TOPIC:

Beasley Hutton wrote:

As a society we are a lot more health and safety conscious in 2022 compared to the 1960s, 70s & 80s when most of the WAFL grounds had their respective record crowds between 20k-27k.
Not too mention all bar Bassendean Oval to the least extent have had major works built on their premises that have reduced capacity significantly in the last 30 years.

Fremantle Oval- the old Dockers HQ and public carparks on site would have reduced their capacity by at least 5k
Claremont Oval- virtually no outer at all left, now surrounded by apartments
East Fremantle Oval- currently not in use waiting for new development to take place
Leederville Oval- the building of both the Subi HQ and the Loftus Centre & Town Of Vincent HQs has reduced its capacity especially on the outer wing bank
Lathlain Park- most of the outer on the Eastern bank and behind Southern end goals all gone for Eagle HQ and training oval
WACA- currently a construction site on the northern side and behind goals at Eastern/Scoreboard end is a sandpit atm, plus cricket taking back the ground from September
Perth Oval- changed to a rectangular venue for soccer & rugby
Subiaco Oval- grandstands all removed now only used for the Bob Hawke College school oval
Bassendean Oval- the only change to the Oval since the ground record vs WP was achieved in 1980 would be the Swan Can bar on the outer wing next to scoreboard.
For those who obviously havent attended the ground for sometime there are new changerooms (built for the SD womens side) on the Eastern side of the SDFC members that could be utilised if the Billy Walker Stand rooms are not considered adequate enough for a GF, those could then accommodate the umpires if necessary. For the whining media types the players room at the bottom of the Percy Bright Lounge could be utilised for commentators and or the old coaches box for 91.3 who havent commentated a game from Basso for years anyway and might need directions to get there!

Arena Joondalup- located in South Geraldton
Rushton Park- located in North Bunbury

For what its worth I have always said the WAFL GF should be held at Perth Stadium and will never waiver from that, the biggest State based Sporting Competition in WA deserves to be played at the biggest and best Stadium!

Huge mistake at not keeping Subi Oval as a backup for such events.  This would have been ideal.
 

BC wrote:

Getting there will be an issue for non-swans supporters as it's so far away from everything. The 51 bus up Guildford Road won't work as it would take all day to get there and longer to get home, Success Hill train station is a bit of a walk and I don't think it could withstand 10,000 people in a small space of time anyway and if you drive, where are punters supposed to park?

I'm not sure what the answer is but don't think it's Basso unless they put on shuttle buses from various places around the metro area and include the cost in the price of a ticket.

BC if we are using the Perth CBD as our central point then Bassendean is 12km from there, whilst Fremantle is 19km & Joondalup is 26km away.
Bassendean has 2 railway stations Bassendean about 700m walk down Old Perth Rd to the Oval whilst Success Hill is even closer about 300m away from the oval, compared to Fremantle approx 1km walk from Fremantle Oval & Joondalup 1.2km walk from Arena.
Leederville is only 4km from the Perth CBD and the station probably about the same distance from the Oval as Bassendean.

As I posted earlier the WAFL GF should always be at Perth Stadium and how that is now not happening is a bloody disgrace!

an even bigger disgrace is that we still have seen no official statement from the WAFC given it's so late in the season mate

Beasley Hutton wrote:

BC wrote:

Getting there will be an issue for non-swans supporters as it's so far away from everything. The 51 bus up Guildford Road won't work as it would take all day to get there and longer to get home, Success Hill train station is a bit of a walk and I don't think it could withstand 10,000 people in a small space of time anyway and if you drive, where are punters supposed to park?

I'm not sure what the answer is but don't think it's Basso unless they put on shuttle buses from various places around the metro area and include the cost in the price of a ticket.

BC if we are using the Perth CBD as our central point then Bassendean is 12km from there, whilst Fremantle is 19km & Joondalup is 26km away.
Bassendean has 2 railway stations Bassendean about 700m walk down Old Perth Rd to the Oval whilst Success Hill is even closer about 300m away from the oval, compared to Fremantle approx 1km walk from Fremantle Oval & Joondalup 1.2km walk from Arena.
Leederville is only 4km from the Perth CBD and the station probably about the same distance from the Oval as Bassendean.

As I posted earlier the WAFL GF should always be at Perth Stadium and how that is now not happening is a bloody disgrace!

Fair points BH but your basis of using the Perth CBD as the central point is where it falls down.  Only 30,000 live in the CBD whilst 2.1 million live in the metro area.  So the bulk of any crowd going to the GF would come from the suburbs by a ratio of 70 to 1 and getting to Basso wouldn't be an easy thing if going by public transport from the north, south and even from the western suburbs.

Freo has multiple bus routes to the city from all directions whereas Basso only has one and Leederville sits right besides the freeway giving easy access to and from.  I agree that Optus is the best solution and am pissed the WAFL is treated like the poor relation once again.   But unless they can solve the transport issue to Basso, I can't see it getting the nod even if it can accommodate the largest crowd.

Southerner wrote:

an even bigger disgrace is that we still have seen no official statement from the WAFC given it's so late in the season mate

Mate the whole thing is a bloody disgrace.
The WAFL GF turfed off Perth Stadium for a meaningless T20 hit and giggle, the WACA removing EF from the ground in mid August to play Marsh Cup & Shield games that would have an attendance of 20 maximum etc etc.
I heard someone on the radio the other day saying it is football's fault for playing games in the cricket season?.....really....hang on a minute cricket have been playing Shield Finals in to April (Football Season) for sometime now, Marsh Cup games have been played in September (Football Season) also for a while now and I see the Aussies are playing games up in Darwin & Cairns in the middle of footy season again soon!

Beasley Hutton wrote:

Southerner wrote:

an even bigger disgrace is that we still have seen no official statement from the WAFC given it's so late in the season mate

Mate the whole thing is a bloody disgrace.
The WAFL GF turfed off Perth Stadium for a meaningless T20 hit and giggle, the WACA removing EF from the ground in mid August to play Marsh Cup & Shield games that would have an attendance of 20 maximum etc etc.
I heard someone on the radio the other day saying it is football's fault for playing games in the cricket season?.....really....hang on a minute cricket have been playing Shield Finals in to April (Football Season) for sometime now, Marsh Cup games have been played in September (Football Season) also for a while now and I see the Aussies are playing games up in Darwin & Cairns in the middle of footy season again soon!

the only thing , and I use that description intentionally , that wasn't turfed out from Optus Stadium is AFLW 
ridiculous situation that could easily be fixed by altering the fixtures of WAFL footy to bring the Grand Final forward by one week
Stuff the AFL Grand Final

The unfortunate thing Southy, is that a couple of thousand agree with you on the ‘stuff the AFL Grand Final’, but a few million disagree.  That’s what state footy is up against.

yep understand you to the 109nth degree - but their attendances are real bad and if there's no SA or WA team in the finals this year , there'll be zero interest outside of Vicco Parasiteland
This is the year to have our Grand Final on a sunday a week forward on the best ground mate

Agree wholeheartedly even though I’m an Eagles supporter.  Freo’s flagmantle is WA’s best hope, but if they do their usual thing, it’ll be Failmantle.  I can’t believe that the WAFC don’t look ahead and take advantage of these situations.  They just seem to sit back and take it as it comes.  They just don’t have any dynamic go getters, just a bunch of stale old farts.

Fkn disgrace