Rank the stadiums!

[Valheru]

Out of the stadiums I have been to

SFS
Parramatta
Hunter
Toyota
Wollongong
Kogarah
Leichardt
ANZ
SCG (is crap for rugby league)

 

[Timmah]

Bluetongue Stadium - 10/10. Local bias but it's just the best place to watch footy. Palm trees & water FTW.
Hunter Stadium - 9/10. Perfect mix of modern stadium & hill setup. Only problem is accessibility.
Suncorp Stadium - 9/10. Loses a point purely for being full of Queenslanders.
Allianz Stadium - 8/10. Accessibility a massive problem for anyone west of the city IMO.
Canberra Stadium - 8/10. Needed to be closer to the city IMO but still a wonderful all-seater ground. Needs seat warmers :sarcasm:
ANZ Stadium - 8/10. Team bias but just love going there. Home ground of my club, great facilities, easily accessible for most people west, south or north of the city. Loses points for hosting AFL as well, and distance from the play is an issue.
Etihad Stadium - 7/10. Good ground without being spectacular. Good facilities & accessibility. Loses marks for hosting AFL.
Adelaide Oval - 7/10. Similar to Etihad - great place to watch the game but loses points for cricket pitch in the middle.
WIN Jubilee Oval - 7/10. Modern upgrades in recent years put it marginally ahead of Brookvale and Leichhardt IMO. Still hard to access.
Campbelltown Stadium - 7/10. Access an issue, facilities and view otherwise good.
Centrebet Stadium - 7/10. Good ground, parking can be tricky at times.
WIN Stadium - 7/10. Love the fact it's by the beach, but again hard to access and without the new stand finished it's hard to rank it higher.
Leichhardt Oval - 6/10. Atmosphere and nostalgia get it above 5. Facilities and accessibility stop it getting any further.
SCG - 6/10. Not an NRL ground but still plenty of nostalgia there.
Brookvale Oval - 6/10. Like Leichhardt, atmosphere and nostalgia give it marks, but the facilities and accessibility are again an issue.
Parramatta Stadium - 6/10. Access is okay and it's great to watch footy at, but there are big issues IMO. Giant iron fences between each section are prison-like and restrict movement between stands (which few, if any other grounds do). The advertising hoardings at either end are moronic and prevent 1/4 of the crowd from viewing the big screen.
Skilled Park - 6/10. Great stadium, great seating, perfectly set up and easy to access. RIDICULOUSLY overpriced loses it shitloads of marks for me.
Toyota Stadium - 6/10. Accessibility is poor, family hill can become a quagmire in poor weather.
Belmore Sportsground - 5/10. Still needs plenty of work. Not enough adequate cover yet.
Skoda Stadium (Showground) - being rebuilt for AFL. Was 4/10 back when the Dogs used it as a home venue, terrible ground to watch NRL at.

AAMI Park - haven't been yet.
Hindmarsh Stadium - haven't been.
Metricon Stadium - haven't been.
Mt Smart Stadium - haven't been.
Westpac Stadium - haven't been.
NIB Stadium - haven't been.
Richardson Park - haven't been.
TIO Stadium - haven't been.
Eden Park - haven't been.
MCG - hasn't been used for RL in how long?
Dairy Farmers Stadium - haven't been.
North Sydney Oval - haven't been.
QEII Stadium - not relevant, haven't been. No longer suitable for our sport.
Olympic Park - been demolished for rebuilding
Bundaberg Rum Stadium, Cairns - haven't been. Hasn't hosted NRL since 2001.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

shark park is my favourite (but that is being bias).

away grounds that i like....

suncorp - the best ground bar none that i have watched a game at, no matter where you sit, you have a great view, facilities awesome.
sfs - great atmosphere when full, good facilities
townsville - enjoyed the ground and people there
penrith - good viewing where we sit, usually quick to get a drink, but last game it was abit slower than usual, but still acceptable

worst....

brookvale - people just suck there, and facilties are crap.
kogarah - while a nice ground, dont bother trying to get food or drink if your on the hill unless your prepared to wait most of a half of footy sometimes.
anz. - lifeless and crap.

thats just my personal opinion from experiences. i have been to most grounds in the nrl as well. havnt been to the new melbourne stadiium yet.

That's the opposite of Hunter stadium. It can take 20 minutes to get a beer there as the people serving the drinks appear to have just gotten out of bed. Soooo sloooow.

 

[Loudstrat]

Moffo - again rivalling Bunniesman as the forums most defective brain.

