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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