There was always a huge possibility that the Socceroos would be at Hunter Stadium. Surely the FFA/AFC/etc would have thought about this, and considered it worthy to host the Roos when they announced Newy as a Semi host. I assume Newy (through the government, etc?) threw a tonne of money at the competition in order to earn the hosting rights to that game, and it is a gamble that looks to have paid off for them.

I'm not fussed either way as I have tickets to both semis, and will be going to both. But speaking with incredible bias, I'd love to see a packed Hunter Stadium watching my national team. So keen!

Why is Hunter hosting a semi instead of AAMI or Suncorp?
Nothing against Hunter, but I don't understand why the FFA didn't have a larger stadium in a major city as a Semi final host.

One semi is in a 80k stadium, the other is in a 22k in Newcastle? Makes no sense.

Australia are no certainties to be in semi-final. Regardless, if they do make it, so what if its in Newy? The pitch is in great condition, it will look good on tv and those that miss out attending will boost ratings anyway.

Lots of flogs in Melbourne selling their 1/4 final tickets on Gumtree/eBay.

So dumb. Its a quarter final still of a major tournament where a winner is guaranteed. Could even see a penalty shootout which is awesome live if you don't care about either team :lol:

it won't be taken away from you guys don't worry.

You guys deserve a big game fuck the haters, Jets fans have been served utter shit for a while and they still come out in numbers generally 10,000+ to support the Jets.

Have fun mate :cool:

i wonder how the uzbek and south korean fans will get tickets though, for a sold out game :lol:

They outbid them. Simples ;)

Melbourne probably thought there is no point as they have the Aus Open starting today

Brisbane probably thought it would be pointless due to how backward the administration generally is. the public in brizzy generally support the roar quite well ~15k per game, but the people running the city are still rugby league first so they probs thought it is not worth the money.

this tournament so far has been a major success :cool:

Just bought two tickets from some bogan AFL supporter in Deer Park for $40 each :lol:

If I knew a South Korean or Uzbek desperate for a ticket to the already sold out game, I would certainly think about it, after all, I'll just have the Australia game on my mind the whole day.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Can't complain though, would really like to see a full spectrum of Uzbekis at the game =p~

Lol, btw, isn't the Socceroos game at 9:30 AEDT? It's a reasonable window of time to catch at least most of the socceroos' game isn't it? (of course unless the game gets to ET)

Edited by Mozilla: 19/1/2015 11:37:46 AM

Edited by Mozilla: 19/1/2015 11:39:45 AM

Most tickets are being sold at ridiculous prices given they are deemed worthless if the original purchaser is considering forfeiting their ticket.

Those who are not willing to go watch a great game of football should at least sell there tickets to Koreans/Uzbeks at half price instead of face value.

:lol:

Congrats to all Brisbanites who bought the venue pack, which I reckon were the least sold of all venues. $139 (Cat C) for 7 games, including 2 Socceroo matches.

Newy venue packers might cash in as well, could get a SF and third place play-off involving the Socceroos, along with the other group games.

Only about 1500 tickets left for the Newcastle Semi. They will have 5 days to move in the temp seating if thats the decision they go for.

Still should be a 22,000 crowd.

http://www.austseat.com.au/index.html - these guys could provide the seating, would make for a cracking atmosphere having that many people crammed in.

Edited by blackmac79: 19/1/2015 11:55:46 AM

Edited by blackmac79: 19/1/2015 11:57:52 AM

There are 5 stadiums used.

Sydney was already selected for one semi, the one most likely featuring Australia. Makes sense.

The stadium sizes of Canberra, Melbourne and Newcastle are not much different so the whole argument regarding capacity is pointless. The only option worth considering is Suncorp. It is a fair argument. Did the funds paid by the NSW govt to host the game outweigh the ticket sales for an extra 25,000 people? 25,000 people at $75 per ticket is $1.875m. I don't agree with this farming out Socceroos games to the highest bidder only. Just because the governments may not stump up enough cash, doesn't mean the fans in those cities miss out.

