Perth stadium not good enough for TV, says former Western Force player

[blueandblack]

* Dale Granger The Sunday Times May 01, 2010 7:00PM

MILLIONS of international TV viewers are watching broadcasts of Emirates Western Force Super 14 matches in a rectangular stadium that is the worst in the competition and does no justice to Perth's status as a top-class international city.

That is the view of former Wallaby and Force lock John Welborn, who sits on the WA Tourism Board, has played rugby all over the world and now does TV commentary for the sport.

His view is echoed by Paul Kelly, chief executive of the Perth Glory soccer team, ME Bank Stadium's other tenant, who says the stadium does not even meet FIFA World Cup training ground criteria.

After a capacity 23,000 crowd watched the Force beat the Crusaders in their last home Super 14 game last Friday, Welborn was pushing the case for a new stadium to be built.

He said the victory over the Crusaders was broadcast live or delayed live to every rugby playing country and was disappointed by the venue.

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"Super rugby is popular in France and the UK and all the rugby playing countries of the world," Welborn said.

"There are people in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan watching games that are a great showcase for Perth.

"What we had was world-class game, a very exciting fixture, that deserved to be showcased in a world-class stadium. While a lot of work has been done to upgrade the stadium, it's certainly not anywhere near the quality of stadiums in all the other Super rugby towns.

"The Force are delighted to be playing at ME Bank in a rectangular stadium. But we also play in a competition where we get to play at Suncorp Stadium (Brisbane) and Ellis Park (Johannesburg) and Newlands (Cape Town) and Loftus (Pretoria) and even the great stadiums that are being developed in New Zealand.

"Certainly there is a huge business case and a demand for Perth to have a purpose-built 35,000 seat state-of-the-art rectangular stadium.

"With the Glory here, as well as the potential for rugby league to expand into this zone, it would be wonderful to have a multi-purpose stadium."

Kelly said ME Bank Stadium did not even meet the guidelines for a FIFA World Cup training venue.

"It's a shame that we may not play a part in international events down the track. We cannot attract top English Premier League teams to a stadium that would be embarrassing for top flight soccer purposes," Kelly said.

"We've signed Robbie Fowler and we want to showcase him at a venue that does justice to a star of his quality."

[shasta]

Nice work Wobber. Keep at it.

[jono]

weneed(decent)corners

[Thequeerone]

Clever move getting Wobbler on the Tourism Board - having been lucky enough to go on an Innforcer's Tour I can see that Perth is really missing out on some tourism dollars - especially next year when the team gets it together and starts winning games from get go of the season - think how many fans would love to come to Perth to see Their team knock us off (not wanting that to happen of course but it's dollars to our economy)

[AndyS]

It is hard to disagree. We are the capital city of a very wealthy state (or should be), with strong international links by way of a number of major export industries. Yet we have so little to show for several decades of economic boom and so little to offer overseas visitors that they couldn't get from most regional towns over East. As a proud Western Australian, it is just embarrassing.

What the WA government needs to realise is that international sport is free advertising and there are only two football codes that are really watched internationally. But the clear messages they are sending right now to international viewers is that WA doesn't really support their interests and just limps along with a "ehh, good enough" attitude. Read or watch any of the media and it certainly doesn't come across as a state with goals, aspirations with a clear vision for the future and the stadium issue is a clear example of that. And for anyone actually making the trek over here for any sport, they also are pretty clear that all WA residents have a drinking problem, can't be trusted with alcohol and get violent with it. So now then, where do all those studies say all our growth will come from over the next couple of decades?

[TommyM]

Don't you guys reckon that a lot of the atmosphere will be lost in a 35,000 seat stadium? I was all for the new stadium, but having been to ME this year a couple of times this year while visiting (for the Stormers and Bulls games :-), I thought the atmosphere was electric- best by far of any rectangtular stadium I've been to in Oz. Even the Fox commentary team commented on how it was the best OZ ground for the crowd. Hopefully we'll need more seats as the fan base expands, but I really think ME has some great amos in the meantime...

[Thequeerone]

Don't disagree Tommy however it is substandard from an international point of view, believe they had a major upgrade this year and actually added showers to the away teams changing rooms and some hot water as well...

Think some of the issues are to do with lack of corporate facilities ( and this is how rugbywa makes REAL money- and more importantly the Sponsers get maximum bang for their buck by entertaining whoever they need to impress) and the lighting - personally I would like a clock.

Am guessing that the all that temporary seating is one of the main issues which would make it substandard from an international point of view.

[beige]

I'd agree that I don't want to see it too much bigger but they need to make some of those promised upgrades soon. I think I read that if it's not done by the beginning of the 2013 season it would have been cheaper just to buy that temporary seating instead of renting it.

[tragic]

We need a bigger and better stadium for the players, for the spectators, for the international games and for the business of the game itself. You can still maintain the cauldron effect when the crowd sticks to the sidelines, and steep terracing allows a good view from every seat and an imposing atmosphere for visiting teams. Besides, 20k of us are loud enough for a 40k stadium

How long do we want to keep (trying to) watching rugby at that oval tip at Subi? I actually had to think a couple of times before buying tickets to the Wallabies v England, precisely because I know Subi won't be up to it.

I love MES, but we're just delaying the inevitable. The longer we leave it, the more it will cost.

[shasta]

I actually had to think a couple of times before buying tickets to the Wallabies v England, precisely because I know Subi won't be up to it.

Hmmmmmm. That could become a problem WHEN we do get a stadium. If we don't still manage to fill Subi for the Tests.

[Burgs]

Build it and they will come.
There are at least 28k ('06 average) to 37k ('06 biggest crowd) potential members out there without allowing for any growth of population.
If the Force were to debut at the start of this season instead of '06 there would have been easily 40k there on population growth alone, with a growth in Perth alone of 300,000 since 2006 to 2010.
You don't build stadia for the next decade, you build them for forty plus years.
Any loss of atmosphere due to initial lower bums to seats would be made up for with the retention of crowd noise that currently sucks out the open MES corners and strategic seating placements with more original members in better sideline seats concentrating the crowd and even potentially closing certain bays off (until bigger crowds require them), which they should have done at Subiaco.
Then factor in the tourism potential as others have mentioned due to a more attractive selling point...again, build it and they will come.

[Thequeerone]

One of the most interesting aspects of the entire stadium debate is how WAFL have managed not only alienate the Rugby faithful or capitalise on the additional rental income from the Rugby Fans but have also not managed to attract a Soccer Game ever to the best of my knowledge -

Perth really needs a better 2nd stadium to retain these INTERNATIONAL codes

[Sheikh]

At Suncorp, for our game, the upper tiers were closed off (except for the blocks at half-way). That kept the crowd from being too sparse.

BTW, Subi has staged some soccer games - back when the Glory used to get to finals of the NSL. They'd get 40,000 people, too!

[James]

Big stadium required. It's taken this bloody long to get the damn thing I don't want to see it built and then 5 years later a bigger one needed.

Do they play international rules (gaelic football) on a square field?

[jono]

they do