Brand-new $828million footy stadium is facing being shut down for SIX WEEKS due to shocking problem
Less than three years after the opening of Australia's most expensive rectangular stadium build, an investigation is continuing into repeated problems with the field.
Venues NSW, who operate the ground, expect to have the outcome of that report by the end of this month.
Multiple scenarios are being worked through for the potential fix of the issue, as officials attempt to identify at which layer of the turf build the problem exists.
The most extreme scenario would be if the issue was found to exist in the stadium's underground drainage.
It could take at least six weeks to rebuild the profile of the drain and turf.
'The comprehensive review into the playing surface and drainage system at Allianz Stadium is expected to be finalised later this month,' a Venues NSW spokesperson said.
'As we are awaiting the results of the investigation, no decision has been made on what remediation works are required.'
It's understood that Sydney FC would most likely play matches at Leichhardt Oval if Allianz was to become unavailable.
That would create significant commercial hurdles.
The Sky Blues are already unable to use Allianz when it is required for major concerts, with two scheduled for mid-December.
The situation comes as the playing surface at the adjacent SCG, also managed by Venues NSW, was slammed after last week's AFL match between Sydney and the Western Bulldogs.
Allianz Stadium only re-opened in September 2022, but eyebrows were raised last May when large puddles were on the surface for a Waratahs-Brumbies rugby match.
Clint Gutherson then described the water-logged field as one of the worst he had ever played on after an NRL fixture in August, prompting a review.
After initially being relaid during the 2023-24 summer, new turf was again put down last summer before more drainage issues in the opening round of the NRL.
Further work was completed to stitch artificial grass into the turf to aid with drainage, before water pooling returned amid heavy rain at women's State of Origin in May.
It's understood previous testing on the turf had shown the presence of silt, a granular material often found in rivers which can reduce water flow and impacts drainage.
The turf farm used to supply the surface for Allianz Stadium and most Venues NSW grounds is based close to the Hawkesbury River.
That river flooded multiple times in the months before the 2022 install.
Turf from the same suppliers and farm has been used to re-lay other stadiums since then, without the same drainage issues.
The review comes as Independent MP Mark Latham has raised a litany of questions regarding the Allianz Stadium, Venues NSW and the surface in NSW Parliament over the past month.
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'Why would you not pick Owen Farrell?'
Owen Farrell's call-up to the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia could be a "masterstroke", says former England scrum-half and Danny a long-time half-back partner of Farrell for England, backed the decision for Lions head coach Andy Farrell to call up his son, despite his injury struggles and lack of international game former England captain has replaced utility back Elliot Daly, who was ruled out of the tour after fracturing his arm in Wednesday's win over Queensland Reds."Why would you not pick Owen Farrell?" Care told BBC's Rugby Union Weekly podcast."Whatever position he is going to play, whatever role he's going to play in that squad, they are only a better squad for having him has seen first hand how Farrell sets standards both on and off the pitch."If Owen turns up and delivers standards and delivers a better performance from the Lions, and overall and you see a more connected team, then you have to go 'what a masterclass and a masterstroke from the coaches'," he 33, has not played international rugby in nearly two years and recently returned to Saracens after a difficult season in Paris with Racing fly-half, who can also play inside centre, has not played in nearly nine weeks after a concussion ended his season he arrives in Australia, Farrell will be the only player in the squad to have gone on four Lions tours, where he will look to add to his six Tests."Whatever team Owen is in he makes them better. I have no doubt in whatever shape he is, he will slot in absolutely fine," added Care."I hope he hits the ground running, and everyone just gets on with it." Care recalls how a suspended Owen Farrell played a crucial role in preparing England for their pivotal opening game of the 2023 Rugby World Cup against Argentina."I go back to the World Cup where he goes into the tournament with a ban, but the way he drove the standards of the whole group," he said."The way he drove the midweek teams, preparing the first team to play against Argentina and the masterclass that George Ford delivered there."Owen prepped that team so well for that."Whatever Owen's role is going to be on that tour he is only going to add and be a positive influence and drive the standards even more." Who else could they have called up? Daly's experience as a utility back is a unique one. The 32-year-old has played centre, wing and full-back across three Lions tours and