Bottom club Western United’s 4-2 win over Macarthur on Saturday afternoon was a rare bright spark in a season in which just about everything has gone wrong in the A-League Men.
More than three years after they were first supposed to move into their own football-specific stadium, the team from Melbourne’s west finally played a game on their own patch of turf.
It may only have been at their training ground – which the green-and-blacks plan to use as their temporary home ground until Wyndham City Stadium is finally built – but the 3430 fans who turned up in Tarneit were rewarded with a piece of A-League history.
It certainly didn’t look like it was going to end up in celebrations for the home fans, after the visiting Bulls raced out to an early 2-0 lead courtesy of a penalty from Valere Germain and a second from newly re-signed talisman Ulises Davila.
And when Riku Danzaki had a first-half effort cancelled out after an offside Michael Ruhs blocked Macarthur goalkeeper Filip Kurto’s line of sight, it looked like it was going to be another frustrating day for John Aloisi’s men.
But the Japanese midfielder was not to be denied, and when he curled home the first Western United goal at their new home ground, the hosts suddenly cut loose.
Michael Ruhs added a second four minutes later before Matthew Grimaldi spun and fired the hosts into the lead.
Former Bulls striker Ruhs then bagged his second following a crazy passage of play that saw both Ben Garuccio and James Donachie hit the crossbar, only for the man from Horsley Park to end the game as a contest.
It was an exhilarating encounter made all the more watchable by the fact the pitch wasn’t cut up and blighted by line markings from rival codes.
Which makes the news that cash-strapped Super Rugby side Melbourne Rebels are looking to ground-share with Western United all the more frustrating.
(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
No one wants to see sporting teams go out of business. That’s exactly what the Australian Professional Leagues are currently battling against.
But just when an A-League club finally gets its own facility, next minute comes the announcement they’ll probably have to share it with a rival code.
Sporting administrators in Australia just cannot seem to fathom that football needs a pristine playing surface compared to the rival rugby codes.
The pitch at McDonald Jones Stadium looked pretty ordinary on Sunday.
So too did Jets defender Phillip Cancar, who went down so theatrically you’d think he had a part in a Broadway play after Sydney FC winger Robbie Mak inadvertently struck him across the face.
Still, the Sydney FC winger should know better than to raise his arm – and his controversial sending off left the Sky Blues in a deep hole.
They may have pulled one goal back through a fabulous strike from Fabio Gomes, but the Jets were the better side and fully deserved their 3-1 win.
Whether they’re around for much longer is the question at hand, with US-based consortium FC32 reportedly dropping out of the race to buy the embattled outfit.
Whether that’s because other parties have submitted better bids remains to be seen, but it certainly feels like time is running out for the struggling Novocastrians.
There was a sparse crowd in attendance on Sunday for what used to be a marquee fixture, and we’ve seen nothing from the APL that suggests they have any idea how to win back fans next season.
At least Western United finally have a home ground – of sorts.
It isn’t exactly the stadium they promised when they first joined the league back in 2019.
But as we’ve been reminded countless times this season, the football landscape has changed.
The Wyndham Regional Football Facility is something worth celebrating.
Now we just need the league to hold on long enough for Western United to build the stadium they intended.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Grem " The AFL pretending it is not happening" No mate - - it's entirely the opposite. That you don't comprehend this illustrates your blinkered view. In the case of soccer..........relying on what? ASADA testing only? Consider in 2018-19 the following metrics: In 2018–19, ASADA conducted a total of 5,523 tests across 52 sports: 2,875 Government-funded tests (948 in-competition and 1,927 out-of-competition tests) 2,648 User-pays tests (832 in-competition and 1,816 out-of-competition tests). sooo......that's roughly 100 tests annually for each of the 52 sports. And 'user pays tests'............that's what the AFL and NRL pay for because they aren't Olympic sports but dopey politicians dictated that they had to be WADA compliant because it made Australia feel better about itself in trying to get someone high up the IOC ladder......John Coates managed to get to Vice Pres in 2013. Was it worth it??? Seriously - - relying on ASADA testing only is the definition of pretending it's not happening. How many A-League players get tested each season??? btw - ASADA charges more for testing on weekends. Yep - - it's that stupid a system. It really is. You tell me one good reason for the AFL to be WADA compliant.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Guys with too much time and money doing drugs. The AFL pretending it is not happening and condoning it. It is not a welfare matter, it should be a police matter.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Ha ha ha – player welfare! AFL image welfare is what it is. Keep sweeping it under the carpet Mike, right alongside racism.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Grem Just reference Dr Peter Larkins.... Larkins believes there’s no clear solution and that compromises will have to be made from at least one side. “The issue is do we have one code only? Because this is not the WADA code… this is the so called ‘welfare code’, which has intercepted people that have gone off track and put them on the straight and narrow, they’ve had counselling and drug rehabilitation and no one ever hears about it,” Larkins added. But I'm sure Grem - - you know better - - it's got to be all 'name and shame' with a 1 size fits all that ignores that many players are dealing with difficult personal issues at any given time. It is - after all - a community game. It's not something to morally pure at FIFA or the IOC here........
