Peter FitzSimons may have touched a raw nerve with his anti-stadia rhetoric, but he did so by ignoring the sport that stands to benefit most – football.

FitzSimons is never shy of engaging in a spot of populist grandstanding, and in New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian’s announcement that her government would knock down and rebuild both Allianz Stadium and ANZ Stadium in Sydney, he found a foolproof subject.

Raging against the political machine with his usual chest-thumping verbosity, FitzSimons went so far as to start a petition that to date has raised more than 130,000 signatures in opposition to Berejiklian’s plans.

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Let no one say Australians aren’t engaged in the political process, especially if the only thing that’s required of them is to fill in an online form.

Yet by writing in such broad terms about the implications of knocking down the grounds, FitzSimons conveniently ignored mentioning the one sport that consistently out-draws all others at the two venues – football.

So let’s have a go ourselves, shall we?

When was the last sold-out game at ANZ Stadium? Last month, for the Socceroos’ decisive World Cup qualifier against Honduras.

Which fixture has attracted crowds of 26,176; 40,388; 40,285; 41,213; 40,539; 40,382; 40,143 and 36,057 to Allianz Stadium over the past five years? The A-League’s Sydney derby.

How many fans turned up to Allianz Stadium for last year’s sold-out A-League grand final? 41,546.



But it wouldn’t pay to mention any of these statistics when your narrative is that “no one” ever shows up at either ground.

And that’s something that should ring alarm bells for football fans.

I was delighted to see Steve Mascord make his return to The Roar during the week, but not the least bit surprised to see he failed to mention the A-League when discussing the whys and wherefores of rebuilding the two grounds.

Why would he? Mascord is one of the best journos in Australian sport, but he’s also firmly entrenched in the rugby league camp.

And the line that knocking down and rebuilding ANZ and Allianz Stadium is for the exclusive benefit of the National Rugby League is one you see repeated in the mainstream media time and time again.

It’s not like football is given a second thought here – it doesn’t even enter the conversation.

It’s a good thing, then, that after years of being Allianz Stadium’s biggest drawcard, the SCG Trust has belatedly decided to instil some football nous into its 15-member board.



According to the Daily Telegraph, the ABC’s W-League commentator and long-time friend of football, Stephanie Brantz, looks set to join former Sydney FC director Michael Crismale on the SCG Trust’s revamped board.

And not a minute too soon, if you ask me.

Having missed kick-off at the last Sydney derby because a set of turnstiles failed, there’s no doubt in my mind that the increasingly decrepit Allianz Stadium needs extensive renovations.

The only folks who seem to disagree are those who either never attend games at the venue, or sit in the climate-controlled comfort of catered boxes when they do.

FitzSimons is probably right in thinking that knocking down both Allianz Stadium and ANZ Stadium at a cost of $2 billion to taxpayers is an act of political suicide for Berejiklian’s government.

But on the eve of the latest Sydney derby – one where Football Federation Australia’s decision to cross-promote with Star Wars would have to rank as their dumbest marketing campaign to date – there’s another issue at stake for football.

It’s an issue of the game standing up for itself and having a voice in the mainstream media, instead of being wilfully overlooked by influential columnists who perhaps would prefer the A-League didn’t exist at all.

There are many reasons football fans should care about Sydney stadia being rebuilt – the addition of safe standing terraces among them.



We shouldn’t be afraid of treading on anyone’s toes. Because unless we do, football will be doomed to play second fiddle to the other codes forever.