End nears for suburban NRL grounds

[Flapper]

No. Penrith is Sydney. Campbelltown is Sydney. It's all f**ken Sydney. The state government is cutting services like hospitals and police and other things. Do you really think they'll spend money on overlapping services in multiple stadiums that are just suburbs from each other?

Every game will be played from 3 Sydney stadiums 10 years from now. People will get used to it and we'll all move on.

Sydney is in NSW. Coffs Harbour is in NSW. It's all f**ken NSW.

Buying a season ticket you geographically dense merkinface?

 

[Fire]

souffs should just f**k off

 

[newman]

What could possibly make me want to drive further in more traffic and pay more in a place I don't want be?

Foxtel would be the big winner.


If the sharks moved to a big stadium I would never go.
Watching from a home ground is a large part of the reason I follow them.
It is all part of the experience.
I have grown up watching them play there.
They move they may as well change their name.
Shithouse idea.
I would expect most fans would be dead against losing the home ground.

This sums it up perfectly for me.

 

[Pogga]

Do they really think people from the Illawarra are going to make a 3 hour round trip to the SFS?

The only thing the Illawarra got out of the merger was six home games. Doust has already said that if any blockbusters are moved to the larger grounds then the remaining games will be split between WIN and Kogarah.

 

[newman]

What could possibly make me want to drive further in more traffic and pay more in a place I don't want be?

Foxtel would be the big winner.


If the sharks moved to a big stadium I would never go.
Watching from a home ground is a large part of the reason I follow them.
It is all part of the experience.
I have grown up watching them play there.
They move they may as well change their name.
Shithouse idea.
I would expect most fans would be dead against losing the home ground.

Dub

 

[Misanthrope]

I'd be all for it if these stadiums were actually anywhere near the traditional heartlands that these clubs claim to represent. At the current rate, the league will just have a bunch of Sydney teams playing out of Aussie Stadium and Telstra/Stadium Australia.

If that's going to be the case, why waste player talent on such a small footprint. Have 2-4 Sydney teams and let places with the apparently much needed bigger grounds use them.

 

[Dogs Of War]

Before the Govt would agree to rebuilding Parra Stadium into the ground we'd all like to have out in the west, they'd probably want some sort of concrete agreement in place from the Sydney clubs/NRL which would force them to play the majority of their games in the three major stadiums (ANZ/SFS/Parra). You've get agreement from Parra, maybe Penrith and West Tigers, but there's nothing in it for any of the other Sydney clubs that would be relocated so I can't see it happening. When we already have two big stadiums, a third won't be built unless its guaranteed to be used regulalry by more than one team.

Thing is, clubs won't have a choice but to fund upgrades themselves. So you may see clubs like st George and cronulla band together to make one Sydney stadium down south, and with this on the agenda now, I'm sure the sharks could probably work something out in regards to the development of there stadium being redirected to kogarah or turning shark park into a training ground rather than a major stadium. Enough to play 4-6 games a year there, similar to the capacity now, just more hills etc to reduce the maintence involved in the ground and allow for more types of events like concerts to be held there.

 

[Canard]

Governments change, priorities change and economies change the "absolute" nature that tabloid's write things in is meaningless.

That said rationalisation makes sense in some capacity.

 

[Kirky]

Sydney isn't Melbourne. 2 stadiums works for them because their PT system is great, and funnels people into the MCG and Docklands. Sydney's too damn big and congested for a centralised stadium strategy to work.

 

[Tone83]

Good. Suburban grounds are a blight on the game and make us look amateur on the world stage. A professional sport should use state of the art stadiums, not run down ugly pieces of dog turd.

What makes us look bad are the empty seats. Every single team should have a little suburban ground with a hill and some grandstands and these should be where most normal season games are played, saving the big stadiums for the blockbuster games that will have big crowds. Pretty obvious, which is why ots not like this because we're talking about the nrl and they'd only do anything if it was completely wrong and stupid.

 

[Loudstrat]

Meh, if Manly don't want to travel then fold. Simple. The NRL does not need the club with the least amount of fans anyway. Survival of the fittest.

Stupid argument of the year award. Is that why we dont have the Western Reds anymore, because the lasy f*ck supporters wouldnt travel to ANZ?

There is absolutely a need for suburban grounds. RL is the only major sport that covers regional Australia (discounting A league as a major sport - another argument, but I'' argue that the CC Mariners exist because of Bluetongue, which was built for a regional NRL club anyway). We cover NQ, Gold Coast, Central Coast, Wollongong, Newcastle and Canberra. In the same way, RL is also the only major sport that covers suburban Australia - and it only does so in Sydney. Im sure if a Brookie/Kogarah/Leichhardt/Penrith type ground existed in Ipswich during our expansion phase we would have our second Brisbane team based there. This is why the Tigers play out of three grounds, not just SFS - it services their market.

The only reason Canterbury and Souths play at ANZ is because they get paid to do so - not because it's "a big world class stadium". Would anyone call Mt Smart or Dairy Farmers world class stadiums? Of course not - yet they serve their purpose well.