Suncorp aside, you are left with Newcastle, Melbourne and Canberra. Surely we all place Newcastle ahead of Canberra.

So Newcastle or Melbourne. I think there are a few reasons for selecting Newcastle:
- Vic government were not interested in hosting it
- Availability of Hotel for traveling fans with the Aust Open on.
- Location and travel convenience for the last 4 teams., considering the final and 3/4 play off are in Sydney/Newcastle.

Newcastle has a very good and strong football community. Based on A-League attendances, there is no basis for saying that Adelaide or Perth deserved to be a host venue in the first place ahead of Newcastle and certainly no reason for saying they are not deserving of such an occasion.

Edited by Song: 19/1/2015 12:58:11 p.m.

Oh YEAH!... Has cost my mate $160 to go to both these socceroos games in brissy.
Here I am seeing it all for $140 that I paid back in May for 7 games.
So a nice meal and plenty of beer money in my Budget...

single seats only in category 1, category 3 sold out last time I checked this mornig

Japan vs Jordan sold out over 24 hours in advance.

Japanese ultras are arriving from this game on.

i sure hope these japanese ultras bought semi finals tickets long in advance considering theyre almost sold out.

will be an incredible sight to see the japanese ultras in newcastle for the australia vs uae clash.

11,394 in Brisbane! Great crowd.

Thatd be classic. Tickets would be going so cheap on ebay haha.

Be awkward when there are more Japanese fans there than Aussies.

4,841 in Sydney.......

Qatar vs Bahrain 4800

today killed our momentum.

1/4 finals should be crackers though
south korea vs uzbek 24k
china vs australia 48k
iran vs iraq 20k?
japan vs uae 30k.

Of course. Dead rubber between 2 shit teams when Iran v UAE was the better fixture to watch on TV with something to play for.

I have the 7 game Sydney package and I didn't go to the game because I cbf'd watching 2 shit teams play for nothing.

In that 22k crowd for Iran/Qatar last week, would you fellow people who also went to the game say that you thought there were 10-15k Iran supporters?

In that crowd last night for Bahrain/Qatar, I saw maybe 100 supporters for either team (that's if you discount the Bahrain Ultraz in their CCM, Sydney FC, Manure jerseys :lol: ). It didn't even seem the Qatar fans who were at the Iran game were even there last night.

Dead rubber, better game on at the same time, midweek - I wasn't expecting anything more tbh.

Match 1 – Australia vs Kuwait: 25,231
Match 2 – Korea vs Oman: 12,552
Match 3 – Uzbekistan vs PR Korea: 12,078
Match 4 – Saudi Arabia vs China: 12,557
Match 5: UAE vs Qatar: 5,513
Match 6: Iran vs Bahrain: 17,712
Match 7: Japan vs Palestine: 17,147
Match 8: Jordan v Iraq: 6,840
Match 9: Australia vs Oman: 50,276
Match 10: DPR Korea vs Saudi Arabia: 12,349
Match 11: China vs Uzbekistan: 13,674
Match 12: Bahrain vs UAE: 7,925
Match 13: Qatar vs Iran: 22,672
Match 14: Palestine vs Jordan: 10,808
Match 15: Iraq vs Japan: 22,941
Match 16: Australia vs Korea: 48,513
Match 17: Oman vs Kuwait: 7,449
Match 18: Uzbekistan vs Saudi Arabia: 10,871
Match 19: China vs North Korea: 18,457
Match 20: Iran vs UAE: 11,394
Match 21: Bahrain vs Qatar: 4,841

That number truly amazes me. I predicted less than 5k - maybe 2-3k.

It was on at the same time as the Socceroos game, and was a dead rubber.

I am very proud of my fellow Newcastle people for showing up to that. Awesome work. I take no rep from it though, as I chose to watch the Socceroos on the TV instead :lol: