Soccer anger over AFLX pitch invasion at Hindmarsh Stadium
Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 4:22 pm
Oh no... soccer upset and wanting the government to intervene. 
Soccer anger over AFLX pitch invasion at Hindmarsh Stadium
Val Migliaccio, Soccer Writer, The Advertiser
November 18, 2017 7:40am
THE AFL hiring Hindmarsh Stadium to unveil the experimental “Twenty20” version of its traditional game two days before Adelaide United plays for A-League points has left soccer officials baffled.
AFLX will be rolled out for the first time as a pre-season trial on Thursday, February 15 — barely 48 hours before Adelaide United plays its Round 19 fixture against Central Coast Mariners on the Saturday night.
Football Federation Australia officials and Adelaide chairman Greg Griffin could not understand why the Reds — the sole tenants of Hindmarsh Stadium — weren’t notified before the AFL made the announcement on Friday.
And Griffin added Adelaide hasn’t been told whether the club will have access to its regular pre-game training session at Hindmarsh the day before facing the Mariners.
Griffin has called for the State Government to intervene.
Hindmarsh Stadium’s landlord Adelaide Venue Management Corporation has the Minister for Tourism Leon Bignell leading its structure followed by the AVMC board and chief executive Anthony Kirchner.
“The government owns this stadium and they should just say this (AFLX) is not on,” Griffin said.
“And the Sports Minister should be standing up for soccer for a change.
“He should be defending soccer fans.
“I’m not sure if we’re able to train there a day before the match.
“We may have to make alternative arrangements and the government should pay for those alternative arrangements
“The first I heard about was I read it on an AFL press release.
“Not a single word has been said (by AVMC).
“We are the only tenant, once or twice a year Football Federation SA and the SA amateur soccer league hire the ground for finals.”
Griffin said the Foo Fighters rock concert which is at the venue on January 23 was never an issue after the AVMC had contacted the club and the fact the Reds’ next home match wasn’t until February 3.
FFA head of A-League and W-League Greg O’Rourke was also perplexed by the decision for Hindmarsh to host exhibition AFLX matches within two days of a serious soccer match.
“The FFA was aware via media reports that the AFLX concept of playing on rectangular football (soccer) fields was a possibility for 2018,’’ he said.
“The Hyundai A-League draw was finalised and published in June 2017 well before this week’s announcement from the AFL and as such we also read about the venue selection for the first time in the media.
“The AFLX fixture played at Coopers Stadium is naturally of concern for us given the venue has no experience with the impact of AFLX.
“We will be contacting the venue to ensure the pitch is up to standard for the Hyundai A-League match 48 hours later.”
The AFLX exhibition matches will have six AFL teams including SA’s Crows and Port Adelaide use the Hindmarsh pitch for seven-a-side matches.
They are expected to use the pitch for about 180 minutes in a round robin format — 90 minutes longer than the Reds’ clash against Mariners.
And it’s not known whether the six AFL teams will be collectively using the two dressing rooms at Hindmarsh after United was denied access to double headers for their A-League and W-League teams this season because of the shortage of fixed change rooms.
Bignell was contacted by text message but was yet to respond.
Kirchner declined to comment.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/foo ... ae611e58b0
