Australian Stadiums Discussion (Excluding Parramatta)

[mack]

Geelong A-League is just like Canberra. It won't need a massive stadium, especially if it's another bloody oval.

[Gazmon]

Geelong A-League is just like Canberra. It won't need a massive stadium, especially if it's another bloody oval.

 

Reading some muppet article about building a new stadium in Canberra because Manuka Oval isn't adequate for AFL... but about building a big 'multipurpose' venue that is oval... Strange that they can't get through their head that being rectangular can be multipurpose too, just not for them and cricket. I won't link it, but it was on The Roar. They need something similar to what we're building, not even that big really, but similar, down by the lake.

[Hughesy]

This whole GF saga going on right now is just the tip of the ice berg. Australia's stadium strategy is abysmal and outdated (I wouldn't say it's ever been dated tbh). In no other first world country would you see this issue happening and in no other first world country would you see a poor surface rolled out for any professional sport or code. There are real issues here regarding multi use venues as well an issue of pride in what's being presented. It seems to be fine to serve up a poor surface provided it's just green and reasonably flat. It's pathetic.

[mack]

AFL don't care because they have their own stadiums where the only issues (cricket pitches) have been taken away by the introduction of drop-in pitches.

 

NRL & Rugby don't care because they don't need good surfaces, and they know they are the reason pitches are garbage.

 

It'll be a miracle before the state governments in NSW, QLD or Victoria build a football specific stadium.

[luisenrique]

For a nation that loves to bang on about how 'sporting' we are, we are so far behind not just other first world countries, but a few others as well. I think it stems from the fact that most of the sports we play are pissant sports that no-one else cares about. 

 

It's not just the pitches...farcical situations where teams regularly play in grounds far too big for their support, or far away from the area they're supposed to represent, for example. Or the entire Big Bash. 

 

As a whole, this country likes watching sport, on tv, while watching the beer ads and getting pissed, and the TAB ads and having a punt. Actual sporting integrity etc falls by the wayside. 

 

That's why you have nonsense like rules being changed halfway through a season, 'superhero' rounds, and the like. It would all be laughed out of town in any serious sporting culture. Most people here don't care though...how many times have you been at the pub and heard the regulars ask who won in the footy...they don't actually care about the game, the tactics, who played well, etc...they just wanna know how they did in their multi & tipping comp.

 

There is no doubt that this country is full of bandwagoners...that's why we have a 'finals' culture. I'm sure we all know plenty of people who suddenly become Sharks/Bunnies/esfc/Wanderers/Swans etc fans for 2-3 weeks of the year.

[Neverbloom]

For a nation that loves to bang on about how 'sporting' we are, we are so far behind not just other first world countries, but a few others as well. I think it stems from the fact that most of the sports we play are pissant sports that no-one else cares about. 

 

It's not just the pitches...farcical situations where teams regularly play in grounds far too big for their support, or far away from the area they're supposed to represent, for example. Or the entire Big Bash. 

 

As a whole, this country likes watching sport, on tv, while watching the beer ads and getting pissed, and the TAB ads and having a punt. Actual sporting integrity etc falls by the wayside. 

 

That's why you have nonsense like rules being changed halfway through a season, 'superhero' rounds, and the like. It would all be laughed out of town in any serious sporting culture. Most people here don't care though...how many times have you been at the pub and heard the regulars ask who won in the footy...they don't actually care about the game, the tactics, who played well, etc...they just wanna know how they did in their multi & tipping comp.

 

There is no doubt that this country is full of bandwagoners...that's why we have a 'finals' culture. I'm sure we all know plenty of people who suddenly become Sharks/Bunnies/esfc/Wanderers/Swans etc fans for 2-3 weeks of the year.

that just made me imagine in south america them trying to have a superhero round and see how that would go down

[luisenrique]

Hahah yeah...that brings me to another point...places like South America, Eastern Europe, etc...have long standing rivalries with their neighbouring countries, with their neighbouring cities, with their neighbouring suburbs! Which all leads to their respective sports teams being REALLY ******* important, and a source of pride. Bolivia have no chance of qualifying for the World Cup (and never have I think?), and yet they packed out the stadium recently and went mental when they beat Argentina. 

 

Of course they can go over the top sometimes, but you see that pride in their teams in a way that only people who have grown up watching football in this country are familiar with. This extends to not just the team, but wanting everything including the pitch to be the best it can possibly be.

 

We're isolated so don't really have any of that stuff, so as a consequence sport is a lot more casual. That's why the Wanderers caught the imagination...it brought a truly tribal atmosphere that is unique here. It also scared a lot of the other codes because they thought 'wait, these upstarts are showing up our culture as saccharine and lame.'

[Zelinsky]

Regensburg in Bavaria has a population of 140k. Somehow they managed to finance and build a 15k seater (which can be expanded to 18k) for 52.7 million Euro and have that thing built within 18 months. I find that quite remarkable.

