Originally Posted by me (with help from others)
All followers of open field sports in Western Australia are agreed that there is a pressing need to improve the standard of major stadia in this state. To this end, the proposed Perth Stadium will be a marked improvement on current facilities for AFL and other major events such as international matches and exhibitions, which the proposed operable seating is designed to accommodate. However, history has shown that sharing a stadium for sports as disparate as Australian Rules, Association Football, Rugby League and Rugby Union is fraught with issues, from both administrative and surface quality viewpoints.
Following on from the release of the Major Stadia Taskforce Report and announcement of the new multi-purpose stadium, we have spent the last six months in consultation with the public of Western Australia and spectators echo our concerns.
The regular conversion of a stadium from oval to rectangular configuration is certain to cause damage to the playing surface when the stands are moved every week.
Furthermore, by the time the stadium is completed, Western Australian teams may wish to utilise this facility for 2 AFL teams, 1 Super 14 Rugby team competing in an expanded competition and possibly a National Rugby League team, thus requiring approximately 22 home games in oval configuration and up to 26 home games in rectangular configuration in addition to international matches for Cricket, Rugby Union, Rugby League and Association Football. Managing the various demands of the respective sporting bodies will be a mammoth undertaking, and one that we believe will be ultimately be resolved in favour of one tenant to the detriment of all others.
We see evidence of this in the management of Telstra Dome in Melbourne. Telstra Dome is one of the stadia studied by the Major Stadia Taskforce and the design of Perth Stadium draws on lessons learned by studying this stadium. In this exemplar stadium, which contains operable seating the Australian Rugby Union team played Ireland earlier this year, on the evening before an AFL match between Richmond and Melbourne. A match as important as a test match between the fourth and eighth ranked teams in the world would surely have warranted configuring the stadium as a rectangle. Unfortunately, in this instance Telstra Dome remained in it's oval configuration, and fans were forced to view the action from a less than optimal position.
8832 Western Australian citizens agree with us that the only sensible solution when faced with these issues is to provide a dedicated rectangular stadium for the benefit of the people of Western Australia. To this end we ask that the Western Australian Government uphold their commitment of September 2005 and provide 25 Million dollars to fund the upgrade of Members Equity Stadium to a suitable capacity and standard for the needs of all rectangular field sports.