was playing his way into a Test Tom Jordan, who is touring close by in his native New Zealand, can play 10, 12 and 15 and was a natural fit to cover multiple Jamie Osborne, capped by Farrell last summer in South Africa, will complete the set of playing international rugby at full-back, wing and centre against Georgia on Farrell made clear he had "loads of full-backs" with Hugo Keenan and Blair Keenan, the likely contenders for the Test 15 spot, set to play their first game on tour against NWS Waratahs on Marcus Smith also able to cover 15, this ruled out in-form Wales full-back Blair wing Darcy Graham wing was unlucky to miss out on the initial squad and offers less versatility but could have added another option in the back Mack Hansen and England's Tommy Freeman have both played for their club at full-back, which Andy Farrell previously referenced was an important factor in their initial selection."I will be honest; I look around and think who else could he call-up?" Care said."Out of everyone that is going that can cover a couple of positions. He would be top of my list."Why wouldn't you take someone who has been there three times, worn the shirt and knows what it takes?"There will be sceptical people because he hasn't played proper Test match rugby for a long time."I do not think that matters with Owen, I really don't." 'A joke selection' - the backlash Former Lions fly-half Dan Biggar toured with Owen Farrell in 2017 and 2021 and wrote in his Daily Mail column, external that the management are being "quite naive" if they think the selection will "blow over quietly".He also wonders if Farrell will affect the dynamic of the fly-halves as he is "a huge personality" and will have a "big influence" on the squad."We've been praising Russell all year. He looks like the main man. It feels like this is his moment and you don't know what kind of impact Farrell coming in will have on that dynamic," Biggar Barnes, a Lions tourist in 1993, wrote in the Times, external that the problem with Farrell's call-up was not "nepotism" but "on form, the selection is a joke".And like Biggar, the former England fly-half questioned whether Russell would be hindered by Farrell's presence."Farrell's pick is a disturbing decision. It could even become a disturbance. Let's hope not," he O'Driscoll, a four-time Lions tourist, believes Farrell's leadership skills mean he will "accepted very, very well" and he added on Off The Ball, external that he could see him starting one of the Tests at inside centre."He could change their game or bring an extra dimension," he added. "His range of passing is phenomenal."
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
British & Irish Lions prop 'gladiators' form secret society in Australia - but competition for places is fierce as first Test draws closer
A secret society of Lions prop ' gladiators ' has been formed in the early stages of this Australia tour, but amid the bonds of new friendships, these competitive beasts are jostling for places in their own complex hierarchy. With a fortnight to go until the first Test against Australia in Brisbane, the front row battle lines will continue to be drawn on Saturday, as the tourists confront the reinforced Waratahs in their third game Down Under. As it stands, selection is still up for grabs and for the pillars of the pack on duty at Allianz Stadium, the presence of the giant known as 'Tongan Thor' will serve to focus minds on a fixture of seismic importance. Wallabies tighthead Taniela Tupou will line up for the hosts as he seeks to revive his fading hopes of being involved in the series against the Lions, after a torrid season and ahead of a summer move to Racing 92 in France. While he has been grappling with a chronic loss of form and confidence, Tupou has the physical clout to target what has been a creaking British and Irish scrum, while also wreaking havoc with his carrying around the field. First up to lock horns with him in the set piece will be Scotland's South African loosehead, Pierre Schoeman, who has already emerged as one of the characters of this 2025 crusade. He has spoken about how the mix of props in Andy Farrell's squad, from England, Ireland and Scotland, have been forming connections as they compete for places. 'We are almost like a gladiator when all the gladiators come together,' he said. 'It is nice knowing each other and learning from each other. You have to get along. You have to make it work. It is like a mini unit and the engine has to go.' It is all very hush-hush when the props get together, apparently. 'We have a prop group that none of our other team members are allowed on,' added Schoeman. 'No hookers, just props. We are like bison, migrating together. 'We have a secret meeting every night. Finlay Bealham started it and now all the props have bought in. We stick together and have a tea after every training session and we get to meet each other's families and ask deep questions. It is just for props in our group, in whatever hotel we live.' Schoeman is gunning for the Lions No 1 shirt in the Test series. So is Ellis Genge. Lately, they have been in neighbouring beds. 'I room with Ellis at the moment,' said Schoeman. 