It would be nice if a few of those things could be flat packed, put on container ships and erected in Australia. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Arena

http://germanfootballgrounds.com/clubs/regensburg/

 

[Flytox]

^^^ The panorama that scrolls around the whole ground from the centre circle and that you can zoom in for detail is great.  Ground includes a corner bay of standing terrace for the away fans?

 

http://www.continental-arena.com/panorama-views/stadion/

Edited May 21, 2017 by Flytox

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

2 hours ago, FCB said:

Regensburg in Bavaria has a population of 140k. Somehow they managed to finance and build a 15k seater (which can be expanded to 18k) for 52.7 million Euro and have that thing built within 18 months. I find that quite remarkable.

It would be nice if a few of those things could be flat packed, put on container ships and erected in Australia. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Arena

http://germanfootballgrounds.com/clubs/regensburg/

 

then you'll have to look at stadiums in sweden instead of germany.

[Gazmon]

There's a LIDL and an ALDI across the road... shopping + football in the one trip. Very efficient. Very German.

[Zelinsky]

6 hours ago, Flytox said:

^^^ The panorama that scrolls around the whole ground from the centre circle and that you can zoom in for detail is great.  Ground includes a corner bay of standing terrace for the away fans?

 

http://www.continental-arena.com/panorama-views/stadion/

There are no seats in the corners. If the decision makers felt they had to increase capacity they could fit another 3k into these four vacant spaces.

"The Continental Arena is a pure football venue which offers terraces for 6,148 spectators and seats for 9,076 spectators, for a total of 15,224 spectators. The stadium consists of four covered stands of identical height. The corners are covered with perspex, thus offering good wind protection but allowing light inside. The smaller stands in the north and south are either partly (north) or totally (south) terraced, the rest of the stadium is seating space only. The roof of both east and west stand is adorned with a plethora of delicate floodlight pylons, the roof of the north and sound stand both supports a video screen. 

Regensburg supporters are located in the south stand, visiting supporters are located in the north stand."

[Wanderboy]

6 hours ago, theguyyouwishyouwere said:

then you'll have to look at stadiums in sweden instead of germany.

I very much like the sound of the idea of putting the stadium together with an alan key.

[Flytox]

41 minutes ago, FCB said:

There are no seats in the corners. If the decision makers felt they had to increase capacity they could fit another 3k into these four vacant spaces.

"The Continental Arena is a pure football venue which offers terraces for 6,148 spectators and seats for 9,076 spectators, for a total of 15,224 spectators. The stadium consists of four covered stands of identical height. The corners are covered with perspex, thus offering good wind protection but allowing light inside. The smaller stands in the north and south are either partly (north) or totally (south) terraced, the rest of the stadium is seating space only. The roof of both east and west stand is adorned with a plethora of delicate floodlight pylons, the roof of the north and sound stand both supports a video screen. 

Regensburg supporters are located in the south stand, visiting supporters are located in the north stand."

The bay of terrace I was referring to appears to be next to the corner in the north stand.

[Zelinsky]

Sorry Flyfox, I don't think I understood your question.

Yes, the left hand bay of the North terrace is a standing only. It is going to get a good work out this coming weekend when Regensburg plays for promotion to BL2, against no other than 1860. This game would easily have filled a ground with twice the capacity.

[FCWanderers]

Townsville Stadium works to kick off in September

DOMANII CAMERON, Townsville Bulletin

May 26, 2017 12:00am

WORKS on Townsville’s long-awaited $250-million stadium will get under way in less than four months with business leaders hopeful the construction phase will stimulate the region’s economy.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced in parliament yesterday that early works on the stadium would kick off in September.

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/townsville-stadium-works-to-kick-off-in-september/news-story/1d404c8d1bab4bd49749516076e1b658

 

They are moving quickly to start the early stadium construction works for the stadium up in Townsville.

[mack]

Cox Architects (with John Holland as the construction partner) were one of the bidders on our new stadium.

I'm not a fan of it, the roof is only 75% complete, one of the ends is a weird crappy open air thing. I'm not sure why they wouldn't just build a copy of the stadium on the Gold Coast. Looks cheap & unfinished to me.

[Zelinsky]

On 5/22/2017 at 7:38 AM, FCB said:

Regensburg in Bavaria has a population of 140k. Somehow they managed to finance and build a 15k seater (which can be expanded to 18k) for 52.7 million Euro and have that thing built within 18 months. I find that quite remarkable.

It would be nice if a few of those things could be flat packed, put on container ships and erected in Australia. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Arena

http://germanfootballgrounds.com/clubs/regensburg/

 

Off topic:

This ground is going to see BL2 football as of next season. Regensburg is just down the road from where I grew up, and I am pretty excited for them.

