Head of Asian Cup organising committee tells Canberrans to 'put up or shut up' over local matches

Updated

The head of the Asian Cup in Australia has told Canberrans to "put up or shut up" amid concerns over poor crowd attendances for upcoming matches.

There are no scheduled Socceroos games in Canberra, but around 15,000 people are expected to turnout for the first match between Oman and South Korea on Saturday at Canberra Stadium.

But head of the Asian Cup organising committee Michael Brown said sales for the remaining six ACT matches had been less positive.

"Sales are encouraging, we're hoping for the best, but there's still plenty of space for people," Mr Brown said.

"Canberrans have either got to put up or shut up.

"If you want international sporting events, if you want A-League teams, if you want [Big Bash League] teams here, show sports that you're going to turn up."

The ACT Government has spent more than $4 million dollars bringing seven Asian Cup matches to Canberra, including one quarter final.

Sports Minister Shane Rattenbury said it was imperative for future investment in sport that locals get out to the enjoy the games.

"The stronger numbers we see the better case it is for Canberra getting great sporting events in the future," he said.

"I'd really urge Canberrans to come along and take the chance to see some world class football right here in Canberra.

"There are some quality teams playing here. It's summer, it's balmy, it's great to spend a night out at Canberra stadium and see some really world-class football."

Mr Brown said the price of tickets had been kept deliberately low to allow as many people as possible to afford entry to Canberra Stadium.

"You can't blame cost, it'll just be the fact that you're too lazy to be there," he said.

"At $15 an adult, $5 a child, we'll make sure you get to enjoy Asia's biggest sporting event.

"800 million people will be watching matches which is fantastic and we have an eye-ball population of around 2.5 billion people. It's a massive number of people.

"You should be there, get on with the fun, 72 hours to go, a lot of excitement to come."

Topics: socceroos, states-and-territories, soccer, act, canberra-2600

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