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The match is part of a festive football feast for the Mariners and is anticipated to attract a considerable crowd as fans prepare for the end of their work year.

Mariners’ officials today joined representatives from North Sydney Council, Northern Suburbs Football Association and Football Federation Australia at North Sydney Oval to announce the match.

With one in five Mariners’ members currently residing south of the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Coast Mariners owner Michael Charlesworth said taking the game to North Sydney Oval in December underlines the club’s intent to grow its solid supporter base in an area well known for its love of football.

“Football is the participation sport of choice in Sydney’s northern suburbs with tens of thousands of active male and female players,” Charlesworth said.

“We want to connect emotionally with football fans who are not already aligned with the Mariners to build on the fantastic supporter base that is already alive in the area.

“Historically we have worked closely with Football Associations north of the Harbour Bridge and we will be re-energising these relationships over the coming months as we bid to engage North Shore locals with our club prior to, during and following the game against Phoenix.”

“With 20 per cent of our members living in the Sydney’s northern suburbs we already regard the region as an extension of Mariner territory.

"We want to encourage even more supporters from the area to routinely make the short trip up the freeway to see our Champion team in action.

"To show them what we're about, we've decided to take a game to them."

Mariner coach Graham Arnold was a player, coach and part-owner of former NSL side Northern Spirit in the late 90s which proved to be one of the prototype clubs for the A-League.

It was based at North Sydney Oval and attracted a huge following by NSL standards in its early days, including a non-finals record crowd of almost 19,000 for its first league home game against Sydney United, a record which stood until 2005.

Spirit later moved to Pittwater Oval as crowds diminished - and the Mariners game will be the first time the A-'League has visited the 20,000-capacity ground. 

The Mariners will be assisting its Coast-based fans to make the trip south to North Sydney Oval on matchday by providing $10 return bus tickets to the game via local company Coastal Liner.

Members will also be offered significantly discounted ticket prices for the clash.

“We want our core fan base who live on the Coast to embrace this initiative and be part of an exclusive and distinctive chapter in our history,” Charlesworth continued.

“Their positivity about the Club and match will help influence football fans who live north of the Harbour Bridge to jump on board. Long term this will enable us to grow many aspects of the club.”

Up to 60,000 people currently make the daily commute from the Central Coast to Sydney for work. Ordinarily, some Mariners supporters are not able to make a 7:30pm kick-off in Gosford due to travel times, however it is hoped many will choose to factor the fixture into their route home.

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