Firstly, where is Pioneer Oval in your list you dumb f*ck?

To put Parra Stadium below Brookvale is enough to get your certified insane.

Parramatta is a great ground, with its biggest issue is accessibility. You have to be in the know to jag a car parking spot. I also miss the hill. Great place to take young kids for a cheap night out - for this reason Penrith is a winner too. Hunter is great - bloody expensive though. Bluetongue is just crying out for a team to call home - great venue.

Brooky was great when opposing front rowers were all garbos and communal team baths were the go. And to echo Timmah - Lang Park would be great if it wasnt for the Queenslanders. Seats need better drainage too.

Hasnt there also been games at Waikato Stadium? Didnt the Chooks play a game at Henson Park in the late 1990's?

 

[oval]

The grounds I have visited more than once:

1. Brookvale - Obvious bias here, but the hill is awesome because it is cheap, atmospheric, buzzing and close to the action. And I don't care how crappy the facilties are because I'm not a pampered and precious little sissy girl. Well actually, maybe I am, but I'm there to watch the footy, not to eat gourmet food and sup chilled imported beer while enjoying the privacy and cleanliness a pristine stainless steel toilet cubicle.

2. Leichardt - The whole experience is good, from standing on the hill and getting abused because of my Manly jersey, to walking back up along the main road and getting abused because of my Manly jersey. Top footy ground, seriously.

3. SFS - When there is a decent crowd this ground is really good - great views, comfortable and good facilities.

4. North Sydney Oval - Old, full of character, decent transport, nice park next door for sneaky pre game drinks... Would love to see it back in use for first grade.

5. Penrith - For some reason I've always enjoyed the trip out west. Good little ground for viewing, comfort and atmosphere. Fans seem courteous and welcoming (to a point).

6. Bluetongue - Again, you are nice and close to the action, plus facilities are good. Shame there is no NRL team to play out of it on a regular basis.

7. Newcastle - Passionate crowd, pretty big ground, well looked after... Would be happy to call it my home ground.

8. Shark Park - Kinda reminds me of Brookvale in its endearing shiteness - its downfall is a lack of a decent hill running the length of the field. Instead there is pricey sideline seating which often seems half full, while the little sliver of sideline hill up behind is chock-a-block.

9. Suncorp - Obviously looks great during Origin, but the times I've been there it's been really quiet and not much atmosphere. Felt very fancy, but somewhat impersonal and sterile. Best rugby league ground in the universe? No fckn way.

10. SCG - Cool looking ground, but so far away from the action. Worth a look, but I doubt I'd go back.

11. Parramatta - I suppose the views and facilities are OK, but the dickhead ratio always seems disproportionately high...

12. Homebush - Vast, soulless, remote and totally sh*thouse. Someone should do Sydney rugby league a favour and demolish this place.

 

[the dude]

Brookie Hill

All others

ANZ.

Best thing about Brookie, WIN, Leichardt and other suburban grounds is how close to the game you are. That is precisely what makes ANZ an absolute shithole. Add to that there is no atmosphere unless it's a GF or SOO because even with 30,000 people it's still empty.

I assume you weren't there last Friday.

 

[the dude]

I've been to ANZ, SFS, Newcastle, Bluetongue, Brookvale, Parramatta, Cronulla, Kogarah, Leichardt and North Sydney.

I'd rate Bluetongue and SFS as the best - except the difficulty of actually getting there.

Newcastle seems like a nice stadium but I was stuck standing behind the goal posts when they played Souths in rd 26 last year.

Not a big fan of Kogarah or Brookvale.

Haven't been to Leichardt or North Sydney in over 5 years

 

[some11]

You still feel close enough sitting in the nosebleeds at Suncorp, on the atmosphere side the difference between regular season games and Origin/finals is night and day.

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan is on a par with Brookvale and it hasn't been used as a top grade venue since the 80's man.

The surface is better under foot too.

Brookvale is a disgrace through no fault of Manly's. I seriously cannot believe that it got through the "criteria" in 1999 as it was outdated even way back then.

Kogarah and SFS are my faves. Leichardt is great on a sunny day. Shark Park is only good in the Peter Burns stand. Parra and Penrith are perfectly fine.

ANZ can burn to the ground for all I care.

 

[Danish]

Only ranking the grounds I've been to:

1) SFS
2) AAMI Park
3) Canberra Stadium
4) Newcastle
5) Bluetongue
6) ANZ Stadium
7) ETIHAD Stadium
8) Parramatta
9) Kogarah
10) Campbelltown
11) Shark Park
12) Wollongong
13) Penrith
14) Leichhardt
15) Mt Smart
16) Brookvale
17) SCG
18) Olympic Park


I assume Suncorp will jump to 1 or 2 once I've been there, with Skilled no doubt getting into the Top 3 as well. Didn't include the MCG as I've only watched cricket there.

