Projects & Discussions | Multi-Purpose, Rectangular, A.K. Reserve, W.A.C.A. | Stadia

[miensie]

Stadium plans leave World Cup bid in danger
Tim Clarke
July 28, 2009 - 7:01AM

The plan to completely rebuild Member's Equity Stadium at a cost of around $160 million will still leave Perth in danger of missing out on staging any games if Australia's bid to host soccer's World Cup is successful.

Staged upgrade plans will be officially unveiled tonight, with the intention to reshape the former Perth Oval based on Skilled Park on the Gold Coast, which houses 27,400 spectators.

With Town of Vincent mayor Nick Catania boldly predicting a 2012 finish date - if they are given the construction - planning with the council which owns the land freehold will take at least a year.

However, Sports Minister Terry Waldron has acknowledged the Government's plans will not solve WA's lack of a major arena to host soccer internationals - with the FFA looking to make a decision on potential World Cup venues by the end of this year.

"This stadium is going to be designed to meet the requirements of our State, our competitions, the state provincial competitions, Super 14 and the A-League," Mr Waldron said.

"With the World Cup, you are talking 2018 and 2022. There are other options including a greenfield site, and if we couldn’t work through the issues with this stadium we would have to look at that.

"There is Subiaco Oval which will always be used to host the bigger games, Test matches and those with crowds of 25,000-plus people.

"We have been talking to the football commission, and in the next two to three weeks they will be coming to us with a proposal.

"To meet the requirements of the World Cup I think Subiaco Oval could be the best answer."

The decision on Australia's bid for either the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be made in December 2010, with Australia having to show a minimum of 12 stadiums, two of which must hold 80,000 fans and 10 with a minimum capacity of 45,000.

Opposition sports spokesman Ken Travers said this should be addressed urgently by the Government.

"I welcome trying to address the stadia in this state but this announcement is just another unfunded thought bubble," Mr Travers said.

"The Government does not have plans for stadia in WA, and have come up with an idea without funding and no lack of any detail.

The Government also needs to address the issue of Australia's world cup bid and Perth's place in it.

Mr Catania, who along with the Town of Vincent had been awaiting a decision its own $73 million proposal for improvements to Members Equity, admitted he had been "pleasantly surprised" by the Government announcement over the weekend.

With a year of planning details now to be thrashed out, Mr Catania flagged the authority's intention to push for control over construction, rather than the State Government.

"We were very pleasantly surprised at the extent of the plans," Mr Catania said.

"The Government well advised to give us that responsibility because we do it better, we know the oval, we are better negotiators in getting the best bang for our dollar.

"We are better at it than the Department of Sport and Recreation would be, they are sports people they are not builder, they do not know the oval like we do, and they don't know what services and how to use them.

"We will build it, and if that is the case the timeline will be shorter as well … we could deliver it by late 2012."

[samboy]

please please please don't give it to catania or TOV. They can barely build roundabouts let alone stadiums.

[Ari Gold]

Originally Posted by miensie

Stadium plans leave World Cup bid in danger
Tim Clarke
July 28, 2009 - 7:01AM

"There is Subiaco Oval which will always be used to host the bigger games, Test matches and those with crowds of 25,000-plus people.

I dont doubt Rugby & Soccer need a new stadium, they do. MES is a joke.


But for how long do you expect die hard footy fans to wait for something that was needed almost 10 years ago?

[Sanj]

Originally Posted by samboy

please please please don't give it to catania or TOV. They can barely build roundabouts let alone stadiums.

haha that was my thought. they are fucking hopeless yet he comes out with talk like that.

[GAbE27]

I think he has serious delusions of grandeur!!

[ozzage]

A 45,000 seat rectangular stadium is too large for normal weekly use by football (soccer) and rugby. Football particularly is all about crowd atmosphere and a (good) smaller stadium is far superior unless you can fill a larger one, which obviously Perth can't. 27,000 is a good size, in my opinion.

They are going to need to do something for the World Cup (which I'm quietly confident we're going to get although probably in 2022) but we have plenty of time for that. It might take a long time but perhaps the WC question will in fact help the AFL fans as well as it will effectively FORCE Perth to get a great new bigger stadium, which surely is going to be reconfigurable. If they delay for two more years (which let's face it they probably will) then the WC hosting decision will have been made and there could well be a large amount of extra WC-related funding because of it which would mean that it would finally go ahead and probably end up a better stadium anyway... just SO LONG COMING!

[wexford]

Originally Posted by GAbE27

I think he has serious delusions of grandeur!!

I think he has delusions of adequacy.

[mossimoh]

Originally Posted by ozzage

A 45,000 seat rectangular stadium is too large for normal weekly use by football (soccer) and rugby. Football particularly is all about crowd atmosphere and a (good) smaller stadium is far superior unless you can fill a larger one, which obviously Perth can't. 27,000 is a good size, in my opinion.