'If I snore too much, he gets grumpy, so I snore more. I know a lot of things about Gengey. I've sat through phone calls. I know all his business friends, family, everything. I have asked him to phone my family as well! 'He's brilliant. He's a powerhouse in the scrum as well as his carries. He's not afraid to make a shot and he's experienced as well.' The respect and camaraderie between the rivals will intensify, but so will the competition for places. There are three auditions left before Test selection time. Genge put a marker down at loosehead with a scrummaging onslaught and some rampaging ball-carrying in the pre-tour fixture against Argentina, so now Schoeman and Andrew Porter of Ireland are having to respond. It's certainly not a done deal in that position yet. As for tighthead, it is wide open and perhaps even a source of nagging concern to Andy Farrell and his coaching staff. Australia-born Ireland prop Finlay Bealham is alone among the trio of contenders in really putting his hand up so far, against the Pumas – having wept when the head coach called to inform him of his late call-up, at the age of 33. Tadhg Furlong is the veteran with all the pedigree, who started the last six Tests that the Lions have played. But he was way off his vintage best in the demolition of the Western Force. That left the door wide open for Will Stuart – outstanding for Bath and England in recent months – to seize his opportunity, but he was unable to do so in a patchy performance against the Reds in Brisbane. In other positions, emphatic Test cases have been made, notably by Joe McCarthy in the second row, by Jac Morgan at openside flanker and by Elliot Daly at full-back, before his tour was cruelly ended. On Saturday, Farrell will want to see his props similarly rise to the occasion and provide more of a robust platform for the Lions to further develop their all-singing, all-dancing gameplan. Yet, the task of gelling unfamiliar units can be decidedly tricky, as Furlong explained, saying: 'Think of the amount of connections in the scrum; tighthead is on hooker with shoulder and arm. Hooker is on to loosehead's shoulder and arm. Then you have second row coming in with two points of contact with the three of them (front-rowers). 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For their warm-up fixture against Fiji, Ulster-bound Angus Bell has been named among the replacements – and he was arguably the best loosehead in the world last year. If Will Skelton can recover from injury in time to play in Brisbane, Joe Schmidt's Australia pack will be armed with the biggest tighthead lock in the world, to add colossal ballast behind the front row. So, the clock is ticking for the Lions. Through all these clandestine daily meetings and the sharing of a four-nation stock of talent and know-how, they must clarify their hierarchies and brace themselves for a truly gladiatorial contest.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Waratahs v Lions clash sparks memories of Ronan O'Gara's battered face
Ronan O'Gara has arrived in Australia just in time to watch the British & Irish Lions face the NSW Waratahs in Sydney, a fixture that has its place in the annals of touring infamy. Alongside the Battle of Boet Erasmus in 1974 and the Battle of Ballymore in 1989 sits the 2001 Lions fixture against the Waratahs; the symbol of which was O'Gara's battered face. Duncan McRae, the Waratahs fly half, pinned O'Gara to the turf and landed 11 punches on his defenceless opposite number. The Lions believed at the time, and still do, that the assault was part of a Waratahs plan to take a few Lions names in the build-up to the first Test. Tom Bowman, the Waratahs lock, was the first of five players sent to the sin-bin on the night, after landing an elbow to the face of Danny Grewcock only three seconds into the game. The Lions won 41-24, with Jason Robinson scoring a couple more sizzling tries to seal his place in the Test team, but they lost Will Greenwood and Lawrence Dallaglio to injury, plus O'Gara required eight stitches. McRae has argued that O'Gara had already elbowed him once at a ruck and was trying to do it again, so he flipped the Irishman on to his back and said, 'What the f*** are you gonna do, champ?' before unloading a fusillade of punches. But he could not explain why he lost control, although the Lions have their theories. McRae was sent off and received a seven-week ban. O'Gara, who has guided La Rochelle to two Champions Cup titles as a coach, says he only thinks about the incident when his children watch video footage on the internet. 'The kids put it on and go, 'Dad, what happened there?' It doesn't look good obviously,' he says. Those frenzied acts of violence have largely gone from the game. Mike Catt, the England World Cup-winner who is now a coach with the Waratahs, insisted NSW had no plans to 'go the biff', as they say down under, ten days before the first Test. Catt was a Lion in 1997 and in 2001. 'There is no talk in the Waratahs camp about trying to bash up the Lions,' he said. 'Midweek games in South Africa, they were pretty old-school. They were some tough, tough games. You just had to survive them. It was a different mentality. 