SOLD OUT!!!!!!!

[legend]

As you know, we usually don't post in all caps but I thought I would do it as a once off to signify the fact tonights game between the Bulldogs v Eels is a SELLOUT. I bet the NRL head honchos would of taken great delight yesterday in the press release saying no free passes could be used for this game. According to the paper, this is the first competition match that has ever been sold out prior to game day. Put that in your pipe and smoke it "toffball" (thanks Saint).

 

[Studebaker]

Yeh, well done to both the Eel's and Bulldog's supporters for a sell-out for tonight.
Stick that deep up your dry and tight arses you Union f**kers !
Studebaker.

 

[imported_Saint_Benny1]

Pity its being played at fair dinkuim one of the worst viewing grounds i have ever been to
On the other side of the ground you are fair dinkuim that far away that in the StGeorge team i could just about figure out who was black and who was white
it is shocking- anyway i have had me winge
great for league though- there'll be 2 sellouts on th eweekend
Saints_Brisbane will be a sellout for sure!

 

[pepe]

what is the capacity of the ground?

once again i wish i could be there,i will wait patientlyfor the game at 11.00pm on fox tonight,screw you channel nine once again.

i just hope the bash the crap out of each other,for us neutrals it's like picking a favorite out of iran and iraq,i slightly favour iran,woops i mean parra.

here's hoping to a frenzy of season ending injuries tonight.

cheers pepe

 

[imported_Beast]

Let us hope the crowd conduct themselves like league supporters and not UK soccer thugs.
It is a a disgrace that the cops have to use such resources to cover a game of league, I suppose this is the new global game of league .

 

[Cronulla_Mania]

There will be an absolute stack of security at the ground tonight. The way the ground is configured it shouldn't be 2 hard to keep them apart during the game. Afterwards will be the problem on the way back to the station, but lets hope sanity prevails....
But lets not delude ourselves here, trouble at league games is not a new thing. There have been several riots at league games in the past, i vaguely remember reading somewhere that the crowd rioted on the field at a game back in the 30s....(or around that vintage)....how about the burning down of the grandstand at cumberland oval? Come on, i hope that we can put this into perspective. Crowd trouble at any time and any where is unacceptable, but lets face it, its not really anything new.....
MFC.

 

[Cronulla_Mania]

pepe, someone said it was 20,000 on the radio yesterday but i was led to believe that the offical capacity is around 22,000.....Depends how many they allow onto the hill area
MFC.

 

[imported_Beast]

MFC- That is where you are quite wrong.
Crowd trouble at a league game has always been a rarity, there is enough legitimate violence on the field that most peoples appetites for the biff are satiated.
Mind you most grounds have a responsible alcohol policy, or they should have, and this assists in keeping people in check.
I really do not know the reason for the Canterbury guys and a few others to get aggro, maybe they get bored, or are stupid.
I hope everything is at peace tonite, at least off the field

 

[legend]

Stupid sounds about right to me Beast. Sorry MFC, Studebaker and any other doogies fan I havent mentioned.

 

[Cronulla_Mania]

Beast, in all honesty, the crowd violence at Canterbury games has been exaggerated. I can think of 3 specific examples, the riot at belmore in 97, the trashing of the train at olympic park and the parra/canterbury match (outside the ground fights) where stupidity has truly prevailed. These were disgusting incidents and you won't get no argument from me about that one.
However, people have been ringing up for years on the radio complaining about 'abuse' that they receive while at Canterbury games. Well, i won't say in all cases, but in some cases, it does come from rival fans provoking them through idiotic acts. I have seen it many times, and it will probably happen again tonight...
Im not saying that canterbury fans are angels. Of course not, they hurl abuse, they start offensive chants...yeah, no argument here either. But lets remember, so do supporters from the saints,eels, panthers, roosters and cronulla, to name a few......
I hope that nothing happens tonight, but they are going to need 100s of security to keep some apart, which is quite sad....alot of the trouble at parra stadium stemed from the fact that the canterbury and eels supporters were next to each other and were treated harshly by security. Im not a bleeding heart, i did see what happened and the way that the 2 supporters groups were organised on the hill was just ridiculous....
MFC.

