Hundreds of Australian footy fans from Melbourne and Sydney have formed a chorus of opposition to the late transfer of the Melbourne Storm's home NRL rugby league match against St George Illawarra Dragons to Napier.
Immediately angering Storm fans annoyed by the loss of the July 25 game from a 12-match home schedule, in a city dominated by Aussie rules football, the switch has also angered Dragons fans who had booked flights to Melbourne to take in a double-header, which opens with a July 25 football match between global giants Real Madrid and English club Manchester City.
It is the third of three big football matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) that week - the Storm management decided to move the match for financial reasons, worried they could get even less than the club's home match average crowd of 14,000, not even half the average for the dozens of AFL games in the city.
Frustration was vented on Facebook, where a Dragons fan using the name Justin Mining wrote: "What a disgrace. Many St George supporters had already booked non-refundable flights and accommodation to Melbourne after the draw was released, knowing that there was the Man City game also on that weekend and flights/hotels would be all booked up. What a pathetic act to now shift the game costing supporters hundreds of dollars, let alone letting down your own supporters/members to chase a few extra dollars.
"From this point on, I would encourage any visiting supporters to give the trip a miss and stay at home instead of going to a game scheduled down there, as who knows where it will end up. Storm - ruining league for years."
