Wanderers vs Wellington Postponed

[mack]

The Wanderers A-League Round 7 fixture against Wellington Phoenix has been postponed, with questions raised as to the legitimacy of the "poor surface" excuse.

Reports were filed late in the afternoon that the game against Wellington had been postponed due to a poor playing surface, and these reports were soon confirmed by the Wanderers club.

Sydney Showground has not been used by the Wanderers since Round 2 on October 14. Since then, the stadium playing surface was apparently put through a process of relaying to "transition" between the "winter" grass used during the AFL season, to the "summer" grass used during the Cricket & A-League season. Despite the month of time spent between games, it became apparent that the surface had not grown in as previously expected.

Despite the month long absence, neither the Wanderers or the Sydney Showground appear to have bothered setting up a contingency plan, that could have included moving the game to Penrith, Campbelltown, Stadium Australia next door, or even an option such as the synthetic pitch at Sydney United Edensor Park or Lilys Stadium.

There has been no explanation provided yet as to why the game couldn't be moved. Fortunately for the Wanderers, Football Federation Australia appear to have elected not to introduce any punishment to the club, such as a fine or a forfeit such as might happen in a European competition. The delay will likely be beneficial to the Wellington Phoenix, who have players coming back from their international duty in Peru.

The game will be rescheduled at some point in the future, I would suggest likely dates being the weekend of the  9-11 February, or a midweek fixture from 26-28 December or 13-15 March. This scheduling disaster caps off the terrible transition the Wanderers have had in their temporary "home" of the Olympic Precinct. If the Wanderers leadership aren't filled with apocalyptic rage at yet another blunder from the AFL loving Showground they need to take a good hard look at themselves. Supporters are already having to put up with ignorant security staff and a precinct that resembles a morgue that's closed for the weekend anyway, and now they are causing fixture scheduling issues.

Sydney Showground had scheduled an on-pitch rave dance party "Sensation Australia" for the Showground on the 25th of November. A press release for the dance party confirmed that the large set would take an entire week to build and start on Friday the 17th. Now, I question how could the Showground & the Wanderers have possibly played a football game on the Sydney Showground while it was being swarmed by a 100 person construction crew? Have the fans been lied to about this cancellation? Have the Wanderers been booted off our stadium because the Showground booked in a one-off dance party despite our club having confirmed our home fixtures months ago? These are serious questions that need to be answered.

If the stated reason for the postponement is true, that the stadium surface is unplayable and unable to grow properly, I question why the Showground allowed this concert to continue? These high impact events cannot possibly be good for a surface which has already been struggling to grow to an acceptable level, and as we've seen in the past, these events have impact far beyond the few days the event is taking place on. I wonder when we do eventually return, will the pitch will have been ruined by construction and thousands of people walking on it? The Western Sydney Stadium at Parramatta cannot come soon enough for the Wanderers and their fans.

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[Johnno]

Totally ****ed

[bombagol]

22 minutes ago, Johnno said:

Totally ****ed

Yeah, but if the game went ahead and the quality of the play was shithouse or players got injured due to the uneven surface, people would've been complaining about that.

Once the Spotless guys stuffed up the surface, the Wanderers were in a no win situation.

[JayZko]

bs it could of been played anywhere else Marconi all the other places mentioned??? 

[luisenrique]

Hopefully gets played soon, we saw in S3 that being behind on the table cos you've played less games ramps up the pressure to win when you have to catch them up.

[Davo]

27 minutes ago, bombagol said:

Yeah, but if the game went ahead and the quality of the play was shithouse or players got injured due to the uneven surface, people would've been complaining about that.

Once the Spotless guys stuffed up the surface, the Wanderers were in a no win situation.

They'd have been in a win situation if they had any sort of Plan B, other than postpone the match.

[DCWSW]

Apparently, this was announced today. 

 

SENSATION AUSTRALIA CONFIRMS MILLION DOLLAR PRODUCTION

 

In just 11 days, the global festival juggernaut that is Sensation will land at Spotless Stadium within Sydney’s Olympic Park.

With headliners such as Deadmau5, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Showtek, Oliver Heldens, and Fedde Le Grand, the festival is gearing up to be one of the biggest EDM events the city has seen in years.

But the names on the bill are only a part of what Sensation has in store. They’ll be bringing all the power and might with one of their biggest global productions: think kilometres of LED lighting, massive audio towers, C02 cannons, and pyrotechnics like you’ve never seen before.

