Thursday night games at the SCG

[Mountain Man]

I will be there, even though it will cost me for accommodation for the night as it is 2 1/2 hours on the train back to the Mountains - and 1/2 an hour to get to Central as well.

Hopefully some of the millions who tune in to State of Origin rugby league tonight on TV will watch our sport on Thursday night.

[Xie Shan]

I'll still go, but I don't have to like it.

Totally agree about not doing something just because they do it in the US, we have to play to the strengths of our own game and AFL has always been the best sport to attend live as a spectator, I think the best way to showcase that is by playing during the day. I go to night games and enjoy them (more so Saturday nights) but day games still provide the best experience for the fans IMO.

Minor whinge: I wish that they would go back to starting night games at 7:10 rather than 7:40 or 7:50 -- the later finish always seems to screw up your bus/train connections going home after the game. I know they do it because the networks like to show it live from 7:30 but starting half an hour earlier wouldn't hurt would it?

[ugg]

The Saturday night games start time had to be moved to 7:50 to accommodate the end of the twilight game and I assume the Friday start time was moved to make it uniform.

[royboy42]

My major beef about tomorrow night's game is the conflicts. Sydney Vivid is on and pulling up to 100,000 into the city every night. The Swans will get 35,000 or so to the SCG. The normal Thursday night late shopping crowd plus the chaotic daily commute home add a few zillion more.
So the poor guy coming from either the north side or the south will hit an impenetrable wall around 630 on.
The Govt has advised against using cars or ferries..trains and buses will be dreadful.
A tiny bit of AFL planning could have avoided the Vivid at least. And I'll forgive not realising that Thursday is late shopping night in NSW, not Friday as in Vic.
I suppose we can be grateful that there is nothing at the stadium next door.

[CJK]

My major beef about tomorrow night's game is the conflicts. Sydney Vivid is on and pulling up to 100,000 into the city every night. The Swans will get 35,000 or so to the SCG. The normal Thursday night late shopping crowd plus the chaotic daily commute home add a few zillion more.
So the poor guy coming from either the north side or the south will hit an impenetrable wall around 630 on.
The Govt has advised against using cars or ferries..trains and buses will be dreadful.
A tiny bit of AFL planning could have avoided the Vivid at least. And I'll forgive not realising that Thursday is late shopping night in NSW, not Friday as in Vic.
I suppose we can be grateful that there is nothing at the stadium next door.

I don't believe for a second that AFL House have any idea what Vivid is....

[annew]

I don't believe for a second that AFL House have any idea what Vivid is....

I didn't until this week and I live in Sydney.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Thursday is late night shopping in Vic to, I doubt that's even a consideration , nor should it be

[stellation]

Thursday is late night shopping in Vic to, I doubt that's even a consideration , nor should it be

Look, if Victoria was so great then Bondi would be there!

I don't like the Thursday night window, but that's mainly because it's forcing me to miss being there this time. If it works for others and there's a good turnout then good for the AFL, I guess.

[dimelb]

Look, if Victoria was so great then Bondi would be there!

I don't like the Thursday night window, but that's mainly because it's forcing me to miss being there this time. If it works for others and there's a good turnout then good for the AFL, I guess.

Oi you! We've got South Melbourne Beach!

The waves aren't as big, but at least we don't get sharks. Careful you don't tread on a stingray but.

[mcs]

I would of loved to have gone, but for anyone out of town, a Thursday Night (Or a Monday night game) game is a no go, without taking time off work for it. And frankly, that wasn't an option I could take, even if I wanted to.

Would love to be there tomorrow night, but will be settled in at home watching it on telly. Carn the swannies!

[royboy42]

Thursday is late night shopping in Vic to, I doubt that's even a consideration , nor should it be

I forgave them that..just as well. But it does increase road traffic substantially.

[ugg]

I have had to take a bus to Randwick on Thursday nights for the past 18 months. The bus passes the SCG around 6.10 and I find that it's usually quite hectic around Anzac Parade and Moore Park around that time. I think it could be quite chaotic tomorrow in the hour leading up to the first bounce.

But I digress. I started the thread to find out whether others were as unhappy as I was and I think the majority of you are. I can understand the scheduling if there was a good reason behind it, e.g. the Anzac Day matches being played on Anzac Day itself so sometimes you get a Tuesday or Wednesday game but even then there's the benefit of it being a public holiday. To schedule this game on this particular Thursday doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason behind it except for raking in the cash for the TV rights at the expense of the fans actually attending the match.

[Matt79]

I love it....as a once off marquee type game. The draw came out 7 months ago so plenty of time to plan ahead for this game. Yes it takes me an hour to get in to the ground, longer to get home, yes its a work night blah blah blah.

Its 1 game everyone...and it should be a beauty!! I cannot wait to get out to the SCG tomorrow night!!!

[ugg]

Yes it's going to be a beauty (hopefully), but it would still have been a beauty had it been played on a Saturday night.

[Ampersand]

I only live a 20 minute walk from the SCG so it's no problem for me.

One thing I've noticed over the past year having travelled around the US is that other cities have a much stronger culture of weekday attendance at sport/music/comedy etc. than Sydney. I put this mostly down to our horrible public transport system.