EAS Stadium turf-war backfires on the Knights

There is a lot of goodwill out there in Newcastle. There is also a lot of anger. There are also a lot of conspiracy theories.

While many on the forums have blamed the FFA or the Jets management team for not seeing the damage to the pitch at the EnergyAustralia Stadium till too late, ultimately the problem has to come down to the Newcastle Knights, who have the running of the stadium.

Staging a SuperX at the stadium was a risky venture, considering that it's the middle of the A-League season. The Knights management must have foreseen the results of putting on such an event at the stadium.

But it appears that either they didn't see what damage could occur, or, they knew exactly what was going to happen and it was part of their plans.

Knights chairman Rob Tew was quoted in the Newcastle Herald saying that there had been an agreement from the government that replacement of the pitch would occur concurrently with the reconstruction of the western grandstand. But that hadn't happened, he said.

So that gives him the right to mangle it deliberately and rely on Hunter Venues and the NSW Government to fix it quick, and pick up the tab?

Unfortunately for the Knights, local Minister Jodi McKay, who put herself right behind the LA Galaxy showcase with the Jets in November, has not taken the Knights' management of the stadium lightly.

McKay has stated that the NSW Government will contribute $500,000 of emergency funding for the pitch to be relaid as soon as possible.

But the bill will be sent to the Knights.

To their credit, the Knights have apologised through their CEO Steve Burraston, saying that they had not anticipated the extent of the damage.

Pardon? Stage a Super X and not expect substantial damage to the turf?

The Knights haven't commented on whether they will seek compensation from Global Action Sports, the promoters of the Super X.

It sounds like there are two stories emerging out of the Knights management. 1. "We're sorry", and 2. "You said you'd fix it years ago, now you've got no choice, haha." If number 2 was their strategy, it wasn't the cleverest of ideas.

In addition to the cost of relaying the turf and the compensation claims that should be made by the Jets and possibly Foxtel, the action has backfired on the Knights in another way.

It has highlighted the fact to the local Minister that the venue needs to be managed by an independent body, not the Knights. That would mean loss of revenue to the Knights, loss of control over the venue and potentially a much better long-term outcome for the Jets. Con Constantine had been banging on about this issue for years, now only months after he is no longer with the Jets, it comes to a head, possibly in favour of the Jets.

It's unfortunate that this code squabble has arisen in Newcastle, when the Jets were trying to build a strong cooperative relationship with the Knights. The water is very murky at the moment but you hope that they patch things up and get on with things for the better of both teams.

As for the players and their loyal fans, this whole thing sucks big-time. Tonight's game postponed (for how long?), and the game against Melbourne Heart offering the 10,000 free tickets possibly moved.

Who wasn't looking forward to this week? Two huge crowd turnouts, a great atmosphere and two home wins to kick the Jets up the table and continue the momentum that has been building? I know I was.

That's what really gets up the nose. And now the next home game isn't until mid-November, more than two weeks away. It's infuriating.

Is there a silver lining to all this? Yes. EAS will have a completely new pitch, which it has actually needed for some time. The added time off might give Branko more time to trial Francis Jeffers and see what he's made of. Thirdly, a few weeks training under Branko's new regime without Mark Jones, should allow him to instil his style of football more strongly. And it will be interesting to see what the results are. Fourth, the mighty Michael Bridges might be back to fitness by the next home game.

Still, I'd rather talk about football than the issues around it. There has been way too much talk about issues than football at the Jets this season.