“The attention to detail ID&T puts into Sensation is incredible,” Sensation Australia’s Simon Lovell told inthemix. “All up including setup staff, DJs, performers and logistics, there are over 200 people working behind the scenes on Sensation Australia next week.”

“The setup will begin this Friday with over 100 crew,” adds Technical Producer Arian Yeganeh.  “It will take us one full week with perfect weather to build.”

As for what they’ll be building? That would be the biggest outdoor festival stage in Australia’s history. “The stage is over 88 metres wide, and includes more than 1 kilometre of LED tubes especially designed for this unique outdoor edition,” Simon says.

The accompanying sound system will also be one of the largest an Australian festival has seen, with 10 audio towers set up on the grounds.

Of course, being an EDM festival, there’ll also be a lot of bells and whistles: “There will be over 1000 individual pyrotechnic shots and over 23 C02 jets, plus a wide range of special effects including over 200 kilos of confetti and streamers,” says Simon.

As for whether Deadmau5 will be bringing his Cube 2.0 for his headlining set, Sensation just said: “We’ll have to wait and see.”

For a look at just what you’re in for, watch their 2016 Amsterdam aftermovie below. Sensation hits Sydney Olympic Park on November 25, get your hands on tickets  here.

[luisenrique]

Look at all the ****s with their smartphones out in that photo.

When was this unexpected wave of 'cooler' weather that they're talking about? What a load of shite.

[SBW]

Well...

[Carns]

Can guarantee that if they lay down the rubber mats to "protect" the ground from all the munted punters at the music festival we'll get a hot day that ****s the grass even more.

[mack]

1 hour ago, danielcarr said:

“There will be over 1000 individual pyrotechnic shots and over 23 C02 jets, plus a wide range of special effects including over 200 kilos of confetti and streamers,” says Simon.

And yet we get threatened with bans if anyone brings confetti or streamers into a game.

[Carns]

22 minutes ago, mack said:

And yet we get threatened with bans if anyone brings confetti or streamers into a game.

I reckon there might be a few more sniffer dogs at this one though...

[Valter43]

2 hours ago, mack said:

And yet we get threatened with bans if anyone brings confetti or streamers into a game.

Burn spotless to the ground with some flares and move all our games to Campbelltown. This isn't good enough. 

[jockman]

Can sense an almighty f@ck up behind the scenes between spotless and Wanderers. Regarding new surface laying, concert schedule/ required setup time and scheduled Wanderers game. Think perhaps the surface not ready is deemed most palatable to release to fans.

Spotless"crap we need to setup for concert on Friday.  That clashes with Wanderers game on Saturday, cant cancel the concert never mind it's only the Wanderers they can re schedule thier  game .Better tell them..."

Wanderers" sh@t no choice but  to re schedule too late to arrange alternate venue at this late stage. Can't tell the fans it's a scheduling stuff up .let's use the new surface as an excuse that's more acceptable"..

Overall totally amateurish by any standards. Both parties are professional organisations , the Wanderers game schedule and concert dates are known months in advance. Suspect this is case of concert company not notifying spotless that they need access to setup on Friday.  You would think that venue owners ie  spotless and the event companies who do this all the time would have this sort of planning stuff well sorted...

Very dissapointing all round. Crap stadium anyway , things like this make it feel even less like home.  It's hard being a Wanderer

 

 

 

 

[Zelinsky]

Poor pitch ey? When has that ever been a good enough reason to postpone a game? 

Just as well Wullington supporters  don't travel in numbers. The few who booked flights for this can't be happy. 

[Paul01]

Remember the surface that the Nix had when they played a game in Auckland. Painted ground im patches from memory.

ANZ has just had the Socceroos game and should be used without alloated seating.

[luisenrique]

Only 1.5 more seasons of this left...

[Edinburgh]

Now I understand what they meant by player safety concerns.  Trying to play while 100 people are wandering around the pitch building a stage would be dangerous. 

[Legionista]

Haha. Blaming the ravers. 

Get faaarked. 

[Zelinsky]

1 hour ago, Paul01 said:

Remember the surface that the Nix had when they played a game in Auckland. Painted ground im patches from memory.

ANZ has just had the Socceroos game and should be used without alloated seating.

Don't get me started.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/dec/24/popovic-slams-ordinary-suncorp-scratchy-a-league-clash

I think Mack is spot on with his view. This is no different to DeBohun having to reschedule the S2 VIC vs WSW game because of a Bruce Springsteen concert.

