Australian Stadiums Discussion (Excluding Parramatta)

[SBW]

Politis has no right to cry about such thing.

He ran Sydney Olympic to the ground during the NSL days and left them in massive debt

[Hughesy]

On 12/10/2022 at 5:11 PM, mack said:

Politis insists the Roosters have an agreement in which their branding has to be permanently visible. He revealed the club had paid $12.5 million to build their own centre of excellence and football offices at the venue as their home for the next 25 years.

“Sydney FC don’t understand,” Politis said. “They just have a ground hire agreement. Sydney Roosters Chairman Nick Politis is furious about the situation. “We paid for our own facilities and we pay rent for the space we use. “It’s in our contract that the signage is part of that agreement.” Barlow refused to return phone calls or text messages.

The truth hurts. Sydney are in the wrong here and have made sure the Aleague continues to get shat on by the mainstream. Great work…

[Smoggy]

17 hours ago, Sithslayer1991 said:

This is stupid and a waste of time from the Chooks. They aren't even in season and they don't own the place.

It be fair,  their real name is Eastern Suburbs and have played out if Moore Park since 1908. Tradition does still count for something, but not financial ownership of course. I have no issues with them wanting and having their name on the stadium somewhere.

Sydney FC on the other hand hate the Easts tag and claim to represent all of Sydney, they probably see Parra Stadium as much theirs as ours lol 
 

If I had to take sides it would be against Sydney FC obviously 

[mack]

The idea that the Roosters have any signage rights when another team rents the same stadium the Roosters also rent is ridiculous.

The Roosters didn't pay for it. Taxpayers did.

Could SFC have put "we want Sydney FC logo on the pitch and banners on the empty seats" in their rental agreement? Of course not.

[Hughesy]

5 hours ago, mack said:

The idea that the Roosters have any signage rights when another team rents the same stadium the Roosters also rent is ridiculous.

The Roosters didn't pay for it. Taxpayers did.

Could SFC have put "we want Sydney FC logo on the pitch and banners on the empty seats" in their rental agreement? Of course not.

You can have the opinion but the facts are the Chooks paid $12.5m of their own money to build a centre of excellence and headquarters at the site, including signage as part of the cost and agreement. My understanding is the logo is more so related to the COE/offices than the stadium itself, it just so happens it is hanging on the actual stadium.

I am not a chooks fan but they’re entitled to be pissed off about it when they’ve paid money. If the roles were reversed, Sydney would be too and rightfully so. Perhaps Sydney should’ve asked for a branding deal too. A-League fans are being way too biased about this. 

Let’s be honest also, is a half arsed tarp blowing in the breeze really going to suddenly trick people into forgetting about the roosters? 

[mack]

Meh, $12.5 is a drop in the pan of what the stadium cost.

[Hughesy]

I would’ve thought in this day and age as well as possibly even being cheaper, that they’d have put an LED panel that can display different branding depending on the event. Parra has that and it works seamlessly between the Eels and WSW

[Paul01]

Here is where we sit in the opinion of outgoing head of Venues NSW (no where!) from the SMH. Not one mention of football!

A veritable smorgasbord of movers, shakers and the odd gibberer stood in the middle of the SCG on Thursday night ahead of a dinner to honour outgoing Venues NSW chairman Tony Shepherd.

Former Prime Minister John Howard, former governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan and Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird were among the guests in attendance.

Such is the pulling power of Shepherd, the crafty 79-year-old who announced in February he was stepping down having served more than 21 years on the SCG Trust and then Venues NSW board, 10 of them as chairman.

On his watch, there have been major changes to Sydney’s stadium landscape, including the new Noble-Bradman Stand at the SCG and the controversial Allianz Stadium.

In an interview hours before the fancy party pies and champers, Shepherd allowed himself to be grilled one last time, and he made some interesting points.

First, he said the major football codes – particularly the NRL – had an “ethical obligation” to fill the shiny new stadia it had been given in recent years, including the $900 million Allianz Stadium and $360 million CommBank Stadium.

 

Too often, the NRL schedules matches at times that are great for TV ratings but terrible for crowds. Thursday matches played before precious few people are becoming an embarrassment for the game. If they don’t fill Allianz for the annual Anzac Day match between the Roosters and Dragons, there will need to be an investigation of some sort.

We should add that NRL bosses Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo were late scratchings for Thursday night’s dinner.

