Why put a derby on during unite round. That game would draw close to 30,000 even without the double header. Play FC vs Victory one day and WSW vs say Melb or Bris another day and get 20,000 to each double header.
Auckland's rail system is undergoing heavy repairs to prepare for the opening of the City Rail Link tunnel in 2026, so there are quite often weekend cancellations. I used the trains to get there for the opening match and it was packed like sardines.
Yeah watched the game on TV and the crowd was good especially with the rubbish weather. Not an AFC fan but for NZ Football is great to see so always a positive. Hoping this will be broken nxt weekend against the Nix in the NZ Derby with better weather.
It's hard to take this season seriously with the byes tbh and that's coming from me a hardcore fan. If we can get Canberra in next season it'll be heaps better
The trouble we have is that even in doing the Asian clubs competitions justice we have a lot of travel, so I'm pleased that this has been factored into the match schedule. Having a week off isn't necessarily a bad thing for teams to recover from injury/fatigue, though it does point to our incredibly short season, which in itself needs fixing.
I reckon they've done a pretty good job with scheduling the byes. The thing that bothers me is the table. Round 7 coming up this weekend and we have 5 clubs that have played 6 games and 8 clubs that have played 5 games. The only table position that is certain right now is Auckland on top. Every other club has the potential to rise or fall 1-3 positions. Currently Adelaide have a higher points-per-game than MV and CCM have a higher points-per-game than both WSW and MAC.
Nah, creates an extra bit of tension. I remember back in the early 70's Leeds were 2 points ahead of Man United going into the last week, but had played two more games. Theoretically, Manchester should have won the title with "easy" games mid week, but lost both. A 3-0 result on the final day wasn't good enough as Leeds had a far better goal difference (and won anyway). Points in the bag are what counts. Actually this is (if you want to call it what it is) a more normal football culture of taking your points when offered and not playing full rounds each week.
In comparison, Auckland FC were awarded their licence on 21st Nov 2023.
Aleague needs to get to a point where it's clubs are playing a full home and away season with each and every other club first before worrying about bye rounds....
I doubt it's going to happen next season either.
Timezone difference would be part of the reason, but it is doable. To have the NZ games on FTA in Australia it would mean that the kick-off times need to be 7pm or 9:35pm (NZ Time). 9:35pm is too late, but a 7pm kick-off would be fine and it would mean in Australia it would be the 5pm (Eastcoast time) game.
Is that a joke? New Zealand derby on Australian TV? And a game between 2 teams who park the bus and play anti-football? I would rather watch AU v MB