The sooner we can go back home to Parra the better. 

[btron3000]

So... the club gets fined and a suspended points deduction hanging over them when fans are “anti-social” at away games over which the club has no control.

And yet there is no punishment when something happens that the club could have planned to avoid, and which means Wellington fans who have booked travel will have no game and there’ll be a big hole in the broadcaster’s programming.

By FFA logic, because the club has ****ed up then the fans should get fined and have a suspended ban hanging over our heads. After all, we had nothing to do with the problem.

[StringerBellend]

I’m not big on conspiracy’s but it’s all a bit coincidental that there happens to be some concert thing they have to set up for

 

”“The setup will begin this Friday with over 100 crew,” adds Technical Producer Arian Yeganeh.  “It will take us one full week with perfect weather to build.””

either way concert or grass not growing they could have seen this coming a week ago and moved the game. There is an empty stadium 100metrea away. It even would have had posts up on Wednesday.

Besides if it was an issue with grass growing, back in my day I knew loads of kids at Richmond high who were very good at growing grass, I’m guessing the tradition may have continued so maybe the club could engage with them on a work experience basis*

 

Disclaimer, post is meant for humorous purposes and is not way meant to critique Richmond high as an educational institution 

Edited November 16, 2017 by StringerBellend

[Hughesy]

How is this the clubs fault? They pay exorbitant hire fees for a service that they’re clearly not being provided. This Sensation festival has been advertised since last year and a date was announced not long after. Sounds like Spotless are the ones who’ve ****ed up big time and failed to get organised. 

This is just typical of what is a much broader issue regarding playing surfaces and stadia in Australia. There is no pride in what’s presented and we have stadiums that service everyone, yet suit no one. You would never see something like this happen in another first world country, in any sport. It’s pathetic. We are so far behind when it comes to this. 

[CaptainJess]

I’m gonna wanderer down to Spotless today during my lunch break to see what I can see. Hopefully I might be able to nab some photos.

If there is a sign of anything being built today, we should bring the fury. Spotless/SOP has clearly ****ed us over, the club have probably received a shitload of compensation from them and as someone said above, the club/FFA probably thought ground issues was the most palatable excuse. 

This is honestly ridiculous.

[pseudonym]

Spoiler

 

SBS Viceland

05:30pm Saturday 18/11

NBL: Adelaide vs Sydney

 

 

[Paul01]

Anyone want to start.

General Enquiries

Telephone: (+61 2) 8602 6400 
Facsimile: (+61 2) 8602 6499
reception@wswanderersfc.com.au

I will send an email saying I don’t believe the excuse.

 

[Zelinsky]

50 minutes ago, hughsey said:

How is this the clubs fault? 

It's not. FFA sends out the top brass to rubber stamp the official excuse for this stuff up. The club plays along with this BS. That's the issue here.

As a tenant I'd be jumping up and down, but if they do so in public then they'd probably be banned for five years for the game disrepute thing.

league to run itself is the only answer here. I am sick and tired of FFA muppets.

 

 

[Erebus]

Adam Peacock has said the concert is setting up early because the game isn't on. Blames Spotless totally and not using heat lamps etc to get the ground ready.

Otherwise it would have been set up after our game.

From a PR perspective it makes their rave sound more PHWOAR when you read "11 days to set up with 100 crew!!"

In reality it probably only needs 6 days.

[WanderingHatter]

17 minutes ago, Erebus said:

Adam Peacock has said the concert is setting up early because the game isn't on. Blames Spotless totally and not using heat lamps etc to get the ground ready.

Otherwise it would have been set up after our game.

From a PR perspective it makes their rave sound more PHWOAR when you read "11 days to set up with 100 crew!!"

In reality it probably only needs 6 days.

The reason it says 11 days is because that article was published on  Wednesday the 15th, a full day before they bothered to tell us that the game was off. It's stuff like this that feeds the conspiracy theories 

[Davo]

The club has some blame here. They have a second home ground, literally next door, with seats allocated to all the members and more than enough capacity to hold both the Nix fans. It seems that when the club were planning the schedule around the resurfacing nobody thought to ask "what if it's not ready in time?" They could have spoken to ANZ about a tentative booking (it's going to be sitting empty so I doubt they'd have a problem with it) and had plans in place to switch.