Brisbane Roar is excited to announce Everton Football Club as its opponents for the annual Queensland Roars Against Racism match in conjunction with the Queensland State Government and Multicultural Affairs Queensland.
The Queensland Roars Against Racism match will be played at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday, July 17 and will pit Ange Postecoglou-s revamped Roar squad against a heavyweight of the world-s most exciting football competition – the English Premier League.
Travelling to Australia as part of the ‘Everton Down Under 2010- tour, the Merseyside club have one of the proudest histories in the English top-flight, having won the English league title nine times and been present in the top division of English football since 1954.
Everton manager David Moyes will bring to Australia a host of Premier League stars including captain Phil Neville, Australian dynamo Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta, Louis Saha, Sylvain Distin and Jack Rodwell.
Brisbane CEO Peter McLennan said he was excited to have such a successful and well supported club help the Roar in the campaign to Red Card racism!
“To have a club of such stature within the English game take part in this fixture is extremely exciting for our club and our fans,” McLennan said.
“Everton are renowned for their fighting spirit and never say die attitude, a trait we want to emulate at Brisbane Roar.
“The match provides the perfect mix for Brisbane-s sporting fans with one of the biggest English Premier League clubs coming to Australia-s best football stadium to take on Brisbane-s Hyundai A-League team.
“We also hope that such a high-profile visitor will help spread the important message of stamping out racism because it is not only in sport where racism is unacceptable, but in every aspect of our lives.”
The Queensland Roars Against Racism match continues an outstanding tradition of bringing high profile clubs to Queensland-s capital to spread the anti-racism message.
In 2007, the then Queensland Roar faced one of South Africa-s strongest sides in SuperSport United before taking on the might of Brazilian powerhouse Palmeiras in 2008.
Last season the Brisbane Roar took on Scottish giants Celtic in front of over 30,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium.
Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou said he looked forward to taking on one of Europe-s famous clubs.
“Taking on Everton is a challenge which myself and the players will look forward to,” Postecoglou said.
“There-s not too many times in Australian football when you get to test yourself against the very best in the world and Everton certainly fall into that category.
“More importantly, this is a tremendous opportunity for our fans to see players in the flesh they-ve only had an opportunity to watch on TV previously.
“We hope our fans and the wider community can really get something out of this match, particularly the anti-racism message.”
Tickets for Queensland Roars Against Racism/Everton Down Under 2010 match will go on-sale to the general public on Thursday May 20 via Ticketek. Please visit Ticketek at www.ticketek.com.au for more information.
Brisbane Roar members will receive access to an INTERNET ONLY pre-sale on Wednesday May 19. Information regarding this pre-sale will be sent to PRIMARY ACCOUNT HOLDERS ONLY.
