http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/aleague ... da116477ba
A-League Derby between Sydney FC and the Wanderers is bigger than any NRL rivalry
DAVID RICCIO
The Daily Telegraph
October 15, 2014 12:00AM
IN the space of a fortnight, the A-League are poised to achieve on Saturday night what the NRL failed to do in an entire season.
Football Federation Australia chief executive David Gallop has kicked a goal over his NRL counterpart Dave Smith, while also offering a lesson on how to give fans what they want.
A capacity crowd of 43,000 is poised to witness the A-League blockbuster between Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers at Allianz Stadium.
The A-League derby between Sydney FC and the Wanderers is tipped to surpass every NRL crowd played at Allianz Stadium over the past five years. Source: DailyTelegraph
Less than 1500 seats remain for the all-Sydney classic, leading Gallop to boldly declare the A-League derby is the greatest cross-city match — of any code.
“In two short years, the Sydney FC v Wanderers derby has become the classic rivalry in Sydney sport,” Gallop said.
“It’s east v west and everyone picks a side.
“In terms of numbers, noise and fan engagement, we believe football’s derby has more to offer than the other match ups, like the Rabbitohs v Roosters, the Swans v GWS, the Waratahs v Brumbies or anything cricket has.
“As a showcase of what’s great about Australian football, the derby is just fantastic.”
Such is the demand for tickets, Sydney FC and the SCG Trust have been forced to find an extra 1000 seats for desperate football fans eager to be part of the atmosphere.
With premium tickets marked at $49 and pre-paid adult tickets at $28, the anticipated sell-out is tipped to surpass every NRL crowd played at Allianz Stadium over the past five years, including this year’s NRL finals matches and the hugely popular ANZAC Day fixture played this season at Allianz Stadium between the Sydney Roosters and St George Illawarra.
When they sat down to map out the 2014/15 draw, the A-League were conscious of ensuring the first two weeks of the season featured a series of blockbusters, beginning with Melbourne City’s Spanish star David Villa playing in front of 25,000 at Allianz Stadium against Sydney FC ahead of Saturday’s derby.
Such has been the focus on drawing big crowds with affordable pricing and a family-friendly environment, it’s possible that 100,000 fans will have watched Sydney FC’s first four home games.
Pointing to South Sydney’s historic grand final victory over Canterbury, which was played in front of 83,833 fans and watched by a record 2.597 million people, the NRL are defiant in their belief that rugby league remains the biggest football code in Sydney.
However, poor scheduling, a heavy reliance to ensure TV broadcasters get what they paid for and expensive ticket prices, saw average crowd figures for the NRL remain dormant in 2014.
According to Fox Sports Stats, the season average of 15,908 fans was marginally lower than the 2013 season average.
NRL head of commercial Paul Kind said rugby league’s popularity and appeal, especially for its Sydney clubs, was unrivalled.
“We play 90 games in Sydney and a stack of Sydney rivalry games over the course of the year and they play two or maybe three a year,’’ Kind said.
“So there’s two or three opportunities in a year for football fans to enjoy that experience and we have multiple opportunities over the 30 week comp.
“We’re confident in our Sydney v Sydney rivalries across the season and as three examples we’d give Wests Tigers-Parramatta, Bulldogs-Souths and the traditional ANZAC Day match as examples of rivalries that attract significant crowds and we aren’t in the business of comparing ourselves to other codes.
“We are confident that we are by far and away the best sport in Sydney by any measure.’’
, not to mention not a single nrl team was able to sell out allianz all season, including the finals...this will be the 3rd time in a row we sold the place out 
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