We often debate the need for suburban grounds in the NRL and if the politicians weighing up whether to upgrade and invest in these venues needed proof of their importance, look no further than PointsBet Stadium on Saturday and McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
I was at Shark Park with 2GB’s Continuous Call Team as Cronulla returned home for the first time in 930 days and wow, didn’t they put on an incredible show.
In my 15 years covering rugby league, it’s one of the best days I’ve had at the footy.
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Sitting in the broadcast box and watching the sea of light-blue Sharks jerseys make their way down from Woolooware Train Station and across Captain Cook Drive, reminded me of my childhood walking to the footy with my late dad.
On the way to the ground, you’d be debating whether your team would come away with the two competition points and on the way home, you’d either be celebrating or commiserating with your fellow supporters.
Throw in the sledging, light-hearted banter with the opposing fans and that’s where the tribalism is built in our game.
Thankfully we’ve got an ARLC chairman who’s determined to protect and grow that tribalism because Peter V’landys understands what the game has thrived on since 1908.
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V’landys declared last year, “the fans want to be able to walk to their facility, they want to be tribal and we’re not going to give up until we’ve got all teams playing out of suburban grounds in Sydney.”
“You need to do it for Manly, you need to do it for the Tigers and the Bulldogs, you need to do it for the Panthers and that’s going to be one of the main objectives of the commission, to get these suburban grounds (updated) and go back to the good old days of tribalism.”
That is music to the ears of just about everyone in rugby league. Thank you Peter.
If you were at Shark Park or watching it on television, when Nicho Hynes slotted the match winning conversion attempt, you would have thought the Sharks had won another premiership.
2016 winning captain Paul Gallen was jumping up and down on the touchline, Toby Rudolph jumped the fence and celebrated with the fans at the southern end of the ground and ‘Up Up Cronulla’ was played on repeat as the Sharks celebrated their return home.
It was the hottest ticket in town and the crowd of 11,400 walked away buzzing.
In fact, veteran commentator David Morrow became quite emotional when declaring it “one of the most fabulous club games of footy I’ve ever called” and that’s coming from a man who’s been broadcasting rugby league for 50 years.
The following day, blue skies and sunshine greeted the 24,000 Novocastrians who turned up to McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle for the Knights’ first home game of the season.
Eighth Immortal Andrew Johns spoke about the tribalism on Nine’s coverage before the match insisting, “When you come to Newcastle, you’ve got to take on the whole town.”
The Wests Tigers dished up a performance which Michael Maguire declared “wasn’t first grade standard”, but ask the Knights supporters and they’ll tell you the players were overawed by the experience of a packed Newcastle crowd.
It’ll be the same at Brookvale on Sunday when the Manly Sea Eagles return home, Penrith has become unbeatable at the foot of the mountains and we’re counting down the days until the barbeques are lined up along Mary Street as the footy heads back to Leichhardt Oval.
The late Laurie Nichols would have knocked some sense into these bureaucrats neglecting the suburban grounds. You can just imagine the Balmain fanatic standing on the steps of the NSW Parliament shadow boxing and trotting out his famous one liners.
Laurie was the ultimate supporter who loved suburban footy and thrived on it. There’ll be photo opportunities in the coming months for politicians to stand in high-viz vests and hard-hats when opening the new Sydney Football Stadium which will play an important part hosting major events in the Harbour City.
When the new stadium is full, the atmosphere will be amazing, however I’d much prefer a packed Shark Park, Leichhardt Oval or Kogarah Oval where I can stand on the hill to enjoy the atmosphere, stop in at the local pub and walk to the ground.
We’re instead asking supporters to jump on trains, buses and the light-rail to attend “home-games” at Accor Stadium, Commbank Stadium and the new Sydney Football Stadium.
We should be filling smaller suburban grounds instead of this reliance on the bigger venues which look terrible on TV when the viewer is watching the footy with thousands of empty seats in the background.
Let me know your thoughts by sending through an email to the WWOS Radio show by clicking on this link; https://form.jotform.co/70601482897867
Wide World of Sports Radio is heard from 6pm AEDT on 2GB 873am with Mark Levy and co-hosts Billy Slater (Monday), Paul Gallen (Tuesday) and Brad Fittler (Wednesday).
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