HAL 12 (Season 16/17) Fixture Wishlist

[tim...]

This probably seems like an inane thread (so admins feel free to shitcan it) but I have a few thoughts on what sort of fixture we should be looking at next season.

Balancing the NSW ledger - for too many seasons now we've had a ridiculous situation where one year we're playing 6 NSW fixtures at Gosford one season, then only 3 the next. Hopefully the club is working with either Sydney, WSW or the Jets to see if this can be split up to a more realistic 4 or 5 balance each season. For a club like ours it's vital - even with smaller crowd numbers lately - for an even spread of "derby" type fixtures.

Games away - This induces hand-wringing at the best of times - let's put aside debate about the reasons for a second and assume we are taking one or maybe two games away from Gosford out of a 13 home game season, where would you be ok with seeing them? Bathurst, Orange, Canberra, maybe Geelong again? And who to pick for the opposition, given we've used Victory twice in two seasons for "home away" fixtures?

Key dates - In addition to the NYE fixture being a permanent thing going forward (one would hope) I think we also need to ensure we're at home on the Australia Day weekend like the last few seasons, and that it's a derby. I'm not terribly fussed if we open the season at Gosford or away, nor the final round.

Distribution of home and away fixtures - I know there's no such thing as a perfect world but god it would be nice to see a limitation of double-away or double-home weeks. Happens far too often and doesn't encourage regular attendance.

Now the big one - timeslots - we've had matches in almost every timeslot this season. It's pretty obvious Sundays just don't seem to work for our club. I'd like to see a mix of Saturday 5:15 and 7:30 games thrown in next season. We only had one or two 7:30 fixtures and while I understand this is the key slot for Fox it needs to be shared around better.

I'm still anti-Friday night football for CCM - we aren't the market for it - and if we ever get Thursday night again we should be revolting against FFA.


P.S. if we can keep the anti-club/anti-TW sentiment to a minimum and just discuss what we wanna see that would be tops

 

[FFC Mariner]

Minimum of 2 being moved at this stage I believe

 

[nebakke]

Minimum of 2 being moved at this stage I believe

Isn't that number dependent on whether it's a home or away-type season? - and I think they said a Max of 2 didn't they?

 

[Gratis]

Good thread idea

 

[MagpieMariner]

I'd like to see us play every other team once before we play anybody twice. We suffered badly this season by getting all 3 games against Adelaide late in the season after they found their mojo. It would've been nice to get one early before they found their feet. Who knows, maybe 1 more win. Surely it wouldn't be too difficult to work out?

 

[nebakke]

I'd like to see us play every other team once before we play anybody twice. We suffered badly this season by getting all 3 games against Adelaide late in the season after they found their mojo. It would've been nice to get one early before they found their feet. Who knows, maybe 1 more win. Surely it wouldn't be too difficult to work out?

Yeah - looking at how out season started and how Adelaide's did... I think we'd have been in a much better situation, had we had Victory's run for example...
Not to make excuses, but if we'd gotten a win or two more earlier in the season, I doubt it we'd have been quite the easy beats we seem to be now.

Then again... If the ref hadn't thrown the Sydney game in their direction etc. etc...

Still - would be nice to see an overall, more balanced roster... Nothing wrong with randomising within a given set of parameters - split the season in three, say "each team plays every other team once in each third"... Give a fairly balanced view and on top, guarantees derbies spread out over the season... Win-win-win.

 

[Atomic]

Great thread.

Re: Games away... I'd definitely have another Geelong games against Victory, purely for the $$$... which is the whole point of it really. Ideally I'd take a game to Bathurst, but the club has to weigh up the benefit, i.e. small crowd vs the potential for memberships and merch sales.

I suspect crowd size will win out and the desire will be to stage a game in a region which will attract large number of opposition supporters. With that in mind, maybe an option might be to play WSW at Homebush??? We'd attract 12 - 15K at CCS, whereas we might get 20-25K at Homebush (mostly drive-by's).

 

[sydmariner]

Great thread.

Re: Games away... I'd definitely have another Geelong games against Victory, purely for the $$$... which is the whole point of it really. Ideally I'd take a game to Bathurst, but the club has to weigh up the benefit, i.e. small crowd vs the potential for memberships and merch sales.

I suspect crowd size will win out and the desire will be to stage a game in a region which will attract large number of opposition supporters. With that in mind, maybe an option might be to play WSW at Homebush??? We'd attract 12 - 15K at CCS, whereas we might get 20-25K at Homebush (mostly drive-by's).

Western Sydney Wanderers last wednesday announced that the Club will play out of ANZ Stadium and Spotless Stadium from the 2016/17 season.
Following consultation with Football Federation Australia the Wanderers will host the first Sydney derby of the 2016/17 season at ANZ Stadium in a match that could potentially set a new attendance record in the Hyundai A-League.

With the majority of matches to be played at Spotless Stadium and a minimum of four blockbuster matches including both Sydney derbies to be played at ANZ Stadium in the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season, the agreement with both venues and work with the Sydney Olympic Park Authority has created an important opportunity for the Western Sydney Wanderers and the growth of football in the region.

