Quote:
Fan lockout not issue for Magic
By JOSH LEESON Sept. 13, 2012, 10:11 p.m.
BROADMEADOW Magic president Steven Foteff is confident tomorrow's Newcastle Jets members-only trial against Western Sydney will not exceed the capacity of Wanderers Oval.
The suburban Broadmeadow ground has a capacity of 5000, which was almost reached last Sunday for the grand final of the Northern NSW State League between Magic and Hamilton Olympic.
The Jets have about 8000 members and the match is also open to Wanderers members, who number about 2000.
A crowd of 2000 turned out for the Jets trial against Wellington Phoenix at Weston Park on a Saturday night last month.
The newly launched Wanderers are likely to attract a larger crowd due to the fact they have a host of ex-Jets players in their line-up, including Tarek Elrich, Mark Bridge, Adam D'Apuzzo, Ante Covic and Labinot Haliti.
The more child-friendly kick-off time of 2pm plus activities like a jumping castle, face painting and a players autograph session should also bump up the attendance.
Magic hold the long-term lease of Wanderers Oval and will provide catering for the event.
Foteff is confident they will not be turning away many, if any, fans.
"I don't expect that every member is going to turn up," Foteff said.
"We've had some strategy meetings with the Jets, and their consensus for the crowd is between four and five [thousand].
"I think it's virtually impossible to get every member to arrive at one game, especially a trial game."
Foteff said Magic's volunteers had a proven track record of managing major soccer games and a crowd of 5000 would not be an issue.
"We're planning for four to five, and we know we can do that," he said.
"We're regularly holding those sort of events during finals and grand finals.
"We had an exceptional grand final and the field was like one of those old-fashioned football fields where everyone is close to the game, and we're hoping to replicate that at the weekend."
Meanwhile, Jets midfielder James Brown will undergo surgery on his troublesome ankle next Tuesday.
Brown has not played since the explosive trial between the Jets and Phoenix on August 18.
The Jets yesterday trained with a three-man defensive line in preparation for tomorrow's first meeting with Western Sydney.
Scott Neville, Josh Mitchell and Dominik Ritter were the back three, and Ruben Zadkovich, Jobe Wheelhouse, Ben Kantarovski and Bernardo Ribeiro formed the midfield.
Jets coach Gary van Egmond pushed regular left back Craig Goodwin further up the pitch in an attacking role to join Ryan Griffiths and James Virgili.
Dunno - bit worried about this now it's open to WSW fans - I can see 4-5000 of our fans turning up, perfect time and a nice day expected. In that lull between football and cricket seasons. Depends how many WSW bring up. I think I might need to get there early.
