Tasmania United Fc Forum |
||
|---|---|---|
| DISCUSSIONS > AFL and A League stadiums | ||
| galactica | Date posted | Replies |
|
Herewith as follows copy of recent correspondence circulated to various politicians, sports executives, media, etc. Perhaps members would like to discuss the merits or otherwise of the suggestions. -
Dec 8th 2008
To whom it may concern
Once again we are witnessing perhaps another ridiculous reorganisation of Australian Rules football in our state of Tasmania. Following on from the deliberate culling of our premier football flagship the Tassie Devils, we have gone ‘back to the future’ as the saying goes.
There is another attempt at statewide league and this time not content with simply having strong clubs representing the major population centres we may now try to include a greater number of teams competing and therefore restricting further any financial returns that may evolve from the competition. We have lost many of the Devils players from the side to interstate and thus this revamped statewide league is further diluted from the public spectator perspective. Rather strange for Mr Wade to state that he was pleased to not see an exodus of these players en masse from Tasmania, however as it is apparent that up to 65% have left our shores, what else would we call it?
While this is happening there is the continual barrow pushing approach to gain entry of a team within the AFL. Now one could be forgiven for thinking this is a joke but no – off go this task force pontificating about our right, etc. The projections of generated costs and realised incomes are simply that; and these appear based upon assumptions such as success in the arena, apart from the necessity for further capital works at York Park, to prove the economic assumptions. Yes we have found commitments for approx. $5 million sponsorship over 5years and that is commendable. However when viewed in the current world financial down turn and the fact that we will require a turnover of in excess of $40 million in funding to be competitive, every year, not simply the amounts that have been stated as available for 5 years, it becomes blatantly obvious that we are a very, very long shot to succeed. It seems that those pursuing this concept are “looking through rose tinted glasses’! Comparisons have been made with Geelong at Kardinia Park however this organisation has existed in the VFL/AFL for over 150years yet we have been unable to keep our side in the current VFL for even 10years. We are far better served by maintaining and further developing our connection with the Hawthorn football club and endeavouring to get them to play a NAB cup match preseason at Bellerive, maybe even under lights. This would be a respectable approach initially until a regular season game can be allocated at least once a year at this venue, which one may well say is a satisfactory maximisation of our potential for crowd support of AFL, fully embraced statewide given the fact there are four roster games already at York Park.
Currently as the statewide Australian Rules competition stands it is probably necessary to reduce operating costs by consolidating grounds usage and sharing infrastructure. For instance the scenario should be that 3 northern clubs use York Park for home matches, the three north western clubs share an upgraded Ulverstone ground as a central location for home matches(if they are admitted to the competition) and in the south the two eastern sides apparently will be sharing Bellerive Oval. That leaves North Hobart, Hobart and Glenorchy to share KGV for home matches. There are upgrade plans in motion for KGV so it is well suited to this situation. Furthermore, if Kingborough can obtain a commitment from its local council for a decent ground and gain access to the statewide league then both they and Hobart should share the new ground leaving Glenorchy and North Hobart on KGV. The sensibility of this type of ground rationalisation can be observed within the Melbourne area with regards to AFL sides, so it seems stupid for a smaller state such as Tassie to be attempting to obtain first class facilities at every location. As far as playing grand finals there is no reason why they should not take place at York Park unless two southern clubs are playing, although Bellerive could be used if a southern side finishes higher up the ladder and therefore earns the choice. For the SFL 2nd tier competition finals can be played on both KGV and Abbotsfield Park. Coincidentally both these grounds are being considered for further improvements by the local council.
Right now Tasmania should be getting behind an A League side for our state and the potential world wide benefits that can bring over the next decade and a half, on top of any local tourism impact from within Australia itself. By undertaking such ground rationalisation alterations as stated allows North Hobart Oval to be converted to a rectangular stadium specific to A League soccer football and Rugby football. The ground is already quite suited dimension wise to these two codes and does not currently require major upgrading to satisfy requirements. Even now the ground spectator capacity is 18-20,000 comfortably fitted within the perimeters and down the track sensible alterations could easily see the ground hold 25-30,000 plus have multi-level parking beside/within it by using the Ryde Street side. This incidentally does not necessarily involve removing but rather incorporating the quaintness of the Ryde Street stand within such improvements. The Tasmania United “Black Hawks” (or whatever they decide to call themselves by public competition) playing on a revamped and renamed Tassie Stadium engenders an exciting lead up to the ground hosting a World Cup game, when Australia gets the go ahead for 2018 or 2022.
