Sydney FC 1 Brisbane Roar 0
Our boys in blue finally got the win, the first since the false dawn of the derby triumph and only the second victory at Allianz Stadium since beating English Championship contenders Wrexham FC here last year. A game that mirrored the last two home games, with Sydney FC dominating possession but lacking the direct threat, this was on a knife-edge until the very end, even after Tiago Quintal grabbed the lead early in the second half. The relief at the final whistle was palpable, the fans in the home end not convinced and sending the players away without a final chant.
A 5pm Saturday kick off, and with Michelle fresh from her first volunteer shift at the Women’s Asian Cup accreditation centre at CommBank Stadium, there was only one option to get us to the stadium on time for the gates opening and the Sydney FC Pride members function. So, taking the expensive road from Pennant Hills to the Entertainment Quarter, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive not long after the 4pm opening of the stadium. Pride Membership (yes, there is such a thing) allowed us a ticket to the function and we presented ourselves at Gate 2 only to be turned away politely by the gate security. Ripped jeans. Not acceptable. No one told us. Undeterred, we went up to the membership window at our usual gate to ask for assistance, and we were able to get access back at Gate 2 with the help of our friendly and apologetic membership dude. Eyes were still on Michelle – tut, ripped jeans in the members area, how abhorrent. Such was the shame, we were instructed to take the lift to bypass the members area on level 2 and arrived at level 3 for the event.
When the friendly but unxpecting members’ area staff finally worked out what was happening, we were escorted to the function room. It was deserted, a set of easels provided from the Pride Cup the only thing to suggest that there was any sort of event on today. A few regulars arrived, but it was clear that we could not bring food and drink into the function room, which was a proper members’ area with outdoor padded seating, despite being offered a food and beverage voucher as part of the deal.
The players were warming up, the Brisbane Roar team disappearing down the tunnel first, maybe so they didn’t get injured pre-game on the horrible Allianz Stadium surface. The PA system was just as bad up on level 3 as it is from our usual area of the stadium, a pre-match on-screen chat with a fan completely inaudible. It was at that time that I was ready to abandon this non-event and head to our usual home of Cove Heights, leaving Michelle to work out the food and beverage deal with the members’ area staff, who were making calls to find out the protocol and instructions for what ultimately equated to a very generous offer. Kick off was approaching, so I popped back down the lift and looked for the door to get through into the general admission area.
This is where things got a little surreal. The big doorway between the members entrance and the general concourse, behind the bar area at halfway, was blocked by stadium staff. They were preventing people from heading in and out of the members area. My Cove Heights physical badge wasn’t recognised on the staff member’s scanner. I’d come into the members on a guest ticket on Michelle’s phone. I couldn’t come in. One of our Cove Heights crew was trying to do the opposite manoeuvre and come from the concourse into the members area to attend the Pride event. We were stood at either side of an open doorway, wanting to be where each other was, with unsympathetic staff refusing point blank to let us past.
I have to admit, maybe due to a culmination of cock-ups already in the process of entering the stadium, to the non-event up on level 3, to the fact that kick-off was now five minutes away, to the fact that I’m on a self-imposed no-alcohol stint and free beers were on offer, maybe I was tired and agitated, but I lost my shit at this point. I’m not one for raising my voice, but raise my voice I did, pleading with any staff member within earshot to understand that I just wanted to go to my normal seat in Cove Heights. Literally no common sense on display, nobody interested, only officious staff with instructions that had to be followed to the letter. Fair play, these people would have to deal with all sorts of pissed-up people, so were certaainly on the defensive. Not my finest moment, but the frustration was real, and with one important-looking staff member enjoying the scene and calling after me that gate 1 is closer than gate 3, I walked out of the stadium to start the afternoon from scratch. For a brief moment I felt like not bothering going back in, such was the welcome I had received, but that sentiment passed after 0.3 seconds and I strolled around to Gate 3 and my regular welcome to the stadium and made my way up to Cove Heights, the game having just kicked off.
Even Cove Heights was subject to a ticket check at the top of the stairs. In a crowd that could not have been more than six thousand, stopping people sitting in a different section that’s already two-thirds empty is the last thing to worry about. Taking my seat was like coming back from a horrible nightmare, so relieved to not be dealing with any more obstacles to what should have been a happy occasion and a regular Saturday afternoon sporting occasion. Anyway, enough of that shit before I bang a hole through my keyboard, there was a game on!
