TOPIC:

Hopefully the attitude of the WACA hierarchy is a lot different to that of those days Grump as to be honest the venue needs football more than ever with virtually only 5 Shield games & a handful of One Day Domestic games played there in a year currently which is nowhere near enough to warrant the expenditure without a Winter tenant like a WAFL club and possibly WA 18s/16s etc.
I am a traditionalist and love the WACA but if we are too spend $70 million or whatever the figure is to upgrade the venue than those at the WACA must be far more hospitable to football then they were circa 1987-89!

Bazza wrote: Sooner it happens the better

this is the ideal venue and solution for WAFL.

Optus is hopeless for WAFL GF,s last two have been dismal with under 20K there, out and out dud venue for a small crowd. Financially they lose a fortune there,

Give us the WACA as a perfect ( although 15K not ideal I would say 20K ) boutique smaller high quality footy venue, we need a second one in the city anyway as the much vaunted Leederville has never really worked.

A high quality venue with world class and good lights would allow us to go our own way with a possible night GF as well.

Who lost money? And how much? if I am a fan or player do I care? If you have a GF at a venue that holds 15 or 20k what do you do if 25 or 30K want to attend?

Ti Em wrote:

Bazza wrote: Sooner it happens the better

this is the ideal venue and solution for WAFL.

Optus is hopeless for WAFL GF,s last two have been dismal with under 20K there, out and out dud venue for a small crowd. Financially they lose a fortune there,

Give us the WACA as a perfect ( although 15K not ideal I would say 20K ) boutique smaller high quality footy venue, we need a second one in the city anyway as the much vaunted Leederville has never really worked.

A high quality venue with world class and good lights would allow us to go our own way with a possible night GF as well.

Who lost money? And how much? if I am a fan or player do I care? If you have a GF at a venue that holds 15 or 20k what do you do if 25 or 30K want to attend?

to break even on the hire of Optus they need a big turn out.

See above if ticket sales indicated a massive crowd it could be moved. Thats what other sports do, The Glory move games depending on ticket sales.

A smaller venue would force people to book ahead and get their tickets early,

But if it sold out , whats the issue - plenty of events sell out every year.

DD wrote:

30plusyeardrought wrote: Not for me.
GF should always be at the premier footy stadium,Optus.
The atmosphere with 20k - 26k at Optus these past few weeks at the stadium has been fantastic.

I agree but do they allow 20 - 25000 at a WAFL grand final to use all levels or do they close off the top tiers and make everyone sit in the sun and rain?

I was there last year, had 18,500 there, they closed top tier, basically the crowd didnt even touch the sides even with that, the atmosphere was crap . most noticeably at the start of the game, any "roar" was lost in cavernous like structure. to make matters worse although you might get away with it on TV, actually being there and looking up at every angle to see 40,000 empty seats is pretty grim.

Looking at the plans for the WACA, it will be a far more WAFL family friendly like set up, with a big allocation of grassy banks for kids to spread out and get comfortable and a low key casual relaxed friendly family day out, more inkeeping with the whole demographic the WAFL is trying to go for, need to make a point of difference , not try to be like AFL, thats a fail.

Totally agree Bazz, the WAFL is no longer appropriate for the cavernous Optus despite it being the best stadium in Australia, its just not appropriate, Even if it was a SD v Perth or EP v Joondy GF there wouldn't be any more than mid high twenty's turn up, given there's direct telecast.

I have always thought a redeveloped WACA with min 20k capacity is the best solution. All finals to be held there, double header elim & qual finals and 1st & 2nd semis and the TV game of the week so the broadcaster can leave their setup in one place. Financial arrangements needed to compensate the "home teams" loss of game day revenue over cost of hosting their home game at their ground.

Bazza wrote:

DD wrote:

30plusyeardrought wrote: Not for me.
GF should always be at the premier footy stadium,Optus.
The atmosphere with 20k - 26k at Optus these past few weeks at the stadium has been fantastic.

I agree but do they allow 20 - 25000 at a WAFL grand final to use all levels or do they close off the top tiers and make everyone sit in the sun and rain?

I was there last year, had 18,500 there, they closed top tier, basically the crowd didnt even touch the sides even with that, the atmosphere was crap . most noticeably at the start of the game, any "roar" was lost in cavernous like structure. to make matters worse although you might get away with it on TV, actually being there and looking up at every angle to see 40,000 empty seats is pretty grim.

Looking at the plans for the WACA, it will be a far more WAFL family friendly like set up, with a big allocation of grassy banks for kids to spread out and get comfortable and a low key casual relaxed friendly family day out, more inkeeping with the whole demographic the WAFL is trying to go for, need to make a point of difference , not try to be like AFL, thats a fail.

Surely the game itself was to blame for the crap atmosphere not the venue last year and 2018 for that matter? I went to Carlton and Hawthorn last Friday and it was a very good atmosphere - with just 12 and half K.