There is Yankee Stadium in New York and Aussie Stadium in Sydney so why not Tassie Stadium in Hobart? Anyway Hobart needs to start looking ahead now at the suitability of its major sports ground and utilising it in different ways in this newer century so as to capitalise on being the state capital and provide an alternative venue to what is elsewhere in Tasmania. Hobart has its worries about revitalising the whole city to resist competitor localities and this can be one way of addressing this issue.
These suggestions are a logical process to rationalising infrastructure costs and maintenance by councils and clubs and therefore allow the benefit of upgrading a smaller number of such grounds; to first class and in some cases international class facilities. Tasmania is not in a financial position to do otherwise and failure to implement such can only deem us as second class competitors with mainly second class facilities overall.
CC D Bartlett State Premier, Will Hodgman Leader State Opposition, N McKim Greens Leader, M O’Byrne Minister Sport and Recreation, S Wade General Manager AFL Tasmania, D Baker Chairman AFL Tasmania, P Harriss President SFL, R Valentine Lord Mayor HCC, E Ruzicka Deputy Lord Mayor HCC, P Sexton Ald HCC, J Campbell Mayor CCC, A Taylor Mayor GCC, G Bury Mayor Kingborough Council, P Newlinds ABC Sports, J McGirr Chairman Tasmania A League taskforce Add comments |
1st June 2010 | 25 |
| Comment | ||
stoogestposted at 10:02PM on 18th Dec, 2008 I'm getting the same formatting errors. The post stretched underneath the advertising on the right hand side as well. Good letter Galactica. I guess I can understand why there is such a push to enter the AFL, but I personally think there's bigger long term bang for the buck through investment in the A-League. Personally I'd love to see the government invest in a new multi-purpose stadium, but I think realistically in the short term that you are right regarding the suitability and redevelopment of North Hobart oval. unkoposted at 11:05PM on 18th Dec, 2008 We all seem to be suffering from this problem , it makes the posts hard to read. Would love to read the letter but half of it is hidden under the sponsership logos. stoogestposted at 11:32PM on 18th Dec, 2008 Try copying and pasting into notepad. Chuqposted at 11:42PM on 18th Dec, 2008 Yes I'm getting the strange formatting as well. The forum software either needs to parse it (risky, people could put dodgy javascript in) or strip it out before posting the text. Gist of the email is: AFL statewide league should be rationalising grounds, resulting in all Hobart teams playing at KGV and Bellerive, leaving NHO for redevelopment as a rectangular ground. It goes into more detail than that obviously :)Chuqposted at 11:42PM on 18th Dec, 2008 I just noticed my posts aren't full of the HTML code. I use Firefox if that makes a difference?adminposted at 1:13AM on 19th Dec, 2008 We have noted the formatting error and passed it on to our developers to sort out earlier this morning. galacticaposted at 10:24AM on 29th Apr, 2010 Part one Well another year or so has passed and we see the waters are still very muddied indeed around major spectator sports in our state. It seems as though the surreptitious plan is evolving without being openly presented to the public. Or maybe it is simply that what is occurring is a result of the natural progression by two stadia organisations as they look to obtain a financial share of the sports market. Where will this leave soccer or more precisely the TUFC A League team? Well seemingly playing at two well appointed grounds for players and officials but not really satisfying the spectator as a whole. It may well have to be the interim arrangement but it will certainly not suffice in the longer term and definitely is only half way towards capacities required to stage a World Cup match. galacticaposted at 10:25AM on 29th Apr, 2010 Part two Although the MCG will host World Cup games we must remember that this city is unique in the world as far as embracing most sports. This is why they accept being so far from the playing action. In comparison to say Rio and the Maracana Stadium which has almost double the capacity but their tiered stands rise more vertically than the MCG due to the Aussie Rules size of playing surface as we know. So that is an exception to the rule which here at Bellerive and York Park we do not want repeated. So over time we will be wanting either a redeveloped North Hobart Oval or a green fields site - it is dependent upon the HCC as to what they want to see as the full potential in the world game in our capital city. Foxhawkposted at 1:37PM on 29th Apr, 2010 Hobart will only host a World Cup match if we win either 2026 or 2030 and miss out on 2018 and 2022. The state government has no interest in hosting matches and now that they are back in following their deal with the devil it is likely that the same policy will remain in force for another four years. Even if we then have a new government with a new policy the delay of four years would put Hobart out of the question for 2018 & 2022. In order to get a decent stadium a wide range of bodies would need to present a plan of usage to a government stating how the stadia would be used widely ALL year round, and not just part of the year. Therefore if Hobart was to ever gain a NRL some time in the far flung future then the two clubs working together, perhaps with owners of both willing to pay a percentage, then maybe, just maybe, a state government would put some cash forward. A decent stadium is a massive outlay. Perhaps if all the above was combined with say a Commonwealth Games bid then it might have more chance of succeeding. A 2030 Commonwealth Games in Hobart maybe?