“They have an ethical obligation to make sure they maximise the use of these stadiums because it is the taxpayers’ money,” Shepherd said. “We’re the only country in the advanced world where the taxpayer pays for the [majority construction cost of] stadiums. The only one. There is a moral obligation to make sure they are utilised.”

To that end, Shepherd is at loggerheads with V’landys, who regularly threatens to take the NRL grand final to another state if the NSW government doesn’t fund an upgrade of suburban grounds. Instead, Shepherd prefers a refurbishment of Accor Stadium with a retractable roof.

 

"I don’t mind modest investment in suburban grounds, they are still important, but not at the expense of having better major facilities,” he said. “Accor desperately needs investment. An updated Accor would be an extremely valuable asset. I would put a roof on it: you’d have a 90,000-seat stadium in Sydney that could host major events, concerts, the opera, rugby league grand finals, major cricket matches, AFL.”

Has he tried getting to Accor on a busy night lately? I almost cried trying to drive to and park at the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert earlier this year.

“The metro will be going through there in 2027,” he said, adding that a refurbished Accor would allow South Sydney to play more matches out of Allianz.

When Venues NSW merged with the SCG Trust three years ago, it seemingly ended Sydney’s so-called stadium wars. Yet, there’s no love lost between Souths, who want to play more matches out of Allianz, and the new body.

 

“Souths have a long-term contract with Accor to play there until 2030,” Shepherd said. “If Accor is rehabilitated, my view is that content won’t be an issue there. Then we can renegotiate with the Bunnies. Theirs was a voluntary shift from Allianz to Accor for money reasons in the first place. We’re not anti-Bunnies, but we expect them to honour their deal.”

What does he say to claims he was merely a puppet on the Trust for powerful broadcaster Alan Jones, who was a long-time trustee and now Venues NSW director? Jones delivered a stirring speech about Shepherd on Thursday evening.

“That’s not true,” Shepherd insisted. “Alan is always a great supporter of mine. His knowledge of sport is very valuable. You didn’t have to look it up in a book – ‘AJ’ knew.”

[GE942150]

1 hour ago, Paul01 said:

Here is where we sit in the opinion of outgoing head of Venues NSW (no where!) from the SMH. Not one mention of football!

A veritable smorgasbord of movers, shakers and the odd gibberer stood in the middle of the SCG on Thursday night ahead of a dinner to honour outgoing Venues NSW chairman Tony Shepherd.

Former Prime Minister John Howard, former governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan and Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird were among the guests in attendance.

Such is the pulling power of Shepherd, the crafty 79-year-old who announced in February he was stepping down having served more than 21 years on the SCG Trust and then Venues NSW board, 10 of them as chairman.

On his watch, there have been major changes to Sydney’s stadium landscape, including the new Noble-Bradman Stand at the SCG and the controversial Allianz Stadium.

In an interview hours before the fancy party pies and champers, Shepherd allowed himself to be grilled one last time, and he made some interesting points.

First, he said the major football codes – particularly the NRL – had an “ethical obligation” to fill the shiny new stadia it had been given in recent years, including the $900 million Allianz Stadium and $360 million CommBank Stadium.

 

Too often, the NRL schedules matches at times that are great for TV ratings but terrible for crowds. Thursday matches played before precious few people are becoming an embarrassment for the game. If they don’t fill Allianz for the annual Anzac Day match between the Roosters and Dragons, there will need to be an investigation of some sort.

We should add that NRL bosses Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo were late scratchings for Thursday night’s dinner.

“They have an ethical obligation to make sure they maximise the use of these stadiums because it is the taxpayers’ money,” Shepherd said. “We’re the only country in the advanced world where the taxpayer pays for the [majority construction cost of] stadiums. The only one. There is a moral obligation to make sure they are utilised.”

To that end, Shepherd is at loggerheads with V’landys, who regularly threatens to take the NRL grand final to another state if the NSW government doesn’t fund an upgrade of suburban grounds. Instead, Shepherd prefers a refurbishment of Accor Stadium with a retractable roof.

 

"I don’t mind modest investment in suburban grounds, they are still important, but not at the expense of having better major facilities,” he said. “Accor desperately needs investment. An updated Accor would be an extremely valuable asset. I would put a roof on it: you’d have a 90,000-seat stadium in Sydney that could host major events, concerts, the opera, rugby league grand finals, major cricket matches, AFL.”

