The turf was relayed from a winter grass to a summer grass following Sydney FC's last match at the venue - against Melbourne Victory on November 22 - and an inspectionduring the week found the playing surface to be in an unfit state, with significant patches of sand and mud presenting an untenable danger to players.
The A-League Women's game between Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar has been pushed back to Wednesday 4 February, whilst a new date for the highly anticipated men's game against Auckland FC will find a new date in due course.
Australian Professional Leagues (APL) chair Stephen Conroy slammed the situation as "unacceptable" on Tuesday evening.
"We understand that weather and other factors can impact pitch maintenance and repairs, but for Leichhardt Oval to be unplayable and to be given little notice is unacceptable," Conroy said.
“It’s frustrating that football has to bear the burden of these pitch management issues. It's simply not good enough, and our game and our fans deserve better.
"We need venues to provide pitches that are maintained and presented to the required standard to ensure player safety and the highest quality football for our fans. It’s vital that all tiers of government continue to upgrade venues recognising that football is the fastest growing sport in Australia.
“While we know these changes will inconvenience many - and for that we apologise - we’d like to thank Sydney FC, Auckland FC and Brisbane Roar for their collaboration in moving these matches, and we look forward to the rescheduled fixtures."
Sydney FC Executive Vice-Chairman Sebastian Gray expressed the club's "extreme disappointment" in a press release on Tuesday night.
“We know how disappointing this is for our Members and fans during the holiday period, especially given we’ve had six great home games at Leichhardt Oval this season," Gray said.
“We worked hard to find alternative venues, however given the time of year we were unable to find anything suitable.
“I’d like to thank everyone for their continued support, the team at the club as well as our partners at Inner West Council who have worked hard to solve this issue, and we look forward to working with them in future.”
Sydney's Inner West Council, which is responsible for management of the public grounds, anticipate that Leichhardt Oval will be ready in time for Sydney FC's next match at the venue on January 9.
“Unfortunately, there has been a delay to the surface returning to the high-quality standard that we pride ourselves on," said council representative Peter Gainsford.
“This follows additional games in November scheduled at Leichhardt Oval as requested by Sydney FC.
“A number of grounds in Sydney are undergoing similar maintenance at this time which is why no alternative grounds are available."