Rugby needs to work together with football

[The EnForcer]

Indeed, I would much rather they save the money and not buy the moving stands and put in in Members equity, that and the 25 mill they promised us would definetely be a good start...

I made this point in a letter to our Premier, Allan Carpenter, along with a few other questions about the decision making process based around the new stadium. I received a response from his secretary saying that my questions had been sent to John Kobelke, The Minister for Sport and various other things, for his action. This was well over a month ago. I recently sent a reminder saying that I was still awaiting a response and got a terse reply saying that these things take time. I asked how long, but I'm still waiting for a response to that.

Will keep you posted.

[travelling_gerry]

Bit of a bulldog there arent you TEF?

[AndyS]

Seriously, we want to be real careful what we wish for and even more clear about what we might be offered. I could absolutely see an outcome where:

• Moveable seating proves too hard - that has to go
• Rugby makes a fuss so the Gov't magnanimously agrees to cough up the money they promised to upgrade MES, maybe plus a bit
• That'll get us a minimum spec upgrade to 25,000 seats and some corporate facilities
• But they will not be a patch on the new stadium and, let's face it, the locale of MES is not as entertainment friendly as Subiaco. If our corporate support starts to dwindle though, the Government will be saying "Hey, we did our part"
• So there we'll be, ten years away from the next upgrade (if it ever comes). Any bigger crowds and the Government will say "Hey, if you need more seats, ask the WAFC if you can use Kitchener"
• As we'll have to do for any major rugby event in any case, which we'll get to watch in a stadium that is even bigger than Subi with fixed seating set up for AFL/Cricket.

[GIGS20]

Oh I'm not against the multi-purpose stadium Andy, I'm only against the Week in Week out siting of Home Games at Subi!

I believe we'll pay for the redevelopment of MES using the funds recouped from reducing the number of 8 hour reconfigurations from 15 to two or three.

As for the useful life of MES being less than 10 years I submit two examples
Michigan Stadium (College Football USA) with a capacity of 107,501 was built in 1927 and gradually upgraded throughout it's life has not had a crowd below 100,000 since 1975!
Beaver Stadium (Yes you did read that right) Penn State (College Football again) was built in 1960 with a capacity of a squeak over 46,000 and last upgraded in 2001 to a capacity of 107,282

I fail to see how a stadium has a lifespan when you look at this....want an extreme example, the original olympic stadium in athens is still in the same configuration and form as it was used originally and would still be able to host events (if pilum were still a sport)

[AndyS]

Didn't say it couldn't be, I said it won't be - the response we will get any request for further upgrades will be "use the bigger stadium".

[GIGS20]

Sorry mate, I'm not really arguing with you, I'm arguing with the Langoulant report! It makes mention of the lifespan of the stadiums and stuff like that, It talks about upgrade costs and such like, but really if these were real issues, the majority of construction of stadiums around the world would be brand new facilities, rather than refits.....How many stadiums have been built new where a refit option was available in the last ten year....I don't know the actual figures, but I'd damn well bet it wasn't many!

Plus we can perform an upgrade to Mes, retain the Elephant for Internationals and probably retail capacity for 5 or ten years while rugby league and football build a business case to push for a dedicate 40K facility (we'll never need more than 40K for a rectangle, the SFS is only about that!)

[jono]

i wonder how much it would cost to turn subi oval around and build stands on either side, like you drew up gigs.
because the space 'cut off' on either end could still go to houses and such.
but seeing as the town of vincent is comitting money to MES i think the govt will be in a more accomodating mood to look at that site before anything else.

[AndyS]

I reckon you'd be right, but probably because the space required for a stadium takes some finding.

What we need is someone to take the international view...which stadium would best host sports that are played internationally, impress travelling supporters from overseas and international television audiences, gather an international profile and sell Perth as a destination? That is the stadium that needs to shine.

[jono]

and which stadium would be more accomodating to a WIDER RANGE OF SPORTS!
its all about equality. we gotta remember that union is nowhere near the only sport that is going to benefit from a rectangular stadium here.
although we might even get a bledisloe out of it!

[jargan83]

All the secret stuff to get the white elephant off the ground between the government, afl and wafc just shows you how desperate the afl is to defend their "patch". A mate and I looked up paticipation rates for sport up (to win an arguement) and the afl participation rates have been falling nationwide.

Between the dockers and the eagles there is 22 weeks of afl at subi, plus a final or 2.

Cricket and the WACA maintain that they will be staying where they are are (hoorah )

Case for Rectangular stadium:

Super 14/Western Force, up to 8/9 games (regular season plus semi and the final)

A-League/Perth Glory, up to 12/13 games (regular season plus finals), and thats with the league as it is, expansion of the A-League is inevitable.

Rugby League/WA Reds, although only playing in the NSWRL or something this year, the NRL has stated on numerous occasions that it is wants to expand with a Perth based NRL side by 2012. I think that the Reds are playing 9 or 10 home games this year. South Sydney i think are bringing a pre-season game and 2 regular season games from 2009 onwards.

The Langoulaut report seems to be lacking on several fronts and at the end of the day i think told the government what it wanted to hear

[shasta]

expansion of the A-League is inevitable.

Rugby League/WA Reds, although only playing in the NSWRL. South Sydney i think are bringing a pre-season game and 2 regular season games from 2009 onwards.

The Langoulaut report seems to be lacking on several fronts and at the end of the day i think told the government what it wanted to hear

It's doubtful Langoulant would have factored these in. They weren't firm at that time & in any case the Government would probably have given them terms of reference that led straight to the recommendations they wanted (and got).

Good enough reasons to reconsider. I hear there's a petition going around somewhere asking the pollies to do just that.

[jargan83]

Yeah i heard that as well

[MI5_Dog]

The Langoulaut report seems to be lacking on several fronts and at the end of the day i think told the government what it wanted to hear

Never commission a report until you have written it's conclusion
or so Sir Humphrey Appleby would have us believe.

[Egan]

I really think the WARU, and Football West along with the Western Force management and Perth Glory FC management and even a lesser extent the FFA and ARU need to put a consortium together to get this stadium underway.

I personally think an upgrade of MES to around 35,000 would do the trick and in turn, piss off Mr "wrong" Fong and his corrupt WAFC

Cheers

Was done in the bid to the Major Stadia Taskforce, including the WARL.