Bonnyrigg

It probably helped that Newcastle have played every home Cup game at Broadneadow, and will probably continue to play all home games there. That'll bring in extra revenue for relatively little expense, even if it is once, maybe twice a year. It's a little ripper of a stadium too.

The chances of the Wanderers or even Sydney FC playing home matches at Bonnyrigg are slim, to non existent. The only other place I could see Bonnyrigg playing other than Campbelltown, is Lilly Homes, or move games to FNSW HQ out at Valantines Sports Park. The spectator facilities are limited, but at least you wouldn't have to worry about a media 'tower' (which I'm guessing is just the scaffolding required for television cameras) or re-marking the field (A complaint which is quite nominal!). Remarking the field is something which should be done weekly, before each game or matchday, surely Bonnyrigg has a grounds keeper?!

As for the dugouts, well you're just going to have to probably buy a bunch of Bunnings Chairs - They're under $10.00 each at Bunnings (And I bet if whoever is in charge at Bonnyrigg asks nicely, he'll give you a bulk discount - throw in a few free tickets and a cevapi voucher as a sweetener! Heck, if it worked in the A-League for over a decade, I'm sure it's fine in the Cup. I'm pretty sure they used Bunnings Chairs at Leichhardt Oval for the Balmain v Melbourne Victory game.

And the media room is something which all grounds should have. Surely it's at least a minor requirement in FNSW and NPL rules. I'm not saying it has to be something lavish, but surely there's at least a room in the ground with a desk, a couple of chairs and the WiFi or an Ethernet cable from the club next door.

If Sydney United can host and benefit, Jesus, if Marconi could have hosted, they'd have done it fine.

So keen for moar Phudbol.

-PB

It's like if Shane Warne had a love child with Boris Johnson and had the DNA of John Howards eyebrows.

:o :shock:

What's parking like near Campbelltown Stadium? Would prefer to drive

There's parking behind the Western grandstand but that fills up quickly, as it's a 3-way share system between the stadium, Wests Lumeah club, and Lumeah Train Station.

There should be ample parking if you park 5 minutes drive away and park in a residential street. However, you do run the risk of having your car broken into, or just stolen for joyrides, only to be found by the Police 3 weeks later burned out in an industrial area 5 minutes from where you parked it.

We have corporate/media boxes, they were probably not up the 5 star standard Lol. We have most of those things but were deemed not good enough, why is it good enough for NPL 1 but not good enough for a NPL 1 game in the FFA Cup, sorry i dont understand. Years ago in the NSL they were literally playing out of fields people would take their dogs to shit on and they were deemed ok.

Fair enough if the ground was run down but its not. What really pisses me off is the FFA pigs making volunteers take time of work for bullshit meetings and consultations so they can listen to the stupid complaints.

If i was in charge i would tell them get fucked and let us play without the bullshit or we forfeit 3-0.

The whole point is so the set up looks professional. The FFA Cup is Australia's premier national knockout cup competition, which is broadcasted live, not only into living rooms around Australia, but internationally too.

Not only for that reason, but it's also a good opportunity for clubs to improve their own facilities, and improve themselves as a club overall. Better facilities means that the clubs stature will rise, and the overall quality of the club, from the juniors right through to seniors will improve. You make small changes over time, and Bonnyrigg as a club will go from being this little Ethnic minority club, to being a serious name in Australian football.

You're bang on when you say that years ago the NSL was played on grounds that would as you say 'people would take their dogs to shit on', and look how that wound out in the end. Soccer Australia was financially fucked, corrupt like a poorly run dictatorship, and plagued with issues which I'm not going to get into here. The FFA are presenting the FFA Cup as a professional competition. They want companies to sponsor and invest in the competition and football in Australia, which is a good thing! The growth of the FFA Cup at grassroots and State League level will allow football in Australia to grow at levels which no other sport has the ability to do so, and you're pretty naive if you can't see that. The overall benefits for a club like Bonnyrigg to improve their club off the field, will allow them to grow as a club.

Telling the FFA to 'go fuck themselves' and play without the bullshit or you forfeit is just going to make Bonnyrigg a laughing stock nationwide. I guarantee nobody will go and take your club seriously for a long time afterwards. Think of this opportunity as a job interview. Instead of rocking up to a job interview and having a nice clean suit on, you're wanting to rock up in stained sweat pants and unwashed Bonds singlet complete with Ugg boots, having not showered in a couple of days and telling the interviewer to 'give you the job dressed like that', or you're going to storm out of there in a huff. The end result is that you're not going to get the job, and you'll be the butt of all the jokes at Christmas parties for the next century.

Bingo

Yeah, if this was England we would be in the 6th/5th tier in regards to facilities, atleast over there the clubs get some what revenue.

If you think our clubs statue will rise because of the FFA Cup you are wrong, we have dominated the NPL for the past decade and our support has only declined. What incentive is their to spend hundred grand or whatever for a one off game which we could pocket 50-80k MAX. It wont give us trophies, wont give us good junior players and so on.

These clubs are run by a group of 10-15 hardworking individuals and do great for what they have, telling them to do extra with no benefit is a slap to the face.

Our realities are much different, mine is from a grassroots and yours is from a top flight. Can gurantee right now nobody in this thread could last a season running one of these clubs behind the scenes, especially a Wog one where the clubs get crucified by their own ethnic communities and by the mainstream media.

Edited by srbin22: 1/8/2016 03:36:21 PM

If you guys think the FFA isnt a dictatorship you guys are misguided, same shit as Soccer Australia just less corrupt.

Alteast with Soccer Australia it was open to the public that it was a corrupt organization, now they are behind the scenes.

