Just bought tickets for the game against Central Coast Mariners on Tuesday. The pricing here is a bit on the daft side because as the games are never a sell out, you can buy the cheapest ticket (normally somewhere near the front) and then move to the good seats as soon as the game kicks off. $25 to get in, $35 if you want to sit out of range of the bloke who throws the flares..
Two of the fans who were filmed hitting the ref and goalkeeper have been banned for life from attending any A league listed games. Not sure anything has been done with regard to the club - yet. EDIT: Just seen this; Melbourne Victory fans barred from Boxing Day match as Football Australia weighs club penalty Just reading through the linked article and it seems a bit harsh on the regular fans who aren't members.
Just got this email: Dear Ticket Holder, Due to APL handed down sanctions as a result of the events on December 17th at the Melbourne Derby, Melbourne City FC are unable to have any Active areas for any matches until the end of January. You will be automatically refunded to your method of purchase as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding. Regards, Ticketek Team What a load of bollocks. City fans didn't do anything wrong so all I can think is the APL is punishing any team that protested, peacefully or not..
The club’s punishment was handed down yesterday. $550K (about 310K GBP) fine, suspended 10 point deduction and other sanctions - FA hit Victory with $550k fine, suspended 10-point deduction as full Derby punishment revealed
A joke, surely, and a sick one at that. Victory can’t be penalised with relegation so they’ve been financially crippled due to some idiots who should be the ones punished. I can see this league folding soon as the fans get more and more disenfranchised with the farce of it all..
Well, as expected, Melbourne City won the league at a canter this year, finishing eleven points ahead of second placed, Central Coast Mariners. So now we have the ridiculous playoffs for the winners of the Grand Final, which most fans covet more than the league title. The semi finals, over two legs, are between Sydney FC and Melbourne City and Central Coast and Adelaide United. The first legs are tonight and the second legs are on Friday 19th. The final is on Saturday 3rd June at a venue to be confirmed. I'm not sure if all that protesting worked or not or they're still intending on having the final in Sydney for the next three years as planned..
As expected Melbourne City qualified for the Grand Final by beating Sydney FC - who would have had the advantage of playing in their hometown had they won - 5-1 on aggregate. It didn't help Sydney's cause when Burgess got sent off for a challenge after just 20 minutes. The highlights are below, and no, Kevin De Bryne doesn't play for this city although it's a finish worthy of the name. Melbourne now meet Central Coast in the final on Sunday.
How is the country preparing to the women's World Cup @Panja? Loads of Irish bought tickets which meant the opening game changed venue from the small(ish) Sydney stadium to the big one but that's as much news as I got. Tickets haven't been that easy to buy even when they first became available...
I actually thought Melbourne had played the reserves in protest to the final being played in Sydney but apart from their best player inexplicably starting from the bench it was a full strength side. Bizarre outcome..
I’ve just registered with FIFA.com about getting tickets and the games are either already sold out or low availability. To be honest I hadn’t seen it being mentioned anywhere, as always regarding proper ‘footie’ it’s a stealth approach.
New season got off to a start yesterday. I was debating whether to go watch the Perth/Newcastle game later but can’t be bothered I do want to get to a few games this season though
City v Western United, the poor man’s local derby, kicked the season off in Melbourne yesterday with Utd pulling off a shock win. I wasn’t there. Doubt I’ll go this year unless the gates pick up..
FFS Perth thrown 2 points away there due to a terrible decision by the keeper. No idea what he was thinking trying to come out for a corner put in that he had no chance of getting.
The only thing that still surprises me is how little interest the Aussie public have to the game. Gates of 50,000 in Melbourne are a distant and seemingly never to be repeated memory. Haven't been to a match since the Melbourne derby riot and that bucket of sand incident..
