Solving Sydney's stadium conundrum: Part II

Thanks again kind sir for the input, much appreciated. Was actually down in "the gong" earlier in the year watching Broncos play,very nice area indeed but tis a good job they are doing the town centre up lol !

Sadly Sycokid these days I live at the Northern end of the Illawarra (go the mighty Thirroul Butchers), beautiful place not dissimilar to the way the peninsula used to be. But i have little experience of pubs around Brookie these days and when I go to the footy there it is with my kids. The Leagues club is adjacent to Brookie and is not a bad place, but others may be better able to help.

Thanks for the reply seajay23 much appreciated . Being a pommie Brisbaner i wasn't sure how the locals would appreciate the situation lol but i guess the way this years Origin turned out we may not be scowled at so much lol. (just joking,but it always seems better sitting around fellow supporters to discuss the ins and outs of your own team !) On another note we will be staying the weekend in Manly (been several times but not to Brookvale ) but from what i have googled there doesn't seem to be many watering holes in it's vicinity so would it be best just having a few beers in Manly itself then rocking on down to ground late on ? Public transport take a while ? Once again many thanks for your input

No need Sycokid, friendliest ground in Sydney and Manly fans welcome supporters from other teams with open arms and warm hearts. I can recall attending the game between Manly and the Bulldogs when Hazim El Masri was going for the record number of consecutive goals. The Manly crowd was fully behind him and there were plenty of Bulldogs fans there, including groups of young women wearing hijab (blue and white, of course) and there was not one bit of crap from the Manly crowd. It's the peninsula mate, life is good on the northern beaches.

Could someone please tell me if there is a designated section for away fans within Brookvale

Seajay23. Forget French's Forest. The drive theatre area has been totally occupied by office and light industry establishments. On the other side of Warringah Road, they are building a hospital. So there is no space there. Perhaps somewhere west of Belrose, but then you have public transport problems, though the Mona Vale Road system gives easy access to the west of Sydney. But Brookie is being canvassed at present by one of the national soccer teams and has been tentatively earmarked for one of the major Union sides. If that happens then money will certainly pour in and a stadium will be built.

Brookvale is being looked at by one of the major national soccer clubs and also by a potential sixth Rugby Union side with the Aus-NZ-SA comp, if its permitted. That will change the face of Brookvale because money will then pour in to accommodate potentially three codes.

Bearfax, Mate, I grew up in Harbord and started going to Brookie when I was nine years old, so I certainly understand your point and don't disagree with you and I pity those poor souls who have never experienced the Brookie hill on a fine Sunday afternoon - heaven. So where could you build a 30,000 seat stadium? Ideally where the old drive-in was at Forestville but much of that land is now industrial estates. That area is better served for traffic ingress and egress than Brookvale ever will be. But somehow I can't see the where the money would come from and we are probably stuck with a haf-arsed reno of Brookie at best. That's why I think we should consider taking a few games a year to the big stadiums; maybe play Souths at the SFS and Bulldogs at ANZ so we can get a few decent crowds. Gosford is not the answer.

Seajay, I'm a Manly supporter and who lives 5 minutes from Olympic Stadium, But I was raised in the hills behind Brookie. I remember as a kid the Match of the Day games at Sydney Cricket Ground when dad drove a group of us to the ground. We used to leave about 11 am to get there early before the crowds, but it still took us a good 50 minutes to get to a point where we could park the car and that was over a kilometre from the ground. Getting back home was a trial because of traffic jams through the city and we were lucky to get back by 6 pm. And we didn't use public transport which would have taken longer. Now not every family were as lucky as us to have over 6 hours to spare on a Saturday or Sunday. We had a car and we lived in the southern area of the peninsula. It could have been a lot, lot more travel time. Now to get to and from the Olympic Stadium is even more trying. The road system and public transport around the northern peninsula ensure long waiting times when there are major events like football matches. These days for me to go to Brookvale on a football day is a major exercise especially returning home, when everyone living south of Brookie has two routes out, Pittwater and Warringah Roads. Both result in traffic jams that will delay you a further hour just to get home. That's why so few supporters from other districts tend to visit Brookie. Believe someone who has experienced both travelling outside the peninsula and into the peninsula. Testing games at the stadiums will reduce support for the Manly side because of this transport and time wasting problem. People in that area are generally not willing to spend over half a day just to attend a football match. Its not like a South Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith, Balmain, Sydney City supporter who can hop on a train and be at the ground in under 30 minutes. Those coming from the peninsulas (Warringah and Sutherland) have long travelling times and up to three or four public transport changes, to get to these grounds. Or they face congested road transport, Its easy for those on the Sydney spine from Sydney to Penrith to point the finger at these two clubs. But I've tried it from both angles and I can assure you travel time is many times longer and more stressful coming from the peninsulas...a lot of time wasting. And many who just want to go down to a local field to watch their team for a few hours, are not going to sacrifice on a regular basis, a large chunk of one of their days on a weekend travelling to and from a match. Some will, but a lot wont. The answer for the northern suburbs is a stadium or 30,000 seat ground in that area with easy parking and on a decent public transport locale. Otherwise, RL will be lost to the northern suburbs and beaches and though some may cheer at that, it also means an ongoing eroding of support for the game in the Sydney environs. No RL fan wins from that.