I understand that there are going to be challenges, and at first they mightn't seem like it's going to amount to much, but it's small things that build up to become significant changes over time. One doesn't go to a gym looking like a twig, and expect to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger after a single hour of bench pressing. It takes time, and lots of little improvements and changes here and there and eventually those small little improvements will amount to something noticeable.

Example in point. You play Manly on Wednesday night, you happen to win, and your name gets a mention on a major news network. A bunch of people who follow football, but would not normally associate with Bonnyrigg take note. Bonnyrigg next get drawn against an A-League team at home - let's say for sake of argument an out of state team like Perth. That bunch of people come to the game (along with several hundred neutrals), giving Bonnyrigg a much needed cash injection from profits not only through the gate, but on cevapi sales and drink sales. You lose 2-1, but give Perth a serious run for their money (pre-season or not). You still make a little profit from the game after paying for the at the time limited upgrades, and your match is broadcasted live around Australia. Next NPL season (2017) that small bunch of people who came to the game and happen to live in the Bonnyrigg/West Liverpool region and have kids who play football think "Hey, that Bonnyrigg club was pretty good, let's go to a few of their games this season'. For arguments sake, they also buy a season membership. Next year you guys do well in the NPL and the Waratah Cup where you draw Western Sydney. The ground packs out to full capacity (10k?) and you cause a massive upset and knock Western Sydney out (much to everybody's delight!). All of a sudden you join Adelaide City in becoming the second NPL club to knock out an A-League club. A few weeks later, the club gets a phone call from a large nationwide company (once again for arguments sake) let's say Star Track couriers (who currently sponsor Sydney FC) who want to sponsor you guys with a very healthy front-of-shirt sponsorship. That shirt sponsorship is then broadcasted nationwide, and when people then use Star Track to send their packages around this country they associate it with Bonnyrigg.

Bonnyrigg then take the money made from the sponsorship, and use it to upgrade the club further (maybe with a little help in the form of a grant from the government) and install a fully synthetic, all-weather field (much like 90% of the current NSW NPL1 has). The overall benefits from that are instantaneous. You then rent out said field to local schools and clubs to use for training purposes, or do what Blacktown City and the owners of Lilly Homes have done and hold 6-a side tournaments on the ground, and over time the money made from that goes to upgrading the lighting, or installing a media box, or renovating the change rooms etc.

Nobody is saying that running and operating a small club like Bonnyrigg is easy, I have no doubt of the difficulties involved in doing so, but surely a club like Bonnyrigg has vision for the future. I'm sure the board owners and the Bonnyrigg Sports Club want more from the club and want to take the club forward. At the moment the FFA Cup is an avenue for clubs to do just that. One day, be it in 5 or 10 years time I'm sure we'll see promotion and relegation and/or a professional second division be set up in this country. When the FFA start taking applications for such a league to be set up, I can't see them creating a fresh second division of franchises like the A-League. They'll be wanting to see if the 'old soccer' clubs have what it takes to step up to a professional level. The FFA Cup, is the first cog in the wheel of this occurring. If they see clubs like Bonnyrigg take steps to improve the overall professionalism and improve the standards of their club it's only going to work in their favour when the 2nd division clubs are picked. If, and when that occurs, having improved material aspects of a club like lighting towers, media room(s) and a field that doesn't resemble a ploughed paddock after 5 rounds is going to be a major boost in your favour.

Like I said, nobody is expecting Bonnyrigg to transform themselves into a Manchester United with a field like Old Trafford, but little improvements over time will build into Bonnyrigg being a better club as a whole.

In regular circumstances I'd agree but the FFA has closed the top flight for these ethnic clubs and their stadiums meet FNSW standards so what's the point of spending all that time and money investing in a few upgrades to play 1 game every few years (if you are lucky enough to qualify that often).

If this was Europe where there is an open top flight, you'd get to see how ambitious Bonnyrigg or any other club in the lower tiers are by how they applied themselves. At this stage, the door is wide open for these clubs to complain.

Like I mentioned earlier, the introduction of the NPL and the FFA Cup is one little step towards a national second tier at the very least. If clubs start showing that they're ready for the step up, then it'll help them in the long run whether it be in this administration or the next, or whenever.

=d>

By not participating you chain your club to the burdens of old. This is an oppurtunity to grow and improve facilities.

I'm not sure what upgrades the FFA are wanting but I would hope they are small incremental ones like Heineken has stated. Can you elaborate on what the FFA want to be done and the costs?

I love the cup but the whole thing stinks really.
The FFA can say what they like but Foxtel insist it is played midweek. It is their sponsorship money but the r32, r16 & r8 all occur before the A-League kicks off and they should all be on the weekend when the sun is up (unless all a-league match that can be played midweek).

If they clash with NPL , play those games midweek instead.

Edited by scott21: 1/8/2016 06:02:25 PM

So Where will the game be played Srbin??

I haven't seen anything to suggest they're going to move it. With only ~48 hours to kickoff I can't see them moving it on such short notice.

Green Gully are still paying something silly for a win. Last I checked it was over $5.00. Not a bad cheeky fiver if you ask me.

Sounds like Millers not confident at all. :-k

JVS ahead of Melbourne City v Floreat

[youtube]gC0CnUgz1ps[/youtube]

If Melbourne City can get a YouTube channel up like Manchester City's that'd be epic.

Some of you blokes live in fantasy land.

Has Bonnyrigg contacted United yet? ;)

I was thinking that could perhaps be another option.

Would Sydney United be open to that?

Pragmatic and realistic more like

I doubt either club would ever even entertain the thought let alone act on it

Wait, so the Bonnyrigg Manly game might actually be moved?

I doubt it. Today is the first I've heard of it. Apparently the FFA were OK with it when the fixtures were announced. If they were OK with it then, I can't see them forcing a move less than 48 hours away. Surely they'd give a weeks notice.