After extensive member and partner consultation including the survey of over 3,000 Wanderers members, playing matches from a single location earned 70 per cent of the vote while a combination of Spotless Stadium and ANZ Stadium gained close to 60 per cent of the total vote based on the six venue options presented.

Wanderers CEO John Tsatsimas said that the decision to move to venues at Sydney Olympic Park was based on strong member feedback and the best interests of the sustainability and growth of the Club.

TSATSIMAS: Our fans will be impressed with the quality of the venues as they make this our new Wanderland #WSW pic.twitter.com/VIxULeCXve

— ANZ Stadium (@ANZStadium) March 30, 2016 “The overwhelming response from our members was they wanted a central location that has good public transport and access as well as being able to fit in not only our current 18,341 members but also have room to grow,” said Tsatsimas.

“Sydney Olympic Park offers two exceptional venues in ANZ Stadium and Spotless Stadium which will best serve our current member base and provides a major growth opportunity for the Club which allows us to offer a greater number of Wanderers fans access to our blockbuster matches both now and into the future.”

While stadium capacity for seated members and allocation for room in an admissible area for the Red & Black Bloc to continue their passionate support of the Wanderers were key elements in selecting the venue, the positive appetite from both venues to hosting Wanderers matches during the rebuilding period of Pirtek Stadium at Parramatta played a key factor.

“From a business perspective both ANZ Stadium and Spotless Stadium have been outstanding in their attitudes and appetite for having the Wanderers at their venues,” continued Tsatsimas.

“We look forward to creating an environment at both venues that will retain the atmosphere that has become synonymous with Wanderers matches as well as creating a new standard in our delivery of match days to our members, new fans and corporate partners.”
Read more at http://www.a-league.com.au/article/...vuupismw9kqs1i3ryqtmy6uet#apyDDhOzYeZvB3jL.99

 

[pjennings]

I think that we are contracted to have at least 80% of games at CCS which to me says a minimum of 11 games. So that means at most 2 home games moved. We play Perth, Adelaide, City and Roar twice next season.

So if the Gold Coast want a game then one of the Roar games at CBUS would give a good away weekend. If it was City I would think it would be Geelong. These are

For the other two I suspect that Canberra would be more likely to come to the party to at least become a non loss-making game. Bathurst and Orange are the interesting ones with the connection to the Western Mariners but would probably would be loss making ventures.

I suspect we will see Gold Coast and Canberra.

 

[pjennings]

Key Dates- In addition to NYE and Australia Day not being derbies I think we should also avoid derbies on the first and last round. This round against the Jets has no meaning in it except to beat the scum. If both teams have nothing to play for we are only diminishing what should be a good crowd by having it as the last round.

Ideally the Australia Day game could be tied in with the Central Coast Celebrations. New citizens presented to the crowd at half time (not the ceremony) - Australia Day fireworks on the waterfront after the game.

 

[Big Al]

New A league head will be a key twist.

Geelong don't need us next year. They had a 3 yr deal with MV and MV stuffed up and had to meet there obligations, hence the cash incentive.

I'd go Northern Territory, NT tourism advertise a lot on sports teams so why not go there early in the season or late.

Also Bathurst as mentioned to show support to the northern Mariners. Would also get under the NRL nose.

Or Tassy if the one of the other two doesn't suit.

Our poor play that has lead to poor crowds will lead management to move as many as contractually possible.

NYE is a must.

Aussie day weekend would be good as would Easter if dates match up.

 

[sydmariner]

Coff's harbour would be a pretty good place imo

 

[Big Al]

Wow civilised discussion about playing home games elsewhere after NSO debarkle

 

[Atomic]

Coff's harbour would be a pretty good place imo

Why?

 

[sydmariner]

Why?

It's not too far for fans to travel to, it's a nice place & we played there in the pre season.

 

[tim...]

Aussie day weekend would be good as would Easter if dates match up.

Easter falls April 16 next year if my research is correct - would be around first week finals if season strcture stays

 

[sydmariner]

Easter falls April 16 next year if my research is correct - would be around first week finals if season strcture stays

it's a shame that we won't be playing

 

[JoyfulPenguin]

My wishlist is another Geelong game so I can attend an extra game next season >.>

 

[MagpieMariner]

The other thing I'd like to see is 4 rounds instead of 3. Then all teams play each other home/away equally.
Is that practical? Probably not, at least not yet. I'd like to see it though.

 

[nebakke]

The other thing I'd like to see is 4 rounds instead of 3. Then all teams play each other home/away equally.
Is that practical? Probably not, at least not yet. I'd like to see it though.

Hmmm yeah... It seems like it'd be a nice way to balance the season out and add games - the guys complaining about how short our season is, would certainly get bang for the buck - if we kept the finals series though, by the time they're done, it'll be what? 2 months of off-season, including at least a couple of weeks, ideally probably a month of time off, for the players to recover... That's one month to do hiring, planning train changes and turn around to start up again... Coaching staff would never ever have time off, might not be that feasible