Has he tried getting to Accor on a busy night lately? I almost cried trying to drive to and park at the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert earlier this year.

“The metro will be going through there in 2027,” he said, adding that a refurbished Accor would allow South Sydney to play more matches out of Allianz.

When Venues NSW merged with the SCG Trust three years ago, it seemingly ended Sydney’s so-called stadium wars. Yet, there’s no love lost between Souths, who want to play more matches out of Allianz, and the new body.

 

“Souths have a long-term contract with Accor to play there until 2030,” Shepherd said. “If Accor is rehabilitated, my view is that content won’t be an issue there. Then we can renegotiate with the Bunnies. Theirs was a voluntary shift from Allianz to Accor for money reasons in the first place. We’re not anti-Bunnies, but we expect them to honour their deal.”

What does he say to claims he was merely a puppet on the Trust for powerful broadcaster Alan Jones, who was a long-time trustee and now Venues NSW director? Jones delivered a stirring speech about Shepherd on Thursday evening.

“That’s not true,” Shepherd insisted. “Alan is always a great supporter of mine. His knowledge of sport is very valuable. You didn’t have to look it up in a book – ‘AJ’ knew.”

Accor Stadium needs more than a roof. The whole ground level needs to be demolished and made rectangular. Or even better, the whole joint needs to be demolished and turned into something similar to Wembley. The fact they still consider playing AFL and Cricket there makes me sick- which is the main reason why they won't make it rectangular and why the view is so bad. And it doesn't even fit 90k, it's only 80k.

Edited April 20, 2023 by GE942150

[marron]

He's such a ****

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

1 hour ago, GE942150 said:

Accor Stadium needs more than a roof. The whole ground level needs to be demolished and made rectangular. Or even better, the whole joint needs to be demolished and turned into something similar to Wembley. The fact they still consider playing AFL and Cricket there makes me sick- which is the main reason why they won't make it rectangular and why the view is so bad. And it doesn't even fit 90k, it's only 80k.

cricket will not survive unless they start playing out of stadiums with rooves.

[Paul01]

1 hour ago, GE942150 said:

An updated Accor would be an extremely valuable asset. I would put a roof on it: you’d have a 90,000-seat stadium in Sydney that could host major events, concerts, the opera, rugby league grand finals, major cricket matches, AFL.”

Still wants AFL and cricket at Stadium Australia. Thankfully he has f*** off but i worry about his followers.

[Potkorok]

7 hours ago, marron said:

He's such a ****

And he's a big part of the reason the decision was made to rebuild the SFS (at 2.5 times the cost of Parra for only 10000 extra seats) instead of the Homebush rebuild.

He's also been bleating about the SCG not being up to scratch and wanting $$$ to rebuild more of it.

Ugh

[ManfredSchaefer]

On 21/04/2023 at 8:29 AM, marron said:

He's such a ****

Sheperd probably was part of the SCG Trust mob that leaked the info re banned sokkah fans to Boozy Bec's way back in part because he was part of the AFL Liberal Mafia alongside old mate Stuart Ayres. Both of those arschlochen were keen to make sure the Manuka Midgets had as much as a positive spin about their unwanted, unneeded presence in western Sydney and what better way than to talk up the hools in red and black angle.

Marron you are given the kurva, the scheisse, the weeping anal abscess far too much respect with your observation. He is the kind of self-serving fecal scum that seems to find a way to float to the top of the political/business turdshake that is the power echelons of NSW's society.

[Wobblies]

34 minutes ago, ManfredSchaefer said:

He is the kind of self-serving fecal scum that seems to find a way to float to the top of the political/business turdshake that is the power echelons of NSW's society.

or the lucrative after-dinner-speaking/'consultancy' circuit.

Whichever way you look at it he is an unflushable turd.

[Hughesy]

On 21/4/2023 at 6:43 AM, Paul01 said:

“We’re the only country in the advanced world where the taxpayer pays for the [majority construction cost of] stadiums. The only one. There is a moral obligation to make sure they are utilised.”

The irony/arrogance/ignorance/hypocrisy of this comment is beyond laughable. One of the key architects of the Sydney stadium monopoly speaking as if it happened by some poor unfortunate fate that we must try and make the most of. He must have given that quote and gone home pissing himself laughing…

[marron]

"We are the only country in the advanced world where rich ****head grifters get governments to pay for their developer mates to build large projects that don't have good business cases for existing and then reward politicians with large salaries for sitting on boards of do nothing trusts after they quit".

