A-League players union slams state of ‘dangerous’ Spotless Stadium pitch after Wanderers-Jets clash

A patchy, discoloured pitch littered with small plastic chips and even a metal screw, Spotless Stadium has been labelled “a disgrace” that risked injuring players during Friday night’s A-League clash.

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THE players’ union has called on stadiums to provide safer pitches after declaring Spotless Stadium left A-League competitors at heightened risk of injury.

It came as players themselves lamented the “pretty dangerous” conditions during Friday night’s 2-0 Newcastle win over Western Sydney.

The Wanderers were forced to host their first home game on a dodgy surface that, up until soon before kick-off, was littered with the remnants of last weekend’s RNB Fridays concert.

Shards of plastic cups blown down from the stands during Friday’s wild winds compounded an already patchy and discoloured field, which Jets coach Ernie Merrick described as a “carpark” and a “disgrace” and suggested it had contributed to defender Daniel Georgievski’s late injury.

Shards of hard plastic litter the pitch during the Wanderers-Jets game. (Matt King/Getty Images)

In a statement on Saturday, Professional Footballers Australia chief executive John Didulica deemed it “impossible for any player to play to their capacity when a fundamental component of the game is hijacked”.

“Through our discussions with the clubs and FFA since the match we accept the extreme weather leading into the fixture in Sydney contributed to the dangerous conditions,” Didulica said.

“However, this does not change the heightened risk of injury that players were exposed to nor the overall inadequacy of the surface for football.

“I think everybody in the game — players, administrators, coaches and fans — deserve higher standards of care from our stadiums if they wish to host football matches.”

Match officials inspect the pitch and pick up the rubbish.

Football Federation Australia had found the pitch in a poor state on Tuesday, and A-League chief Greg O’Rourke attended a second inspection on Thursday along with stadium officials, groundskeepers, and Wanderers chief executive John Tsatsimas and football operations manager Gavin Costello.

While aesthetically terrible — there were brown sections they were worried might affect the electronic signage — it was deemed safe and the Wanderers trained.

Also there on Thursday was Spotless Stadium chief operating officer Darryl Jeffrey, who assured FFA the pitch had been swept by an industrial vacuum cleaner and metal detectors every day between the concert and the match.

More dangerous rubbish taken off the Spotless Stadium pitch.

That included on Friday, with the cups believed to have blown onto the ground in the interim.

Stadium officials scoured the field pre-match for the small sharp plastic chips, collecting half a bucket in all — Merrick himself scooped up a handful and even a metal screw.

After a second referee inspection half an hour before kick-off and further risk conversations between FFA, Tsatsimas and Jets counterpart Lawrie McKinna, it was deemed safe enough to play.

It comes a year after O’Rourke postponed a Spotless home game against Wellington due to the unsafe state of the surface, and the fixture was later relocated to ANZ Stadium.

A-League players are used to poor pitches — but not dangerous ones. (Matt King/Getty Images)

“This time it wasn’t unsafe, it was just unsightly,” O’Rourke told The Sunday Telegraph.

“We were assured throughout the week all appropriate measures were being taken to get the surface in the best possible condition.

“After a second pitch inspection was carried out by referees before the match, all parties involved were happy to proceed as planned.”

It’s understood the Wanderers are privately frustrated and desperate to move back into a redeveloped Western Sydney Stadium next season.

It’s unclear what will play out contractually with the stadium, but it’s believed the club received no compensation following last year’s Phoenix match.

If there’s any silver lining, nothing is scheduled at Spotless between now and the next Wanderers home game against Central Coast in a fortnight.

After that they host only two further games there in February.

The PFA said a number of players had come to them pre-match with serious concerns prior to kick-off.

Jets scorer Jason Hoffman admitted there was a lot to be desired and felt bad for the Wanderers.

Jason Hoffman gave voice to players’ concerns. (AAP Image/Steve Christo)

“Obviously we’re a good enough league now to provide a facility better than that standard,” Hoffman said.

“It’s more just a player safety issue. It certainly wasn’t good, and I don’t know how it looked on TV but it’s not what people want to look at either.

“There were certain patches on the field that were pretty dangerous to be honest.

“Patches without grass and quite hard, and there were sprinkler holes filled in with what looked like bits of rubber and things like that which wasn’t great. But to be honest we’ve probably played on worse.”

Meanwhile, Wanderers coach Markus Babbel confirmed Roly Bonevacia had re-injured his hamstring at training midweek and will miss up to four further games.

But defender Patrick Ziegler is a chance to return in next weekend’s away clash with Melbourne Victory.

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