A-League Grounds

[Jeff (LouMacari)]

Adelaid best ground in the league Dibo? ..big call mate. I think its a good one too, but still prefer bluetongue. I guess this could be a whole new thread really

 

[Jeff (LouMacari)]

LOL, love your work dibo

 

[Deej]

Best stadium I have been to anyway is Suncorp......pitch may not be the best but the actual stadium is awesome!

 

[dibo]

Adelaid best ground in the league Dibo? ..big call mate. I think its a good one too, but still prefer bluetongue. I guess this could be a whole new thread really

done (this forum does have some bits 'n' pieces that are very nice ).

what grounds does everyone like?

adelaide's is purpose built for football, the crowd's right on the by-line and the seating angles look terrific because of the steep gradient of the seating.

our ground is great from our end, and in the grandstands there's not a bad seat to be had. it's a little short on some basic things like catering facilities for corporates (everything gets brought over from the club) and not having a 4th side (even a teeny little low end just to put away supporters on) leaves it a little unbalanced.

sydney's is actually a real favourite of mine - seating is good from everywhere, the roof does a reasonable job of wrapping around the ends and helps the acoustics (if not actually keep you dry...). a bit big at the moment for where sydney are at crowd wise though. a ground to grow into.

brisbane - i love the ground. brillo seating angle like adelaide, but idiot security (you're not allowed a banner, you're not allowed to swear, but you are allowed to stand at the back of the bay calling someone out for a biff at full time) and far too many empty seats mean it's less than perfect. if they could have something like the robina ground they'd be set.

perth - i like one thing; it's got a terraced home end. that is all. the rest looks cheaply slapped together and basically NSL standard at best. [everyone else: that's because it was an NSL ground dibo!]

melbourne and wellington: very similar - both oval grounds with lots of empty seats but with roof designs that hold noise like a marfarka and create great atmosphere. but the seats are a fair way from the action (less of an issue in welly than melbs by the looks).

lastly, newcastle - great eastern stand, and a western stand that is very out of date. i reckon it was put together out of bits of shipwrecked tankers and container vessels. they were probably hoping the pasha bulker would stay there so they could take the scrap and build an extension. the boxes at each end are those shitty demountable site office things (basically look like light shipping containers with windows) stuck on scaffolding. clarsh.

 

[djebella]

It's between Hindmarsh and Bluetongue for me. 

Hindmarsh because it is purpose built and you can tell, your close to the action and the pitch looks superb.  The drawbacks are that the catering and toilets are all out the back and down the stairs, so if you go out for a beer during the match and the crowd roars you can't even get back to watch the replay on the big screen and behind the goals they have the stupid nets to stop the balls going into the crowd, they're there for crowd safety (it being so close to the back of the net) but they just get in the way when your trying to wath the game.

Bluetongue because it's just a fantastic place to watch football, it's relaxed nearly every seat has a good view and if the game gets boring you can watch the sail boats out on Brisbane Waters and wonder why the hell they aren't in here at the game too.   I do think, though, that we need a few tv screens in around the food and beer lines so that you can see what's going on when your stuck there after half time. Oh and a roof for the Bay.

The worst stadium I've been to has to be EAS.  That was Con's first arrogant mistake.  Breakers stadium out at Birmingham Gardens was a great place to watch football.

 

[kevrenor]

The worst stadium I've been to has to be EAS.  That was Con's first arrogant mistake.  Breakers stadium out at Birmingham Gardens was a great place to watch football.

I like you..  ;D

I haven't been to Docklands but I'd say:
1. Suncorp, 2. Bluetongue, 3. Hindmarsh, 4. SFS

 

[mariners4ever]

best stadium would have to be suncorp than bluetongue

the worst would have to be newcastle

 

[adz]

SFS would just push Suncorp off the top for me because the bar is in spitting distance of where we stand. Then our ground. Haven't been to others so don't know how close the bar is to the seats on them . EAS obviously last, and appropriate that the scum have such a shit hole stadium to play in.

