The Sky Blues are pitted against Western Sydney Wanderers (Nov 20 away) and Macarthur FC (Nov 27 home) in rounds one and two of the A-League, before the W-League season is launched with a home double header to kick off summer against Newcastle Jets (Dec 4) at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
Opening games in both competitions have been moved back by three weeks to allow time for the potential of full capacity crowds across the Leagues and to manage the impact of border restrictions later in the season.
An away Sydney Derby beckons for the Sky Bluesâ women in mid-December (Dec 11), with a second double header at Netstrata against Wellington Phoenix just as the school holidays begin (Dec 19).
An A-League trip to Central Coast Mariners (Dec 12) is sandwiched in between those games, before the opening fixtures are rounded out with another two derbies.
A Boxing Day trip to Campbelltown Stadium to face Macarthur FC is on for Steve Coricaâs men, while Leichhardt Oval plays host to Ante Juricâs W-League squad for their second Sydney Derby on December 27th.
Any idea why the CCM away match venue is TBC? I see CCM has another TBC home game as well, but their R5 game vs WSW is listed at Central Coast Stadium.
The last time we started the season with the Sydney derby we kicked seven shades of shit out of the Wanderers and had the best season ever by any team in Australian professional football.
Like the FFA Cup, it looks like theyâre organising hubs to start off the season with, in the case everything turns to shit again.
The way Victoria is going, their teams wonât start the season till midway through 2022.
WA Premier is saying heâs not going to open the WA border for anything short of 90% vaccinations nationwide, so wouldnât be surprised if Perth have to re-locate for a couple months. Sounds like Queensland is the same, so wouldnât be surprised if Brisbane re-locate to Sydney or Northern NSW for a while, unless they decide to open a travel bubble between NSW & QLD. But given Gladyâs and Annastacia seem to be bickering like a couple high school girls, I donât think either state is going to give preferential treatment to each other.
Dunno, i know theyâre holding off until borders re-open, but with the states having fractured relationships with each other, I canât see a smooth season eventuating.
Interestingly, there will be concurrent matches this season, and that includes other games at the same time as âmarqueeâ fixtures. E.g. our derby in rd 1 is concurrent with WU vs MV.
Iâm guessing because a Mariners home game would likely take place in Gosford but they canât confirm that yet as its outside the Sydney metro area. Might be still some restrictions around going in and out of Sydney at that time.
If theyâre cramming local derby / rivalry games in the first few weeks then it will be a nice departure to play those two against just some other team.
Hasnât the Central Coast generally been tacked on to âgreater Sydneyâ most of this time? Itâs usually âgreater Sydney including the Central Coastâ which to me always indicates a weird contradiction that it both is and isnât considered part of greater Sydney. Nobody says âgreater Sydney including Penrithâ, itâs just implied.
Equating games against the Wanderers and Macarthur with one another takes the sting out of both the Sydney Derby and the âBattle of the Westâ. No f**king way are they implying we should have as much of a rivalry with the Bulls as we do with the Wanderers or the Wanderers could have with the Bulls. Hereâs naive old me thinking we could join forces with Macarthur in the âWhat do you think of Wanderersâ club. sigh
OK, so from it looks like, Victoria will be able to host games in November if the Victoryâs draw is anything to go by. They to are going to be playing each other a few times, but look like Brisbane and Adelaide will travel to play them. Looks like theyâve got a pre-Xmas fixture in Brisbane too.
Wellington currently have all their home fixtures as TBH, however are going to be playing all the NSW teams to start off with. Wouldnât be surprised if they re-located to Wollongong, at least for the start of the season until we can get a travel bubble arranged with the Kiwis again.