I'm assuming now he's gone he'll **** off back to Melbourne of wherever he crawled out of. A total ****.

[mack]

AFL getting a handout in Tasmania. A billion dollars on the new Hobart AFL stadium + upgrades to the main AFL stadium in Launceston + training facility. AFL putting in $15 million after signing their $4.5 billion TV rights deal.

Also technically not Australia, but Eden Park in NZ have released a design plan for upgrades (with a handout request since it's not funded).

https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/04/28/eden-park-unveils-plans-for-retractable-roof-new-stands/#:~:text=Eden Park has announced a,broadcast in any weather conditions".

[MartinTyler]

There's a bid for the MCG to host the Rugby Union World Cup final when it returns here. Causing a few ructions !!

[Midfielder]

Stadium on Friday night was a dog track.... seems like the ground staff don't give a s**t about Football other than drawing the lines ... tis about time we had some Football specif stadiums that could be developed...

My suggestions, Campbelltown, build one, Gosford...

Lidcombe oval would be a great place to build a Football specify stadium that WSW & SFC could both use.... 20 to 25k stadium would be ideal... 

[SBW]

Football specific stadiums is the way to go, I use to remembered around 15 or so years ago that Smurfs were looking at Developing the Kensington athletics track into a football specific stadium but that got knocked back by the councils and the trust.

There were other plans to build a smaller boutique stadium at Kippax Lake field but that also got knocked back, this would have made sense.

Other suggestions was turning Blacktown Olympic Park into a football specific stadium before the GWS Giants came in.

For all the crap that Tarneit FC get, once they build a proper football stadium, it would probably be on of the best football grounds in the country.

[Midfielder]

Always love the old Gabbie stadium at Seven Hills my old team Blacktown Demons .... used to hold about 6.5 K, I am sure a 16 to 17K stadium could be built there ... parking everywhere near major roads .... great little club instead of supporting leagues clubs... training ground behind it as well.... railway and seven hills shopping centre 5 to 10 minutes walk.... 

[MartinTyler]

32 minutes ago, Midfielder said:

Always love the old Gabbie stadium at Seven Hills my old team Blacktown Demons .... used to hold about 6.5 K, I am sure a 16 to 17K stadium could be built there ... parking everywhere near major roads .... great little club instead of supporting leagues clubs... training ground behind it as well.... railway and seven hills shopping centre 5 to 10 minutes walk.... 

I spend many pleasant Saturday evenings at the old Gabbie watching the Demons. Despite their stellar success on the field they never quite connected with the community enough to suggest a return to the top tier (or second tier as it appears). For a while I used to assist with match reports for the local papers and we tended to overstate the crowd sizes by 50-100% at times

[Midfielder]

22 minutes ago, MartinTyler said:

I spend many pleasant Saturday evenings at the old Gabbie watching the Demons. Despite their stellar success on the field they never quite connected with the community enough to suggest a return to the top tier (or second tier as it appears). For a while I used to assist with match reports for the local papers and we tended to overstate the crowd sizes by 50-100% at times

TBH the NSL never connected with many people outside a few and hand on heart not the other thing Sydney United were a pain in the arse or their fans were... and it drove many people away as for media there was none... the only time Football got any media was if there was a riot and the lies that were told.... another issue as you would know was Blacktown also had an association team who played almost at Blacktown station and they enjoyed similar support and also played NSL at times... we only needed one team at NSL level... if the association team had supported the Demons with the bigger stadium and club house they could have survived.. 

True story, on old media, I went to Woolongong to watch the Northern Spirit play one Saturday night... was pouring rain maybe 2K there at Win Stadium, .... a Pommy guy hugely over weight and drunk as a skunk was standing by himself on the Hill and constantly yelling abuse and he became more interesting than the game.... something annoyed him and he started down the hill to abuse the keeper and on the way fell A over T.... and rolled to the fence huge cheer went up ... he tried to get over the fence but failed and fell back on his backside .... he kept yelling so the police must have drawn straws to see who going to go out in the rain and tell him to sit down....

