Hearts plan SPL trip to Oz

Strewth mate, etc, etc

Press Association
Wednesday March 3, 2004

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Hearts are hoping to play a Bank of Scotland Premier League game in Australia next season.

The Edinburgh club are on course to sell their ground to slash their debts and play home games at nearby Murrayfield, the home of Scottish rugby union.

However they want to play one match in Australia, preferably against Celtic, although whether Hoops boss Martin O'Neill is keen on flying his squad halfway across the globe remains to be seen.

The SPL confirmed that the Hearts proposal had been officially lodged with them at their Hampden Park headquarters yesterday.

A Hearts spokesman told the club's official website. www.heartsfc.co.uk: "The chance to go to Australia presents us with an opportunity to widen the awareness of Hearts and market our brand in a new area of the world.

"Supporters should be assured that the club will adjust season ticket packages accordingly and no fan in Scotland will lose out financially because of this venture. How we go about ensuring this remains to be seen, but there are a number of options.

"It is a terrific opportunity that everyone at the club is enthusiastic about but it is important to reflect that there are still important hurdles to be overcome before a deal is concluded to take the SPL to Australia. If the plan does come about then it could help take Hearts to a new level."

Manager Craig Levein gave his backing to the proposal, which would see the game played in Melbourne.

He said: "I don't know if it will happen. It is certainly something that is new and different. It is something that we would welcome as an experience more than anything else. I think that there are a lot of ex-pats in Australia.

"I would see it as a life experience and it could help the club."

An SPL spokesman revealed the league were keeping an open mind on the plans. "We received the proposal yesterday and we are giving it due consideration," he said.

Lou Sticca is managing director of Melbourne-based Tribal Sports Management, who are behind the plan and would favour a game between Hearts and Celtic being played Down Under, probably in Melbourne or Sydney.

He played on the financial problems within the Scottish game that have seen three clubs plunge into administration.

Sticca told Sky Sports: "Scotland has a problem at the present time. It is a small country dominated by two clubs, it has a situation where the television rights have shrunk and clubs are falling into administration.

"Yet from a world perspective they play a pretty intense brand of football. I believe it is the sort of fixture the public would respond to."

TSM first put the proposal to the SPL two years ago but then chief executive Roger Mitchell gave it little encouragement.

Sticca continued: "I have been working on this for two years. I have a number of players playing in the SPL at the present time, I am a licensed player agent with Fifa and apart from that I run a sports management company.

"The reality is that Scottish football has a big intake in Australia, which is a very substantial market that appreciates the game. I really believe the public would respond handsomely to this.

"The SPL has got a formal proposal from us and it comes down to one very simple equation: that eight of the 12 stakeholders or clubs that form the SPL have to approve it.

"Obviously Hearts will be one of the eight, and we believe all the clubs will embrace it. The game in Scotland is struggling with its current situation.

"The only two clubs which have any sort of global exposure are Rangers and Celtic, the other clubs are dying a slow death; television rights are shrinking.

"We have identified Hearts versus Celtic as a fixture which we would be very excited about. Ultimately it is Hearts who would be in the position to determine the club that they choose (to play).

"They (Celtic) would probably be the club we would all go for, Celtic have a massive following in this part of the world so we would be delighted if it was Celtic. Then again, if it was Hearts versus Rangers, it would be pretty well just as exciting.

"The Scottish game is in real trouble at the moment and they have two clubs who basically are too big for the rest of the competition.

"I think it would be a win-win situation. I think it's a game that if it worked well in the first year - and I have no doubt that it would - there's no reason why it can't work well for the second, third, fourth and fifth years, and every club in the SPL would have an opportunity to participate.

"Ultimately I think it boils down to one simple equation and that the 12 SPL clubs have to vote in favour of it. Every club in the SPL has a financial interest to approve this. Ultimately it is their decision but if they are shortsighted they won't approve this. If they are looking at expanding their horizons then there is no choice but to approve it."

Taken from the Guardian/Observer