 

[Pete]

Adelaid best ground in the league Dibo? ..big call mate. I think its a good one too, but still prefer bluetongue. I guess this could be a whole new thread really

lastly, newcastle - great eastern stand, and a western stand that is very out of date. i reckon it was put together out of bits of shipwrecked tankers and container vessels. they were probably hoping the pasha bulker would stay there so they could take the scrap and build an extension. the boxes at each end are those shitty demountable site office things (basically look like light shipping containers with windows) stuck on scaffolding. clarsh.

LOL!!  ;D  Good summation of Newcastle. Hate the place, wouldn't think of going there ever again, unless there is a very important Mariners match there.

I like Suncorp, but like you Dibo, I can't fathom out the security there and their eccentricity.

They have a week-before principle about 'approving' banners  (how the hell someone 1000k's away is supposed to get a banner to them a week before the match?  ), and won't allow this and that, but DO allow folks to wander in, as a  match progresses, into the allocated Away Suporters bay, and then have them hassles us right on the fulltime and cause all sorts of dramas  ???. Great stadium tho, I'd love to be at a Socceroos WC qualifier with a sellout crowd going off, that place would rock!

Sydney Football Stadium is, to me, very sterile. Built for a purpose, built to costs, some improvements over the years, but well, it's still not anyone's fortress. :

They are the only stadiums I've been to, not fair to comment about the others til I get there.

 

[fish]

Suncorp is awesome , high above the pitch but still close enough.
Hindmarsh is a nice ground although I still dont understand why they didnt put a roof on any of the other stands when they refurbished it?
SFS has always been a good venue the extra seating makes no difference to me.
Telstra is awesome for atmosphere but would be unbelievable if rectangular.
Perth I havent been to so I am not sure.
EAS - f**k that
Stadia I am looking forward to going to eventually are the new Melbourne pitch and the new one for the Titans at Robina which looks very good,hopefully the Gold Coast will get a team soon enough.

 

[Auburn Mariner]

Lang Park is magnificent, full stop. Best rectangular stadium in the country. Security are odd, at best.

I have always loved the Sydney Football Stadium, it's a great place. Just quietly, so is the hallowed turf of the SCG. Security are outstanding.

Docklands is awesome, but built for Australian Rules Football, not Football. Olympic Park is a dump. The Triple MMMCG is a fabulous theatre, but again, obloid-shaped and more suited to cricket and Australian Rules. The Victory-Storm rectangular stadium is much-needed.

The Newcastle International Sports Centre. I have fantastic memories of this ground, going back to the Earthquake Relief Concert in 1990 (Midnight Oil and The Angels were out of this world). This ground has real atmosphere, but I fear it is quickly becoming outdated.

The Andrew Johns Stand is excellent, but not suited to 5.00pm summer kickoffs, but the old Western Stand and the demountables need demolishing and rebuilding immediately. With Labor in power at Capital Hill and Macquarie Street, and with the ground being in a Labor electorate, it may be redeveloped soon. I can't see anything being complete before the start of V6.

Our ground is terrific, with a roof needed over the Home End. Let's hope the drainage issues have been sorted out. The only other ground I can think of with such a great end as our Palm Tree End is the Orange Bowl in Miami, and it's being knocked down soon.

Most people rave about Hindmarsh, the Caketin is pretty good, and East Perth Oval is a redeveloped Australian Rules Ground. Perth is in the process of setting up a Rectangular ground for the Glory, Western Force and Perth Spirit, so that should be interesting.

You would imagine that Skilled Park in Robina will be top shelf (being built by the same people that made Lang Park), and Dairy Farmers is always ranked well by League people (please, NO day games in Townsville).

Wollongong Stadium needs a Western Stand redevelopment. With the imminent demise of the Hawks and St George Illawarra playing the majority of their games at Kogarah Jubilee and Stadium Australia, an upgrade of this stadium would be ideal for the Wollongong Wolves.

