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League Tests Return To Olympic StadiumSean Fagan of RL1908.com Bouyed by the interest shown in Brisbane to the 2005 Anzac Test match, the Australian Rugby League has announced that the Olympic (Telstra) Stadium will host the next Kangaroos match. To be held on the weekend of October 15/16, the Test match against New Zealand is the first contest of the 2005 Tri Nations Series. Both teams will travel to New Zealand for a re-match, before completing the remainder of the competition in England. The obvious question to ponder is will the sporting public of Sydney get behind the Test in sufficient numbers to warrant a return to the vast caverns of the Olympic Stadium. I hope it is - but it will require a signficant push from the game's marketing gurus to ensure the game's success.
I congratulate the ARL for not shirking the issue - they could have taken the easy option of using Lang Park again, or tried Melbourne (where no one would have been critical at a modest crowd attending). They also declined to use the smaller SFS. The more imaginative suggestion of returning to the Sydney Cricket Ground could not be taken up as the cricket season will have by then already begun. Realistically, a crowd of 60,000 at least at the Olympic Stadium will be needed for the decision to be rated a success. This may require Sydney to be reminded that attending a Kangaroos match was, for the greater part of the 20th century, one of that city's sporting highlights. For many years fans jammed into the limited capacity of the SCG to see visiting teams from Great Britain, New Zealand and France. All rugby league fans in Sydney and surrounds should get behind this Test match and ensure a near capacity crowd is there to cheer on the Kangaroos.
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