How good was the spectacle of Monday night football between the Bulldogs and Storm at Belmore Oval? What a way to bring life back to what was fast becoming a boring concept.
I catch as many games as I can each weekend but I must admit unless my team was playing on a Monday than I wasn’t very interested.
I just wanted the round to finish, find out if I got my tip right and see if my fantasy team got up.
The main reason for this was the lack of atmosphere, due to games played at big stadiums with tiny crowds. Now I of course understand that Monday games exist for TV but last night the Bulldogs proved we can have the best of both worlds.
It was great to watch. The stadium could only hold 16,000 but it was packed to the rafters. It reminded me of games played long ago with fans watching from balconies, in trees and standing on fences in their backyards.
Despite playing on one of the smallest grounds capacity wise, the match still recorded the highest Monday night attendance of the year.
The atmosphere was electric. How good was it hearing the crowd beg for Josh Reynolds entrance midway through the second half, no doubt he would have felt on cloud nine last night despite playing less than fifteen minutes.
The Dogs belting out the team song capped the night off perfectly and was the perfect advertisement for our great game.
I have written about the importance of football at suburban grounds many times and now after last night I hope their importance is clear for all to see, especially those in charge of making the key decisions.
I find it ludicrous whenever I hear that ANZ and Allianz are the future. Nothing beats a packed hill out at Brookie, Leichhardt, Cronulla or Kogarah. The list goes on.
Manly struggle the pull attendances at the best of times, take them away from Brookie to play at a bigger stadium and it will become borderline embarrassing.
I was out at Leichhardt on Sunday to watch the game as a neutral fan, solely because of the atmosphere. There’s no chance I’ll ever bother going to see the Tigers play the Panthers at Moore Park.
It’s sad to hear of the loss of profits the clubs suffer when they play at these smaller venues, but a solution to that is the NRL making up the difference to ensure these iconic venues are here to stay.
And these one off Monday night relocations might just be the start of something. We already know crowd numbers are going to be low for these fixtures so why not take them elsewhere.
Clubs can move their games to a rural area, the Rabbitohs can take a game to Redfern, the Sea Eagles can relocate to Manly Oval for the night, Melbourne can play at a suburban ground down in Victoria and the Roosters can take a game to Henson Park.
We must not forget how good footy is at a suburban ground.
Louis McIntyre
Roar Guru
I was at the Raiders game, It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and the hill was packed. It was a great crowd. Likewise the game against the Panthers last Sunday. I also attended the Tigers v Manly game last season, that had a great crowd and it was pissing down the entire game. I do agree that suburban grounds work well on Sundays but for one off venues (e.g Belmore), Monday might be the best option to create atmosphere and attract a decent crowd.
fazed
Guest
No ones denying that new stadiums will cost big bucks,yet there are those opposed to the smaller grounds, the NSW government has indicated that it will support some new grounds in Sydney, there is an arguement between them & the NRL as to what they both want, & that is a problem. No matter which way we look at things, there is a hard road for answers, problem is the longer we wait to get on that road the harder & dearer the journey will get. Looking at the capacities of the main stadiums today, outside of Olympic Park & the Moore Park area, the worst ones are Brookvale & SharkPark, I think Kogarah is too small so it should be grouped there, Shark Park though is to be rebuilt into a larger stadium, so its ok. The others as I have already said are ok but, limited to the 20000 mark, not much more than Belmore but certainly better facilities, therefore I see Belmore, Pirteck, & Penrith as being the prime candidates for increases in numbers but to make it worthwhile as I have said, the capacity has to be at least doubled. Brookvale perhaps to 30,000, that provides a fairilly even spread over Sydney, when ANZ & Allianz is brought into it.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Ludicrous!
spruce moose
Guest
No. That is not true. The crowds in the past couple of years have been terrible at Leichhardt However, it is not the fault of the club. They were handed shocking teams and shocking time-slots this year. Suburban grounds should be used, but they have to be used on Saturday or Sunday afternoon games and need to have local teams, not interstate teams.Playing Canberra and especially the Gold Coast there were dreadful decisions. Sydney teams, daytime. That needs to be the formula for all suburban ground matches.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
Not to mention that Sydney Olympic use the ground as well. Which is good enough size for them. Bankstown council are ensuring the ground gets used for other stuff as well like meetings, and a cultural centre.
Alvin Purple
Guest
Fazed - the issue is that someone has to fund these stadiums and the NSW govt has indicated it is not going to do this. So unless the clubs can come up with $100M then there needs to be another solution. In regards to standing areas this can be accommodated in newer Stadia. The Adelaide oval has a standing areas where 4k spectators fit in. Heck even had ticketek offered 500 standing room tickets for the SOO next week. Further more the hill might be ok on a nice day but a bit of rain and you are slipping all over the place. Might not be a bad thing as this could be seen as the charm of the place but the reality it is not acceptable in todays market.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Are you serious? The multiple points you failed to grasp because you don't know what you're talking about and possibly can't read are.... They don't keep Belmore going for 'a couple of games a year'. It's their training ground. They use it every day. It houses state of the art training facilities. They've been training at Belmore even when they haven't been playing games there. Do you think they train at ANZ stadium? "Sorry guys training's off tonight the Socceroos are playing". Do you think their Harold Matthews and SG Ball teams play at ANZ stadium? No, they play at Belmore. They don't keep up two grounds. They get paid to play at ANZ stadium. They aren't responsible in any way for its upkeep and maintenance.