O'Farrell is tighter than a virgin pygmy tweenie. The could do the 50/50 thing with the feds and have a dual Pacific Highway from Hornsby to the Gabba, but despite finding an extra billion the other day, they cant even foot the bill for the f*cking paint! Yet, they are right to concentrate their $ on the main stadia because they have responsibility for them. Sad for Brookie I know, but in reality it still packs them in for big games - and it isnt f*cking Anfield-in-waiting. Suburban grounds - like regional grounds - are integral for those districts sports. The major difference between say Penrith Stadium and Canberra Stadium is that major sports - and half the knobs here - only look at cities as dots on the map, and ignore demographics. That's why Union put the ACT Brumbies in and there is no thought of another SANZAR team in Western Sydney. Nothing against Canberra here - they have a great ground servicing a population of 300k or so. As does Brookie.

Another argument is this "world class" drivel. What is world class? Anyone ever seen River Plate?

The game has to go to the people. Shiny stadiums do not buy tickets, people do. Clubs need to be near people, not just shiny stadiums. People go to see their team, not shiny stadiums. And those that DO put comfort before seeing their team at their local ground get Pay TV and sit in a leather recliner!

Finally, State governments can pay millions to keep Origins and Grand Finals in Sydney when they probably would have been there anyway - but cant finance improvements to local grounds?

We need to stop being apologists about our suburban and regional grounds. We should celebrate what they do for the game - take it to the people. Only Lang park, SFS, ANZ, Hunter, Parra, Canberra and the MEC are the only NRL grounds with the chance of hosting another major sport in any given year. The existence of DFS, Robina, Mt Smart, Brookie, Leichhardt, Kogarah, Penrith, WIN and Campbelltown make us the people's sport. End of story.

 

[2012....Sharks Year]

Souths and Dogs had the 2 highest Sydney crowds this year.

Proof the central stadium model works. It should lay the groundwork for more clubs to make the move.

Actually think it had more to do with them being the two of the best performing Sydney sides this year. Will be interesting to see if they both maintain their attendances once they lose a few more games. For me.....nothing better than watching the footy at a packed suburban ground. I have no interest in sitting as one of 15,000 in a stadium that holds 80,000.

 

[Misanthrope]

Are they actually suggesting that the likes of Penrith, Parramatta, Saints, and Manly all play out of the same two grounds that the Bulldogs, Rabbits, Tigers, and Roosters already play out of?

 

[Loudstrat]

There has been plenty of seasons with over 70 000 empty seats at Souths home games.

And if that was an argument, every year the all seaters would all get better crowds than the grounds with a hill. How come Manly got better crowds in 2011 that Easts, Souths, Canberra, Parra and Melbourne?

 

[BunniesMan]

People arguing for suburban grounds and standing in the way of central world class stadiums are the descendants of the people who argued against the car because they liked the train better a century ago.

Dinosaurs standing in the way of logic.

 

[carcharias]

Nobody would show up you stupid merkin.

 

[eozsmiles]

I'm no Manly fan, but how the hell would Manly survive, playing all of their games at Allianz or ANZ. In a perfect world it would be great to have a large purpose built stadium north of the harbour. Bring back the bears and let both teams play out of it.

How much of a team's survival is based on crowd figures? Manly are private, like the Knights. So in theory if someone pays the bills then it doesn't mater if they sell a ticket does it? Looks crap and everything but Clive Palmer locked fans out of his clubs games.

I think they could build a 25k or 30k seat stadium in the north and use it for footy, union, and soccer. You'd think with all the rich liberal voters over there that they'd get somewhere to watch a game of something. Manly could have a few games there, the Waratahs could have a game there, and surely Sydney FC could have a game or two over there too.

 

[CrazyTiger]

People arguing for suburban grounds and standing in the way of central world class stadiums are the descendants of the people who argued against the car because they liked the train better a century ago.

Dinosaurs standing in the way of logic.

Being a game that is perfect for television, these central world class stadiums that you
fantasise about are in direct competition with the reclining lounge chairs and big
screen TV, not to mention cheap beer from your own fridge and so on.

Suburban grounds offer atmosphere. Empty grounds are just a reason to stay at
home. There are no dinosaurs involved.

 

[Silent Knight]

There's nothing logical about forcing Penrith fans to travel 2 hours to watch their team play. They won't attend and it may even drive fans out of our game completely. You can't just say "what works for my club should work for others". Souths are not Penrith. Manly are not the Bulldogs.

Sydney is vast and while some consolidation would be ideal it's not going to work for every club. There is no "one-fix solution". Personally I think this is all a big storm in a tea cup driven by the media. Didn't the ARLC already say they weren't going to abandon traditional suburban grounds some time ago?

 

[Pete Cash]

People arguing for suburban grounds and standing in the way of central world class stadiums are the descendants of the people who argued against the car because they liked the train better a century ago.

Dinosaurs standing in the way of logic.

You have ignored every argument put towards you. You don't have a f**king clue about Sydney. Stick to discussions about stadia in coffs harbour you silly clown.

As an aside people still use trains. Cool argument bra.