Home Grand Final in Sydney ???

[Penrith9103]

I know that I'm looking ahead a bit, but I found this on the Fox Sports website this morning.

".......Under A-League rules, the winner of the major semi earns the right to host the grand final, but the decider is unlikely to be played in either Gosford or Newcastle with the FFA understood to favour a Sydney final, likely at the Olympic Stadium or the SFS......."



Thank god I'm not making the decision, but it would be terrible if we were to play the grand final in Sydney

 

[cruiser]

I don't mind so long as we dont have to play Sydney at their home ground the SFS, which would be grossly unfair. If we play Sydney, it should be at Homebush (given all the Sydney fans, it could go close to filling). If its us against Qld or Newcastle, it should be at the SFS.

 

[Blackadder]

Unfortunatly you have to look at it from the commercial reality viewpoint, this is the biggest day in Australian domestic football and the FFA will be looking for maximum $$$$.
Rightly or wrongly that is professional sport in this day and age.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Is that 2 or 3 threads on this subject we have going at the moment??

 

[sorjesk]

will probably be at homebush. Australia play india in a ODI on the day of the GF i believe, would be good to see the SFS yellow for a day. better than that horrible gold shite that the scum play in

 

[northernspirit]

theres still a chance it could be a CCM v Newcastle grand final so you never know

 

[Jolly_Roger]

If sydney beat queensland it should be a cracker of a game.

Out of interest, if it was at ANZ, what sort of crowd do you think would be possible if it was a NSW affair??

I reckon it could push 70k if sydney were in there.

 

[Omni]

if they move it, put it at Homebush, the SFS may be bigger but it's another club's home ground.

 

[Penrith9103]

If we play Sydney I'd like to see the game played at Homebush as the SFS is there home ground. If it was against Scum or QLD then the SFS.

 

[marconigirl]

I definitely agree that it needs to be at ANZ (Homebush), as it certainly wouldn't be fair to play it at another clubs home ground (especially if we did just happen to play Sydney...)

 

[infirmus]

If you think that the Grand Final should be held in Gosford if you earn it sign this petition!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/youearnityouhostit/

 

[mariners4ever]

oh well if we played sydney at home at least we would be able to have the home end and kick the cove out

 

[mariners4ever]

BTW i dont think the petition will work they have already made up their mind and the mariners dont mind

 

[dannysgirl]

Apparently the Jets aren't happy and are appealing the decision.

As far as i am concerned, we made it into the major semi, if we win we deserve a home grand final. That's how it is supposed to work. I don't see how it is fair for us to have to go to sydney for the grand final.

 

[john_kowolski]

It seems as though this is a stupid policy. The FFA are putting money before people.

Surely when the licenses were granted for both the Mariners and the Jets the FFA must have known that the grounds were a good size for regular competiton, but not finals. Why wasn't something done then?

It just seems silly that (possibly) both teams and their supporters will need  to travel between 1.5-3 hours to attend the game. Anyway, I don't think the SFS would be big enough for a CCM-Jets game.

EAS holds approx. 26,000
Bluetongue holds 20,000

SFS takes 42,000
All up there would be 46,000 potential fans

 

[dru]

The more I think about this the more I just don't care TBH.

I'd travel to Perth for the grand final if it was deemed the neutral venue for the game. If it can't be at the home ground of the team who qualifies first then it should be at a neutral venue. rule out SFS right now, it's a home ground of a rival club and thats not right.

Although Jimmy placing stickers all over the cove end of the sfs would be highly amusing.  ;D

 

[mariners4ever]

maybe even telstra dome ??

 

[Jesus]

It is the way it works everywhere else in australia. I dont see why not for football. I would love if we had a stadium to hold it, but we dont. Which is a shame.

We have not made the final yet also

 

[bikinigirl]

. can understand both sides of the argument, but just a few things to consider:

. a lot has changed in three years and i would suggest general crowd numbers have exceeded most expectations

. mariners & jest were probably not expected to win hosting rights as regional clubs and if they did interest may not be as high (that one has also been laid to rest)

. if hosting rights are lost a neutral venue is the go (within reason ie. close)

. if we hosted the grand final at bluetongue, there would probably only be about 15k+ seats available for mariners fans which would lead to a lot of unhappy fans considering recent attendance figures

. the hard part will be for the players losing their home comforts - i am not talking about support but the game day ritual and venue familiarity. the occassion will be big enough, to lose all familiarity would be the biggest loss

 

[radar]

They should play one half per week and fill Bluetongue twice.