Roar quality highlights great start

A-League Round One Review

The Hyundai A-League has made an incredible start on the weekend, bringing in combined crowds of over 70,000 people to the four games held.

The biggest splash was undoubtedly made on Sunday when despite 25,602 at Aussie stadium for the Sydney vs Melbourne match, the most impressive statistic was found in Queensland where the Roar entertained over 20,000 for their very first match against one of the lesser valued team's New Zealand.

Energy Australia Stadium was the figurative birth place of the A-League on Friday night hosting the very first match between Newcastle and Adelaide, and despite some sporadic attacking brilliance from the home side it was the visitors who walked away with the points thanks to an excellent Carl Veart header capping a fine individual performance on the night.

While not quite equalling the heights that would be reached in a couple of days the Newcastle board would've been encouraged by a healthy attendance of 13,160, but whether the result will adversely affect that figure in the next match is yet to be seen.

Meanwhile in Perth the Glory were hoping to atone for their pre-season cup final loss against the Central Coast Mariners at Members Equity stadium. The hosts were employing a daring attacking line up with Bobby Despotovski and Henry Fa'arodo linking up behind the target man Brian Deane, the marquee signing only arriving in Australia days before kick off.

However despite the pre-match endeavour it was the pre-season cup winners who left with all three points in front of a slightly disappointing crowd of 11,113 following a brilliant long range effort from captain Noel Spencer, the midfielder turning on the ball 25 yards out before unleashing an unstoppable drive past a helpless Jason Petkovic.

Sunday was the day that will long live in the memory of Australian football fans though as two massive attendances, comparatively with the competition's former incarnation anyway, overshadowed two particularly impressive matches.

First up the Roar endured a particularly frustrating afternoon until a typically brilliant first time strike from star man Alex Brosque broke the Knights defensive resolve for a highly deserved lead, before substitute Michael Baird made it two in the final moments after capitalising on a wayward backpass from Xiaobin Zhang and sliding the ball past goalkeeper Danny Milosevic.

One felt that a positive result was of vital importance as Queensland hope to bring the 20,725 spectators back week after week and while the chance to win a brand new Hyundai car may have brought many into the stadium, the quality of football on display will surely bring them back in future rounds.

Then came the match of the round as A-League favourites Sydney FC hosted highly fancied Melbourne Victory in front of a terrific crowd of 25,208. The unbelievable interest in the game from fans was such that for the first time in 27 years the stadium owners let 1600 people into the game for free 20 minutes after kick off.

As positive as the crowd was the football on show from two of the top teams in the league with some particularly vibrant passing football being played at a tempo supporters could only dream of in the old NSL.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw after two terrific strikes from the two big names in Dwight Yorke and Archie Thompson, but the result was certainly secondary to the fantastic response from all involved in the game.

If the A-League can match the opening round in both quality and crowd attendances over the next 20 weekends of action, then come March football will have established itself as a true force in Australia for the first time in the game's illustrious international history.

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