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Socceroos v Greece


belaguttman
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Well I'm really pleased that as a Football Family member I paid full price for these tickets that, over a week before the game, I could now buy at half-price. I won't be rushing to buy Socceroos tickets in future

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FFA slash Socceroos ticket prices in bid to boost Melbourne crowds

There may be a huge Greek diaspora in Australia and a vast number of Kiwi immigrants, but will they turn out to watch their national soccer teams when they are taking on Australia next month in Melbourne?

Crowds for many of the Socceroos' matches in recent times – certainly in the big cities of Melbourne and Sydney – have not been as large as some expected, and Football Federation Australia is taking no chances with the friendlies against Greece and the Matildas' pre-Olympics send-off matches against New Zealand.

 

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The game's governing body is offering members of the "Football Family" – essentially anyone who is registered to play the game or logs on and registers for free membership – massive discounts for the Etihad Stadium matches on June 7 involving the three countries.

The Socceroos will face Greece that Tuesday night in a double-header, with the Matildas to play New Zealand beforehand.

Huge ticket discounts are on offer for the Socceroos' matches in June. Photo: Getty Images

A flyer just released from Football Federation Victoria – a constituency of the FFA – announced swingeing price cuts for Victorian Football Family members for the Etihad games, with the prices of category B adult tickets cut from $106.89 to $55.91, a discount of almost 50 per cent.

Category C tickets, which were originally sold for $55.91, are now $35.52, with junior, concession and family tickets also available as part of the cut-price deal for Football Family members. An FFA spokesperson confirmed a similar slash to ticket pricess is planned for the first match of the Greece series at the 83,000 capacity ANZ Stadium in Sydney.   

"FFA always strives to add value for those who are part of the Football Family and this offer to Football Victoria's registered database is an example," said an FFA spokesperson.

 "There is a capacity in major stadia such as Etihad Stadium to provide affordable entry prices when there are 55,000 seats available.

"It's a thank you to those who are heart and soul of football at the grassroots."

The move is likely to provoke criticism from any "non family" fans who have already shelled out for tickets at the higher prices.

FFA says the initiative is not a panic move but a regular marketing ploy, rewarding those who have supported the game in the past. The organisation says it is expecting a crowd of around 50,000 for the Greece match in Melbourne.

Australia are playing Greece in Sydney on June 4 in the first of the two-leg series of friendly fixtures, while the Matildas take on New Zealand in Ballarat the same afternoon.

The teams then head to Melbourne for the Tuesday night matches.

The last time Greece faced Australia in Melbourne, the match was a farewell game for Guus Hiddink's Socceroos before they travelled to Germany for their first World Cup appearance in 32 years.

That game – which Australia won thanks to a stunning Josip Skoko shot – attracted 95,103 fans to the MCG.

At the time Greece were the reigning European champions, while Australia had enjoyed little exposure on the international scene.

Now the Greeks are a much lesser side – they failed to qualify for the enlarged European Championships in which 24 nations are due to take part next month – and are in a rebuilding phase.

As a result of their move to the Asian Confederation in 2006, Australia now plays more games at home than they used to – in the early 2000s there were years were they were hardly seen at all – and crowds for internationals are not always as great as FFA might like, certainly in Melbourne and Sydney.

The last World Cup qualifier, a 5-1 defeat of Jordan, was played in Sydney and attracted just under 25,000 fans.

The Socceroos are rarely seen in Melbourne. The state government and the major events company prefer to spend cash attracting big club sides to tournaments like the ICC – which will feature Juventus, Tottenham and Atletico Madrid in July at the MCG – rather than the national team.

The opening game of the 2015 Asian Cup aside – a 4-1 win over Kuwait at AAMI Stadium – Australia have not played in Melbourne since June 2013 when they beat Jordan in a qualifier for the World Cup in Brazil.

However, Australia is due to host Japan in a World Cup qualifier later this year on October 11, and there is plenty of speculation that the FFA will, if it can strike a deal with the MCG and the Victorian government, play that game at Melbourne's biggest ground.

FFA has sought to buttress its coffers and keep fans interested by increasingly playing World Cup qualifiers against nations who are not much of a drawcard – Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh – in Adelaide, Canberra and Perth, where the crowds have been enthusiastic.

 

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Me too Bela, i bought my tickets last month this is most disappointing as you say i certainly won't be rushing to go again. i even went against my better judgement as the game is at Shitihad which i hate but wanted to see a Socceroos match live so this makes it doubly annoying.

 

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3 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Yes, it just feels like they are milking the enthusiastic supporters for as much as they can get

No question of that.

Despite the discount I'm still not that interested in going. It's only a friendly and the opponents, well if they were a higher standard, like say the Faroe Islands even, then I might be more interested.

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4 minutes ago, mus-28 said:

Looking pretty good against England. Mooy looking pretty tidy with the ball. Not sold on Luongo or Rogic still, a lot of overplaying instead of playing the simple pass hopefully Irvine gets a look in during the 2nd half.

