This Saturday night’s Round 20 Hyundai A-League match at Brendan Foot Supersite Hutt Rec will now kick off at 5pm.
Football Federation Australia has announced a change to the kick off time for Saturday night’s Round 20 Hyundai A-League match between Wellington Phoenix v Adelaide United at Hutt City’s Hutt Recreation Ground.
The match, due to kick off at 7pm (local time), will now kick off at 5pm, which is 3pm (AEDT) and 2.30pm (Adelaide time).
The decision was taken after lighting standards at the temporary stadium, a replacement for Westpac Stadium which was unavailable due to the cricket world cup, did not meet the stipulated standards agreed with FFA in approving the venue.
Wellington Phoenix General Manager David Dome said that the Club had worked very hard to try to come to a solution and avoid a change in kick off time.
“A temporary stadium was always going to be a huge challenge. The feedback to date has been excellent on what we have achieved, unfortunately a night time kick off with the constraints around the temporary infrastructure was just something we couldn’t resolve.
“We’ve had lighting experts from around the country assist us over a long period of time, but there just wasn’t the lights available in the country.
“We’d like to thank the Football Federation Australia, Fox Sports and Sky Sports for their assistance in this matter.”
Head of the Hyundai A-League Damien de Bohun said
“The Hutt Recreation Ground cannot provide adequate lighting to allow the match to be played at 7pm, which was a precondition of FFA’s approval of the venue to host matches at this time”.
“Despite numerous options being investigated over many weeks by Wellington Phoenix, the available lighting will not meet the required standards for a Hyundai A-League match at night, so it must proceed in daylight.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly and it is regrettable that we have had to change the kick off time in the week of the match as this may cause inconvenience to fans, but we were left with no alternative”.
At A Glance
Saturday 7 March: Wellington Phoenix v Adelaide United, Round 20 Hyundai A-League, kick off 5pm.
Saturday 7 March: Wellington Phoenix Legends curtain raiser (supported by Revera), kick off 2.20pm
Saturday 7 Match: Brendan Foot Supersite Hutt Rec gates open 2pm.
Saturday 7 March: ASB Premiership Wellington Phoenix Premiers v Canterbury United. Petone Memorial Park, Petone, kick off 2pm.
