Auckland FC and Warriors share Mt Smart Stadium Photo: Collage/Photosport
Auckland FC v Wellington Phoenix
Kick-off: 5pm Saturday 22 Feb
Go Media Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
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For the second time this A-League season, a sold-out Mt Smart Stadium will be where a New Zealand football rivalry plays out, but for how much longer?
Auckland FC coach Steve Corica does not expect to be at the club when football finds its place in the city's sporting landscape.
Whether that will be faster than the more than six years it is taking Western United to settle into a permanent home in Melbourne is yet to be determined.
The footballers have had the eyeballs and dollars of Auckland's sports fans since they kicked off their inaugural season in October and as they kept winning the fans kept coming back.
All season long players, Corica and the ceo have spoken about the fans and sung the praises of The Port and the value of having a heaving home crowd.
Auckland FC have five more home games in their regular season.
This weekend's rivalry game with Wellington Phoenix will have plenty of passion from the two fan bases and the intensity in the stands will only increase in the weeks to come as the league-leaders reach the business end of the season with silverware in their sights.
But now the club is feeling the squeeze.
When Auckland's newest sporting franchise was first revealed last year no home ground was immediately announced. Mt Smart Stadium was where they landed for game day and North Harbour Stadium for training and front office purposes.
The footballers share the training facilities with the Moana Pasifika rugby players with the two very different organisations training right next to each other in Albany so close that the round and oval balls end up on the wrong fields.
The collision of two codes increased as the Super Rugby season kicked off this month and both teams were in season at the same time, needing time on the grass and in the gym.
The clash of codes will increase again next month when the NRL season begins and the Warriors and Auckland FC are both playing at home at Mt Smart on the same weekend.
If Auckland FC stay on track for a top the the table finish they should be able to use their home ground for finals.
When the first leg of the A-League semi-finals come around on 17 May the Warriors have an away game. For the second leg on 24 May the Warriors are at home the following day.
While the potential of a double-up of Auckland FC and Warriors wanting the same ground at the same time appears to have been avoided this season there could be tough conversations in seasons to come.
Mt Smart sounded like a temporary solution as a home ground when Auckland FC came into existence.
However, Corica believed the club would have their own purpose-built place to call their own in the future.
"One day they will, I think that is in the future it might be past my time here.
"But we're enjoying Mt Smart the crowds really turned up in really good numbers for us every time we've played there and again this week will be no different."
Corica thinks the fans will follow the club wherever they might end up playing in the city.
"They've really bought into getting behind the club itself and the players are doing a great job on the field...I think [the fans] are enjoying it at the moment and I'm sure they'll enjoy it if there is a new stadium at some stage."
Mt Smart Stadium the home of Auckland FC and the Warriors. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / www.photosport.nz
Home ground years in the making
Auckland FC played at Western United's latest temporary home ground, Ironbarks Field, in the last round and came away with a 2-0 win in windy conditions in Melbourne's west.
Like Auckland FC, Western United are an A-League expansion side that after first entering the competition in 2019 are still to lock in their own home ground.
Ironbarks Field is the club's current training base and where they have played home games for the last two seasons. Prior to that they had a nomadic existence playing around Victoria in Geelong, Footscray, Ballarat; in Tasmania in Launceston and Hobart as well as Melbourne's AAMI Park.
The training ground which can seat 5000 people will have a new 15,000 seat stadium built in the same precinct as part of a public-private partnership between Wyndham City and Western Melbourne Group. The new stadium will be Western United's home ground for their men's and women's teams.
The benefits of having football as the primary sport at a ground means the field surface is in good condition for football.
Whereas playing on a multi-sport ground can impact on the second sport to get a go over a weekend.
When Auckland FC launch their reserves team and women's team finding suitable places to play will put even more pressure on the allocation of football-friendly playing and training spaces in the city.
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