Full house expected for GWS Giants first home game
A full house is expected at Drummoyne Oval this Friday for the GWS Giants’ first home game of the women’s AFL season as the inner west continues to attract the big hitters of sport.
A full house is expected at Drummoyne Oval this Friday for the GWS Giants’ first home game of the women’s AFL season as the inner west continues to attract the big hitters of sport.
The region is increasingly becoming a platform to showcase women’s talent after a sellout crowd of 5368 jammed into the oval for the first ever stand-alone Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) final on Australia Day.
More than $14 million has been ploughed into the oval in the last decade to attract key events on the NSW sports calendar like the Governor-General’s XI match against New Zealand under lights on February 28.
Significant investment is turning inner west sports grounds into magnets for elite sport with Sydney FC set to host two A-League matches at Leichhardt Oval on February 17 and March 1.
Sydney FC CEO Danny Townsend said the club’s “fertile membership base in the inner west” meant it “made sense” to choose the oval as one of three temporary home grounds during the redevelopment of Allianz Stadium.
“It’s a traditional football ground so our members will be able to get up close and personal with the players who will really drive the atmosphere and we expect both games to be a sell out,” Mr Townsend said.
“We’re spending a significant amount of money turning Leichhardt sky blue but equally we’ll be respecting that it’s a traditional home ground for Wests Tigers.”
City of Canada Bay Mayor Angelo Tsirekas said the $30 million redevelopment of Concord Oval will allow for Wests Tigers and West Harbour to play women’s games as well as providing a high-performance training facility.
“This summer, the City of Canada Bay has become Sydney’s home of women sport,” he said.
“The recent WBBL final at Drummoyne Oval boasted our largest crowd since we hosted one of Steve Waugh’s last one day matches for NSW in 2004.
“The recent string of sellout crowds at the oval is unprecedented — we’re proud to play a part in the boom in professional women’s sport in Australia.”
Sydney Sixers general manager Jodie Hawkins described the oval as “one of the best boutique grounds in Sydney offering both a playing experience as well as keeping the spectators close to the action”.
GWS Giants CEO James Avery said they were expecting a “full house” at this Friday’s AFLW game against North Melbourne and advised people to get their early to secure a seat on the hill.
“The level of support we get from the inner west is extraordinary so we think it’s fitting we play our first (women’s) game at Drummoyne,” Mr Avery said.
“It’s a lovely boutique ground, the location is superb right there on the water, its so accessible to the community, the surface is fantastic and the spectators feel like they’re on top of the game itself. Our players love playing there because they feel really close to the supporters.”
AFL Head of Women’s Football Nicole Livingstone said their “fingers and toes are crossed” the weather doesn’t conspire against them as it did last year.
“We have four teams coming into AFLW in 2020 and we continue to see Drummoyne Oval as a venue we will use because we love it,” she said.
While Blacktown is still GWS’s home ground, Drummoyne Oval provided an ideal opportunity to take AFLW to other parts of Sydney, she said.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne is pushing for $4 million of government funding to upgrade the grandstand and other facilities at Henson Park so elite sport can be played there.
Cr Byrne wants to see the Sydney Swans play matches at the Marrickville ground when they enter the AFLW and for the Newtown Jets affiliate NRL Club the Cronulla Sharks women’s team to do the same, as part of the partnership.
AFL NSW/ACT CEO Sam Graham said: “Henson Park is an important AFL venue in Sydney with men’s second tier (NEAFL) competitions played there, AFL practice matches, as well as AFL Sydney content, amicably sharing the space with the Newtown Jets.
“When the time comes for a Sydney Swans AFLW team, Henson could certainly be an option as a training and playing venue,”
Mr Graham said Birchgrove Oval was emerging as another key ground to showcase the sport in the inner west with AFL goalposts and events reintroduced there last season.
“Again this year we have more AFL Sydney fixtures planned and the AFL would be delighted to be given the opportunity to partner in the further development of Birchgrove Oval,” he said.
Cr Byrne said the council had budgeted $1.6 million for maintenance and upgrades at Leichhardt Oval over three years to 2021 but were open to spending more “as a condition of attracting state or federal government investment”.
He said a $5 million spend would deliver upgraded toilets and changerooms, eftpos facilities and modern seating to make it more profitable for the likes of Wests Tigers and Sydney FC to play there.
The Young Matildas took on Thailand at the oval last year and Football NSW hosted its elite National Premier League’s NSW Men’s top tier grand finals there for the last four years.
Sports Minister Stuart Ayres said the NSW Government is investing an additional $100 million into community sport facilities through the Greater Sydney Sport Facility Fund and through funding Centres of Excellence like the one being built at Concord.
A Cricket NSW spokesman said $100,000 had been invested over the past six years into inner west sports grounds through the Australian Cricket Infrastructure Fund.
Drummoyne Oval
-GWS Giants will play their first home game of the AFLW season at 7.15pm this Friday, February 8. FREE. More information here.
-The Governor-General’s XI, made up of Australia’s most promising young female cricketers, will play New Zealand in a day-night one-day match on February 28.
-The JLT Sheffield Shield will return at the climax of the regular season when New South Wales host Victoria from Tuesday 12 March to Friday 15 March.
Leichhardt Oval
Sydney FC will take on the Central Coast Mariners on February 17 and then return two rounds later to take on Adelaide United on March 1.
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