Largest ever “Walk Up” Crowd causes delays at the gate

Sydney FC officials have two messages for the legion of fans that packed Aussie Stadium last night, launching a new era for football in Australia amid a sea of noise, colour, atmosphere and passion, giving the Hyundai A-League a massive early boost.

The first message if simple - Thank You!

The second was designed to ease congestion at the gates, which saw almost 10,000 people enter the stadium in the 20 minutes after kick off - Please pre purchase tickets for the next home match against the Central Coast Mariners on September 16.

Tickets can be purchased through Ticketek at www.ticketek.com.au or over the phone on 132 849. People with pre purchased tickets walk straight past the lines and into the stadium.

The “walk up” crowd of 10,100 last night was the biggest number of people who have ever arrived for a sporting event at Aussie Stadium without pre-purchasing a ticket, as every single ticket booth and entry point into the Stadium was working overtime from the time they opened at 3pm – two hours before kick off.

At 5:20pm, 20 minutes after kick off, Sydney FC and the SCG Trust made the decision to open the gates, allowing almost 2,000 fans to enter free of charge. It was only the second time in the SCG Trust’s history the gates have been thrown open, 27 years after the first night of World Series Cricket.

“We are absolutely delighted with the response from the people of Sydney,” said Sydney FC Chairman Walter Bugno.

“We have said all along that we at Sydney FC have dared to dream and tonight it came true. We are ecstatic about the initial response but are committed to ensuring the numbers continue to grow.

“The only other thing I would like to say to the people of Sydney is ‘pre purchase your tickets’. We had about 10,000 show up to the game without a ticket and a lot of them didn’t get into the ground until after kick off, which is not what we want.

“Pre purchase a ticket and you walk straight out of the car park and into the stadium or better still you can get a season ticket or memberships, which will allow you to further enjoy the atmosphere, which was unbelievable.

“We decided to open the gates 20 minutes after kick off because a lot of the fans were coming to a football match, indeed a sporting event, at Aussie Stadium for the first time and they were new to the experience. I think we have all learned a lesson – pre purchase your ticket!”

On the field, Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory put on a mighty show with both teams playing some end-to-end football and two of the A-League’s bug guns – Dwight Yorke (Sydney FC) and Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory) - both finding the back of the net in the thrilling 1-1 draw.