21,000 fans inside Sydney’s glittering new stadium were fully invested.

How could they not be?

On a night when one of the round’s other fixtures had already been postponed due to the inclement weather, fans of the A-League’s two best-supported clubs turned Allianz Stadium into a cacophony of noise.

It was the sort of atmosphere you experience at games in Europe – and exactly what the Australian leagues should be advertising.

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And the febrile vibe around the ground undoubtedly inspired the players, as former Sky Blues midfielder Josh Brillante side-footed home the winner late on to secure a gripping come-from-behind victory for the visitors.

Credit must go to the hordes of travelling Victory supporters, who turned their corner of the new stadium into a wall of non-stop noise.

Their support was more than matched by the 20,000 fans in Sky Blue, who turned out under torrential skies to christen the new stadium.

It’s a stadium every away fan in the competition should try and visit at least once this season, because it’s such a demonstrable upgrade on the old Sydney Football Stadium.

John Aloisi hoists the A-League trophy

A-League fans. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)

For all the talk about football rarely getting a fair go in Australia, Allianz Stadium could hardly have been more welcoming in rolling out the sky blue carpet for its new co-tenants.

Yes, there were some teething problems – certain sightlines were less than perfect, while the much-vaunted roof didn’t exactly keep every spectator dry amid cyclonic second-half conditions.

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But having attended the game on Saturday night, I’m confident in stating the new stadium is suddenly the best venue in the A-League.

I also happened to attend the NRL grand final last weekend, and the difference in atmospheres between the two occasions was stark.

The build-up to the NRL decider was impressive, but as is always the case with any rugby league game, you could hear a pin drop the second the action kicked off – and for the next 80 minutes.

It didn’t stop Daily Telegraph columnist Phil Rothfield from comically claiming the NRL decider produced “the loudest atmosphere” inside the Olympic stadium since Cathy Freeman won gold, conveniently overlooking the fact the Socceroos downed Uruguay and won an Asian Cup at the same venue.

But the A-Leagues should pay no heed to such blatant propaganda because it has one thing every other code in Australia would give anything for – actual fan-driven atmospheres.

Which makes a couple of moments over the weekend all the more frustrating.

The first came in a ho-hum season opener at AAMI Park on Friday night, when Jamie Maclaren opened the scoring after 13 minutes of Melbourne City’s eventual 2-1 win over defending champions Western United, only to see his effort ruled out by VAR.

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There aren’t enough goals scored in the A-League Men as it is, so to have the opening goal of the season ruled out under such flimsy pretexts by the video referee was absurd.

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If the APL plan to continue ignoring how much fans hate the pedantic meddling of VAR, then I am going to hammer them for it every week.

And speaking of hammering bone-headed behaviour, the imbeciles who threw projectiles at Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo on Saturday night can jog on too.

They spoiled what was otherwise an almost perfect night of football – one that showcased the best of the A-League Men, and which reminded us that the competition’s unique selling point is not ‘Fantasy Football’ or charming post-match interviews with Nani, but the unrivalled atmosphere raining down from the stands.

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