GWS Giants angry at prospect of playing ‘home’ finals at the SCG
GWS boss David Matthews says his team would rather play home finals against the Swans at Alice Springs than their rivals home base of the SCG.
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GWS Giants boss David Matthews says his team would rather play home finals against the Sydney Swans at Alice Springs rather than being forced to play at their rival’s home base of the SCG.
Because of the limited capacity of Spotless Stadium, the Giants could have to play finals at the SCG beyond 2018 when ANZ Stadium is reconfigured for rectangular footy codes.
With the ‘house full’ sign set to go out for the first time in Sunday’s Sydney derby the limits of the Giants home ground are clear to see.
Not surprisingly the fledgling club is supporting moves to boost the capacity of Spotless Stadium and avoid potentially playing home finals on their rival’s turf.
“I’d rather play a home final at Alice Springs than the SCG,” Matthews told The Daily Telegraph.
“I don’t think you can call team Greater Western Sydney and then play home finals in eastern Sydney.”
The AFL have already indicated a potential GWS home final this year could be played at Spotless Stadium if it was against a lower drawing team and at ANZ Stadium for a match-up against the Swans or a popular Melbourne opponent.
But when the SCG becomes the biggest AFL venue in Sydney in 2018 the game’s governing body would face a challenging decision should GWS finish higher than the Swans and draw them in a final.
Last year the AFL staged the Western Bulldogs’ elimination final against Adelaide at the MCG rather than the Dogs’ home ground of Etihad Stadium.
Matthews says Sydney is a different scenario to Melbourne.
“A home final should be a home final especially when you’re talking about Sydney,” Matthews said.
“When you talk about Etihad and the MCG they’re about three kilometres apart. We’ve got hundreds of members in Blacktown and to get from there to the city in terms of petrol, tolls and parking it probably costs $70. You can’t be classifying it as a home final if you’re not catering for your fans.”
GWS are supporting the bid of the Royal Agricultural Society to have the capacity of Spotless Stadium increased from its current 25,000 to 30,000.
At a proposed cost of $20 million for the upgrade it looks like chicken feed alongside the $1.6 billion revamp of Sydney’s stadiums.
“Unfortunately we came in on the end of the stadium wars,” RAS boss Michael Kenny said.
“But $20 million to complete Sydney’s second AFL and cricket ground facility should be a no brainer. Our facility to complete the two grandstands could be done within a year. All the foundations are there it just needs the superstructure. It’s not a redevelopment it’s the completion of the proposed stands.”
Originally published as GWS Giants angry at prospect of playing ‘home’ finals at the SCG
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