They had the covers over the middle of the SCG before tonight’s Waratahs vs Crusaders match
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Cronulla’s home ground Shark Park will be known as Pointsbet Stadium, starting from last night’s game against the Sydney Roosters.
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Should be called Shitty Out of The Fucking Way Stadium.
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Better than Manly’s Lottoland Stadium.
Won’t matter, they’ll be in Perth soon enough
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Hope not.
Cottesloe Sharks
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I did attend the BankWest Stadium community open day yesterday, and I’ve gotta say, it’s a bloody good stadium. Will find out how it runs on game day when the Waratahs start playing out there.
Plenty of amenities, prices are what you expect (read: rip-off), concourses are nice and wide, abundant use of technology (LED strips everywhere, 4K screens, Wifi throughout the stadium) and there is plenty of space outside for activations and promo stuff leading towards and after the game. Car parking is not something I’d recommend if you can avoid it, I parked it at a nearby Coles and walked 10 minutes. Signage leading to the ground could be a lot better. Public transport is probably your best bet, as the light rail stop will be across the street, and again, only 10 minutes to Parramatta Stadium.
The seats are interesting, in that there are 3 different types - padded seats with cup holders in the corporate section, fairly standard seats in the lower sections and high backed seats in the upper sections. If you go to the Flickr pages, you’ll see what I mean.
Only one thing I HAVE to say: WHY CAN’T NEWCASTLE HAVE A STADIUM AS NICE AS THIS?
There - I said it.
I took a lot of shots, but not all of them are here. I posted them all to Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigdan2006/albums/72157690910341623. There you will find shots of the concourse, bars, seats and grass. And panoramas of varying qualities.
The main gate, complete with the lights that can change depending on who is playing:
A few shots of the rest of the ground from the concourse on the McConnell St side:
A closer look at the dugouts from one of the other stands:
The McDonnell St stand from the main grandstand:
4K screen
From ground level: it has its own heating and cooling system (linked from Flickr):
Players will run out from here - it splits in two where that door is, left is away, right is home:
This is how steep the seating is in the upper levels:
The corporate and media boxes from higher up
Diagonal shots from lower and upper concourse in that order:
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Hunter Stadium is still pretty good, especially when compared to places like Brookvale and Leichhardt.
They’re suburban grounds though. I’d be putting McDonald Jones Stadium at the same level of importance as BankWest Stadium.
They should have done the whole job the first time, as in enclosed the ground and enhanced public transport links. But instead, we got a fucking light rail that doesn’t go anywhere the stadium. And only this year, free public transport in terms of buses were announced. ONLY this year when they should have done it years ago.
Newcastle sports fans deserve better. I say knock down McDonald Jones Stadium, get the blueprint for this stadium and replicate it. Even put in a retractable pitch, so that the Knights and Jets each have a league-best pitch to play on (Google Sapporo Dome), lets face it, it makes more sense than the light rail or UoN’s tribute to Jenga.
and while you’re at it, knock down and rebuild the Entertainment Centre. It needs an upgrade MASSIVELY! When you have incidents like the Kings having to cancel a pre-season game due to a water issue, you have major issues.
I think the existing grandstands of Hunter Stadium should be kept and upgraded. Instead the grass mounds at both ends of the venue should be removed and new grandstands be constructed in their place.
It’s only 10 years old, I think it’s a bit premature to be calling for it to be renovated just yet.
Yay for their sensible placement of the cup holders - the MCG and Marvel both have places where they decide the best place for a cup holder is on the back of the seat in front of you - and particularly badly at the MCG, exactly where my knee needs to go.
I don’t particularly find the padded seats all that helpful at most stadiums, especially after an hour or so sitting down in them.
Surprised they didn’t add a safe standing area, I thought that was in the plans for one of the new stadiums around Sydney?
I know Medallion has cup holders, but where else am Marvel and the MCG are there cup holders?
I think I was in N20-something at the MCG? Can’t remember the exact spot at Marvel, been a few years now.
Oh right, must be an AFL members thing. I’m in N53, no cup holders there.
Geelong has this too at GMHBA Stadium
