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WITH six gripping minutes to go in Sunday's A-League grand final thriller, Frank Lowy and David Gallop walk to the lift on the fifth floor of Suncorp Stadium to go and present the premiership trophy to Tony Popovic and his Western Sydney Wanderers.
As the door opens on the ground floor they hear the booming roar of almost 52,000 fans.
Suddenly, one of sport's great fairytales turns to heartbreak as the Wanderers surrender a 1-0 lead.
Brisbane Roar striker Besart Berisha heads it in, not that Lowy and Gallop saw it, and we go into extra time.
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Australia's soccer supremos head back to their suite only to watch Brazilian Henrique score a 105th minute matchwinner.
And so ended a magnificent sporting contest and the Wanderers' second grand final challenge in two years.
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THE ATMOSPHERE
I've been to many State of Origin games and rugby league Tests at this ground in the last 30 years.
A few years ago ARL chief executive Geoff Carr invited me to stand on the field at the entrance to the Queensland tunnel as Darren Lockyer leads the Maroons out.
I've never experienced a blast of sound quite like it. Well, not until Sunday.
Every seat in the Stadium is taken. It sold out in three days.
There are 40,000 screaming Roar fans in their orange and the rest cheering for the Wanderers.
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THE RBB
Wisely, the supporters have been separated even before the game. The Red-and-Black Bloc meet at the Paddington Hotel and march to the ground at 2.30pm.
You can hear them from the stadium almost a kilometre away.
Roar supporters gather at the Caxton, the famous Queensland rugby league hotel. It's gone orange instead of maroon.
Conveniently for police, they don't cross paths on the way to the venue.
Wanderers fans in the RBB go nuts as Matthew Spiranovic heads in the opener. Source: News Corp Australia
Brisbane's riot squad watch from behind bays 310 and 311. They are generally well behaved.
I spend the opening 20 minutes smack bang in the middle of the Bloc. They are going off.
It's absolutely crazy, their passion just out of this world. It's the first time they've had to sing and chant for 120 minutes of football.
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The voice meter on my iPhone sound metre hits the maximum 120dB. God knows what the noise level really got to.
When I last measured the RBB they were 117Db at Allianz Stadium earlier this year.
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THE BOSSES
CEO David Gallop goes to the game in style. He travelled to Brisbane on Frank Lowy's private learjet with the Westfield supremo and his family.
The plane is delayed by the high winds in Sydney and they're 30 minutes late to host the pre-game corporate function.
Lots of high flyers are there waiting — Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, NRMA supremo Andy Cornish, State and Federal sports ministers, Fox Sports boss Patrick Delany and former FFA CEO Ben Buckley.
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Gallop speaks confidently and positively about the future of soccer in this country.
"We're not the biggest sport in Australia yet but we're on our way," he says.
Lowy was in Europe and missed the Wanderers' grand final appearance against Central Coast last year.
on Sunday he's bursting with pride for the team that is his greatest success story in nine years as FFA chairman.
When others didn't want to risk a second Sydney team, Lowy insisted on one.
Brisbane Roar celebrate winning the 2014 A-League Grand Final. Source: News Corp Australia
"To think where we were as a sport 10 years ago," he told me in the half-time break, "A lot of it's because of this guy," as he points to Gallop.
"Great boss, great day, great game, great atmosphere."
Lowy was also behind the appointment of young super coach Tony Popovic at the Wanderers.
"They've superseded seeded all my expectations," Lowy told me. "And bringing Popa in was a no contest. He's a great operator."
He watches the game in a seat next to Postecoglou.
Roar fans swarm Caxton Street as they head to the game. Source: News Corp Australia
THE GAME
We've moved to the sideline, right behind Popovic's bench, for the second half.
A lacklustre opening 45 minutes suddenly and spectacularly comes alive.
Central defender Matt Spiranovic puts the Wanderers ahead, drilling one into the back of the net in the 57th minute.
This is his first year in the A-League. He came home from stints in Europe and Japan to get Postecoglou's attention and put himself in the shop window for Brazil. It's worked. I'm told he'll be part of the Socceroos' World Cup squad.
Brisbane players celebrate Henrique's winning goal. Source: Getty Images
The Wanderers are just four minutes away from getting the trophy.
Then Thomas Broich takes a free kick for Roar. Striker Besart Berisha heads it in. We go into extra time.
This so much more exciting than watching a delayed replay of City-County. Absolutely gripping, edge-of-your-seat entertainment.
THE VENUE
The sporting landscape has changed remarkably in Brisbane over the years at this famous ground.
One of my first assignments at Lang Park in the early 80s was a midweek Panasonic Cup game between Combined Brisbane and South Sydney.
A section of Roar supporters in full voice at Suncorp Stadium. Source: Getty Images
It featured one of the worst brawls I've ever seen involving every player.
Next day, the QRL boss Ron McAuliffe declared fans loved it on the back page of this newspaper under the headline: BRAWL GOOD FOR TV RATINGS.
Imagine an official saying that now. They could afford to in those days because league had little or no opposition. Image meant nothing.
The Sydney soccer comp wasn't much more than an ethnic battleground for Marconi and Hakoah, Olympic and Apia Leichhardt.
Henrique of the Roar poses for a photograph with fans. Source: Getty Images
Fast forward 30 years. A full house. More than 50,000 fans. The powerbrokers at the FFA are loving it.
"Football doesn't want to be seen as a tenant paying rent at the big stadiums, we want to 'own' these places like they are our home," said communications director Kyle Patterson.
"That's what is happening at Parramatta Stadium. It's Wanderland, not just the home of the Eels.
"Same goes for Suncorp. It's becoming the Roar's Den, not just a cauldron for rugby league."
THE FLIGHT
It's been a long day. Sydney airport hasn't been as busy at 6.30am on a Sunday morning for a long time.
It's a sea of red and black. Families, couples and mates.
Wanderers fans made the trip up north in huge numbers. Source: News Corp Australia
All the airlines have put on extra and bigger planes to cope with the demand to Brisbane and the Gold Coast. There are no spare seats.
On our flight to the Gold Coast passengers start chanting the team songs of the RBB as the plane is about to land.
All up it's estimated that almost 10,000 fans came from Sydney for the game.
Some couldn't get on flights and drove the day before, their cars covered in streamers.
It's a long way home. They return without the prize but enormous pride for a team that gave it everything they had.
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