'Over 100,000 fans to attend': Matildas' World Cup opener moved due to overwhelming demand

I want to see that mate

And AFL fans would say who cares what those corrupt, money hungry. Officials think. S The AFL draws more fans than the other codes combined. Melbourne has two world class stadiums because the AFL fans fund them.

Why so gratuitously contemptuous of another Australian sport and its fans? Many Aussies follow the AFL and the Matilda’s and the Roos.

FIL, I don't take these bloggers too serious mate, just gives me an outlet from the stress of work. I'm all good.

#Football is Life re your "constructive advice" Mate - take a liberal dose of it yourself. The stupidity here is that a positive article about the big opener switched to an available venue in Sydney is used to attack the AFL over venues in Melbourne. And even then - still showing the ignorance and self importance that blew up in the faces of the round ball people 14 years ago. Some people will never learn. btw - time, demographics, money and generational transition. Interesting isn't it - contrast the position of the AFL vs the A-League 2009 to 2023. Should we do an article on it?

#Football is Life Mate - your going the personal attack is a clear deflection due to failure of your argument. I accept your concession.

as i said in other posts, you are making a dill of yourself mate. My suggestion is to take any respect you have for yourself and move on. Just stop the self-degradation, the negativity etc and earn yourself some respect by moving on.

“Travelling Roadshow” relates to the circus. It comes to town and then moves on and leaves nothing behind but the sewerage and rubbish. Nothing to do with envy. We see it all the time with such one off events. The Olympics the obvious comparison. And as mentioned - the AO Tennis and F1 GP contrast by at very least being annual events however even so - - their a FIFO circus. Re the A-League P&R potential - - you reckon that’s the saviour of the massively under whelming A-League?? You’re claiming some sort of victory based on “apparently”….”bidding”…….not sure what you think this will do - - - pretty sure it’s a lowest common denominator anchor to the competition that makes it a race to the bottom.

Punter, I will give it you mate, you are a fighter. Think of it this way, the objectionable posts here are A) from those that completely disrespect football B) support sports tainted with racism, crime and abhorrent behaviour, which could make inferences about their character and integrity C) due to the points proffered in my previous line, they will never support football because they will never understand the likes of Awer Mabil or Craig Foster and how football is so much more than a sport. The perfect reference is Adam Goodes, there is a reason he is working to funnel indigenous kids into football and away from the drugs and racism of AFL. The picture they paint of themselves, how they seed negativity and the volumes it speaks of their cerebral horsepower suggests that they should not be afforded the respect of a response. To be ignored is to be disrespected. Save your energy for more positive ventures mate with those that you’ve earned respect. You learn a lot as you get older mate and you learn to avoid negativity. It’s just unneeded toxicity the world can do without.

your comments suggest an ability for lateral thinking, deduction and logic. Do you ever take a step back and take a objective look at your actions. You are not painting very positive picture of your self. Do yourself a favour, pick up any respect you have and walk away with it, before you walk away having made a complete and utter pratt of yourself.

I am comfortably over 50 years old and I almost died last year due to a suppressed immune system. When you come that close to death, you get a bit of a wake up call. Mike, my reason for coming to this forum is to enjoy discourse, debate and engagement with fellow football supporters. I respect your forays into futility, but they are just that, futility! Can I offer constructive advice, in that I would ask what positive comes from arguing and being almost anti-social, by interjecting into conversations that are a place you probably dont belong? Considered comment, respectful engagement earn respect, your forays into futility don't. Life is too short for this stuff, go where you enjoy being. You are obviously not a football supporter so I would hope that you had the ability to self-analyse and realise the folly of your action. Just think about it, and let time, demographics, money and generational transition take their toll.

"Travelling roadshow". Do I detect a tad envy that the nearest thing to a world cup you will be able to support is an inconsequential Melbourne suburb versus Fremantle. This is a tournament encompassing 38 nations hosted by two countries. I guess WA tried to break away back in the day, but even that was a failure. Your spray speaks volumes and supports suspicions and the regulars on this forum. Apparently a number of Victorian NPL clubs are bidding for the National Second Division, are AFL going to run out the Collamblie U10s v the Wangaratta U10s for their second division ahahahahahahahah

#Adam said "It’s weird isn’t it? NRL officials realised thankfully that football and NRL aren’t really targeting the same core of supporters" Mate - got nothing to do with that - - it's simply the practicalities of all this. The NRL only really needs Stadium Australia for the SofO and then the GF and perhaps a Prelim. All the Sydney NRL teams can be pretty well facilitated across the suburban venues around Sydney. Very, very different lay of the land to the AFL which via ground rationalisation back in the '90s has only 2 Melbourne venues in operation and a reduced capacity Geelong (due to stage 5 construction works). The NRL H&A..........average H&A attendance for the NRL in 2022, 16,250. And that's bumped up big time by the Bronco's Lang Park average!! Seriously - the only venue that's contentious is Lang Park however - - there's only the one team playing matches there and that's every 2nd week. Contrast to the AFL - 46 H&A matches in 2022 averaged a tick under 50K at the MCG......with roundly 2 games each week along with another 2 each week at Marvel. Far - far harder to rejig the fixture.......especially given the draconian demands of FIFA for venue exclusivity, and clean and empty venues weeks out. We both know that the NRL CAN be more flexible and the AFL simply can't be - - - totally naive to think otherwise.

