Saturday night’s clash between the Macarthur Bulls and Newcastle Jets began at 6pm but finished at 9.59pm as wild weather forced the longest game in A-League history.
Scorching temperatures in Campbelltown saw the match delayed from 5pm to 6pm, but a rapid change in conditions as a storm front hit soon sent the players running to the sheds.
Newcastle scored in the eighth minute through fleet-footed attacker Trent Buhagiar, before intense winds – gusting up to 65km/h in the area – even blew an advertising hoarding onto the pitch near a player.
In the 14th minute, the players were forced from the field due to lightning for an expected half-hour delay. But the dangerous storm forced play to be delayed over an hour and a half.
Play eventually resumed at 7.50pm – but the teams were on the pitch for just 12 minutes before the lightning returned. The subsequent delay was 32 minutes. The…