Chuqposted at 4:20AM on 30th Apr, 2010 I'm a big fan of another proposal, the Hobart Northern Suburbs Railway. Public transport is very important for things such as major sporting events (look at Docklands Stadium - adjacent to one of Melbourne's major PT hubs). The recent calls for AFL to be played at Bellerive have got me thinking ... I think an excellent arrangement for both sports would be: - Australian rules football operations in Hobart centralised at KGV Oval - adjacent to the proposed rail line and lots of parking. - KGV Soccer ground converted to car park, training facilities and/or admin facilities for Australian rules' governing body and state team. - North Hobart Oval converted to a rectangular ground, incorporating admin facilities for FFT and TUFC. Ground capacity 15-20k, suitable as training venue for 2018/2022 WC.
The Northern Suburbs railway proposal as it stands goes the other way around the domain - past the Botanical Gardens - since it doesn't involve building more track - but a North Hobart alignment is an obvious future route.
galacticaposted at 10:54AM on 30th Apr, 2010 I have a sneaking suspicion that government is rolling along and letting whoever can raise their voice and so be not looked after but looked upon in relation to treasury costing. I.E. there is no specific intention to create or develop but merely respond according to demand as it arises. This means of course that the two stadiums of YP and BO will be increased in capacity somewhat in unison over the next decade or so to cater as all round venues. What is unfortunate about such decisions is that the BO is in a residential scenic location and accessible by congested transportation means. Surely demographic planners would see the logic in creating a stadium development along the existing business and transport corridor. Such a decisive move would offer the opportunity to justify funding of no only stadium infrastructure but also the necessary upgrading to Hobart's transport infrastructure in an integrated manner that could overcome a number of congested bottlenecks that occur on the entrances to the city entrances.
Foxhawkposted at 2:52AM on 1st May, 2010 I still believe the best spot for a rectangular stadium in Hobart is the site where they had intended to move the hospital. You could put limited staff parking in with people using city parking when visiting. Could also surround it with gardens, entertainment areas and even a light railway station. Further along from it you could put marinas and make the entire area just north a precinct similar to the Old Launceston Seaport. Foxhawkposted at 2:53AM on 1st May, 2010 The problem with Tasmania is that the prime requisite for being a city planner is lack of vision. galacticaposted at 9:42AM on 6th May, 2010 Yes I certainly concur with that statement however it may well apply to many other places too. What would be a half decent outcome would be to revamp our elected representatives form of government to link both the Legislative Council and local government together and comprising 7-10 state areas with unpopulated/undeveloped areas being state territory/reserve. A prerequisite of such eligibility for election would be a varied group with qualification in a number of specified vocations so that those who perport to represent us are able to sufficiently absorb or digest the complexities of planning, policing, etc etc without relying completely upon information and research supplied by unelected employees in office management roles. The suggested changes to our parliamentary system and anti-corruption strategies would appear to be an ideal time to bring all this in to fruition. mvfc4lifeposted at 11:43PM on 7th May, 2010 Hey guys I have a plan 4 the next a-league pre season game between Melbourne and Adelaide. I believe if we can get enough people at the game my mates and I want to have a TIFO behind one of the goals, advertising Tasmania United. I believe this would bring the idea of a Tassie a-league team to the broader public and benefit us, it will be great fun to! So tell me what everyone thinks and I hope it can go ahead! galacticaposted at 9:38AM on 10th May, 2010 Sounds like a good idea. There are a number of capable and interested persons on this website who have dabbled in such things and I am sure they would advise. Perhaps you need to tell us what exactly is the setup you have in mind and a combined suggestion could be made to TUFC and FFT for support to bring it all about. tufcposted at 1:18PM on 11th May, 2010 A few of us tried something similar last year. We tried to hang couple of measly banners from the grandstand, but the security nazis at the ground wouldn't let us (a few of us almost got kicked out after pushing it a bit too far