A lady police officer drew the short straw and when out when the drunk saw her coming from maybe 2 to 3 meters away he through a punch at the lady police officer.... he missed by at least a meter or more... the reaction from the other police was fast about four officers went over he was handcuffed still to drunk to stand so getting him out resulted in lots of falling over ... the crowd loved it and cheered like mad every time the drunk fell over always taking a couple of police with him....

Sunday papers, Soccer Riot police offers injured, Sydney louts invade Wool... talk back during the week was Soccer should be banned until they can control their fans.... papers running pictures of officers on the ground struggling with the drunk  

Edited May 15, 2023 by Midfielder

[Potkorok]

1 hour ago, Midfielder said:

Always love the old Gabbie stadium at Seven Hills my old team Blacktown Demons .... used to hold about 6.5 K, I am sure a 16 to 17K stadium could be built there ... parking everywhere near major roads .... great little club instead of supporting leagues clubs... training ground behind it as well.... railway and seven hills shopping centre 5 to 10 minutes walk.... 

I live up the hill from the old Gabbie ground.

Sadly no way you'd get a 16k stadium in there now - surrounded by housing and the traffic can be awful at peak hour. The few times the Wanderers played there (FFA cup) traffic and parking was a s#!tfight and that was with around 4500k there. Yes seven hills railway station is close by, but let's face it most people will end up driving.

Blacktown Sports Park would be good I reckon

[MartinTyler]

1 hour ago, Midfielder said:

 another issue as you would know was Blacktown also had an association team who played almost at Blacktown station and they enjoyed similar support and also played NSL at times... we only needed one team at NSL level... if the association team had supported the Demons with the bigger stadium and club house they could have survived.. 

 

Might have been before my time; the only club I recall playing at Francis Park was the Spartans in their early days. Demons and the Association never seemed to have a good relationship...particularly when Jack Taylor ruled the assoc. !!

[Midfielder]

TWAS the Spartans...... think i got it wrong about making the nsl but they were close and pushing.... and there was a team before the spartans can't think of their name...

Anyway I followed the Demos for years..... still think they have the best kit in Australia...

[Midfielder]

16 hours ago, Potkorok said:

I live up the hill from the old Gabbie ground.

Sadly no way you'd get a 16k stadium in there now - surrounded by housing and the traffic can be awful at peak hour. The few times the Wanderers played there (FFA cup) traffic and parking was a s#!tfight and that was with around 4500k there. Yes seven hills railway station is close by, but let's face it most people will end up driving.

Blacktown Sports Park would be good I reckon

Used to live in Marayong before it was developed i.e. only a few houses and lots of farm land between Marayong and Quakers Hill... single line for the train and mostly diesel as power only went as far as Riverstone... I lived in """The Crescent"""   ...

Issue back then was the way the NSL was structured meant no matter how successful it was in say technical play or success of the Socceroos it would never get broad community support or MSM backing.... 

As an aside and without getting to much off topic, but to me it seems we are heading that way again... our leaders at APL & CBS are IMO failing badly and Football has become invisible with the fight and or riot again becoming our only MSM coverage.... the Football this year has been amazing and not having a go at WSW ... but many other sides other than the Mariners are now developing younger players and giving them lots of game time... even South Gosford FC ... from a technical aspect its been a great year... from a management aspect its been terrible...  Rant Over... 

[BoyFromTheWest]

As/when football starts to gain support, there will be more attacks on it and exposure of anything bad because there is an overt bias towards AFL and NRL.

Mostly people who follow those sports will never want to watch football because, for them there are only ever a few moments of interest when a goal is scored (in other sports goals/tries... are worth little because they're dime a dozen.

The systems are designed to protect particular sports and promote them over others. It's is in the personal/professional interest of people to keep AFL/NRL flying high and other sports struggling.

The APL etc need to be smarter but they are up against it. I don't think football will ever have the status here that it has elsewhere.

[Smoggy]

55 minutes ago, BoyFromTheWest said:

As/when football starts to gain support, there will be more attacks on it and exposure of anything bad because there is an overt bias towards AFL and NRL.

Oh..you only need to look at our first few season when we were all new, exciting and seemed like a genuine threat to the established codes. 

Constantly smashed in the media, mostly off pitch stuff of course.

What I will never get or understand was even the supposedidly pro football media in outlets like the SMH tried to smash us in a cut your nose off to spite your face manner..Bossi and co.... Jealousy within our own code didn't help, but then no code ****s itself over like ours in this country and no other country likes to hack down things that are a success like this one.