A strange thing happened in the days leading up to the first sporting event at the new Allianz Stadium: people were scrambling for tickets to a rugby league match.
Some were even prepared to pay for them.
Billionaires, property tycoons and even Immortals pulled every string they could to attend the final-round fixture between the Roosters and South Sydney.
Prime Minister and Souths No.1 ticket holder Anthony Albanese had to slum it in the TAB Corp suite alongside the country’s most influential politician, ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys.
Such is the pulling power of rugby league. Such was the occasion as Sydney’s new theatre of dreams finally opened for business.
Stadiums come and go but hate lasts forever and so it was on Friday night as the fiercest of foundation club foes christened the $830 million stadium with a good old-fashioned bash-up.
A packed opening night at Allianz Stadium.Credit:Getty
The Roosters triumphed 26-16, although it was weirdly just a practice run for what’s to come; both sides will play here again in the first week of the finals on a day to be determined.
One can only imagine what the atmosphere will be like if last night was any indication. Seasoned sidelined eyes compared the noise to that of State of Origins and grand finals.
Whether Souths captain Cameron Murray or Roosters centre Joseph Manu play are the lingering questions.
Manu left the field midway through the second half with a leg injury.
Murray was concussed in the second tackle of the match and didn’t return, evoking memories of Origin III when he was concussed in the first minute while playing for NSW.
The incident set the tone for a brutal opening period and if you couldn’t see the action from one of the ergonomically designed bucket seats while eating cheeseburger spring rolls between gulps of Stone and Wood Pacific Ale, you could always watch it on the enormous screens at either end of the field.
When Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was ordered by referee Grant Atkins to clean blood from his face in the early exchanges, the crowd roared its approval.
“This is like a Coliseum!” Brad Fittler bellowed in sideline commentary for Channel Nine. “The crowd saw the blood and went mad.”
The new stadium looking a treat packed with 41,906 rugby league fans on Friday night.Credit:Getty
When Souths hooker Siliva Havili feigned concussion after a heavy tackle, Roosters utility Connor Watson’s angry head flashed on the big screen, just in time to see him say, “Get up you f..king pussy.”
Magnificent stuff.
The biggest takeaway is that the Roosters are rolling at the right time, even if experts keep dismissing them as potential premiers because you can’t win from outside the top four.
Still, the swarming, infectious defence on display in this match looked exactly like the swarming, infectious defence on display in the final match — also played between these sides — at the old Allianz Stadium four years ago.
Latrell Mitchell is sent to the sin bin.Credit:Getty
The Roosters ran over the top of the Rabbitohs that night, then hijacked the Storm in the grand final a week later. Who’s to say they can’t do it again?
As for Souths, they were fashionably late to the party, almost stealing victory late.
Their timing was off for much of the first half, save for a brilliant try to halfback Lachlan Ilias after Latrell Mitchell run across field and dropped the ball onto his left foot and dribbled it into the in-goal.
In the second half, they hung in valiantly, which must have pleased coach Jason Demetriou, who was watching from home with COVID-19.
First, winger Taane Milne contorted himself midair to score in the corner.
Then, with 10 minutes to go, Mitchell was sin-binned for a professional foul on his own line. After the trudged from the field, Souths intercepted, raced down field, shifted right and Milne suddenly had his second.
With Mitchell off the field, centre Isaiah Tass narrowly missed the conversion which would’ve dragged the deficit to within a converted try.
The Roosters hung on but Souths surely take heart out of an indifferent performance from which they almost snatched a win.
The real winner from the night, though, was the stadium itself and the 41,906 souls who filled every corner and crevice and concourse.
The demolition of the former stadium, then the size and cost of this one, has been a divisive issue.
It continues to be as the Roosters and Souths complain like the Hatfields and McCoys over who belongs here.
In reality, it belongs to the good people of NSW, who paid for it.
What they have is a stadium that would rival those found in Premier League soccer, or those used by NFL teams in the US.
It’s a stadium you want to come to. You’d even pay for the ticket.
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