#Garry said "he AFL wouldve demanded excessive compenstaion for major stadia lost for their use for the month" The reality is - the MCG most likely would've had a single usage - for a major final. Seriously - in Melbourne in July/August could you justify taking the MCG out of AFL action for one game?? Let alone if they wanted a week one Matilda's opener plus a major final.........with the 'clean stadium requirements' how many weeks out from the start of the tournament must the stadium be empty for? 2 or 3 weeks? So............that would be all of July and August out of action. Just quite frankly - - it's NOT going to happen. And that includes because - the MCC running the MCG would be effectively handing over 2 months of the venue to FIFA. MCC members wouldn't be getting access (is my understanding). The entire MCC business case is built on large loans to build the stadium based on AFL fixturing and AFL based revenue and AFL payments. So - - you'd be looking at compensation BOTH to the AFL AND to the MCC. In 2022 the 46 H&A AFL matches at the MCG averaged 49,894. On average 2 matches a round. You work out what fail and reasonable compensation would be - because even if the AFL were able to reschedule to Marvel the problem is down the road in Geelong there's reduced capacity due the Stage 5 grand stand development. So even if the AFL could shuffle things around - - it's a major logistical exercise...............for what? Why? - it's not the AFL's job to run a FIFA WC.

#Football is Life said "It means some ludicrously jacked up figure in cash to sustain their war on football funding. Actions speak louder than words and the actions of the National Men’s Cross Country Netball competition is screaming feat of the world game right now." Commercial realities of contracts and ownership don't sit well with you? Your "ludicrously jacked up figure" is another persons "fair and reasonable compensation". Clearly you still hold some of the Frank Lowy bullishness of expecting Govt to do the bulldozing for you. Tell me this - what stadiums has soccer built in Australia??

#Football is Life said "The AFL are petulant, self-important, and a backyard code. When they have a World Cup, that exceeds the suburbs of Melbourne and Adelaide and Perth, come and see us. What an embarrassment to Australian sport. FIFA must look at the AFL and say who the heck are these insignificant jokers." Mate - it's not petulant and self important to be a highly successful business and competition. The simple fact that even for the FIFA Women's WC that FIFA demands 'clean stadiums' for weeks before hand - - - so that what? you could play 1 finals match at the MCG!?!? Mate - - seriously??? Who is the petulant embarrassment here. Let's work on the theory of the MCG for the final - Aug 20th - so - you want it forced vacant for what? 3 or 4 weeks? You DO realise don't you that the AFL has had ground rationalisation and only has 2 Melbourne Venues running. Vastly different to the NRL who only need 'Stadium Australia' for the SofO and their Grand Final and play H&A matches and 20K suburban venues across Sydney.

#Roberto Bettega said "FIFA would never have heard of the AFL. For them Australian football would mean playing with a round ball." Doesn't really matter........FIFA have heard of contract law and ownership laws and that's all that really matters.

#Football is Life said "I cannot believe that the Vic Govt is so gutless that they’re unable to say”this is a football world cup. This is a priceless opportunity for business tourism and marketing. St Kilda and Collingwood don’t rate. You’ll have to work around football. Tough!" Mate - Victoria has the F1 GP each year, it has the AO tennis each year - - the FIFA WC mens or womens is a once off. And the womens tourney is a once off in a very, very cluttered world of soccer.........and........it's not as if mens competitions are stopping to promote greater global focus. As it is - the AFL owns Docklands stadium 100% (Marvel) and without the AFL and their 40 odd year contract at the MCG moving forward and the last 30 years of said contract arrangements............then no MCG. And you think a once off travelling roadshow with how many games is worth going to war with the AFL over? Frank Lowy made that mistake and was made to look foolish in the extreme. btw - if Soccer Australia can't rustle together the coin to provide themselves a dedicated facility then..............tough. btw - and we note of course where the domestic league has sunk it's Grand Final roots now too.

love ya work

It should've definitely gone to SBS. Oh well I know that I'll be watching games through Optus, no way I want to hear AFL cross promotion and how Sam Kerr is the sister of some former AFL player, and how some of these women would make great AFLW players, blah, blah, blah