The Charity Shield will be played outside of Sydney for the first time in its history after organizers of the match ran into the perfect storm in terms of scheduling conflicts.
With the World Club Challenge and a concert to contend with, the Charity Shield match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the St George/Illawarra Dragons will now be played at Wollongong’s WIN Stadium on February the 22.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph is also reporting that the match will have an earlier kickoff time so that coverage of the game can run into the World Club Challenge match that is played later that evening.
It is an unfortunate set of circumstances but there is not much that can be done when all the major venues are booked up. On a positive note, this game will now most certainly be a sellout at WIN Stadium and it will be another football match in Wollongong which will be getting less games this year than they have got in previous years.
I am not a supporter of either of these clubs but even to me, the Charity Shield is a major event. I am a little surprised that organisers of this match haven’t had the venue for this game booked months in advance so that they didn’t run into a problem like this.
The Charity Shield is always a good hit out for both clubs and really marks the start of the NRL season in some ways. Hopefully the move to Wollongong is a successful one.
