Ground Dispute Ends In Fair Play

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday August 9, 2006

By BRETT KEEBLE

MACQUARIE Scorpions will play their Newcastle Rugby League qualifying semi-final against Nelson Bay Blues at Lyall Peacock Field on Sunday after a scheduling dispute was settled yesterday.

The ground was double booked by the Scorpions and Northern NSW State League soccer club Toronto-Awaba Stags, who were to have played their final-round game against Phoenix Rangers on the same day.

But the NRL and NNSW Soccer Federation agreed yesterday to switch the Stags-Rangers game to Saturday and leave the Scorpions-Blues game on Sunday.

NRL general manager Jamie O'Connor thanked the Northern NSW Soccer Federation and Toronto-Awaba "for their assistance and co-operation in transferring their fixtures to accommodate the Newcastle Rugby League".

NNSWSF operations manager Alan Nisbet said the draw was finalised last November, but a decision was made on Monday night to reschedule the Stags' round-18 fixture.

"We received a phone call from Toronto-Awaba [on Monday] asking if we would allow the game to be moved from Sunday to Saturday to let the rugby league match go ahead on Sunday," Nisbet said. "It was a decision we thought about for a while, but we agreed to let Toronto-Awaba move the game forward to Saturday and were happy to accommodate Newcastle Rugby League."

Toronto-Awaba's decision means they must now play three games in four days, as they have two washed-out matches, which must be played this week.

They play Hamilton Olympic at Darling St Oval tonight, back up against Lake Macquarie at Macquarie Field tomorrow night then play Phoenix on Saturday.

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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