'But that's not in the game anymore. Those days are gone. It's too fast. You can't get away with it. Which Lions star are you going to rough up anyway? They have so many good players. They don't really rely on one person, do they?' One of the great joys of Lions tours is that sense of history attached to so many of the fixtures, even in Australia where there have only been four full-blown tours since 1899. Next Wednesday, the Lions face the Brumbies, a contest with its own history. Pierre Schoeman takes that legacy seriously. On the wall by his seat in the changing room on Saturday will be a plaque that names many of those to have worn the No1 jersey before him, including the Scotsmen Tom Smith and Ian 'Mighty Mouse' McLauchlan, neither of whom are still with us. 'Tom Smith is close to my heart because he has played for Scotland as well and I have sat on the same seat as him at Murrayfield, which I have been honoured and blessed with,' Schoeman said. 'It is an amazing question and we do deep-dive on it. Sometimes Simon Easterby, our defensive coach, will take us through some of the key figures to create that aura. We speak about it, just a word. We have to deliver physically and mentally in that moment and create that aura of a Lions player. 'We believe you have to deliver. In this moment now, focus on the history and build on the legacy of the Lions. Be here in the now, in the moment, delivering those key moments. 'That's what the jersey demands of us as loose-head props, like Mighty Mouse — his family watches all our games — and that's the legacy of it. Our families will hopefully live a long and abundant life but it's much bigger than just that, so give it your all. That means fully submerge in everything in your tour.' Schoeman has been rooming with Ellis Genge, another Lions loose-head. The props are a different breed and on this tour they have their own group chat that excludes even the hookers. 'We are like bison, migrating together. We have a secret meeting every night,' Schoeman, 31, added. 'Finlay Bealham started it and now all the props have bought in. We stick together and have tea after every training session and we get to meet each other's families and ask deep questions. But it is just for props in our group in whatever hotel we live in. Props have a soft side as well.' The Lions set piece needs to improve, their lineout is still scruffy and their scrum has not yet clicked. Andy Farrell raised a quizzical eyebrow at the refereeing of the scrum against Queensland Reds on Wednesday, pointing out to the officials that his collection of top-class front-row forwards would hardly be looking to collapse the scrum. The challenge for Schoeman on Saturday is a fascinating one. The Wallabies have made available Taniela Tupou, the troubled tight-head prop whose career has reached a crossroads after a dramatic loss of form triggered anxiety and confidence issues. The 29-year-old has dropped out of the Wallabies equation and has signed a big-money deal with Racing 92 in France for next season. 'We have massive respect for him,' Schoeman said. 'I played against him in Super Rugby. Since then he has been a powerhouse. Respect to him. It's good they release him to get more game time because it's good prep, it's better than training. These games really build up to the Tests and the fans want to see the best players going against each other.' They do. But the Lions have been given a relatively soft ride by Western Force and Queensland Reds, scoring 16 tries and more than a century of points in two games, reinforcing concerns about the strength of opposition on tours to Australia. Compare this experience with the 2017 tour to New Zealand, where the Lions battled to a statement 12-3 win against the Crusaders, the dominant Super Rugby team of their generation who featured a host of frontline All Blacks. The Wallabies have retained seven Waratahs for their Test against Fiji on Sunday, including Angus Bell and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, the star NRL convert who is fit again after breaking his jaw in mid-May. The 21-year-old's availability is a huge boost to the Wallabies, who are sweating over the fitness of Will Skelton, Rob Valentini and Jake Gordon for the Lions Tests. All three miss the Fiji game. There is little chance, then, of the Waratahs giving the Lions a stern test. It will be a memorable occasion, though, for Jamie Adamson, the former England and Great Britain sevens player who is on the Waratahs bench. There is a midweek feel to the Lions line-up as Farrell starts to direct his selection strategy towards the first Test on July 19, including the first outing for a six-two bench. The Lions have picked a rapid, dynamic back row with Henry Pollock at blind-side flanker and Josh van der Flier at open-side, with Ben Earl starting at No8 and covering inside centre for the second time this week. Fin Smith and Sione Tuipulotu pair up at fly half and inside centre, acutely aware that Owen Farrell arrives into Sydney on Friday night, gunning for a place in the Test squad. Most significantly, given the injury to Elliot Daly, Hugo Keenan and Blair Kinghorn will make belated Lions debuts together and fire the starter's gun on their race to the Test full-back jersey. Keenan is in pole position for the role, with Kinghorn on the wing. Saturday, 11amAllianz Stadium, SydneyTV Sky Sports Main Event