It will be pumping: derbies against the ex BL1 clubs Nuernberg, Fuerth, Ingolstadt (all less 100 kms away), and the fans of Kaiserlautern, St Pauli and especially Dresden are traveling in numbers.

 

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

thats an amazing little stadium. that's what we need clubs to start looking at. probably too big for the heart though.

[Flytox]

On 5/30/2017 at 2:13 PM, mack said:

Cox Architects (with John Holland as the construction partner) were one of the bidders on our new stadium.

I'm not a fan of it, the roof is only 75% complete, one of the ends is a weird crappy open air thing. I'm not sure why they wouldn't just build a copy of the stadium on the Gold Coast. Looks cheap & unfinished to me.

The design includes provision for a 5k upgrade which no doubt goes at the open end so in effect it is "unfinished".  The roof design extends to providing cover over the major approach pathway in one corner and is similar to a number of other stadiums.  Populous' Incheon Asian Games Stadium had a similar roof extension in its 60k incarnation that was to be retained in its post games 30k re-incarnation.  Populous' proposal for the Cosmos Stadium in New York extended the roof on one side where a series of restaurants and mixed use developments were to be housed.  In that proposal the roof of the other side of the stadium swung around to cover the end tiers and stopped just short of the side roof.  Both Metricon and Spotless, both Populous designs, have the open end to provide for future capacity increase.

[Hughesy]

A few weeks back my old man mentioned he read an article in the paper stating the government are having second thoughts about their 3 stadium strategy. Did anyone see this? 

[Paul01]

34 minutes ago, hughsey said:

A few weeks back my old man mentioned he read an article in the paper stating the government are having second thoughts about their 3 stadium strategy. Did anyone see this? 

Pretty sure it was in the Terrorgraph quoted by all the Sydney radio stations.

It was Alan Jones tugging on Stuart Ayres puppet strings trying to get another stadium next to Allianz and stop the rebuild of ANZ

[ManfredSchaefer]

Folks...check out what that lover of all things sokkah thinks about Adelaide Oval

[mack]

"Multi purpose" is just a way to hide "It's an AFL stadium with a drop-in cricket pitch".

Realistically, a rectangular stadium can be used for Rugby League & Union and football, which is 1 more sport than a "Multi-purpose" AFL oval can be used for.

But the AFL states have governments that don't care about Football (even less than QLD & NSW) or Rugby or League, so they aren't interested in building a stadium that one team will play in.

[Paul01]

5 minutes ago, mack said:

"Multi purpose" is just a way to hide "It's an AFL stadium with a drop-in cricket pitch".

Realistically, a rectangular stadium can be used for Rugby League & Union and football, which is 1 more sport than a "Multi-purpose" AFL oval can be used for.

But the AFL states have governments that don't care about Football (even less than QLD & NSW) or Rugby or League, so they aren't interested in building a stadium that one team will play in.

More like a cricket ground where the pitch is taken out in winter.

if there was a second team in Adelaide...

[btron3000]

Unfortunately for Adelaide football fans the argument "we can't sell out the big stadium" is not nearly as convincing as "we've outgrown our little stadium".

Making more noise when Adelaide United sell out Hindmarsh would be a better tactic than complaining after a poor turnout for the Socceroos.

[StringerBellend]

22 hours ago, ManfredSchaefer said:

Folks...check out what that lover of all things sokkah thinks about Adelaide Oval

Full or not adelaide oval isn't suitable for football

[Paul01]

2 hours ago, StringerBellend said:

Full or not adelaide oval isn't suitable for football

Plus if they want full stadiums lower the price.

[FCWanderers]

SCG curator to quit before the Ashes

By AAP

9 hours ago

Long-serving SCG curator Tom Parker will leave the role three months out from the Ashes.

Parker will step down at the end of September around the conclusion of the AFL season after 20 years managing the historic Sydney venue's turf.

Allianz Stadium curator Michael Finch will also step aside as the SCG Trust restructures for one group of workers to manage the grounds.

Both groundsmen took up their roles in 1997, with Parker reputed for often preparing a spin-friendly wicket for the yearly New Year's Test.

Next year's fifth Ashes Test will be played at the SCG on January 4-8.

"There are certainly some special moments that I'll look back on in coming years," Parker said in a statement.

"But the opportunity to call the SCG home for the past two decades is what I'm most proud of."

Despite their achievements, both curators have come under fire.

In 2015, NSW's Sheffield Shield clash with Victoria had to be abandoned due to a dangerous SCG playing surface, while Test wickets in recent seasons have been deemed too placid.

This year's A-League grand final was played on an uneven, muddy surface at Allianz Stadium.

http://wwos.nine.com.au/2017/06/21/12/41/scg-curator-to-quit-before-ashes

[wengerboy]

Looks like the ANZ redevelopment is not going ahead after the price blowout, I suspect the numbers were greatly underexaggerated to convince NSW to buy back the stadium.