What ground should be developed?

WAFL WAFL General Chat
1

It’s increasingly obvious that the City lacks a back up oval venue , large and modern enough to fill to the hole when Optus is not in play.

For decades we had Subi and the WACA as a fall back, now we have all our eggs literally in one basket, great for big events but what about the rest? Optus is currently the only AFL rated ground in the State, at A Class, the most recent plans for Fremantle identify the AFLs wish for a second rated ground for Pres Season AFL and for AFLW, Freo would be built to a AFL D level , with a capcity of 10-12 k max, for me that is far to small, with the new WACA being the same capacity.

We need a 20K oval venue with all the mod cons, great lights and total comfort for patrons, needs to be handy for transport, central, have some entertainment capacity precinct wise.

But what ground should it be, Leederville strikes me as the obvious, but needs a lot of investment and the support of local gov and residents.

2

I’m looking forward to the Fremantle Oval redevelopment mate , it has the potential to fit that sort of criteria if it came down to it being the second string stadium
It’s a natural amphitheatre and has the town eateries etc walking distance away
I’m not putting forward that the grand final this year be played there by the way

3

Fremantle Oval badly needs development. No need to add a prefix because it clearly has not had anything in the past. Can only manage with a few thousand at the moment. Turning it into something like Sydney showgrounds stadium would be awesome but that would be in the 100’s of million cost wise.

4

Surely all WAFL grounds should be redeveloped not just a “special few” depending on whether there are election votes in it?
They should start with all of the ground surfaces as they have had no real tlc since before the vfl expansion.
Actually I am surprised the 2 afl teams havent kicked up about it as they are quite precious about what “their” players play on…maybe they should speak up and we might get some action on them finally!

5

Good topic Bazza and one which is very much relevant this year. For mine, Freo Oval is the obvious choice due to its accessibility with a train line, major highways and multiple bus routes terminating in the city or transiting through.

I’m not sure the outer has enough space to accommodate 20k people without building grand stands etc which would require a major financial outlay as TM says and would only be utilised once or twice a year if that.

Failing that, the next best choice imo would be the WACA which has some excellent infrastructure in place already or about to be built, but would need to be enhanced and enlarged to take 20k. International cricket against the smaller countries could be played there as well as concerts to offset the cost and maybe incorporate the flexibility to make a rectangular pitch to accomodate soccer for bigger games or if the Glory wanted to move to save coin.

Other than that, I don’t think the likes of Leederville, Basso, Joondy or Lathlain are accessible enough.

6

I’m still confused by the WACA’s decision not to make capacity at least at 20k. There would be plenty of opportunities for all sorts of events to happen there not just footy but, it should have been set up to play the WAFL TV game of the week there, so the station would leave it’s infrastructure set up there all season. Early and late season games on Friday or Saturday nights and all wafl finals would be played there, plus all the AFL preseason games and AFLW games which is a shed load of of events without looking at other sports, concerts, fairs and the like. Would need to change to drop in pitches though.

7

whatever the outcome and at whatever ground we end up with this year - the blind imbecile mice at WAFC headquarters know that crowds will come to Optus stadium for the WAFL Grand Finals
I don’t begrudge AFLW being played but how the hell a substandard mess gets a prime gig ahead of our state game just defies all reasonable logic
A suburban Oval with just adequate facilities would have been enough for AFLW to be completed given it’s a low standard product

8

[quote=“Southerner post=221190 userid=1210”]whatever the outcome and at whatever ground we end up with this year - the blind imbecile mice at WAFC headquarters know that crowds will come to Optus stadium for the WAFL Grand Finals
I don’t begrudge AFLW being played but how the hell a substandard mess gets a prime gig ahead of our state game just defies all reasonable logic
A suburban Oval with just adequate facilities would have been enough for AFLW to be completed given it’s a low standard product
[/quote]

It’s the way the world is turning today. If you are ‘first nation’, female or LGB….whatever they call themselves you get first preference. If you’re part of the other 97% of Australians, then wait your turn at the back of the line.

9

Its no point relying on a upgraded WACA - The same thing will happen and WAFL will get kicked off in pre season and finals time when the wicket block needs attention.
Leederville or Freo would be fantastic as a 20k stadium like GWS or Metricon…
Get Dockers back to Freo and thats the best chance of something being funded imo

10

[quote=“BC post=221186 userid=892”]Good topic Bazza and one which is very much relevant this year. For mine, Freo Oval is the obvious choice due to its accessibility with a train line, major highways and multiple bus routes terminating in the city or transiting through.

