What are your thoughts on the new stadium?

[.X.]

To say I am disappointed in this announcement is an understatement.

The convertible stadium in not a satisfactory option for RugbyWA, Emirates Western Force or their fans, there is no way that WAFC will allow the stadium to be converted to a rectangular configuration for "just" a Super14 fixture. So we will have a white elephant of an edifice that pays tribute to all things Australian Rules football.

Convertible stadiums do not work - Stadium Australia aka the Olympic Stadium formerly known as Telstra Stadium now known as ANZ Stadium has continuing problems when they convert from rectangular to oval for Sydney Swans matches. The turf that is required to be laid for the additional playing surface is badly dug up by players and they are all at risk of serious leg injuries because of this unstable surface.

If RugbyWA is lucky and asks really really nicely, they will allow the configuration change for a Test Match. But that will be it.

And If anyone thinks that the Perth Glory will play their A-League matches their, tell them they are dreaming. Glory are lucky if they get 3 guys and a dog to their matches. Why would they want their attendances to appear worse than what they already are?

So we will be a mile away from the action still - basking in thousands upon thousands of empty seats and our sea of blue will be a drop in the desert. The atmosphere that we have at Subiaco is good, that will evaporate in the concrete stadium. I would even go as far as saying that we would be better off staying at Subiaco Oval than moving to Kitchener Park.

[The EnForcer]

Pretty much summed it up there Exile.

My only addition to what you said would be that the first thing that will get dropped from the design as costs blow out will be the retractable seating. Their blowing smoke up everyones arses by talkng about retractable seating... has anybody actually seen any plan showing how retractable seating is going to be operated. No because...IT WON'T F'KING WORK!

[slomo]

It's too long. If the WF keep losing 2000 members each year, seriously upgrading MES will have to reconsidered, surely?
Yesterday's view of the rugby shat on Subi from a Great Height. I just wish the beer queue was shorter :-(

totally agree tragic. i raised this point ages ago..... when it showed the pitch configuration on the news last night it was set up in an oval not rectangular.....we got screwed.

[Thequeerone]

Can see major issues with the retractable seating - especially the way it will sit on the AFL pitch - can't be good for the grass

[shasta]

I'm not surprised or disappointed by the decision. It's exactly what I feared from the start.

Just VERY when I compare this farce to the treatment the Gold Coast Titans received - a brand new stadium finished within 2 years of the franchise being announced and 1 season in the NRL.

This is the exact outcome the WAFC and their cronies on both sides of WA politics were angling for from the off. The Force, Glory and WA Reds are competing for a share of their market and their juniors. Make no mistake the AFL/Govt are playing hard-ball & they are playing for keeps.

It wont stop me from going to the home games and I'll go watch the mungos a bit too. But not everyone is a tragic so The Force/Reds/Glory will lose out in the end.

[GIGS20]

Shasta...the major reason I'm maintaining my membership, in a stadium which is rubbish is to support the team....sure it'd be easy to save 450 bucks a year....spend that on foxtel...get a good view of the rugby and cheaper beer.

anybody think the atmosphere at subi rocks? 4000 bodies beat that at MES! nope I'm keeping the membership so that they have an extra 450 bucks every year towards the cause.......the only thing that's likely to cause me to drop my membership is if they give up the fight and start saying that this is the best solution!

[NeoGirl]

Once again rugby gets treated second class to AFL and gets screwed. What a surprise. I'd rather spend the money on hospitals/schools than spend money on something like that.

[jazza93]

its dissapointing to not get a stadium but AFL need it more then the force do.

stadiums cost alot and they had lots of money for a new stadium. they could not ignore the WAFC, they get 35 to 43000 people every week and the stadium is crowded. if they chose to build a rectangle stadium the AFL fans would all be just as angry as us.

the best option they could come up with is a multi purpose stadium which keeps all sports kind of happy and they havent left any sport out like they have done in the past.

it is going to take way to long though, super 14 might be gone by the time this is built!

[jargan83]

its dissapointing to not get a stadium but AFL need it more then the force do.

stadiums cost alot and they had lots of money for a new stadium. they could not ignore the WAFC, they get 35 to 43000 people every week and the stadium is crowded. if they chose to build a rectangle stadium the AFL fans would all be just as angry as us.

the best option they could come up with is a multi purpose stadium which keeps all sports kind of happy and they havent left any sport out like they have done in the past.

it is going to take way to long though, super 14 might be gone by the time this is built!

