Lack of warm-up time has seen A-League club Perth Glory storm off Belmore Sports Ground, leaving opponents Sydney Olympic scratching their heads.
The FFA scheduled pre-season match was set to go ahead, but hours before Perth Glory were distraught to find an under-16s game going ahead, leaving the team without time to properly warm up.
Glory CEO Jason Brewer told SBS that both teams weren’t told of the curtain raiser game.
“It is a very disappointing situation both clubs find themselves in,” he said to SBS’s Philip Michallef,
“It was also disappointing for the fans who were hoping to watch two clubs that have such a great rivalry.
Brewer says he did not want to risk the safety of his players, especially for Mitch Nichols and Youssouf Hersi who have had hamstring injuries and were
both due to start.
Sydney Olympic coach Grant Lee doesn’t agree with Glory’s assessment, and says the home club offered to move the under-16s game to another pitch.
He says the club was unreasonable and had doubts from the start whether their players were in the right mindset.
“They said the conditions of the pitch and the fact that the under-16s were playing were unsatisfactory, which is ridiculous,” he told SBS.
“We told them we were happy to move the under-16s to another field but Perth claimed that the players were not in the best state of mind to play the game.”
Sydney Olympic had a large crowd expected for the match and was tasked with giving the bad news to disgruntled fans. Perth Glory had played a match on the pitch just days before the scheduled match.
“It was very disappointing. At the end of the day we are talking about an A-League club pulling out of an FFA-sanctioned game,” Lee said.
“A coach cannot cancel a game. Only the referee or the two clubs together can do that if the pitch or the conditions are unsafe for the players.
“Perth had a duty to our sponsors and our supporters and to the game of football.”
Perth Glory has been in Sydney to boost its pre-season training.
Source: SBS World Game