News Saints to play ANZAC Day & home matches in New Zealand

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ST KILDA'S plan to play the first AFL game for premiership points abroad is as good as done.


The Saints are set to play in Wellington on Anzac Day next year with the city council expected to announce the deal soon.

AFL officials will travel to New Zealand next week to survey Wellington's Westpac Stadium, which will host the match.

The club and Wellington City Council are negotiating a deal that would see St Kilda play two or three games a season in the city, not four as had been mooted.

The club could reap more than $1 million a season from using the 34,500-capacity stadium.

Funding had been a sticking point to the deal, but Wellington City Council's John Morrison said he was confident those hurdles would be cleared soon.

MORE - http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/mor...ew-zealand-match/story-e6frf9jf-1226366114484
 

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"It certainly looks really positive at the moment - there are negotiations taking place and everything's moving towards a really positive outcome,'' Watters said on today.

"It would be another strong pillar on which this club can build from. There's a lot of work being put into taking this club to another level and New Zealand is a key cornerstone of that.

"What it can actually deliver this club on a number of levels could actually relaunch this club into becoming the powerful club it needs to be.''

Watters said he was not fazed with the extra travel which would be involved in an already tightly-packed home-and-away schedule.

"I played most of my footy at West Coast where I travelled every second week, and we delivered some fantastic results on the back of that,'' Watters said of his part in the successful Eagles teams of the early 1990s.

"I'm not intimidated or scared of travelling. International teams in international competitions don't see travelling as a negative.''

READ MORE - http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/mor...ew-zealand-match/story-e6frf9jf-1226366114484
 
A million bucks a year, not to mention expanding horizons and attracting new supporters?

I posted elsewhere lamenting our lack of a fortress, a home ground advantage. Short of Lindsay Fox building a stadium just for us, this is our best shot.
 
This report was in the Dominion Post newspaper here in Wellington this morning. It'd be a miracle to get a sellout, but I admire their chutzpah. Good luck to them.



AFL aims at Wellington Anzac Day sellout

Leading AFL officials promise next year's historic Anzac Day game in Wellington will be affordable and believe a sell-out at Westpac Stadium is not unrealistic.
While pen is yet to be put to paper, a wide-ranging deal between the AFL, St Kilda Football Club and Wellington City Council appears a formality after several months of talks.
AFL international development manager Tony Woods and St Kilda chief executive Michael Nettlefold depart Wellington this morning buoyant about the partnership after two days of meetings with council and stadium officials.
... St Kilda will play a promotional pre-season game in Wellington next year to whet the appetite before returning to play the first premiership game outside of Australia, on Anzac Day at Westpac Stadium.
From 2014 onwards there would be two premiership games played at the stadium each year...

Here's the link:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/7026638/AFL-aims-at-sell-out-for-Wellington-Anzac-Day-game
 
Awesome news!

Now we need to work out who we play. Im thinking Brisbane. Still have some champions who played in 3 flags recently so it wouldn't be hard to sell the idea of a close game to the locals. They also play a really tough inside game with plenty of one on one contests.

Blowing out GWS or GC wouldn't really mean much tbh.
 
Swans, Saints set for NZ
August 25, 2012
Jon Pierik​
SYDNEY has emerged at the top of Wellington City Council's wish-list to play St Kilda next season in what would be the AFL's first match for premiership points outside Australia.
AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan yesterday said a deal to stage the Anzac Day clash at Westpac Stadium had yet to be clinched, but Wellington City Council sports and events portfolio leader John Morrison told The Saturday Age he expected the fine print, such as advertising and beer rights, to be settled within three weeks.

Morrison also revealed his preference was for the Swans to take on the Saints. The Brisbane Lions had also been considered. ''It's up to the AFL, of course, but we certainly believe the Sydney Swans are the hot favourites,'' Morrison said. ''From our point of view, we would certainly like it because Sydney has good access to Wellington. From our bigger picture point of view, we hope we can get as many Australians as possible from St Kilda and the Sydney Swans and the AFL, and there are also many Australians that are in New Zealand, not just Wellington. We are aiming for a full house.'' The AFL had hoped to finalise an agreement with Wellington City Council by late July. ''It's more likely than not, but the deal is not done,'' McLachlan said. ''St Kilda are working with all the relevant parties over there. We are very supportive of it.''

