Sydney host Collingwood at ANZ Stadium every year. Picture: Phil Hillyard Source: Philip Hillyard / News Corp Australia
ANZ Stadium is a soulless, concrete jungle with a cow paddock for a playing surface, and is clearly the worst sporting venue in Australia.
The Socceroos send-off at the former Olympic Stadium only confirmed the obvious — as a venue it lacks any atmosphere and as a sporting field it is unfit for sport.
How can it have come to this after such a scintillating start, boasting this country's best sporting moment as Cathy Freeman inspired a nation on September 25, 2000?
And John Aloisi's penalty to put Australia into the World Cup on November 16, 2005.
Yet nearly 14 years on from Cathy's moment, it is hard to think that the stadium has any real virtue to recommend it.
ANZ Stadium hosts all four football codes as well as cricket. Picture: Brett Costello Source: News Limited
No character, no proximity to a charismatic city to lift its appeal, no rabid fan base to ensure the stadium is more than the sum of its parts.
More than ever, it is hard to find a reason why the Swans should play there except for occasional finals against sides like Collingwood.
Only once in the past 23 encounters have the Swans drawn more than 48,000 fans — the current SCG capacity — with a crowd of 57,156 against the Pies in the 2012 preliminary final.
Sydney's contract for the venue is up in 2016, and only a determination to play both stadiums off against each other for lucrative deals will see them still playing multiple games there again.
Hawthorn was appalled by the surface again this year and despite a torrent of criticism every time a visiting side plays at ANZ Stadium, nothing changes.
The MCG is close to the city and has an amazing atmosphere. Picture: Mark Stewart Source: News Limited
It is put to shame by the 100,000-seaters, by the out-of-the-way boutique stadiums, and even by the ramshackle out-of-date stadiums.
The MCG's wi-fi requirements might have outraged Andrew Demetriou this weekend as he knocked back a red wine next to Pierce Brosnan in his corporate box, but it is a mighty stadium.
Etihad Stadium has fixed its turf issues and even as the host for a crowd of 20,000 there is real atmosphere.
The cauldron that is the new Adelaide Oval only heightens the contrast between ANZ Stadium, where what should be a wall of sound just disappears into the night sky.
Patersons Stadium is out of date, but the fans go mad there and to witness the roar when Ben Cousins made his celebrated comeback was a sight to behold.
The crowds at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval have been massive. Picture: SARAH REED. Source: News Corp Australia
Darwin's TIO Stadium is quaint and far from awe-inducing, but to watch the supporters erupt when a local streaker wore a Borat mankini is representative of the carnival atmosphere.
The first task for stadium management must be to invest millions into fixing the turf to provide a safe surface.
Etihad Stadium was once labelled Death Valley, and while it is hard to see ANZ Stadium making a similar comeback at least it has a place to start.
RALPHY'S TOP THREE
1. The MCG
It is always in form, but it puts on its best in preliminary finals like the 2002 Adelaide-Collingwood contest, when almost every supporter in the joint is a supporter and not a theatregoer.
2. Flemington Racecourse.
It might be about the party and the booze and the eye candy, but when the Melbourne Cup horses turn for home on the first Tuesday in November it is pure magic.
3. Adelaide Oval
The hill, the proximity to the CBD, the atmosphere, the crowd so loud no one can hear the siren. It has it all right now.
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