Marconi Stadium

Marconi Stadium
Location Marconi Rd, Bossley Park
Coordinates 33°51′49″S 150°52′49″E / 33.863485°S 150.880362°E / -33.863485; 150.880362Coordinates: 33°51′49″S 150°52′49″E / 33.863485°S 150.880362°E / -33.863485; 150.880362
Capacity 9,000
Field size 120m x 88m
Surface Grass
Opened 1972
Tenants
Marconi Stallions, Western Sydney Wanderers

Marconi Stadium is a soccer stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is the home ground for Marconi Stallions, as well as regularly hosting matches for the Western Sydney Wanderers FC National Youth League and W-League teams.

Marconi Stallions

Although a football pitch had existed on the site since the start of the football club in the 1960's, Marconi Stadium itself was built in 1972 with a capacity of 11,500 and used for Marconi Stallions matches within the NSW State League football pyramid. In 1977 the team joined the newly formed NSL and played in that competition until it ended in 2004 and the team re-joined the NSW State system. The stadium currently hosts Marconi games in the NSW Premier League. Marconi Stadium hosted the 2006 NSW Premier League final between Sydney United and Blacktown City.

In November 2006, Berti Mariani ran for election to the board, on a platform of Marconi Stallions making a bid to join the A-League, and rebuilding Marconi Stadium into suitable venue.[1]

After the end of the NSL and the failure of Marconi to enter the new national competition the A-League, the full capacity of the stadium was no longer needed. The Eastern stand in particular fell into disuse and was eventually declared unsafe due to a shifting foundation. By 2018 the seating had been removed, the foundation repaired, a raised structure built containing a box for commentary or camera operators, with the rest of the former grandstand area being converted into a basic grassy hill.

Other football usage

The venue was used as a training camp for Australia as part of their preparation for their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. In 2007, the stadium hosted a match in which Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola made a guest appearance in a game between APIA Leichhardt Tigers and the Marconi Stallions.

The ground record crowd for Marconi Stadium was set in 1993 when 14,220 fans attended to see the Australian under-20's take on the Brazil under-20's side in a warm up game for the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Australia later that year.[2] The stadium has also hosted grand finals for the amateur Churches Football Association of Sydney.

Western Sydney Wanderers

With the introduction of the Western Sydney Wanderers FC into the A-League, Club Marconi and the Wanderers began an association that has seen matches for the Western Sydney Wanderers FC Women's, Youth and NPL sides played at Marconi Stadium. The Marconi social club has also hosted Wanderers supporters viewing important away games & hosted club supporter forums. On Saturday 27 September 2014, a W-League Sydney Derby match between the Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC resulted in a record stand alone W-League regular season crowd of 3,084 to watch Sydney FC win the match 2-0.

In the 2018 season of the FFA Cup the Western Sydney Wanderers were drawn to play an away game against Bonnyrigg White Eagles. Due to a poor surface and a general lack of facilities to host the game at the Bonnyrigg stadium, the fixture was moved to Marconi Stadium to be played 29 August 2018.

Use outside football

In 1996, the stadium hosted a Rugby league sevens match between Italy & Lebanon. In October 2009, the stadium hosted the rugby league Mediterranean Cup.

References

  1. ↑ "One club per city enough: Sydney FC". The Age. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=67

Template:W-League stadiums

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.