Geelong Stadium get field markings wrong before Melbourne Victory v Newcastle Jets

ORGANISERS at Geelong’s Simonds Stadium have been left red-faced after committing the cardinal sin of preparing for a game.

Hosting a Melbourne Victory home game for the third year in a row, fans couldn’t help but notice the odd pitch markings as kick off approached against Newcastle Jets on Monday night.

Victory went on to win the game 4-2 in what was a controversy-filled game, with Besart Berisha becoming the A-League’s all-time leading scorer.

With FIFA regulations requiring precise dimensions for the 18-yard-box, the lines at Simonds Stadium were noticeably wrong, meaning the penalty box was significantly too narrow.

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Luckily, the mistake was noticed, forcing stadium staff to cover up their error and re-paint the lines – but they cut it fine, still painting lines while both clubs were preparing to come out for their warm ups.

Simonds Stadium is set to be the home of a proposed A-League club, should Geelong be granted a franchise license when expansion is confirmed.

It bears similarity to an almost identical blunder in an MLS Cup game in the USA in November — but in that instance, kick-off for the semi-final was delayed 30 minutes.

Here’s how fans at the stadium reacted to the error ...