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Western Force reaches for rectangular lifelne at new home ground
Wayne Smith | February 18, 2009
Article from: The Australian
THE Western Force is desperately hoping the West Australian Government allocates $75million in its May budget to build a new grandstand at Members Equity Stadium to ease the club's bold move to its new home ground next year.
The honeymoon is over for Perth's embattled rugby franchise as membership is in freefall and crowds at its present Subiaco Oval base are plummeting.
From the 28,424 average attendances at matches in 2006, Force's debut year in Super 14, crowds dropped to an average 22,391 last year.
But even that was not the bottom of the curve - the Force attracted only 19,309 fans to last Friday's season-opening match with the Blues, the lowest crowd figure in the history of the club.
It almost certainly will be a short-lived record with the lowly Cheetahs, who lost their first match to last season's wooden spooners, the Lions, last weekend, likely to draw an even smaller crowd.
While a turbulent off-season certainly would not have helped, the problem of declining support essentially has nothing to do with coach John Mitchell's player-management practices.
The cause is a clash of geometry. Rugby is a game designed for a rectangular field while Subiaco Oval is, as the name betrays, oval-shaped.
"Some 85 per cent of the people surveyed in our market research say they have a major problem with being too far away from the play," Force chief executive Greg Harris said. "They believe they can see the game better by watching on television."
If Force officials wanted some reassurance that their December decision to move to Members Equity Stadium was the right one, it was provided by the near-capacity 18,000 crowd that turned up there for a mere pre-season trial against the Crusaders, a figure barely topped at Subiaco last week for an official competition fixture against the Blues, one of the best drawcard teams in the Super 14.
At present, Members Equity only has seating for 7000 spectators, not even half the Force's requirement.
As well, the Force's new ground needs new facilities to accommodate 2000 corporate guests. In its current configuration, it can handle only half that number.
Ironically, the West Australian Government previously approved a $25million upgrade of Members Equity Stadium but didn't actually spend the money because at the time increasing the capacity to about 22,000 still would not have made the north Perth ground big enough to handle Force crowds.
But as Harris colourfully put it, at that time the Force was the new toy under the Christmas tree. Now the shine has faded and the Force is having to fight hard to retain its core supporters, let alone win new ones.
Four years ago, the club's membership stood at 20,700. Today it is down to 11,200.
Harris is encouraged by the support the Force has received from West Australian Sports Minister Terry Waldron and from Vincent Mayor Nick Catania, and came away from a meeting last week with state Treasurer Troy Buswell convinced the Government took seriously the club's plea to pour $75m into Members Equity Stadium.
"He was very receptive and acknowledged there was a definite need for a rectangular stadium in Perth that would not only benefit rugby but also rugby league and soccer," Harris said.
"But he also cautioned that, in these hard economic times, the Government needed to be mindful of spending taxpayers' money wisely."
Force fans, it need hardly be said, are taxpayers, too. And lately they have been voting with their feet and staying away.
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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...1-2722,00.html
Good article...but if MES only currently has seating for 7,000 where were the other 11,000 for the pre-season run-out v Crusaders? The Shed isn't that big, is it?!
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does it have grass hills etc?
maybe they are referring to only 7'000 bucket seats as opposed to bench seats?
TOCC, it's all seated except for the shed JK mentioned- 17,000 seats + the shed would be closer to the mark. I thought it was a typo until I read the comment about 'not even half the Force's requirement' betrayed it. I mean, they managed to fit 9000-odd in there for the Mungos last week. Possibly that number doens't include all the temporary seating in the family stand and scoreboard side of the ground.
OK, I know we're not the best group to survey on this, but does anyone know of ANYONE who has said- 'We're not going to the rugby this year because of JM????" REHASH!While a turbulent off-season certainly would not have helped, the problem of declining support essentially has nothing to do with coach John Mitchell's player-management practices.
RWA must be thanking their lucky stars they sold out the pre-season game- relying on this year crowds to justify spending money on MES would have been a fools errand. At least they've got something to go on..
winning at home will go a long way in bringing the crowds back
I agree with brokendown gunfighter, if they start winning at home and show some commitment to the team and WA they might start winning people back. I don't mind them losing (although it's not good) but if they showed some backbone it might actually help in getting people through the gates and help with getting the improvements needed at ME. The fans have supported the club from the start and it goes to show what could be achieved from the trial game at ME with crowd numbers. I feel it's now down to the players to show that there committed to the Force and WA, stand up be counted and show they actually can play for 80+ minutes to win and run games out. Don't blame the fans when the players appear to be showing a lack of commitment the fans need to see results, only the players can produce that. Forget the internal fighting, just start to stand up and start winning, we all know they are good enough, but now's the time to start showing it. Even the players have said no more excuses, well pleayers, coaches and management need to stand up and show the WA public they want people to come and watch the game by being commitment to 80+ mins of rugby week in and week out regardless of whats going on behind the scenes. I hope they show more this week.
Thanks guys.....funny I saw the adverts about
"commitment" from the fans last night and I had to laugh
Last night's reported crowd of 16,500 (from the west, don't know if its official)would have fitted into MES nicely