They are going to need to do something for the World Cup (which I'm quietly confident we're going to get although probably in 2022) but we have plenty of time for that. It might take a long time but perhaps the WC question will in fact help the AFL fans as well as it will effectively FORCE Perth to get a great new bigger stadium, which surely is going to be reconfigurable. If they delay for two more years (which let's face it they probably will) then the WC hosting decision will have been made and there could well be a large amount of extra WC-related funding because of it which would mean that it would finally go ahead and probably end up a better stadium anyway... just SO LONG COMING!

Im pretty sure that the World Cup rules say that any host nation MUST place group games geographically across the whole country. Therefore success of our bid would have to include Perth in the equation. Having all the games played on the eastern seabord would not satisfy FIFA requirements.

Unfortunately that patheic excuse of a stadium, Subiaco Oval would probably be our only option, unless the govt decides to bite the bullet and build a new one at east perth or belmont.

As you suggested MES would best be around that 27 000 capacity, even with the option to increase for the World Cup, i dont see too much space around there for much expansion, then add in the transport issues in the area and it makes this not such a good idea...

We need 2 decent stadiums, 1 for football(AFL) and cricket, and 1 for rugby and soccer. Because of poor planning and foresight by govts we now have to spend money on both of these at the same time.

[ozzage]

If we do end up using Subi, it will be virtually rebuilt once we know that we have the WC. I'm not even that worried about it - there will be extra funding available because of that and they will be able to create something workable, even though it won't be perfect. I'm confident that all this funding/indecision bollocks will disappear once our bid succeeds.

I'm worried that in their quest for the perfect WC stadium, people will compromise the rectangular stadium that is in use regularly for normal matches.

I would rather a slightly sub-par stadium for the WC (within reason, obviously) but a GREAT one for the many years before it, and after it, where normal sports fan can watch their team week-in, week-out.

Not ending up with an appropriately-sized, good quality dedicated rectangular for years would be a big price to pay for a one-off tournament lasting a couple of weeks, even if it's the biggest tournament in the world.

The only other possible option would be, as you hinted at, a 27K MES which is upgradeable to 45K or 50K. I doubt that's achievable in terms of available space, or simply due to COST when another big stadium for AFL will still be needed as well.

[mossimoh]

Originally Posted by stadiumdesigner

cant fucking wait to run there.
this weekend is the second last week of comp ever at perry lakes. doubles as the state champs this week and next week. if anyone wants to come and watch me destroy a 3k field, get down there sunday 9.15am, or the 5k next friday at 7pm

Good luck

[hack404]

Originally Posted by Ari Gold

I dont doubt Rugby & Soccer need a new stadium, they do. MES is a joke.


But for how long do you expect die hard footy fans to wait for something that was needed almost 10 years ago?

The need for a redevelopment now is due to a missed opportunity ten years ago.

[hack404]

Originally Posted by samboy

please please please don't give it to catania or TOV. They can barely build roundabouts let alone stadiums.

They stuffed up the 2004 redevelopment, nothing suggests anything has changed.

[samboy]

no everything suggests they have actually got WORSE

[BartBart]

Is it just my computer or has the Master Stadia Taskforce web site disappeared?

[docker]

thats been down since the new government, they redirect you to the Department of Sport and Recreation if you wany the pdf's of the reports.

[BartBart]

Really - 'cause I could swear it was up a month or so ago. I think it was the Inside Cover article a week or two that pointed out that the WA Govt site had a pic of the new stadium on their front page even though they had rejected it.

[aaronaugi1]

Yes. That was mentioned in IC about two weeks ago.

If we host 2022 we have over a decade to build a stadium. Currently there is no extreme demand for ME Stadium or Subiaco to be any larger. Surely over the period of +10years we could finance and construct both required venues.

I liked Colin more when he did nothing.

[aaronaugi1]

Yes. That was mentioned in IC about two weeks ago.

If we host 2022 we have over a decade to build a stadium. Currently there is no extreme demand for ME Stadium or Subiaco to be any larger. Surely over the period of +10years we could finance and construct both required venues.

I liked Colin more when he did nothing.

[Ari Gold]

Originally Posted by aaronaugi1

Yes. That was mentioned in IC about two weeks ago.

If we host 2022 we have over a decade to build a stadium. Currently there is no extreme demand for ME Stadium or Subiaco to be any larger. Surely over the period of +10years we could finance and construct both required venues.

I liked Colin more when he did nothing.

A membership waiting list of 7,000 people suggests otherwise.

When each member is entitled to 4 tickets per membership, you do the maths.

[miensie]