Offering soccer fans a central site to meet and enjoy pre and post game entertainment, as well as the opportunity to watch all the action live on four Superscreens, Darling Harbour was full of football fever as Aussie fans cheered on their favorite teams.

Lighting Designer Mark Hammer was charged with the responsibility of lighting the floating stage, two side barges, floating football pitch, various sponsor areas, as well as site-wide effect lighting. The idea was to not just light the performance area but also the surrounding spaces to create a general atmosphere so that if Australia were playing, for example, the site would be bathed in gold and green
Mark's design criteria was not only performance based but he also had to consider the reliability of fixtures that would continue to work when installed outdoors for six weeks during winter.
The majority of intelligent lighting was Martin MACs chosen for their reliability and hardiness.

“I was particularly impressed by the MAC2000 Wash XB fixtures,” commented Mark. “They’re good and punchy allowing me a few beam looks as well as just general wash.”

Exposed MACs were either dressed in the Martin rainMACs or had their little custom-made tin hats on them which, according to Mark, are fabulous at keeping the rain off the fixtures.

Bytecraft had a rotating crew of sixteen technicians to cover the lighting and screens, headed up by Project Manager Michael Webber. The main stage housed twelve Martin MAC2000 Profiles with a further twelve MAC2000 Wash XBs on the side barges. Site lighting utilized sixteen MAC2000 Profiles and sixteen MAC2000 Wash XBs.