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Grem Yeah - - it's a medical model. It's entirely about player welfare. You sound as though you've had your head under a rock for 15 years. Do catch up!!
Grem
Roar Rookie
AFL fan boys like you actually believe this. It’s an AFL cover up because … “Peter Larkins claimed every club doctor had an arrangement with the AFL that players could have positive drug tests covered up. “This was a system deliberately put in place to assist players to get off the system if they were caught up in societal drug use,”
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Grem It's not covering up if it's only between the individual and the doctor. Since when do you believe doctor-patient confidentiality is a 'cover up'?? I suppose you've got the 'confessional' in your sights as well??
Grem
Roar Rookie
It’s not a joke - covering up drug use is a crime. That’s not funny. Another AFL cover up and everyone knows it.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Grem You're trotting the same old line out again and again... Clearly you and your audience of one (Punter) think it's funny. ....you need some new material. Perhaps woven from onion bags.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The honeymoon is already over it seems at Tarneit, the crowd is much smaller for the second game. Western United need 10-20 years and some decent infrastructure in the area before they should think about building a bigger stadium. The co commentator said it was an experience getting to the ground and driving along dirt roads and the sheep and the kangaroos. People complain about Olympic Park, but Tarneit you cant even find a bush to go behind let alone anything else.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Until we have a clear test from you, not one submitted by AFL “doctors”, I think you need to stay away with a strained hamstring. What a disgrace – why aren’t the police involved in this cover up?
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Grem interesting to see........a scoreless return by #Brainstrust; ably ensuring a clean sheet via old mate #Grem parking a bus........ ......I suspect parking a bus too near to the white line........ah #Grem you're the expert on white lines it seems. Classic bit of chest beating with nothing to show on the scoreboard; oddly typical and unsurprising. #OneOrTwoTooManyHeaders
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Some extremely interesting revelations as to how City were building a new academy at Casey and no one knew about it. The Australian media there is no mouthpiece more interested in telling the world about every development the NRL and AFL are getting, less interested in telling the world how much of the taxpayers money has been put in it and that these facilities are given to them for peppercorn rents and they dont even have to pay for the maintenance. Why have they hidden this story, its only the council and A-league website.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
City football group have just blown the Western United group out of the water with the completion of their new Academy at Casey. I thought they were just based there for the women but it will now be everyone. The specs are 5900 sqm , 16 change rooms, theater, two pools at 40m cost. They have their own mini ground which they will use for the W-league games as well which is the same as Tarneit without the temporary seating. So they spent 15m at Latrobe on their original and now they have abandoned that for this.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
will be interesting to see how stadium development plays out
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Melbourne Storm have cut into their crowds will all their free tickets. A move to Tarneit would be like Roar to Redcliffe, lowers the cost with half the crowd.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Need to or want to - there may be little choice.
Grem
Roar Rookie
He might be off your back for a while! He’s a spiteful irritant isn’t “they”? The leopard can change his name, but not his spots.
Gilberto
Roar Rookie
So the Melbourne Rebels who can't get anyone to watch them in the heart of Australia's most famous sporting precinct want to move to a stadium in the middle of nowhere with no public transport
chris1
Roar Rookie
Grem looks like you really got into Tuffnoses head. He can't leave you alone lol.