Sorry but i can't support that position, the only reason that the capacity ay Subi is so small (when it comes to AFL games) is because of the SHORTSIGHTEDNESS of the WAFC when they upgraded the ground in 1999/2000 (i think). They built it for what they needed at the time, not for the future. The government said to the WAFC that it wasnt worth upgrading the ground anyway but the WAFC went it alone and funded the upgrade itself, almost went broke doing it and the government eventually ended up footing most of the bill. It doesnt matter that they sell out the ground almost every week etc, they built designed the ground themselves, they made their bed, they can sleep in it.

On the other hand, the WA State government promised $25 million to upgrade MES to 25,000 seats when Rugby WA was initially bidding for the 4th Franchise (our beloved )

Obviously the public support helped a great deal to get the bid over the line, buit surely the dollars pledged to get infrastructur in place for some sort of rectangular stadium had to have been a factor as well??

Melbourne a city dominated by AFL and has no major Rugby team (ok it has the Storm in the league and thge Melbourne Victory in the Football) is getting a state of the art rectangular stadium to hold 30,000 seats and the city with the established Super 14 franchise gets left behind?? I know the Glory are struggling at the moment and the NRL is keen to have a NRL side based out of Perth by 2011 or 2012. 3 major Sports withworld wide exposure as to a sport with shortsighted admininstrators and no real international exposure due to a lack of international competition. AFL had its shot and buggered up and once again go running to state government to help it out while the other sports will be left in the cold. Unfortunately the State Government is made up of Muppets and helps Cross Country Netball again

[Darren]

the $25,000,000 was promised when there was a membership was predicted to be 4000. Surely given they got 5 times as many members, they should get 5 times as many dollars? $125,000,000 could do a bit to MES....

[jono]

i like that thinking!

[Swee_82]

According to the Times today, the upgrade to MES is back on the cards, at least as a 'temporary' measure while waiting for the completion of the new multi-purpose stadium to improve corporate facilities, lighting and expand capacity- ideally to be up and running in 2 years. While I'm still not convinced that upgrading to ~25000 seat capacity is sufficient to service, let alone grow rugby's crowds in WA (since it wouldn't even cover the crowds coming to a sub-par subi at the moment) I think there is a decent case for having Super 14 games at a smaller stadium (as someone else has noted, 25000 people in a 60000 seat stadium leaves alot of empty seats to totally kill the atmosphere) but having the multi-purpose facility available for large matches (hopefully with better facilities, we can attract higher profile test matches more often)- a similar situation to Sydney, where the Waratahs play in the 40000 seat SFS, but the test matches out at 80000 seat ANZ Stadium (is that what it's called this week, I lost track ages ago...). At least in this case we'd only then need to use the retractable seating option once/twice a year, which might keep the WAFC at bay vis-a-vie the damage to the grass.
(Note: I haven't been to the Olymic stadium for a rugby game since 2001, and I think I was still in 110,000 seat configuration at the time, and despite having cheap seats the winning try was scored just under my nose, so my memory of how good/bad the seats were may have dimmed somewhat )

[jazza93]

upgrading ME stadium is the best idea now but if they are going to do it can they hurry up and start building it. ME never sells out so they can do stages of it over a few years.

[shasta]

ME never sells out so they can do stages of it over a few years.

Sorry Jazza, but that doesn't make sense. The only reason ME never sells out is because so far no S14 matches have been played there. It would be sold out with about 5-10,000 turned away every week even if was altered to 25,000 capacity.

If it's a goer at all, it needs to be 30,000 minimum with room to expand. I'd lay money that the membership would grow rapidly to 30,000 just so supporters could to be sure of their seats for marquee matches.

I'm not holding my breath.

[GIGS20]

I'd take MES at 25000 as a start!

It'd show the government and the corporate world that the money was worth spending on a new stadium....we'd sell 25000 memberships in the first year we move, even if there weren't 25000 seats available at the time. Does anybody see an issue with a rotational continuing expansion policy? not me!