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A-League threads [Merged]
- Thread starter Lidsand
- Start date
antman said:
if my memory is correct, Victory wanted AAMI Park to be 40k and Melbourne storm wanted it to be 20k. the 30k compromise was reached mainly because of a contact with Etihad that forbid any new stadium be built in Melbourne over 30k (which I believe has now expired or about to expire).
and I admit i'm a bit of a dreamer. and my dream is to see an upgraded AAMI Park turned into Australia's version of Wembley. and the reality is that Victory can't play at Etihad forever. especially now that the AFL own it. I read recently that something like $3 billion has been spent on AFL infrastructure by state and federal governments in Australia over the past 12 years. I don't have an issue with this because footy is king and brings in the most money. But I think its time to share the love... and I don't think its a lot to ask for a couple of hundred million to upgrade AAMI when the state government coffers are bursting. especially after todays $300 million+ announcement of yet another upgrade of the tennis precinct. and then you need to factor in the hundreds of millions Baird is spending in Sydney on stadium upgrades...
Baloo said:
well you'd have a better perspective on it than me. I guess my line of thinking is that a couple of teams from SE Asia (eg. Singapore, Jakarta, etc), would be win/win. it would bring more money to the ALeague, and a higher level of competition would improve the quality of talent in those regions. but as Sir Tiger said, travel would be an issue.
Ian4 said:
Yeah, that rings a few bells. I remember the discussion about making AAMI "extendable" at a future date by engineering it correctly to start with but not sure if that was ever done. The only way I can see you could increase capacity in AAMI now would be to build up the stands at the goal-ends, can't see it being done on the bigger stands on the wings.
Yeah - people bang on about the cost of the WC bid and govt. support for soccer but it pales into insignificance given the money spent on footy infrastructure around the country.
the footings were put in place to extend the goal end stands as per Antmans comments. it can be done but the roofing dismantling would be tricky, but not impossible. Anyway the politics around football (soccer) stadiums is tricky at the moment. Baird / NSW plans for ANZ stadium and Moore Park are fairly progressive and they want to steal big sporting events from us Vics (fair enough too). I think if the Vic govt is fair dinkum about us remaining the sporting capital then a 40,000+ stadium would be ideal (I agree with Ian4 that it should be AAMI). But I also like the idea of the a-league grand finals not being locked into one stadium as per the AFL GF. I know the FA cup is held at Wembley, but you can get there fairly easily from all parts of the UK. Bit unfair to ask Fremantle and West Coast to play the GF at the MCG IMO..
Sir Tiger said:
I take your point but the problem is that stadiums never provide pristine pitches for the showpiece events. Suncorp and Allianz are especially in bad condition after the NRL/Super Rugby seasons starts. Even AAMI Park was in an average state earlier this year (that grass disease didn't help). And don't even get me started on ANZ. Ange has been banging on about this issue throughout his whole time as Socceroos coach.
Having one stadium booked for the big events also helps all of the relevant stakeholders plan ahead. Many WCE and Freo fans (for example) book flights to Melbourne during GF week early... and if their team doesn't make it, they still enjoy the festivities... because they know which city the game is being held. as its stands now, if we play an away GF this year, we'll only have 7 days notice (at best).
It looks like refs have been instructed never to book Melb City players and give them soft penalties
joegarra said:
I've made a pact with myself to refrain from having a go at Green Seat City for the remainder of the season. Must congratulate them though on getting their highest home game crowd for the year at 10,644. Timmy's doing wonders for attendance.
Back to football matters, we shoulda smashed the jets by four or five on Saturday given the chances we created. Troisi dominated midfield but missed a couple of gilt-edged opportunities to score. With a good run of home games coming up we are sneaking up on Sydney and City nicely, still with a game in hand too.
Marcos Rojas showing his quality, five goals and five assists already and that's even though he misses games due to NZ national duties. Still not convinced on Maxi B yet though.
Marcos Rojas showing his quality, five goals and five assists already and that's even though he misses games due to NZ national duties. Still not convinced on Maxi B yet though.