It’s the day Novocastrians have been waiting for, national sport making it’s return to the city.
Tonight is an FFA Cup match between local side Broadmeadow Magic FC and the A-League’s Western Sydney Wanderers at No. 2 Sportsground.
The match is the first of two FFA Cup ‘Round of 32’ fixtures to be held at the venue this week as Newcastle Olympic FC prepares to host Macarthur FC on Saturday evening.
It’s been months since major sporting fixtures were held in Newcastle due to COVID-19, and City of Newcastle Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Bath said that he’s looking forward to seeing Newcastle back in the national spotlight.
“The recent lockdown has left our sporting facilities empty and resulted in the cancellation and postponement of sporting fixtures so it will be great to see our city broadcast across the country once again through the FFA Cup matches,” Jeremy Bath said.
“City of Newcastle is committed to maintaining high quality sporting facilities and has invested $21.3 million into sporting facility improvements throughout the local government area during the past four years.”
Broadmeadow Magic FC President Tony Temelkovski said the team is looking forward to playing in front of a live crowd after an interrupted season.
“We’re extremely appreciative of City of Newcastle’s support to enable our club to host such a momentous match at a venue like No. 2 Sportsground,” said Mr Temelkovski.
“There’s no better feeling than running out of the tunnel to be greeted by spectators cheering on in support, so to have the chance to do that in front of a home crowd all the more exciting. We hope to do Novocastrians proud as we face off against the A-League’s Western Sydney Wanderers tomorrow.”
The FFA Cup is a national knockout tournament which saw over 700 clubs from around the country compete for a place in the Final Rounds. Broadmeadow Magic and Newcastle Olympic came out on top against their Northern NSW competition, before moving into the Round of 32 when A-League clubs join the contest.