Eddie McGuire blows up the top of the AFL for a shocking blunder that saw the league miss a golden opportunity to ‘own NSW’ this weekend
- While the cat is gone, the Pies could have played
- AFL simply didn’t see the opportunity
- 110,000 fans could have turned up
Controversial and colorful AFL power broker Eddie McGuire has come out swinging, claiming the league missed a golden opportunity to ‘own Sydney for a weekend’ – and he makes a very solid point.
The outspoken former president of Collingwood slammed the AFL for not scheduling a game in Sydney on the weekend when all NRL teams are up north at Brisbane’s Magic Round.
The port city doesn’t even host a Friday to Sunday Super Rugby match, leaving the door wide open for Aussie Rules to be the only game in town.
“This was an opportunity to get a situation where NSW was owned by the AFL,” he said Wednesday night Footy classified on Nine.
“Instead of it being Collingwood vs Sydney at the MCG, that would have been sensational if it was Sydney vs Collingwood at today’s ANZ (now Accor Stadium).”
The Swans are not playing in Sydney this weekend and no AFL team will be playing this weekend, leaving the SCG (pictured) completely empty – and Eddie McGuire is furious about the missed opportunity
Instead, there are no AFL matches at all in NSW on the NRL’s ‘away round’ in Queensland.
In addition to the Sydney Swans being in Victoria, the GWS Giants are playing the Western Bulldogs in Canberra.
“I know the games come in late, but you have to be nimble enough when the opportunity arises,” McGuire added.
“We should have been there this weekend and owned Sydney.”
Victorian footy matches where all the stars line up, such as top-of-the-table clashes and finals, can have over 100,000 in attendance.
The largest crowd ever to gather for an AFL match in Sydney is 72,393 when, coincidentally, Collingwood came to Sydney and played the Swans at Stadium Australia in 2003.
The simple math underpinning McGuire’s theory and call for this weekend suggests that surpassing 100,000 in NSW was a very real opportunity to happen.
One third of Australia’s 26 million people live in NSW, of which 5.2 million live in Sydney.
With a seating capacity of 85,000, Accor Stadium in western Sydney will be empty this weekend, giving the AFL an ideal chance to fill the stadium
As well as the NRL being completely gone, the other big draw for crowds, horse racing, will not be held in Sydney due to a rare move to Gosford on Saturday.
So the crowd at Accor, if a match had been played there, could have been over 85,000.
And as a double-header, the Giants could have played next door at Giant Stadium in front of 25,000 spectators.
McGuire’s comments come on the heels of Swans boss John Longmire complaining that Aussie Rules is struggling sorely to gain a foothold in NSW, which he labeled ‘the most competitive sports market in the world’.
The coach who won the premiership pointed out that while a third of the country’s population lives in the state, it only produces five percent of AFL players.