Ti Em wrote:

Bazza wrote:

DD wrote:

30plusyeardrought wrote: Not for me.
GF should always be at the premier footy stadium,Optus.
The atmosphere with 20k - 26k at Optus these past few weeks at the stadium has been fantastic.

I agree but do they allow 20 - 25000 at a WAFL grand final to use all levels or do they close off the top tiers and make everyone sit in the sun and rain?

I was there last year, had 18,500 there, they closed top tier, basically the crowd didnt even touch the sides even with that, the atmosphere was crap . most noticeably at the start of the game, any "roar" was lost in cavernous like structure. to make matters worse although you might get away with it on TV, actually being there and looking up at every angle to see 40,000 empty seats is pretty grim.

Looking at the plans for the WACA, it will be a far more WAFL family friendly like set up, with a big allocation of grassy banks for kids to spread out and get comfortable and a low key casual relaxed friendly family day out, more inkeeping with the whole demographic the WAFL is trying to go for, need to make a point of difference , not try to be like AFL, thats a fail.

Surely the game itself was to blame for the crap atmosphere not the venue last year and 2018 for that matter? I went to Carlton and Hawthorn last Friday and it was a very good atmosphere - with just 12 and half K.

Spot on Ti Em.
The 2 worst, most one sided WAFL games of the last 2 years have been the WAFL GF's of 2018 & 2019 which were effectively over before qtr time, you cannot possibly use those 2 extremely boring games as a barometer.
How was the atmosphere at the 2010 WAFL GF with 25k there?
It would have been even better at The Stadium with the reverberation around the stands.

But it is not only that it is a modern ground with facilities you dont have to line up to get food or drinks, or use the toilet not too mention the areas of shade/cover depending on the weather unlike the WACA which even after an upgrade it will have even less stands for shade/cover!

One thing I would like to see at future WAFL GF's is a parade of the Premier Clubs from around the State Leagues from that season (eg- Country, Ammos, Community, Junior, School etc) get them there on the day, gain some interest about the WAFL and its 135 year history which is just not espoused enough these days other than the superb job Waflfootyfacts and Wafl Collectables do.

Senior Seagull wrote: Totally agree Bazz, the WAFL is no longer appropriate for the cavernous Optus despite it being the best stadium in Australia, its just not appropriate, Even if it was a SD v Perth or EP v Joondy GF there wouldn't be any more than mid high twenty's turn up, given there's direct telecast.

I have always thought a redeveloped WACA with min 20k capacity is the best solution. All finals to be held there, double header elim & qual finals and 1st & 2nd semis and the TV game of the week so the broadcaster can leave their setup in one place. Financial arrangements needed to compensate the "home teams" loss of game day revenue over cost of hosting their home game at their ground.

Yep, sounds ideal to me mate.

Ti Em wrote:

Bazza wrote:

DD wrote:

30plusyeardrought wrote: Not for me.
GF should always be at the premier footy stadium,Optus.
The atmosphere with 20k - 26k at Optus these past few weeks at the stadium has been fantastic.

I agree but do they allow 20 - 25000 at a WAFL grand final to use all levels or do they close off the top tiers and make everyone sit in the sun and rain?

I was there last year, had 18,500 there, they closed top tier, basically the crowd didnt even touch the sides even with that, the atmosphere was crap . most noticeably at the start of the game, any "roar" was lost in cavernous like structure. to make matters worse although you might get away with it on TV, actually being there and looking up at every angle to see 40,000 empty seats is pretty grim.

Looking at the plans for the WACA, it will be a far more WAFL family friendly like set up, with a big allocation of grassy banks for kids to spread out and get comfortable and a low key casual relaxed friendly family day out, more inkeeping with the whole demographic the WAFL is trying to go for, need to make a point of difference , not try to be like AFL, thats a fail.

Surely the game itself was to blame for the crap atmosphere not the venue last year and 2018 for that matter? I went to Carlton and Hawthorn last Friday and it was a very good atmosphere - with just 12 and half K.

Nup, read the post it was crap even before the first bounce down.

Big difference factoring in it is supposed to be THE game and THE event of the year for WAFL, sitting there listening to a national anthem surrounded by 40,000 empty seats, absolute embarrassment.

The atmosphere at the afl games with crowds ranging from only 12k-25k has been outstanding over the last few weeks and would be the same for the WAFL GF if you actually had a decent game with 2 teams with good followings not the 2018/19 rubbish games that were served up with only 2000 Subi supporters at best making a ripple of noise as they were the only team scoring.
They also need to do the seating for the WAFL GF a la how it is with the current Covid-19 set up eg every second row only utilised not everyone crammed in to one section as they have been doing also a twilight GF game there would be more beneficial to highlight the superb lighting at the venue rather than 2.10 start as they have been doing.