Jackso
Guest
The point you failed to grasp because you got excited is why would they keep Belmore going for just a couple of games a year....
Louis McIntyre
Roar Guru
The Tigers get a massive home ground advantage at Leichhardt, the crowd is parochial. If the team isn't good enough to take advantage of it than that is their problem.
Louis McIntyre
Roar Guru
But that is never going to happen on a Monday night against an interstate team Wayne. What is the harm in moving such fixtures to smaller suburban grounds.
Louis McIntyre
Roar Guru
I'm not suggesting the Bulldogs relocate to Belmore, merely just play 1-2 games there per season. Obviously Friday night blockbusters against Sydney rivals need to be played at the big stadiums but if you're suggesting that a Monday night game against the Storm would get more than 16,000 at ANZ than you are kidding yourself.
Louis McIntyre
Roar Guru
I'm not suggesting that we play all games at suburban grounds but instead saying they have an important place in our game. Belmore shouldn't host more than two games a season but in the last 17 years it hasn't hosted any. My article is suggesting that we could use Monday night games (which have appalling crowd numbers) to try out rarely used suburban grounds.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
There is certainly a case for suburban grounds such as Leichardt and Belmore to host a couple of games a year in particular Monday night. Outside of that they are more or less obsolete in the NRL landscape. Brookie is an awful ground in every sense of the word yet they don't have a choice. The Dogs and Tigers have options. Kogarah is IMO the nicest suburban ground by a mile. Clubs know the way forward is the larger modern stadiums, it is the only way to grow there brand / increase membership. Plenty wax lyrical about Leichardt and it is an iconic old ground. However the Tigers don't get any real home advantage playing there and the Club lose money once they open the gates. Add to that, it is below par venue for families as the facilities just aren't adequate enough.
Wayne Lovell
Roar Guru
You know what's even better than footy at packed out suburban stadiums? Footy at packed out or almost packed out BIG stadiums.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
"Fans are easy to please." That will do me.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Of course they filled the stadium Melbourne bring so many travelling supporters with them. The bulldogs don't 'keep up the expenses' on two grounds. ANZ is not their responsibility and Belmore is their training ground and has state of the art training, recovery and video facilities. Ludicrous!
fazed
Guest
My original post was primarilly based on the Sydney area grounds, I have no idea about the situation in Victoria as well as QLD for NRL games, but I think the old Lang park & where the Storm play now are fine, both clubs especially Brisbane draw well at their home grounfds so its not a worry in this debated really. I indicated that the old grounds have a certain degree of attraction about them & I admit to loving the old grounds, while archaic are still useful for certain games. One only has to look at games at Brookvale, Leichart, & Kogarah oval where we see those who prefer to stand on the old hills rather than sit when there are some available, that aside one day they will be gone even at those grounds if they stay. While Brookvale is in a location that would not attract a lot of dissent into a full rebuilding, the likes of Leichart & Belmore may well be different owing to their locations in housing, although the current locals behind Leichart have a free ticket to the games held there. So, what I am saying is simple the likes of Pirteck as a start should be rebuilt/extended to allow for crowds of at least 40,000, Brookvale could easilly go to 30,000 or more, Penrith could easily go to 40,000 as well, that leaves a question for Canterbury, Balmain, & Saints. Cronulla already have big plans so there is no problems there, actually Saints could share there if Kogarah cannot be enlarged, but the cost for only playing half the games there may not be warranted, although the Wollongong stadium could do with some work. Could Wests & Canterbury share an increased Belmore, rather than the cold place that ANZ is? Allianz is a good fit for both Easts & Souths, but an extension needs to be looked at as well. ANZ I do not believe is satisfactory for the general season games, owing to the size of the place, & seeing a crowd of 30,000 there still makes it look empty, much like 5,000 at Pirteck. While the clubs have a financial incentive in playing at ANZ other than that, its not really a club type stadium. The only real thing going for it other than the cash incentives is the handy public transport, but is it enough for the normal season.
Muser
Guest
Ahh, so since rugby league cant attract a good crowd we should go backwards and get smaller venues. Yeah, that makes total sense! No, what you do is fix whats wrong with the NRL and then get yourself average crowds of 20,000 and not 15,000 like we have at the moment. Fans are easy to please, we just want quality and not quantity.
Alvin Purple
Guest
Epiquin Sounds right what you are saying. We must also remember that the stadiums will be used by the A League sides plus the Waratahs so consultation with them would also be taken into account. The WSS have dropped a little in crowds this year due to some poor results but when back on top they would be looking at 20k+ each home game. Sydney FC plus the Waratahs are also a realistic 15k-25k when they are on top of their games. This will only be accentuated by better facilities for the fans.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Realistically, sooner or later the fans will have to accept the bigger grounds. There are many who say we need new 20-30,000 seat, state of the art stadiums in every team's home market, but its just unrealistic to expect that will happen. My guess is we'll get a good, purpose built RL stadium, either a rebuilt Parramatta or a new stadium close to Olympic Park. ANZ Will get an upgrade and Allianz will get rebuilt into around 50,000 seats. In time, I think all the Sydney clubs (except maybe Panthers, Sharks and Manly) will end up playing smaller games at the 30,000 seat venue, and bigger games at either Allianz or ANZ with crowd-killer Monday night games taken to suburban grounds.