 

[~Floss~]

With BT's drainage issues getting fixed, could this mean more likelihood of games being played in pouring rain, i.e. greater need for a roof?

 

[fish]

I really cant see us ever getting a roof over the Home End
Although it would be interesting if someone who has a GA season ticket approached them and was concerned about the lack of shade in summer for GA ticketed areas and the effect the constant sun has on their skin??

 

[dibo]

I really cant see us ever getting a roof over the Home End

it wouldn't be ridiculously hard, you could cover about 2/3 of the bay with a roof starting from the back of the walkway, with the primary supports at the back of the bay. think of it as building a big awning... wind load's probably the biggest issue - making sure it doesn't take off in a southerly.

 

[fish]

agree mate it wouldnt be hard I just think the sheer cost of doing it would be a massive issue.

Heres a bit of trivia about our stadium , did you know the eastern side lower tier actually retracts.It was built that way to give the stadium a multi purpose aspect ( baseball could have used it) to my knowledge apart from the initial construction stage i dont htink ti has ever been moved.

 

[~Floss~]

Heres a bit of trivia about our stadium , did you know the eastern side lower tier actually retracts.It was built that way to give the stadium a multi purpose aspect ( baseball could have used it) to my knowledge apart from the initial construction stage i dont htink ti has ever been moved.

I wonder if that's what's happening for the Crusty old Demons, as apparently there was only going to be 12,000 tickets released

 

[dibo]

agree mate it wouldnt be hard I just think the sheer cost of doing it would be a massive issue.

really depends on your definition of 'sheer cost' though doesn't it? ;D

if it were another million bucks, then it can be looked at as being a fair bit of wonga for an awning, or it can be looked at as an investment to ensure some sort of security of crowd numbers whatever the weather.

depends really on what the future plans for the ground are, the longer it will remain in its present state the better the investment might be, while if there are expansion plans on the horizon it might look like a complete waste. i'm certainly not even in a position to guess, so unless anyone's got better info...

Heres a bit of trivia about our stadium , did you know the eastern side lower tier actually retracts.It was built that way to give the stadium a multi purpose aspect ( baseball could have used it) to my knowledge apart from the initial construction stage i dont htink ti has ever been moved.

very interesting! it'd be great if our end moved in too, to pull it up closer to the by-line, though the corner seats show that that obviously isn't part of the design.

 

[Pete]

agree mate it wouldnt be hard I just think the sheer cost of doing it would be a massive issue.

Heres a bit of trivia about our stadium , did you know the eastern side lower tier actually retracts.It was built that way to give the stadium a multi purpose aspect ( baseball could have used it) to my knowledge apart from the initial construction stage i dont htink ti has ever been moved.

Would be funny if the easternside lower tier started moving one day during a match. People would think an earthquake was happening.
Now, where's the button Fish?  :ashamed: ;D

 

[FFC Mariner]

EAS is one of the worst sportsgrounds I have ever been to for a senior match.

Windblown, concrete shithole.

 

[Andy]

Looks like something will be done about that shithole called Energy Australia Stadium.


EnergyAustralia Stadium Under Construction
Thursday, 20 December 2007

Construction work on EnergyAustralia Stadium has commenced, with the Southern End of the Western Stand being converted. Completion of the new facilities is due in approximately July 2008.

The Newcastle Jets therefore advise all patrons that when entering the Stadium via the Main Gate (Western Entrance), direct access to the Southern Hill and Southern Corporate Areas has been effectively cut-off. For convenience, all ticket holders in the Southern area should access the Stadium through the Southern entrance for the remainder of the 2007/08 Hyundai A-League Season.

No other entrances will be affected by the current works, and patrons are advised that construction will not affect seating or capacity within EnergyAustralia Stadium.

The Jets next home games is on Sunday December 30th as they face the Wellington Phoenix.