Also they beat the world champions 3-0. They must be utterly kicking themselves.
Also they beat the world champions 3-0. They must be utterly kicking themselves.
Rumours that ManU will go for Arnold if Earps leaves.
Interesting negative take from Hill:
I would buy that argument IF there was any history of governments showing interest in football specific stadia. In that absence of that interest, I’d rather we capitalise on the interest in women’s football by allowing another huge group of people go to see their (new) heroes. Then hope that it feeds into broader interest in the sport that gets the ball rolling for the bigger picture stuff Hill is talking about here.
Private interests in football are going to have to pay for these “football-specific” facilities. Football administration in this country doesn’t have a tenth of the pull that the NRL and the provincial rabble “sport” to the south. As it stands, they’re the ones who will get funding for things, not us.
Hopefully the appointment of Stephen Conroy at the APL will go some way towards getting football some nous in regards to getting government funding for football-related facilities.
We can’t even get much needed infrastructure built in Australia, can’t see state or federal governments unloading cash on football specific stadia.
I see his point, but can we afford to turn down ~$1m and the associated benefits of an extra 20-40k people?
The Matildas won’t be the hottest ticket in town forever, as long as it’s not the MCG, I don’t have a problem with them maximising the moment and getting as many people into the grounds as possible while the demand is still high.
More people who maybe didn’t get tickets but watched the World Cup on TV and thought it looked great now getting a chance to go see the team live can only be a good thing. There will be some degree of flow-on for W-League attendance and memberships surely.
They haven’t paid for Allianz or Parramatta.
I mean specifically for our sport, though. It’s good for football, but its also good for rugby league (and rugby union at Allianz).
Am I being too pedantic?
Apparently it’s also good for concerts!
Hill is talking about shifting to oval venues over rectangular ones though. There are never going to be large, elite rectangular stadia just for us in this country, but we shouldn’t be settling for oval venues just because they have more seats and might make a few extra bucks.
Why would the Victorian, Tasmanian, South Australian and Western Australian Governments build large rectangular stadia?
The 2 biggest professional sports that are played in those states both require round/oval playing surfaces. Building a large, circular multi-purpose stadium that gets used all year round makes far more sense than building a large rectangular stadium that would get used, at most, a handful of times per year.
Is Hill going to tell Germany to not play at the Berlin Olympic Stadium?
Should Brasil not play at the Maracana anymore?
It’s just a ridiculous take.
I remember reading when Perth Stadium was originally being built that because the lower tier is somewhat elevated from the playing surface that it allowed for extra temporary seats to be brought in for rectangular sports to create a more rectangular seating arrangement around the pitch. Is this still a thing?
I don’t remember that for the Perth v Sydney final?
I know Docklands does it - poorly - but it can be done.
The question is whether Germany or Brazil have a lot of big oval stadiums in their countries. I have the feeling the answer is no. Whereas in Australia, there’s at least six off the top of my head. It would make it easier for administrators to ask for access to those stadiums. Also known as the lazy option. Maybe that’s what Simon Hill is trying to say. The way he words it, though, is that facilities should be built exclusively for football. I love football as much as anyone else here, but that is not a realistic expectation in this country.
Oh, it’s the best for concerts!
Yeah they didn’t do it for the Per/Syd GF but i thought it might be laziness rather than anything. It’s not moving the stands, rather bringing extra rows of removable seats and attaching them to the front of the existing stands. Apparently it can be done at the Cake Tin too but they dont bother.
The way Docklands does it is different, its basically a really shitty version of how Homebush does it, apparently its hugely expensive to move the stands and also destroys the grass, which is why they dont bother. By comparison Homebush can switch from rectangular to oval mode in a matter of hours with the grass relatively undamaged. In the past they’ve played NRL & AFL on consecutive nights at Homebush if I’m not mistaken.