


Clash of the week: NRL vs A-League in Sydney's heartland
Date March 4, 2014 - 8:42PM
Michael Chammas
Rugby league reporter
The biggest opening round of rugby league in Sydney in two decades will go head-to-head against the A-League's expected sell-out cross-town derby on Saturday night.
For the first time in the NRL's history, seven games have been scheduled in Sydney on the opening weekend of the competition.
The last time Sydney hosted seven rugby league games in the first round of the season was back in 1994 during the NSWRL.
However the NRL's return hasn't had an impact on the town's rapidly growing interest in football, with possibly the biggest crowd of the weekend expected to pile into Allianz Stadium for Saturday night's derby between Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC.
A crowd of more than 40,000 is expected for the clash between the A-League's new fierce rivals, gatecrashing the NRL's festival of rugby league smack bang in the middle of the code's heartland.
The NRL has denied the increase in Sydney matches for the start of the 2014 season was a bid to reduce interest in the A-League derby, which attracted a crowd of 40,388 the last time the two teams met at Allianz Stadium back in October last year.
Football Federation Australia chief executive and former NRL boss David Gallop insists no thought was given to the rugby league calendar when scheduling the derby, but described interest in the match as a reflection of the growth of the sport in Sydney.
"The Sydney derby is now a must-see for not only football fans but many general sports fans in Sydney," Gallop said.
"It was not deliberately scheduled against anything else that is going on in town. It is a reminder of the competitive nature of Sydney sport. The house full sign will be a symbol of football's steep growth curve and a taste of what is ahead with our finals series, a World Cup campaign and the visit of Juventus all coming up."
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... z2v2Dwu7vW