As a rule, I can't stand suburban grounds. They are a bitch to get to, have no parking, and most of all their grandstands suck. The few that have a decent grandstand rank higher, while the rest are basically ranked in terms of how manageable watching a game from the hill is.

I think I can also safely say that Olympic Park was the worst stadium to watch league at that has ever existed

 

[Patorick]

Of the ones I've been to:

1. Brookvale (besides the ground announcer last year, toilets, parking, food etc), needs to be heritage listed ASAP.
2. SFS (not a bad seat in the house)
3. Bluetongue (corporate boxes, in particular)
4. Canberra Stadium (good parking, took forvever outside waiting for pre-ordered tickets, besides that can't wait for Manly to play there again one day)
5. North Sydney Oval (like a mini SCG)
6. Leichardt Oval (like Brookvale: but with better funding and better restaurants outside it)

 

[Canard]

AAMI Park is a fantastic venue, in terms of there are no bad seats and closeness to the field. Also located within close proximity to the city like all good sports stadiums should be. Dairy Farmers used to be great in the mid 90's but its getting old in the tooth now.

Lang Park (Suncorp) is the best league ground for mine, but I haven't been to any in Sydney so its a bit of a small dataset Im working from.

 

[Karl]

I can't see how a League ground gets better than Lang Park. Easy to get to with public transport, great seating, great facilities - you can get a drink and some food quickly and easily, great atmosphere and you're close to the action with a good view of the game from anywhere really. Also it's surrounded with pubs and clubs etc for before and after the game.

Stadium Australia was great for the RWC in 2003, but there were 82,000 people there and I imagine it would lack atmosphere with smaller crowds.

The old QEII was HORRIBLE. Put it at the bottom of any list.

What about Ballymore? There was an NRL trial game there. http://www.rleague.com/content/article.php?id=34998 I like Ballymore. Its got a bit of history.

I like Leichardt Oval, but then I like the whole Balmain area. Loads of atmosphere, not too big, close to the play. Historic feel.

Not been to any other Suburban League grounds.

 

[Walt Flanigan]

Out of the ones I've been to:

1. Suncorp Stadium
2. SFS
3. Skilled Park
4. Canberra Stadium
5. ANZ (it's amazing when full though)
6. Bluetongue Stadium
7. Parramatta Stadium
8. Seiffert Oval
9. CUA

 

[Big Pete]

Out of the ones I've been to...

1) Suncorp
2) ANZ
3) SFS
4) QEII (formerly ANZ)
5) Olympic Park

I should probably give ANZ and SFS another try but I easily enjoyed my experience at ANZ than the SFS.

 

[Pugzley]

You need to be a member to park at Panthers across the road from Centrebet. They got plenty of parking near the Aqua golf.

Become a 2012-2013 Panthers member today to take the hassle of finding parking for Penrith matches.

 

[AuDragon]

1-Suncorp Stadium
2-AAMI Park
3-Skilled Park
4-SFS
5-Daylight

 

[Timmah]

You need to be a member to park at Panthers across the road from Centrebet. They got plenty of parking near the Aqua golf.

Become a 2012-2013 Panthers member today to take the hassle of finding parking for Penrith matches.

Don't need membership to park there, I've parked there each of the four times I've been to Centrebet. I should probably clarify, it's a dirty whore of a parking lot to get out of post-game.

 

[meltiger]

AAMI Park is a fantastic venue, in terms of there are no bad seats and closeness to the field. Also located within close proximity to the city like all good sports stadiums should be. Dairy Farmers used to be great in the mid 90's but its getting old in the tooth now.

Lang Park (Suncorp) is the best league ground for mine, but I haven't been to any in Sydney so its a bit of a small dataset Im working from.

Yep AAMI is suffering in the lists due to its newness and that most won't have been there yet.

Just an outstanding RL ground, facilities, view, proximity to transport (including being walking distance from the CBD).

The one single fault you can find is capacity but that is only an issue for Origins anyway.

Timmah pretty sure 2000 was last time a game was on the MCG. All the AFL/cricket grounds are terrible venues for RL

 

[Timmah]

One could argue Etihad is okay for NRL given the ability to roll the stands in... however I'm led to believe that rarely happens for league or soccer, because of the precious AFL...