Sydney Swans privately frustrated over Cricket Australia power play
Cricket Australia could cause chaos in football code scheduling after locking in two one-day internationals at the SCG at the start of the 2020 NRL, AFL and Super Rugby seasons.
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The Sydney Swans have been left miffed by a Cricket Australia power play that has locked in bouncers and boundaries at the SCG just days before the football codes explode into action next year.
As revealed by The Daily Telegraph, Cricket Australia has scheduled two one-day internationals against New Zealand for March 13 and 15 at the SCG, which could also send the SCG’s other tenants the Sydney Roosters and NSW Waratahs scrambling to secure alternative venues.
Those dates collide with round one of the NRL and precede the AFL season by just one week.
The Daily Telegraph understands cricket has the right to schedule international matches at the SCG right up until the first round of the AFL season, and the controversial schedule for the 2019-20 season, to be released today, will push those boundaries to their absolute extremes.
Frustrated Swans officials were privately wondering yesterday how such an arrangement would impact on their own contract with the SCG, which stipulates the Swans have access to the ground for training sessions before the start of the AFL season.
If the footy codes are kept off the surface for any period of time after the ODIs, the Roosters and Waratahs could be left racing to secure first dibs on Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta as an alternative venue.
Cricket’s regrettable move to March comes after India first pulled its own powerplay on CA, forcing the Australian team to abandon home soil and tour India in January when it wanted to host the ODIs against the Kiwis.
The Swans – who were only made aware of the potential clash with cricket yesterday – are desperate for the SCG to move to a drop-in wicket to solve issues it finds with the traditional centre square.
Making such a landmark move would take years, given the time it would take to grow the drop-in pitches. But The Daily Telegraph understands that behind the scenes, the SCG Trust is seriously examining the logistics that would be required to make such a change happen.
Cricket NSW are fiercely opposed to a drop-in pitch, but they may ultimately struggle to win the war if the SCG Trust can A) find a site at Moore Park to grow the drop-in pitches and B) find a way to physically wheel the trays onto the SCG.
These remain big question marks, but the groundswell behind the push for drop-ins, both at the Swans and within sections of the SCG Trust, is strong, even though talk of a drop-in would have absolutely no bearing at all on next year’s dilemma.
The Swans won’t play at home until round two of next year’s AFL season.
However, that would give ground staff only two weeks to turn the SCG centre square and outfield around for AFL football – a mighty ask given the five weeks they had to go from BBL to NRL mode this year was considered tight enough.
SCG officials are confident it can be done, and haven’t ruled out the Roosters playing a round two NRL match just a week after the stumps are pulled on one of the longest cricket seasons in history.
It’s possible the outfield may have to be left longer than usual for the ODIs against the Black Caps to ensure the grass isn’t dangerously short for the start of the Aussie Rules, with the AFL and its players’ association likely to have questions over the safety of the surface.
The NRL and Super Rugby will begin planning for next year’s schedules in the coming months.
Roosters chief executive Joe Kelly said the club would look to play South Sydney away at ANZ Stadium in round one next year and would work with the NRL and the SCG for the plan beyond then.
“As part of the NRL scheduling process, that’ll occur over the next couple of months where any unavailability’s of venues will be articulated by the venue operators so it’ll become clear over the next period of time.”
Originally published as Sydney Swans privately frustrated over Cricket Australia power play
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