+x+x+xNo, I’d already walked away from it and cancelled my Foxtel subscription after the las Canberra rejection. I used to take my family for a couple of trips to Melbourne and Sydney each season to watch matches then just thought stuff it, the bastards don’t want my city so they can all get stuffed. I just follow Aussies abroad now and the Socceroos.
I think majority of people are wanting a Canberra team hopefully we get it soon
Unfortunately I think Canberra will be worse than CCM: small crowds in a too big stadium.
There’s been absolutely zero vision or ambition out of canberra in terms of an A League club, other than “we deserve one, we’re the kap-I-tol after all”.
This is totally unfair. Canberra has persistently had well-funded applications for the A-League and was knocked down purely because Foxtel wanted more Sydney/Melbourne teams and Gallop had a misguided "fish where the fish are" approach (for some reason a viewer in the two major cities is worth more than a viewer in smaller towns). I can't imagine they would be any worse than Western United, and they won't be cannibalising any existing team's support. Canberra-Queanbeyan has a pop. of nearly 500k, and the catchment has more when you add in surrounding towns (Goulburn, Yass, Cooma, Wagga).
Bruce Stadium is an open, wind-swept bowl in the middle of nowhere, but the ACT govt has plans to build a more intimate stadium in Civic, which will be easier to get to for fans and offer more protection from the elements. Forsyth Barr in Dunedin has been spoken of as a direct inspiration.
The only competition is from the Raiders and the Brumbies, but there are big question marks over Super Rugby right now. And grassroots football in the ACT is in a healthy state, with the NPL comp reasonably popular in the community.
It will probably be similar to the Jets: not financially massive but well loved in the community and capable of bringing in large crowds in good seasons.