Why soccer fans are boycotting Adelaide Oval

Graham Cornes: Time for Adelaide to build a new soccer stadium
Graham Cornes, The Advertiser
June 9, 2017 11:05am


GREG Griffin is right. The resolute chairman of Adelaide United, who is always up for a fight, has long been calling for Adelaide to have its own purpose built soccer stadium.

Thursday night gave him more ammunition. We love Adelaide Oval but as magnificent as the new development is, unless it’s full, it just isn’t right for soccer.

The Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia was a vital, significant match against quality opposition, yet less than 30,000 people attended.

We can get a full house for a mickey-mouse exhibition match against Liverpool yet when the serious stuff is on and a couple of our home grown players are in the team, the soccer fans stay home.

They make a lot of noise but sometimes it’s out of all proportion to the popularity of the sport in this country.

Nevertheless it was an entertaining match with a happy ending for the Socceroos who are now well-placed to qualify for the World Cup tournament in Russia. And the goals were superb, particularly Australia’s third, a Tom Rogic thunderbolt.

The reality however is that the Oval is not a suitable venue in which to watch a soccer match.

You are too far from the action and when there are cavernous empty spaces in the stands, the match lacks any real atmosphere.

Besides, the surface is not good enough for the elite players. The Saudi goalkeeper discovered that the hard way when he slipped as the ground shifted beneath his feet and he gifted Tomi Juric Australia’s first goal.

FIFA is obviously not as pedantic as it once was about the preparation of the ground for these elite matches. Prior to the Olympic tournament in 2000 there were excruciating demands made of the venues for the preparation of and the quality of the surfaces. Iconic football grounds don’t always make for good soccer pitches.

We have a great soccer ground in Adelaide. Hindmarsh Stadium is a brilliant venue in which to play and watch soccer matches.

However, it has severe limitations by today’s standards. It’s not an all-weather stadium, it doesn’t have the capacity for these big games and it doesn’t have adequate corporate facilities. And while it is well served by major roads and transport services, it doesn’t have the convenience or the appeal of a venue in the CBD.

For all the hype around the new Adelaide Oval, the atmosphere at an Adelaide United home game rivals and often surpasses that of any footy match at Adelaide Oval. But Hindmarsh Stadium is old and it’s tired. Our state’s soccer fans deserve better.

State governments will argue that while they support the concept of the world game having its own purpose-built stadium, they simply can’t prioritise that over other essential services.

The mantra of “schools, hospitals and transport” is hard to argue against. However, political parties should also see the value and voter-appeal of the world game. “Bread and circuses” have been known to keep governments in power before today.

Could Hindmarsh Stadium be upgraded to an internationally accepted standard? It possibly could but there would still be limitations on access, parking and space.

It would be far better to spend the money on a new venue closer to the city and preferably one with a roof. The government would have some powerful supporters for such a project. Rob Gerard, given his passion for an Adelaide Commonwealth Games, would surely be an enthusiastic advocate.

Soccer would not be the only beneficiary of a new venue. The Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm rugby league teams will play in Adelaide on 24th June at Adelaide Oval.

As with soccer, rugby league (and union) is a much harder game to watch on an Aussie rules ground than it is on a rectangular pitch.

There are many who say that building a new soccer stadium will never happen. But there are many, including this writer, who said that AFL football would never again be played at Adelaide Oval.