with the security guy!!!!) It would be a shame if the fun police who stopped a lot of the crowd activities at the cricket did the same to soccer. I once went to an AC Milan v Fiorentina game at the San Siro (amazing experience, by the way - 80,000 people in a rectangular stadium), and the AC Milan fans had a massive flag that practically covered an entire tier of the grandstand behind the goal - I reckon it was at least 30m x 15m. It probably covered several hundred spectators who didn't seem to mind at all, in fact they were right into it! Not to mention all the flares blowing coloured smoke, the drums and other musical instruments. The atmosphere was awesome, but unfortunately I can't see things like that being allowed in this sadly overly anal country. galacticaposted at 9:31AM on 12th May, 2010 Absolutely. A nanny state which will if they keep it up be full of ...............Anyway if they think that having a heap of indoctrinated goody two shoes sitting politely and waving state flags along the the lines of North Korean citizens will fill the stands of cricket, soccer and AFL they have a big shock coming in this state. All proposals will die off if they lack spectator inclusion. mvfc4lifeposted at 8:18AM on 1st Jun, 2010 I was thinking of even just getting a bit flag with just the Tasmania United logo on it? If we can get a few people in one of the bays (probably behind the goals) we can hold the big flag up and I reckon it would create huge publicity (which we need!). We also really need scares, hats and shirts to really put the word out about the team. Also I think if there are enough of us the police won’t care because there is nothing they can really do about it if we have lots of people there! I also believe that if we can get enough people at the game chanting we can create a great atmosphere, just like a real football match! We can have a march to the stadium before the game and really shout out for a a-league team! galacticaposted at 8:41AM on 1st Jun, 2010 Sounds reasonable. Yeah I wasnt having a shot a you by the way. Merely musing on officialdom. mvfc4lifeposted at 10:02AM on 1st Jun, 2010 Do you think that the FFT or TU would help us with this? and even make us a tifo or a few small flags? Chuqposted at 2:37PM on 1st Jun, 2010 From last year I have two banners I made.. one that reads "TUFC" in big letters, red/orange/green colours, and one that has "Map of Tas symbol" "Heart symbol" Soccer ball symbol" (in green, red, black respectively - a bit like the Hyundai "i love football" banners that you may have seen at A-League matches last year). These are the ones that security wouldn't let us hang right over the edge.. never mind, with some bulldog clips we should be able to attach them to the clear bit at the front of the stand no problem, it was just that we weren't equipped last year. I also have a bunch of placards that are TUFC's property, A3 size bits of black card with white letters on each, reading "S U P P O R T T H E B I D" (It's OK Martyn if you are reading this, I haven't forgotten that I still have them!) You can see them in action here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-9-vtmhy6g - at 0:15 and again at 0:48. Notice how the banners are unreadable due to the wind but as said nothing we can't prepare for next time :) I think for this year we could do with another banner... maybe something like "FFA COME PLAY IN TASSIE" using green and gold colours? (The banners were pretty easy to make - just old sheets and some acrylic paint of which I still have plenty left!)
mvfc4lifeposted at 11:58PM on 1st Jun, 2010 I just looked at the YouTube video and it looked pretty good. I think we should do that again this year. Also with the banners you said you have, did you make these yourself? And what material did you use? I’m looking into getting some material from spotlight or somewhere that we can use to make a big flag or lots of little ones. I would just buy the material and get someone to paint Tasmania United on it, or something along those lines. I also think that if we can get enough people we would be able to hold a banner up over our heads, which would be great fun! I think we need some chants as well, so we aren’t just holding up the flags but we have chants to go with them. I believe that if there is enough of us this year, we can do something big to really put the word out! |
||
| Who's online |
|---|
| Our users have posted a total of 1745 posts We have 521 registered users The newest registered user is Liverpoo |
ndireen
posted at 12:46PM on 18th Dec, 2008
Interesting post Galactica. Can I ask others: is anyone else getting the weird formatting /control characters that make tis hard to read? or is it just me and IE??
» Reply to this comment