Sell-out Crowd Back Rugby at a Dedicated Rectangular Stadium

[force addict]

Hehe. What about those photographs you took when you came down the bottom and sat with me? Josh Valentine? (Am I a... bad influence?!)

those were for TWF purposes, jehna... help me out here haha

[robyn <3]

those were for TWF purposes, jehna... help me out here haha

Hehe. Sure, sure.

(I have more pictures like FA, if the TWF purpose needs some)

[mudskipper]

Thats a great crowd for a preseason match...

[AndyS]

Amazing what a bit of promotion can do...hopefully that is a lesson learnt.

[mudskipper]

Amazing what a bit of promotion can do...hopefully that is a lesson learnt.

yep always got to be positive, to get positive results... the MES a looks like a nice space. with a little work done without turning it into a mega stadium and the Force could have an excellent home... If they renovate it the character needs to stay...

[GIGS20]

yep always got to be positive, to get positive results... the MES a looks like a nice space. with a little work done without turning it into a mega stadium and the Force could have an excellent home... If they renovate it the character needs to stay...

Anything that actually has charater is locked up by Heritage listing Muddy, so there's no doubt that the character will stay. The only issues are...not enough seats, and the ground is made for A League Football, not Rugby, so some changes to the playing field are required.....Everything on the east (left) side and South (far) side is temporary and quite easy to remove, in order to replace it with bricks and mortar!

[mudskipper]

GIGS if they get it right it will be a good home for the Force and Glory...

[unipirate]

So what is wrong with the size of the MES field exactly for rugby??

It really isn't that much smaller than anything I have seen before being played on for Super 14!

I was lucky enough to catch a game at Newlands in Cape Town 2 years ago now and that field (just the field) has about the same size sideline and in goal, and it gets used every other day for rugby.

I know that MES doesn't have the right seating, but that isn't so difficult to fix especially on the eastern and southern stands.

They need to make permanent seating for sure, and they need to make it steep as well. I like watching rugby when you feel part of it, even if you are near the back of the stand. The seating at Newlands is a good example, actually every good stadium in SA is a good example. The Suncorp stadium in Brisbane actually does a damn fine job when it comes to the steepness of the seating!!

Who know what is going to happen, it is all wait and see I guess! We can just cross our fingers and hope for the best! The first step was to move away from Subiaco!!!! DONE!

[Darren]

A couple shots of the sellout crowd from http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/jJYbT...rs/-TuvzHmNlyO

[unipirate]

oh that just looks the stuff doesn't it!!!!!!!!!!!

[Swee_82]

Man that looks fantastic... full marks to the folks in the marketing department to sell the ground out for a trial.

Would like the believe that it's given a few people a good kick in the pants to see what rugby could be in WA if it were given half a chance. Maybe Channel 7's "rugby as it's meant to be" comment is the first baby step there.

[Darren]

My one complaint is that the stands are too shallow - a lot of the 'roar' of the crowd went straight over the stands. Although Robyn had her RAWR on ....

[jargan83]

Everything on the east (left) side and South (far) side is temporary and quite easy to remove, in order to replace it with bricks and mortar!

Actually when MES was redeveloped a few years ago (Stage 1 Redevelopment) they replaced the Scaffold stands with actual steel girders. So it's less temporary then you think.

I'm not sure about the Family Stand (the one at the end of ground opposite The Shed) though

My one complaint is that the stands are too shallow - a lot of the 'roar' of the crowd went straight over the stands

Always going to happen in a ground with no roof. Solution: Make even more noise

[AndyS]

Anything that actually has charater is locked up by Heritage listing

Not quite - the stadium review identified only the NW gates and the tennis clubhouse as heritage, while the TOV also lists the stand. I don't know whether this is some council v state listing thing, but it perhaps gives hope regarding a future redevelopment of the existing stand.

I think the character that Mudskipper was talking about was the standing area, shed and grassed area in the photos. I would love to see those retained, and it would certainly seem to be the intent in the proposed redevelopment. The question would be how further expansion would be achieved. I would hope that it would be by replacement and/or additional stands on the West side. If they were thinking about the North end though, I wonder whether they could do a stand over the shed and retaining the space? It would probably be unique, and I think would be the best of both worlds...

So what is wrong with the size of the MES field exactly for rugby??

I believe it is technically true - the ARU requires 136m x 82m to provide adequate safety zones, MES is 132m x 88m. Looking at it on Friday, even the 88m doesn't provide a lot of spare space for cameramen and the like. I suspect they would need to cannibalise some space out of the west block for the player benches, and (hopefully) get rid of those bloody speakers on both sides.

Interesting that others noticed the drop in noise. It might get better if there was a new stand to bounce off, but I thought there was a definite lack of intensity. Less a cauldron and more a saute pan...