"ANZ Stadium has no atmosphere"

[matthew]

i prefer the SCG than ANZ stadium, the surface of the ground was crap, does anyone know when the contract at ANZ expires.

[Margie]

Same old argument but I still think the SCG is so much better than the concrete jungle. Where we sit at Homebush, the view is average at best. The surface is awful and the atmosphere hollow.

[Melbournehammer]

You need 60k plus to give it anything. That Freo game in 06 was such a hollow game -there was no way anyone could have known it was a preliminary final aside from the stupid ticket prices and crap seat allocations from ticketek.

We dont see big crowds at the SCG because that 'big' games are at Homebush. I'd be happy if we never played there again once the WS team is introduced. Possibly a necessary evil to spread the code for now, but it's a crap stadium - without discussing the turf.

I personally think the Sydney crowd would be more involved if there was a sense of it being exclusive. ie, play some sell out games at the SCG rather than playing at homebush with <50% capacity.

Completely agree.

I hated the fremantle game and the brisbane game and the sundry collingwood games. I travel up for 2-3 games per season and frankly give me the scg every time.

[jono2707]

I dont mind Homebush, and I live within walking distance of the SCG. I think its a good ground to watch the game at, although I do agree that the surface was a real issue on Sat night.

What made me, and I'm sure others including Annie, cranky was the standard of the umpiring from the first bounce onwards. I really thought we were up against it on Saturday, which kind of annoyed me and although I wasnt abusive or anything I did get a bit fired up at times.

The atmosphere was pretty good on Saturday night but would have been even better if there were more Annies there. Thats the sort of passion we like to see at the footy....

[alison.z]

The atmosphere was pretty good on Saturday night but would have been even better if there were more Annies there. Thats the sort of passion we like to see at the footy....

After Hanners kicked his goal to put us in front the atmosphere really lifted and was pretty great for the rest of the night ... the size of the crowd has nothing to do with the atmosphere - the North final with 19-odd thousand was one of the most atmospheric games i've been to!!

[Lucky Knickers]

After Hanners kicked his goal to put us in front the atmosphere really lifted and was pretty great for the rest of the night ... the size of the crowd has nothing to do with the atmosphere - the North final with 19-odd thousand was one of the most atmospheric games i've been to!!

I was going to mention that one. Was an awesome game for atmosphere and just "togetherness" of the red and white people.
I don't mind ANZ in that they are usually big-ish games against quality opposition with a reasonable number of opposition fans which always adds something to the atmosphere.
Dislike my seats there. I also don't get people slagging the Freo game in 2006 - it was pretty good where I was sitting.

[Go Swannies]

After Hanners kicked his goal to put us in front the atmosphere really lifted and was pretty great for the rest of the night.

His first ever AFL goal. Gotta love that.

[laughingnome]

Dislike my seats there.

The playing surface can be fixed. The crowd can get vocal. BUT THEY CAN'T BEND THE STRAIGHT-SEATED SIDES! The flank seats - which are classed as 'Gold' - are absolutely shocking. We've told the club for the past two years that we want to move and nothing has happened. Same crap seats as last year. Why couldn't they just make it a permanent oval?

[Lucky Knickers]

I must sit in similar position to you gnome based on your post. As there are more rectangular games played there over the season that must be the priority. I dream of when the AFL is calling the shots with 100k turning up for the derby between the Swans and Bush Pigs.

[Dave]

Love the ground. Accessible, modern, functional. Great atmosphere when things rev up.

I was in the SCG members for the Saints game and apart from a nice dining room, it's old and out of date, with poor visibility from most seats. Same for the Ladies stand. The SCG has poles all over the place obsuring the view.

Don't get me started on the collared shirt thing...

I'm constantly amused by the reverence some people seem to have for such a disjointed looking undersized ground run by a close minded pack of twits (Ths SCG trust).

[goswannie14]

Love the ground. Accessible, modern, functional. Great atmosphere when things rev up.

I was in the SCG members for the Saints game and apart from a nice dining room, it's old and out of date, with poor visibility from most seats. Same for the Ladies stand. The SCG has poles all over the place obsuring the view.

Don't get me started on the collared shirt thing...

I'm constantly amused by the reverence some people seem to have for such a disjointed looking undersized ground run by a close minded pack of twits (Ths SCG trust).

I don't always agree with Dave, but i am with him on this one. Homebush is far superior to SCG in every way. And yes....I have sat with Annie at both stadiums.

IIRC at the Collingwood game last year an old fart in front of us complained about me being loud. After a couple of statements from us he didn't turn around for the rest of the match!

[cruiser]

I thought that 40,000 looked good at ANZ on Saturday night although the atmosphere didnt happen til the last quarter, when the crowd really found its voice. The cheer squad were hopeless and at times in the 3rd quarter the Geelong supporters sounded louder than Sydney's.

[alison.z]

His first ever AFL goal. Gotta love that.

His enthusiasm was awesome to watch ... great goal and great celebration - exciting stuff!!!

[Hazcam]

Completely agree.

I hated the fremantle game and the brisbane game and the sundry collingwood games. I travel up for 2-3 games per season and frankly give me the scg every time.

Yep.

ANZ Stadium is Sydney's very own chasm. Trust me I know, I attend bulldogs games there.

The freo p/f was dreadful atmosphere wise as was the 2003 prelim final v brisbane (up until midway through the 3rd when we gained momentum). The only game I can recall that had a top atmosphere was rd 21 2003 vs collingwood. That was in part due to the ferals fans who came in their droves.

You compare that to the many SCG blockbusters over the years. Here's only a few of plenty:

- pluggers 1300th
- plugger's potential 1300th vs WCE the week b4
- vs Geelong in 1997 (46k on a sat night)
- vs Geelong semi final 2005
- vs kangas in 1999 (down by 4 goals at 3qtr time...enter paul kelly, crowd was only 29k)
- vs St Kilda s/f 1998

plus heaps more

[shaun..]

Yep.

ANZ Stadium is Sydney's very own chasm. Trust me I know, I attend bulldogs games there.

The freo p/f was dreadful atmosphere wise as was the 2003 prelim final v brisbane (up until midway through the 3rd when we gained momentum). The only game I can recall that had a top atmosphere was rd 21 2003 vs collingwood. That was in part due to the ferals fans who came in their droves.

You compare that to the many SCG blockbusters over the years. Here's only a few of plenty:

- pluggers 1300th
- plugger's potential 1300th vs WCE the week b4
- vs Geelong in 1997 (46k on a sat night)
- vs Geelong semi final 2005
- vs kangas in 1999 (down by 4 goals at 3qtr time...enter paul kelly, crowd was only 29k)
- vs St Kilda s/f 1998

plus heaps more

Well if you look at that list the ANZ was not there in that time to compare with, so its pretty hard to judge it based on that. There's only atmosphere in games if its close or if there is a significant milestone attached imo. We've played some very ordinary games at ANZ, mainly against Collingwood and hence the atmosphere would be non existent except for some loud abuse

As has been said Sat nights game was a beauty and so was the final vs Nth Melb