Netball fans face delays and power outages before Thunderbirds opening home match eventually abandoned

Adelaide Super Netball fans were thrown a curveball when the Thunderbirds’ clash with the NSW Swifts was plagued with technical issues.

Thunderbirds fans have labelled the team’s first home game of the season a “joke and embarrassment” after they were made to queue for more than an hour as slippery court stickers were removed, before a halftime power outage forced officials to abandon the game.

A sold-out crowd was full of excitement for the Saturday night match against NSW Swifts at Netball SA Stadium, only to leave the arena unfulfilled after several hours of drama.

The delays started when patrons were forced to wait in long queues in the sun while officials battled court surface issues inside the arena.

It is understood the freshly laid decals had to be removed because they had started to bubble and were deemed unsafe.

The match got underway at 7.30pm, an hour after the scheduled start of 6.30pm. But with the scores tied and most fans enjoying the thrilling contest, another technical issue arose when the lights went out.

The match was ultimately declared a draw after exceeding the allotted 120 minutes for the game to be played, prompting outrage on social media.

“It was a debacle from the start,” one poster said.

“The game would have been done and dusted before the ‘power outage’ had there not been the problem with the court decals.”

Another labelled it a “joke”.

“Spectators pay a lot of money for tickets and the teams deserve better than this.”

Sarah Hausler purchased a season membership for the first time and went to the game with her friend and five children.

Fans hold torches as a power cut affects parts of the stadium during the match between Adelaide Thunderbirds and NSW Swifts at on March 25, 2023 in Adelaide. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

Staff removing Decals from the surface of the Netball SA stadium prior to last nights game after safety concerns. Picture: Twitter

She said the lack of communication from Netball SA was very disappointing.

“Obviously we can’t predict these kinds of events but you know, we would appreciate some better communication when these things happen,” she said.

“If we’d have known earlier that there was going to be a delay, we could have altered what time we arrived there.”

Ms Hausler said she knew something wasn’t quite right when they first arrived at about 5.45pm.

“We saw the waiting line snaking through the car park,” she said.

“It was probably about a half an hour before we got into the arena.”

She said it was a “fantastic game” with the Thunderbirds only tying the scores just before half time.

“We went off to get some snacks and go to the toilet and when we returned the lights went out. Everyone had their camera torches on, we just thought it was part of the halftime experience,” she said.

Ms Hausler said about 20 minutes later the announcer told fans there had been a power outage.

Fans remained in their seats until the Thunderbirds players returned to the court in their warm-up uniforms, confirming the game was over.

The Adelaide Thunderbirds confirmed on their Facebook that a high voltage transformer issue had caused the power outage.

“The team was great when they came out and talk to us at the end,” she said.

“But we were disappointed, we had been talking about the start of the season for weeks since buying our memberships and the first match was just starting to get so exciting, the crowd were great.”

It was the second sporting code in Australia to experience power issues this weekend. The AFL match between Brisbane and Melbourne on Friday night was delayed in the last quarter after the lights went out.

A spokesperson for Netball SA and the Adelaide Thunderbirds said Netball SA and Netball Australia were currently “reviewing two unrelated issues that caused disruption” to the match.