Action at Etihad Stadium should've come sooner

BigAl - I don't blame the AFL and, in fact, I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for the lads at AFL HQ. Their original "jewel in the crown" - Waverley Park - turned out to be a total dud. No one went there because it was built in the middle of nowhere, with no public transport access and, possibly, the only region in Melbourne where it consistently rains!! So, they demolish Waverley and build a brand new stadium. This time it's right on top of Melbourne's Central Railway Station and fans love the stadium. However, now the players hate the stadium, are threatening to boycott games and Eddie wants to demolish the stadium and start again.

Yeah Rob, this guy knows everything! - but I am really surprised he's blaming someone other than the AFL.

what?? like the Southern Star Observation wheel designers/builders and the MyKi people.......

Rob - You obviously know much more about the technical aspects of stadium design and associated horticulture than I, so I appreciate your input. Nevertheless, in any supply contract, If a particular purpose for which goods are required has been made known, there is an implied condition that the goods are reasonably fit for that purpose. So, In relation to your GMH analogy, I just want my car to drive my car - only a fool would expect it to fly. In the same way, if I told someone to design a grassed sports arena, I'd expect the arena to sustain the growth of grass! Heck, if the roof didn't work, or the retractable seats don't work, or the elevators got stuck, or the giant screens malfucntioned, I'm pretty sure no one would give a stuff, since none of these flaws have any impact on the main purpose for constructing a sporting arena ... which is to allow people to play sport! However, from Day 1, there have been problems growing grass at the venue!!

Interesting that you still seem to know so much more about this than the people who have trained for 6 years, dedicated their lives to this, are world leaders in their field who are paid to the think about these things all day every day.

Fussball, your not listening. Architects dont make these decisions, clients do...and they often do so against the advice of professionals. From a clients point of view people wont pay $150 to sit in the rain so the first commandment of stadium design is ....thou shalt have a big roof. This has implications in terms of solar access and, just as import for pitchcare, airflow over the surface. All of this is manageble if you are playing at home once every two weeks.... but you if you want to overuse a stadium like Etihad does special pitchcare arrangements are needed. By this we are talking about artificial lighting arrays ,subsoil aeration systems, undersoil heating, soil reinforcement.etc.$$$$. So the problem is not the shape of the building. Your insistance that someone has been incompetent is like complaining to GMH because your car doesnt fly. The problem is that pitchcare budgets in oz arent sufficient . And in answer to your point MC..yes, absolutely sports need to take a stand.

Redb- I have not doubt the "rolling out playing field" is not an option at Etihad. For starters, there isn't enough space adjacent to the Stadium. However, the fact that there are 4 stadia with rolling out playing fields indicates competent designers of Stadia understand how important it is for the design to allow sufficient sun to facilitate photosynthesis! Next time, I'm sure, the architects will be told ... don't forget, it's important that your design allows enough sun to allow the grass to grow!?

Rob - So, let's see if I've got this correct. We build a sports stadium at a cost of A$0.5 BILLION. Now, the sportsmen, who will be playing in this stadium have only one facility that is important to them - the playing surface. But, the designers of the stadium are only interested in keeping the punters dry and to hell with the safety of the sportsmen! I call that incompetence that may tragically lead to career-ending injuries. It may be pure coincidence but, in the last 12 months, MVFC has incurred 3 ACL injuries - all at Etihad Stadium. I will be cheering if/when the litigators step into this debate ... Etihad Stadium's administration may then take notice.