Luongo has been average to poor. Rogic has created a few good moments. Risdon is fucking woeful and Kruse has been average. 

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3 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Luongo has been average to poor. Rogic has created a few good moments. Risdon is fucking woeful and Kruse has been average. 

Pretty much summed up exactly what I was going to say, Risdon is so far out of his depth it's not funny and Luongo has been average pretty much since his flash in the pan Asian Cup tournament. 

Mooy and Rogic are playing great on the ball and our defensive pairing of Wright and Milligan has been pretty solid tbh. Smith is looking like our undisputed left back now too and has a nice balance of speed and strength.

We're playing a superb possession game at the moment but just lacking quality in the front third, but we're a bit vulnerable on the counter.

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Safe to say a few mid to low tier Premier League clubs may be taking a long hard look at Mooy now. Has looked the best midfielder on the park. Burnley need to replace Joey Barton in the middle of the park, would be the perfect place for Mooy to get 30+ games next season.

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1 hour ago, Shahanga said:

The whole ball went out? 

Anyway Geria has been good. We lack a cutting edge still against well organised defence, Leckies at death winner excluded of course. 

Didn't watch the game but Greece can be a very negative side, they finished bottom of their group in Euro 2016 qualifying but only conceded 14 goals, the equal least of any team that finished bottom and better than even all the teams that finished 2nd last in their groups except for one. 

So it's not the end of the world that we had to rely on a last second goal, it's a good experience as we really don't have much facing teams that make it hard to be broken down (which European nations are best at).

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I think that what made this a terrible game is the shitfull pitch. How can any self respecting ground staff put up a pitch like that. I sympathize with Ange re the pitch it was dreadful, and not because of the rain, but the overall condition was pitiful. It's about time that these stadiums got their act together, I watched the final of the European Champions League right after the Socceroo"s game and the difference in pitch quality was like chalk and cheese, the Champions league final pitch was like a Billiard table, absolutely beautiful so this why we get some outstanding performances from great players which i am sure would have made a vast difference to the game last night. 

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State of Origin on the ground 3 days earlier, plus buckets of rain. Even an experienced campaigner like you @johnno cpfc might be stretched under those circumstances. 

Better scheduling/venue selection would have helped. Have to say I agree with Ange. Greeks good enough to come out here and play us and we present a field like that? Embarrassing.

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22 minutes ago, johnno cpfc said:

I think that what made this a terrible game is the shitfull pitch. How can any self respecting ground staff put up a pitch like that. I sympathize with Ange re the pitch it was dreadful, and not because of the rain, but the overall condition was pitiful. It's about time that these stadiums got their act together, I watched the final of the European Champions League right after the Socceroo"s game and the difference in pitch quality was like chalk and cheese, the Champions league final pitch was like a Billiard table, absolutely beautiful so this why we get some outstanding performances from great players which i am sure would have made a vast difference to the game last night. 

ANZ is a shocking pitch at the best of times, let alone in that weather and after Origin. Socceroos should never play there. 

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I understand the economics of the situation, however they have an overriding effect on things such as pitch quality, stadium quality and atmosphere. It would be dissapointing if for example Japan beats us at the MCG and we fail to qualify for the World Cup simply because the FFA only sees a profit in attracting the big Japanese market here in Melbourne. 

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1 hour ago, GreenSeater said:

ANZ is a shocking pitch at the best of times, let alone in that weather and after Origin. Socceroos should never play there. 

Exactly as i said the first most important thing is pitch Quality it do's not matter which stadium as long as the pitch is first class and just about all the main pitches in and around Europe are. We that is the stadiums in Australia are that far behind in pitch quality it has become an embarassment .

 

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12 hours ago, Thrillhouse said:

looked on ticketmaster before any level 1 on the wing is like $157 and top level win is like $105, are these already reduced? What a fucking disgrace, no wonder they haven't sold shit

Do you always whinge about the cost of things?

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13 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

I'm not saying make it free, I'm just saying that the prices are too high to justify going on a cold Tuesday night, at shitihad,when I can watch for free at home. FWIW i can see into Etihad as I type this so getting there isn't an inconvenience just price 

haha fair enough. the prices are on the steeper end, they usually are for socceroos matches. Still, i'm going for a look, only get to see the national team live every so often and the way we're playing of late, imo its worth it.

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23 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

when I can watch for free at home

Was horrible on Saturday night if you didn't have foxtel. There were no streams anywhere and ended up watching a kid who periscoped the game from his TV on his phone in 240p. Mooy's head looked like a white pixel.

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46 minutes ago, haz said:

Was horrible on Saturday night if you didn't have foxtel. There were no streams anywhere and ended up watching a kid who periscoped the game from his TV on his phone in 240p. Mooy's head looked like a white pixel.

Mooys head IS a white pixel...

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