Sydney FC has recently decided to move their A-League clash against Perth Glory, considered a top-of-the-league battle, from the SCG following Saturday evening’s match victory against Melbourne. The match will be played on the 18 April 2019, has been relocated to Netstrata Jubilee Stadium in an attempt to avoid the concerns surrounding the venue’s surface when it comes to Test cricket.
SCG managers and A-League officials have been criticised following the knee injury that was suffered by Terry Antonis, the midfielder for Melbourne Victory, on a poor section of the pitch during the match on Saturday. Although games for other sporting events will continue, the tone is now unsuitable for soccer, requiring a flat surface.
Sydney FC’s Last Remaining Fixture
Kevin Muscat, the Melbourne Victory coach, labelled the pitch as dangerous. However, Greg O’Rourke, the A-League boss, steered away from using the same language after he met with chiefs of SCG on Monday afternoon and agreed to relocate the last remaining fixture of Sydney FC to the playing field this season.
“We admit that the pitch surface was, and will be, safe and playable for A-League football which was verified by two separate expert reports only days before the game took place as per our standard process,” he stated.
“The wicket block of the SCG, however, compromises the field uniformity, especially when it comes to football. We highly appreciate all the hard work that the SCG Trust has undergone to accommodate an extraordinary amount of activity on the pitch of the SCG recently and will continue to work with them when it comes to using the venue in the future.”
Everyone is still patiently waiting to see if the home final of Sydney FC will be hosted at SCG along with the grand finale that will be determined towards the end of the season. On Monday evening, Melbourne Victory decided to distance themselves from possible legal action after the injury occurred. However, they urged the A-League to learn from this incident.
Trent Jacobs, the Melbourne Victory chief, informed SEN, the radio station, that the injury was partly due to the inconsistent surface of the pitch. However, the club avoided taking any legal action when it occurred with Jacobs stating,
“The incident occurred away from any player and far away from the ball which means it had to be the inconsistent pitch that caused the problem,” Jacobs stated. We are now requesting a review of the incident to see what exactly happened during the game.”
Jacobs added that,
“We need to ensure that the pitch surface at SCG is best suited to accommodate the visual play and aesthetics we all need and that the workplace is safe and secure for players. If A-League matches are played on pitches where existing cricket wickets are embedded, we vote that football games shouldn’t be played there.”
Sydney FC is forced to move all their home games away from Allianz Stadium as the pitch is currently under development.