Newcastle beat Tottenham 5-4 on penalties in a post-season friendly in Australia – just three days after the Premier League ended.
The timing of the match, which was played in front of 78,419 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and finished 1-1 after normal time, had been called “madness” by former England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer.
It went ahead despite concerns about the increasing workload being faced by players.
England midfielder James Maddison scored the 32nd-minute opener for Spurs, taking advantage of a poor pass by Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope and then weaving past the Magpies defence and smashing into the top corner.
Swedish striker Alexander Isak levelled from close range just before half-time.
The game then went straight to penalties with Bryan Gil having Spurs’ first spot-kick saved by Mark Gillespie – the only one missed as the remaining nine were converted.
Right-back Harrison Ashby, who spent last season on loan at Swansea, struck the winning penalty for Newcastle.
Both clubs named strong squads for the trip with England defender Kieran Trippier, Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes and Isak in the Newcastle starting line-up, while Maddison, Dutch defender Micky van de Ven and South Korea captain Son Heung-min in the Spurs ranks.
Trippier, who like Maddison is in England’s provisional Euro 2024 squad, came off after 36 minutes, which Newcastle said was “pre-planned”.
Speaking before the match, boss Eddie Howe said it was an opportunity to “grow the name of Newcastle”.
While Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou accepted the “exposure and revenue” was a key element of the long trip, he acknowledged had his side been in European competition this season he would have blocked it.
Newcastle will also play a second match against an A-League All Star side on Friday.
This summer has the European Championship in Germany, which starts on 14 June, while the Copa America gets under way in the United States six days later.
Critics say these global games are some of the least sustainable of any football fixtures based on the emissions from the long-haul flights.
Then there is the impact of fan travel – more likely this summer when several Premier League teams head to the United States for their pre-season tours.
More important than the emissions perhaps is the example it sets and the potential it has to undermine positive climate action, these games are not essential and are exactly the kind of emissions that should and could be avoided in any true Net Zero strategy.
Flying also impacts the body, and more games are bad for player welfare and wellbeing in an already overcrowded schedule.
Ensuring rest is why clubs say they need to use domestic flights, so it points to double standards there.
They are financially motivated, in a sport with more money than any other. Whether the cost to the environment is worth the financial reward depends on your individual perspective but clubs definitely can’t be championing positive action at home among fans and then expect this kind of behaviour to go unchallenged.