The team was remarkably similar to the line-up from Tuesday, Victor Campuzano dropping out to be replaced by Piero Quispe, both players now playing a bit-part with the arrival of the two new superstars. Sydney attacked. The Cove brought an early Super Sydney FC chant and our fearless capo was happy to redo some chants due to the general lack of energy from the late-afternoon crowd. Arms on Shoulders is quite the addition to the chant sheet, one that is done with a great deal of energy to provoke the fans to do just that. Apostolos Stamatelopoulos fired one in up the far end that the Roar goalkeeper did well to stop, although the keeper almost slipped on the tricky surface soon after to let Sydney in.
The visitors had a chance from a free kick which was hit with such weakness that the crowd was laughing, but when Rhyan Grant misjudged a header and went down in a Willa Pearson-esque heap as if he was injured, the tricky Nick D’Agostino was able to fire in a low shot, easy for Harrison Devenish-Meares. Stama appeared to be upended for a nailed-on penalty, but the referee was unmoved, and he was poleaxed again in the area towards the end of the half, the referee quick to stop play for the Roar player who copped the ball in the face straight after, but completely ignoring the blatant foul beforehand. The half ended with a flare-up, Rhyno shoving his player over as he helped the ball over the sideline, the Roar number 10 ready for fisticuffs to jeers from the bench.
The half-time score of 0-0 was right, both teams having sniffs at goal, Sydney keeping the ball and moving it around, but as usual with little effect.
The second half was more of the same, but Sydney did seem a little more direct. Ahmet Arslan tried a lob from halfway that bobbled wide, Quispe slid to keep in the ball on the byline when he probably didn’t need to and the chance was gone in the uneven soil patches between the different-coloured grasses. Sydney then took the lead. Quintal cut in from the right on a run that Joe Lolley would love, and tried his luck, the ball seemingly taking a deflection off one of three defenders diving in to block and it flew into the net. Get in! The UB40 classic Always for Sydney was adapted to suit our new goal machine, lo lo lo lo, Ti-a-go-Quiiiin-tal. Love it! Surely the home team would take command now. Stama missed a glorious chance when played in over the top, but the offside flag saved his blushes. Campuzano flicked a header wide when perhaps he could have done better. The Brisbane no 17 Justin Vidic escaped a yellow card when he dived after evading a sliding tackle. Devenish-Meares was doing his John Burridge routine (look it up, young’uns) as Sydney went for the jugular, Campuzano stealing a ball on the right, but Steph Catley’s ex-beau was out quickly to smother at his feet.
Brisbane looked the most likely to score. Vidic fired a free kick at HDM, who tipped the ball over. A free kick from way out was tipped over again, this time our keeper scurrying back to tip the ball away after an audacious chip. The sting was taken out of the game when Devenish-Meares teased Vidic, taking his time to pick up the ball, and the final whistle was met with a big cheer, more in relief than in delight.
The players were quickly over to the Cove to soak up the adulation. The linked hands theatre-style curtain call was met with cheers, but that was it. Where normally there would be a chant shared by players and fans, where a player would take the mega and lead the home fans in song, there was nothing, our capo waving the players away. And it felt right; there was little to celebrate; we should be beating Brisbane Roar and with this team we should be doing it much better than this; the fans are somewhat scarred after a difficult week.
We exited the stadium (the second time for some of us) and headed to the Entertainment Quarter for a catch-up and a bite to eat while the Melbourne derby played out on the screens of the Winghaus, and we were back in the North West suburbs somewhere after 9:30pm, a very reasonable time thanks to the early kick off.
I’m not going to look back on today fondly. There’s nothing that irks me more than being at a pre-arranged event where no one seems to know what’s happening, and where people are doing their jobs to the letter, following protocol that makes no sense to the customers, without any pause for reflection and common sense. I don’t want to be in your fucking members section, let me out! Yes, Sydney won and it was lovely to see everyone; if my attendance at Allianz Stadium counted for two in whatever the inflated attendance was reported, I’ll be even more disappointed. Roll on the Big Blue for a proper atmosphere and I’ll be staying away from the members’ area.