Manly's attendances have averaged between 13,500 and 15,500 consistently over the past 10 years. They are down to 11,500 this year due to rain, did you see what Brookie was like last Friday night? A miracle that 9000 turned up. Give us a few sunny Sunday afternoons and they will make up the lost ground. Having said that, something certainly needs to be done about Brookvale. Ideally a new ground up around French's Forest would be good but land is expensive. So redeveloping Brookie is probably the best option, but the parking is a nightmare and now there is a 'Brookvale village' group (God how i hate it when suburbs become villages!) wanting to get rid of Manly from the ground altogether, no doubt worried about their property values. Maybe Manly should try having a few home games at ANZ or Allianz; it took a while for Souths & Bulldogs fans to adapt but they have.

Sorry, you're right. The information I saw said that Waverley had been replaced by Docklands, but obviously not at the same site.

Waverley Park and Etihad Stadium are two totally different grounds, my northern friend… Get your ovals right before commenting.

I see where you're coming from but for at least Panthers, Eels and WSW a great deal of pride comes from their current home grounds. Just don't see current members of any of those teams wanting to support a new home stadium which may not be in the area they currently represent. As an Eels and WSW fan I would be greatly disappointed at a move away from Parra. Would rather that money be spent on upgrading the current stadium. I know a lot of fellow supporters feel the same way.

You're obviously not familiar with Brookvale Oval Peter. People will attend if facilities are such that they feel convenience in attending. Brookvale Oval is perhaps 20-30 years behind most other ovals in Sydney being consistently used. There have been several years during that period when the capacity of the ground has been well under 20,000. And if you happen to reach over 16,000, you ae virtually sitting or standing shoulder to shoulder. I well remember years past sitting on the hill when it reached a point where you had to stand to watch the game, and I am 6'3'' tall. The capacity of the ground has actually reduced over the past 20 years. And as for travelling, its not that its considered alien. Its purely because of travel time and poor public transport options. I suggest that it applies in reverse as well. Brookvale Oval crowds are always dominated almost 10 to 1 with Manly support because other clubs DON'T travel over the bridge either en masse. If Manly had a decent stadium within the district, with facilities anywhere near equal to what most other Sdney clubs have accessible to them, you would find the crowds would increase. I now live five minutes from the Olympic Stadium and realise how easy it is for most Sydney supporters to get to a game. Manly and Cronulla dont have those advantages. Consider yourself lucky that successive governments have given you such good service because such benefits have long been denied those on the two peninsulas

The stadium thing is forward looking ... assume 15 years from now ... what will be the stadium quality .. Brookie .. The question was posted earlier ... do the people of the North side deserve a stadium... if you take North Sydney to Chastwood and then the Northern beaches maybe 600K or more population.. The question is should Manly move to say Gordon or Chastwood which opens up a huge area and has in the case of Chatswood one of Sydney's best transport links... This is my suggestion ... Moore Park, Parramatta, Chatswood, Homenbush, Kogarah, Penerith... Teams 9 RL, 3 Football {will happen] 2 AFL, 1 RU.. plus cricket twenty twenty, ODI & Test Matches.. Moore Park... SGC AFL / Cricket .. Alliance Tahs, South's, East's, SFC.. Homebush West's, Canterbury, Some Parramatta, SOO, RU test, Football Internationals, some twenty... Our show ground Homebush Giants.. Parramatta WSW & some Parramatta, Kogarah Saints & Cronulla... Penerith Penerith ... Chatswood Oval say 25K stadium to built Manly and anotherFootball team..

"Yes, Waverley in 1959 was still only 1.5 KM from the centre of Melbourne city." Written by someone who has clearly never been to Melbourne, and certainly not to Waverley.

Just answering the question, yes for most events a change is required at lidcombe whereby you cross platforms and get a shuttle train that goes to Olympic park and back. For big crowds they'll put services on that go to strathfield/central or lidcombe and then further west. Those seem rarer these days.

Yes 80000 at parra wouldn't work, no doubt. But 30 or 40 would.

Good on you. Maybe if the ground is a quarter full its alright. What can I tell you? My experience has been the opposite.

Nope. You're out by 20km. The now-disused Waverley ground is in Mulgrave, in the south-eastern suburbs.