In a letter to club members this week, Saints chief executive Michael Nettlefold, understood to have held talks with the Swans, said he hoped to formally announce details ''in the near future''.
Morrison said the Saints could play as many as three matches in Wellington in 2014. The match would be broadcast after the traditional clash between Collingwood and Essendon at the MCG.
The AFL would be hopeful of attracting a capacity crowd of 35,000
 
Wondering if the saints get some kind of financial benefit from the AFL. Like how North i believe, get paid 1 mil per game they play at Tasmania? or maybe it was hawks.. maybe my heads just playing games.
 

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Strahany said:
It's annoying for myself as a reserved seat member, hearing we could play 3 home games over in NZ. Sure, we'd probably get "replacement home games" like Hawthorn do, but don't they thrust the Hawks members up in the nosebleed section for those games?
Click to expand...

Thats a bit selfish thinking. Me and all my mates are reserved seat holders too, but the financial benefits out weigh the sacrifices for sure. I'll be buying a NZ membership as well, even if I'm not going. Just to support the idea. If they bring a separate one out that is.
 
I like the idea of the Swans being the opponent for the match. The crowd would be lucky to break 15k for mine, 35k capacity crowd seems a bit of a stretch.
 
Do we know much about the ground? Hope it's closer to MCG size than SCG, particularly if it's the Swans that will be our opponents.

TBH I don't mind the idea of a few less games at the dome. I love etihad but the conditions are too bloody perfect and that's not the way footy is meant to be. Let's get these younger guys more accustomed to the outdoors. :thumbsu:

I think they're dreaming if they expect 35,000.
 
Strahany said:
It's annoying for myself as a reserved seat member, hearing we could play 3 home games over in NZ. Sure, we'd probably get "replacement home games" like Hawthorn do, but don't they thrust the Hawks members up in the nosebleed section for those games?
Click to expand...

Big picture, big picture

Enjoy the fact that you live so close and can get to see the Saints so often.
 
saints18 said:
It's a damn shame Anzac day isn't snow season, we were all but locked in to go over for the game and make a 10 day holiday of it.
Click to expand...

If we are committing to two to three games per year, you would have to think that one or more would be in snow season. Doesn't that run for eleven and a half months there?
 
Sunshine Saint said:
If we are committing to two to three games per year, you would have to think that one or more would be in snow season. Doesn't that run for eleven and a half months there?
Click to expand...

Ski season is June to October. If they play two games there next year and one is June-> I'll definitely go, first ANZAC day match in NZ would be a pretty special experience though
 
FlyingSledghamer said:
The hawks get the financial benefit of paid up Tasmanian members.
We will build a strong brand and supporter base in NZ, and potentially thousands of paid up members. Plus all the other financial benefits. This has been a great coup for us.
Click to expand...
And here too, there's a ton of untapped Kiwis here in SE Melb. You get that link going between St Kilda and Wellington/NZ, and you've opened yourself up to another group that are sitting right in our backyard. Hopefully we look at handing out a scholarship or two, like the NSW ones, for some NZ based U18's rugby juniors to get the ball rolling. And rerecruit KHAAAAAN. Also wouldn't hurt to extend out the community work in schools with a large kiwi base, eg. Westall, Clayton etc.
 
FlyingSledghamer said:
Thats a bit selfish thinking. Me and all my mates are reserved seat holders too, but the financial benefits out weigh the sacrifices for sure. I'll be buying a NZ membership as well, even if I'm not going. Just to support the idea. If they bring a separate one out that is.
Click to expand...


instead of me buying home and away games membership, if they have a separate game membership for NZ i will also join up to also support the idea.
 
hayes said:
Do we know much about the ground? Hope it's closer to MCG size than SCG, particularly if it's the Swans that will be our opponents.

TBH I don't mind the idea of a few less games at the dome. I love etihad but the conditions are too bloody perfect and that's not the way footy is meant to be. Let's get these younger guys more accustomed to the outdoors. :thumbsu:

I think they're dreaming if they expect 35,000.
Click to expand...

It's 235 metres long and 185 meters wide sounds Huge next to the MCG 165.5 long 143.5 wide that can't be right surely??

http://www.westpacstadium.co.nz/
 
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