'Furious' AFL players lash Socceroos schedule clash
Updated . First published
AFL star Jake Stringer has expressed his frustration after Greater Western Sydney’s clash with St Kilda on Sunday overlapped with the Socceroos′ FIFA World Cup opening game.
The AFL game, which drew just under 20,000 people to Marvel Stadium due to the clash, was widely panned during the week, with calls for it to be pushed back an hour.
Jake Stringer, Jake Laverde make their thoughts known. Players
However, the league stood firm, citing the logistical issues of changing a time slot in the week of a match.
Stringer, who played in the game, believes they made a mistake in not adjusting.
“It’s a disgrace, like, honestly,” he told Nine’s Players.
“Let us watch the Aussies. It’s once every four years. Don’t put the game at the same time. They want attendance and people to watch, nobody is watching (the AFL), they’re watching the World Cup.”
Teammate Jayden Laverde agreed, saying he was “furious” with the overlap.
The AFL didn’t deliberately take on the Socceroos, given their fixture came out first.
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon was less concerned about the schedule clash when asked about it after the game.
“There are full-time people who do the (AFL) fixturing,” Lyon said.
“Hang on, when was the World Cup scheduled? December 6 last year? OK ... if someone knew it was on, and you’re a full-time fixturer, it was a deliberate decision, wasn’t it?
“Was it logical? That’s probably debatable. But I like the attitude, we’re the AFL, we’re a Saints home game, our people will come. Last time we played GWS up there, there were probably 3000 people, with no Socceroos game on.”
There will be no such issue for the Socceroos’ next scheduled match against the United States, set to kick off at 5am (AEST) on Saturday.
