Football Federation Australia has announced a change to the kick off time for Saturday night’s Round 20 Hyundai A-League match between Wellington Phoenix v Adelaide United at Hutt City’s Hutt Recreation Ground.
The match, due to kick off at 7pm (local time), will now kick off at 5pm, which is 3pm (AEDT) and 2.30pm (Adelaide time).
The decision was taken after lighting standards at the temporary stadium, a replacement for Westpac Stadium which was unavailable due to the cricket world cup, did not meet the stipulated standards agreed with FFA in approving the venue.
“The Hutt Recreation Ground cannot provide adequate lighting to allow the match to be played at 7pm, which was a precondition of FFA’s approval of the venue to host matches at this time,” said Head of the Hyundai A-League Damien de Bohun.
“Despite numerous options being investigated over many weeks by Wellington Phoenix, the available lighting will not meet the required standards for a Hyundai A-League match at night, so it must proceed in daylight.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly and it is regrettable that we have had to change the kick off time in the week of the match as this may cause inconvenience to fans, but we were left with no alternative”.