That would require major structural changes to the stadium (Gate entrances maybe 10 metres wide) and then where exactly does the grass bed sit given the stadium is surrounded by roads to all compass points? A cheaper option would be to modify the roof to allow more sunlight and not allow concerts 2 weeks out from the season.

tell u what, us rugby types will do the AFL players a favour. The ABs (and Wallabies too, I suspect) will be wearing old-style metal sprigs on their boots. We'll chew up the ground for you on Saturday and force the stadium management to replace the grass!!:-) And the new AME stadium was never designed to host a Bledisloe Cup game in Melbourne. It will cater for super 15 games and possibly lower tier intenternationals (ie Aust v Fiji). The MCG has the capacity for a Bledisloe but it is the wrong shape. I've watched the ABs at Docklands and MCG (pause to shudder here), and Docklands (I refuse to call it by its current name) is by FAR the preferred venue.

and Ian Collins and co have to work out what's more important......3 AC/DC concerts or a 25 year contract with the AFL. I do wonder how many of the people now trying to pot the AFL and AFLPA etc for 'allowing' the surface to get so bad - I wonder how many of those people were also potting the AFL for being testy around the AC/DC concerts double booking. In the future, the AFL really MUST stand their ground. However, just how much the AC/DC concert impacted the field out wider (wider than a soccer/rugby pitch) around the wings and pockets - - - that I don't know.

it is really - - and that's part of the reason for my disappointment that the 'heat' regarding the WC bid was projected onto the AFL when the State Govt needs to be a tad bit more answerable for their big money projects that display a startling continuing theme of at very least poor planning.

Fussball, never wise to be throwing mud and calling people incompetent if by your own admission you know nothing about the process. As someone who works in this field i can tell you that the key design feature insisted on by operators is covered seats. Everything else comes a distant second. Working pitches can be maintained if they are curated properly . Many EPL grounds sustain 2/3 games a week during the winter months with no great drama, but the pitch strategy relies on a rest period over the summer . Pithch problems mainly come not from sports uses but things like concerts. Wembley is having similar problems and they reckon it cant be fixed unless the place is left unused for about 3mnths.

Yes - The University of Phoenix Stadium (USA), the Sapporo Dome (Japan), Gelredome (Netherlands) and the Veltins-Arena (Germany) all have "a slide out pitch". The Veltins Arena's playing field can be moved in and out of the stadium within 4 hours. the advantages of such a structure include: * The grass playing surface can grow under normal outside conditions without suffering from a lack of circulation and light as in other arenas. * The football pitch is not damaged during indoor events such as concerts. * The floor of the multi-functional hall can be converted and retro-fitted within a short amount of time. * The outside area that is not occupied by the field can be used as parking facilities for buses during football matches! And, the Veltins-Arena lies about 800m above a coal mine, which was in use until 2000.

http://www.universityofphoenixstadium.com/index.php?page=stadium_facts Uni of Phoenix Stadium. I think there's a stadium in Japan with a similar roll-in roll-out field. No question that it's a great idea, I guess as always it's an issue of cost / benefits. Unfortunately Docklands was a bit of a fudge from the start - not really aligned properly due to limitations of site, not quite big enough for the most popular AFL clubs, not quite small enough for the less popular ones, roof not big enough to let in sufficient light, playing field a bit too small for AFL games and a bit too big for soccer, league and union, retractable seats that are too expensive to retract. Overall a missed opportunity in many ways. But still, I suppose we Melburnians are a bit spoilt for sporting facilities close to the CBD anyway.

When you put it like that it's actually a bit depressing...

There is a stadium in the USA (American Football) which has grass on wheels. This means that when a game is not on the grass surface is wheeled out of one end underneath the stands where it sits outside and is given as much sun as possible. Perhaps more stadiums in Australia need to consider this. Or perhaps an elaborate system of mirrors could work..

I'm just glad that the A-league is now officially an etihad free-zone (Well, mostly anyway)

And the tyre fire

You would think when constructing a stadium at a cost of nearly $1/2 BILLION - with a state-of-the art retractable roof and stands that can be configured for rectangular or oval field sports - the simplest part of the construction process would be ... ... getting the grass to grow! I know nothing about the construction process, but surely the most important "key design feature" in the brief to the architects would be to make sure there is enough sun to grow grass. Who were the incompetents, who designed this stadium? EDIT: I presume it's the architects, who are responsible for this stuff-up? The architects were Daryl Jackson Architects and Hok Sport Architecture