I’m not sure the outer has enough space to accommodate 20k people without building grand stands etc which would require a major financial outlay as TM says and would only be utilised once or twice a year if that.

Failing that, the next best choice imo would be the WACA which has some excellent infrastructure in place already or about to be built, but would need to be enhanced and enlarged to take 20k. International cricket against the smaller countries could be played there as well as concerts to offset the cost and maybe incorporate the flexibility to make a rectangular pitch to accomodate soccer for bigger games or if the Glory wanted to move to save coin.

Other than that, I don’t think the likes of Leederville, Basso, Joondy or Lathlain are accessible enough.
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Agree BC, but I was pretty disheartened when I read the Comprehensive Business Case presented to FCC last week, although all the graphics and design particuarly the new members stand look very impressive, they where firm of the view that 10k expanding to 12K was the viable business case capacity for the venue. So I can’t see it getting anything close to what is really needed as a back up.

Just to explain the design the new members stand will extend from the existing old dockers building all the way to the old vic pavillion, the current members stand and press box will all go, seating extends until near the vic stand the stand will feature a curved multi level glass viewing area, that would feature wrap around windows that look out over the oval as well as back over Scots Church the Markets et al, under that will be a walk through entry underpass into the ground and members club entry.

Same goes with the WACA has brilliant potential but are set on a smaller capacity.

That leaves Leederville for mine as the only real option, ticks most of the transport and entertainment area boxes, but needs a huge amount of work, an entire resurface at least 1 Mill there, plus new lights, it would have room to build some seating on the embankment but the narrow areas behind the goals are a concern.

Perhaps Subi oval could be revisited?

11

Why they completely bulldozed all of the stands at Subiaco Oval back in 2018 made absolutely no sense to me.
I can understand the 3 Tier Stand (as it had concrete cancer) and some of the old Vince Yovich built 2 Tier Stand coming down but some of the stands at City end were only built in 1999/2000 before they took to them with the wrecking ball ditto on the Roberts Rd side built in 1994/95.
Once again complete shortsightedness (mess) from a WA Government, this could have been utilised as our main Tier 2 sports facility in the State capable of holding up to 25k and the bigger events held at Perth Stadium?!

12

BH, The original plan was to keep a good portion of the newer stands you mention, at some stage the wheels came off that idea and the entire thing went, I guess nobody wanted to be responsible for the upkeep, at the end a few rows of the lower 2 tier stand is all that remains, even if they had left more of them it would of been of some use.

13

Good article by John Townsend on todays Wednesdays WAFL about the way Leederville Oval has been allowed to deteriorate and the lack of 2nd tier options for sports events.

https://www.sportfm.com.au/post/leederville-oval-fiasco-turns-spotlight-on-ground-hierarchy?fbclid=IwAR2IQm9xbVXmPJdVX-a-M-QWjRFBPK7lTKJij5_TJNXNS_0y6SZoDRq0Zog

14

Yep JT hits the nail on the head. Leederville is a disgrace - trouble ahead for WAFL if this is not addressed.

15

[quote=“Beasley Hutton post=221199 userid=847”]Why they completely bulldozed all of the stands at Subiaco Oval back in 2018 made absolutely no sense to me.
I can understand the 3 Tier Stand (as it had concrete cancer) and some of the old Vince Yovich built 2 Tier Stand coming down but some of the stands at City end were only built in 1999/2000 before they took to them with the wrecking ball ditto on the Roberts Rd side built in 1994/95.
Once again complete shortsightedness (mess) from a WA Government, this could have been utilised as our main Tier 2 sports facility in the State capable of holding up to 25k and the bigger events held at Perth Stadium?!

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Glad it’s not only I whom is confused by that decision! The amount of money sunk into Subiaco Oval in previous years is staggering! Now the question could be asked what for, because apparently there is nothing there currently but a grassy oval from what others say. No stands or anything remain apparently!
That’s the problem of putting all the eggs in one basket!
If I were the 8 Wafl clubs, burswood would be being told where to go in no uncertain terms.
Given Frem Oval is looking the likely option, just get on with the redevelopment of it and have all the Wafl Finals held there in future.

16

it really does appear that Subiaco Oval should have been kept mostly intact for lesser scale multi-purpose usage now - it also appears that the WAFL will be using suburban grounds extensively for finals too
Shabby to say the least