When I read the venues scheduled for the next phase of World Cup qualifying, I thought fantastic, two games in Sydney against Uzbekistan and Bahrain. I was a bit disappointed that the biggest fixture, the game against Japan, will be in Melbourne. Still, 100,000 packed into the MCG will be a sight to behold. The game against Qatar will be played at Suncorp in Brisbane.
If I lived anywhere other than the east coast, I would be wondering if the FFA has abandoned them in terms of international games. The last phase of qualifying saw all the home games being hosted by eastern seaboard cities. In particular, nothing has gone the way of Adelaide or Perth. A few weeks ago, a bumper crowd turned up at Subiaco to watch the Wallabies overcome South Africa. It was a sell-out with over 41,000 in attendance.
The last time Perth hosted a Socceroos game was all the way back in 2005. That was a friendly against Indonesia to raise money for Tsunami victims. Almost 14,000 rocked up. This game was before Guus Hiddink, Frank Lowy, the inception of the A-League and the 2006 World Cup. Perth has seen less competitive international football than Bosnich over the last decade. Given that the latter is making a comeback, it is time that the FFA revives international football in the west.
The story for the people from the City of Churches is almost as tragic. The last competitive games played were at Hindmarsh stadium in 2004 against the likes of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tahiti and New Zealand in the OFC Nations Cup and World Cup Qualifier. The attendances were pathetic with only the New Zealand game drawing a decent crowd of 12,000. The other games only saw between 1,200 and 3,500 turn up. The individuals involved have now gone on to become household names with players such as Grella, Emerton, Cahill, Bresciano, North, Skoko, Neil Sterjovski, Chipperfield etc.
Why it is that in the last decade, you are much more likely to see the Socceroos if you live in London (at our adopted home of Craven Cottage), Montevideo or Singapore rather than Adelaide or Perth? Yes I know that there are a limited number of games and the big games will go to Sydney or Melbourne. But surely the FFA can do a better job of having a more even distribution of competitive and friendly games around this island continent.
It is time to revive the footballing cities of Perth and Adelaide as venues for international fixtures. The games against Bahrain and Qatar should have been allocated to them. Surely the FFA will come to its senses and allocate the Asian Cup qualifying games against Indonesia, Oman, and Kuwait to cities other than Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It would have been better to allocate some World Cup qualifying games to the forgotten cities and really get the whole nation involved. It is undoubtedly time to spread football’s newly found prosperity.
4 Comments
July 30, 2008 at 12:20 pm
The World Cup Qualifiers are not just show events, they’re do or die games with a hell of a lot at stake. I think they should be played in the biggest and best venues where the support will act as the 12th man. Now I’m not saying that Adelaide and Perth aren’t fanatical, however the FFA should continue to go with the Big 3 (Brisbane, Melbourne & Sydney) for the WC Qualifers as the players as well as the fans build up a stronger atmosphere.
Friendlies and Asian Cup Qualifiers are the games that should be spread out a little more over the country.
July 30, 2008 at 5:00 pm
We need to remember that Adelaide got almost the entirity of the Olyroo’s qualification campaign, and that was hardly attended. Hellabaloo about Olyroo’s games in Beijing not being broadcast live asside, Adelaide can’t complain, they only pulled crowds in the order of 1500 to watch them with match tickets priced to clear at $10 for adults.
August 5, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Suncorp and MCG are my picks but the ANZ Stadium might of been better at ANZ?
Only because the seats are closer to the field
August 6, 2008 at 6:56 am
1. The Olyroos games were not advertised in Adelaide at all. I didn’t even hear about it until the last game, and I’m an Adelaide United season ticket holder. It’s a bit hard to go to an event you don’t know about, yeah ‘SlickAs’?
2. Adelaide needs a stadium worth holding games in. Hindmarsh is a fantastic stadium in terms of fan viewing (great from any seat), but it’s not big enough.