 

[Hass]

In future, big games like this could be moved to Stad. Aust. Kind of like a match of the round feeling.

Don't say the viewing is bad because the Showground's a shocker and next year we'll have a rectangular footy stadium. 45-50,000 at Std Australia would be great in the future. If we are going to use that Stadium for anything it should be for the Blockbusters like tonight.

Cheers.

 

[TheSaint]

Thank you hass. That is an idea that myself and a few others have been airing on a few forums. I put the idea up twice on WORL for games between Saints, Canterbury and Parramatta to be played at bigger neutral venues and to be promoted as blockbusters. This idea is something I'd like to push during the off season. I wrote a letter to St George Illawarra CEO Peter Doust on the issue and recieved some positive feed back. Apparantly Ticketec recieved in excess of 30,000 ticket inquires.

Last nights game was fantastic. I've attended 5 of the clashes between the tree clubs mentioned above and the crowds have been huge. Parra vs Saints was sold out at WIN, And got 23,000 last week at Parra Stadium. The Dogs and Eels have played two corkers with crowds in excess of 20,000 on both occasions and Saints vs the Dogs got around 16,000, despite the negative publicity at the time in regards to violence at Bulldogs games.

Look at the semi final attendances for these three teams ad you can see the potential for 6 absolute blockbusters. Parramatta vs St George Illawarra is all ready down for ANZAC day and will hopefully be promoted. I say take the game to Stadium Australia making it neutral, the same for the return leg if it was to be played.Encourage both sets of supporters to go to the games. Make these games events. 30,000will be an easily reached target and it shouldn't stop there.

If Season ticket holders of both clubs were to be admitted, this would aid Canterbury for their playing of games in Wellington, St George Illawarra in Wollongong and give Parramatta the opportunity to move one of there games.

 

[Bryce]

The problem with your idea, Saint, is that moving away from Parra Stadium means going to a worse stadium. StadiumOZ is useless unless you get over 70 000 for a bit of atmosphere. There is always the SFS, but Saints can't fill it, parking and transport is shit, and it becomes a long way from the western suburbs.

If you want blockbusters, you need to include Newcastle, whose supporters travel everywhere in droves, and Brisbane, who are a big drawcard everywhere.

A few years back they promoted Easts v Brisbane and Easts v Manly at the SFS, and got 35 000 to each game.

 

[BlueAnGold]

problem is today they don't promote them properly. i totally agree with saint and hass that we should scheduleyearly big event games like these early in the season with setdates & timesat stad austand promote the hell out of them for a fewmonths prior.if they become part of theyearly calender and promoted as the surburban battles games between theseclubs could easily draw60k crowds.

those three teams in particular always pull out something extra when playin against each other and with a big event atmosphere the games would become even more intense. similar to the old fibro/silvertails battles, everyone looks forward to them no matter what position the teams are on the ladder, they always grow an extra leg due to the buildup.

fantastic idea.

 

[TheSaint]

Stadium Australia doesn't require 70,000 for atmosphere. I've been to the 99 Grand Final, 99 Semi, Manchester United game, Olympic Soccer final, A few Bulldogs home games, all the double headersand Parramatta Power vs Melbourne Knights.

The best atmosphere was 50,000 for the 99 Semi between the Saints and Sharks. If you close off the top sections, having most people in the bowl, that is a great potential for atmosphere. With the reconfiguration, it will only be better.

The Bulldogs vs the Knights and Broncos in 99 all so had good atmosphere despite only crowds of 20- 30,000.

Could a few of you read my article intitled "Blockbusters, A call to action" make a few comments about it.

Fridays game could have got more. If Parra Season Ticket Holders were admitted as well, imagine what the crowd could have been. The double header idea is dead, and this would give the game 6 more big event styled games during the year.