Is a spiritual return to Richlands the right move for Brisbane Roar?

This is mixed up in the “spiritual home” question, and it’ll be the only A Keague academy that doesn’t charge kids to play: BRFC Academy program for selected players aged 12-19 years will kick-off this Monday, 22 January at the state-of-the-art Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Kelvin Grove artificial training field. The Club is excited about unlocking the unlimited potential in young footballers throughout Brisbane and Australia, helping to create another pathway for junior players to become future Hyundai A-League stars. On behalf of BRFC, Academy Director Drew Sherman is pleased that the day has finally come to launch the Club's Academy program. "This week we will create Brisbane Roar history with the implementation of our very own BRFC Academy program which is a wonderful milestone and achievement for our club," Sherman said. "With the help of our high-level coaches, we are confident junior footballers within our program will be given the best possible opportunity to experience an elite football development pathway. "We'd like to continue to have strong relationships with the local football community and work closely with all stakeholders to help promote the world game." WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The BRFC Academy is Australia's only Hyundai A-League Academy which charges no fees to the players and covers all Football Federation Australia and State Federation registration costs. The program will cater for players aged 12-19 years, with every team participating in the National Premier Leagues Queensland competition. Each age group will have full-time coaches that hold or are completing their UEFA or AFC Pro Licenses - the highest coaching qualification available. Part-time staff including a sports science team, GPS analysts, movement coaches, physiotherapists and teachers to cater for the holistic development of players. There will be 107 registered Academy players that will train four times per week. BRFC are committed to helping talented footballers across Queensland and on occasions, inter-state relocate through the excellent working relationships the program has with a number of local education providers.

The RSF ran a fan survey with the question “should Roar leave Suncorp and seek a smaller stadium?” and (from memory) 73% said yes about 19% said no, and 11% were neutral. The article was then about options with the theme stadiums are “built for fans” so they must be consulted first. The RSF are now going to conduct a more in-depth survey with a broader reach

Stadiums aren’t actually that costly jb, there are plenty of examples overseas of 25k stadia being built for a fraction of what we see here. And multi-use is a decidedly Australian concept, while not usinque many football, rugby, cricket clubs around the world thrive in single use stadiums. And at Suncorp, Labour have issued instructions - no investment, minimise cost, maximise content. It’s a State struggling for cash and Suncorp is a cash cow.

Yeah, it’s an odd stadium. The main stand where the tv viewing is from only has two tiers so you could close that one off. Then you have the third tier going around the rest of the ground. But the capacity sits in the lower bowl with almost 28k and the second tier - which has to stay open for stadium members. If that lower bowl could be screened off it might work but I’d say for the new Sydney stadiums this should be a design concept all codes should push for before they’re designed/built.

Clutching at non-existent straws to suggest MVFC shirt has anything to do with a VFL jumper that no one has worn for the past 25 years. You decide. Here are the 3 designs - you can figure out, which design more closely resembles the MVFC shirt 1) VFL jumper that no one wears 2) MVFC shirt from this season 3) FC Bordeaux shirt https://photos.app.goo.gl/5jMMA9kJ3QpXpbeY2

jb That's why I asked about the cost. If it's a major engineering project to put up the curtains, then it's not worth the effort. But, if it's a couple of million dollars? Might be worth the investment for Roar to do it, if it improves the product they're offering on match day.

Waz - Stadia today are an extremely costly exercise so it is imperative that they be designed and constructed for multi-use. Whether I think reducing Suncorp to an apparent 40,000 stadium is irrelevant,if ,as you suggested to me in another comment,Roar can change back to their Championship days 20-25000 crowds are quite within their capabilities and in that configuration the atmosphere created will still be a huge improvement on what we see today. Re. the council wanting their money back, have they considered what other stadia are being used for around the world,, from the examples cited by myself and Nemesis we,in Brisbane have Suncorp,Nathan and the Convention Center, all filling those requirements, but at what cost? Cheers jb.

The Cost ???? - Remember Nem ,it is public money we are talking about and for the record the stadium at Nathan in Brisbane has been re-vamped at least 4 times using more public money and has yet, in 35 years, to source a "user" that would consistently attract crowds larger than you get for an annual inter -schools athletic meet. Remember, it is public money being used and today our politicians don't appear to be fazed by a billion do 2 dollars being spent. The Mercedes stadium,like BC Place in Canada, has obviously been built for what is termed "multi-user friendly.". Cheers jb.

So, the top Tier at Lang Park only has 10,000 capacity? That seems very low. Fair enough if that's the case it won't make any difference. AAMI Park, Top Level on wings has around 15,000 seats. Would be ideal for City to do that.

Can you please elaborate on what was said in the match day program Waz?

Don’t know, but Roar would have to pay for it as the council are even reluctant to upgrade things that even the broncos want eg connected stadium/WiFi It’s a good idea but Suncorp is the wrong stadium for it, the lower bowl next to the grass holds over 27,000 people, the second tier can’t be closed off with curtains because that’s where the stadium members sit and where the giant tv screens are so a curtain system might screen off the third tier but to what point? 42,000 seats would still be open and crowds would still average 13,000 leaving 29,000 empty seats on display .. could City do it at AAMI I wonder??

How much would the cost be to install a curtain system to cover the unused seats on the upper level? The new Mercedes Benz stadium in Atlanta uses mechanized curtains to hide upper-deck seats. http://www.ajc.com/sports/how-mercedes-benz-stadium-was-designed-for-soccer-too/e8EK5Hsx4bf5rMwoPcarQL/

Waz- I have been in Vancouver's 60,000 capacity BC Place when theer was a 24,000 crowd in attendance.The atmosphere was electric with the 24,000 down near the edges of the field.To be honest it was only when my companion pointed out the curtains/sails I realised what they were and the reasons for them being there. It is hard to explain, but if you you tube BC Place Vancouver you will see photographs of a football match with the curtains in place. They are a bright blue colour.. Marvelous idea, ,marvelous atmosphere,not to mention the other cost benefits ,cutting down on stadium staff etc etc. Cheers jb.

Too many alternative entertainment options these days, and too many alternative sports options. I can watch the NBA in HD with a subscription I don't need the NBL. I can watch virtually any major soccer league in Europe in HD. I don't need the A-League with their relatively expensive tickets and teams with no pedigree. The BBL has just had incredible growth over the last few years, which was never going to be sustainable. They're experiencing some reversion to the mean now. They are still in a very strong position relative to the A-League. And then there are numerous cheap or free entertainment options online. $40 for a bad seat to watch local soccer is too expensive for the casual fan like me. Throw in some food, a couple beers, parking, losing 4-5 hours out of my Sunday afternoon/evening. If these sports want me to sacrifice my free time and my money then they had better put on something that warrants the attention they are demanding.

What would be suitable then?

jb. The don’t disagree with what you’ve said. But it has to be a design consideration not fitted afterwards. The government have little interest in investing more money into Suncorp, they just want their (our) money back. Secondly how might this work At Suncorp? The best that could be achieved is the upper/third tier could be covered which would reduce “capacity” from 53,000 to about 42,000 on two tiers. Not quite the look you’d want right. It’s a great stadium but only for big crowds. Roar just need to move hence the Supporters article in the match day program on Thursday.

Anon had no point but you raise several good ones. The Theijsen selection was purely a pragmatic one and a genuine caretaker role. Mulvey has lost the changing room and most of the other coaches, not least he’d got Stead and Broich against him. He was being brought in as a TD but redirected to head coach. This was a mistake for all the reasons you point out and probably a panicked decision from a board knowing the decision would be unpopular with fans and widely critiqued. But he wasn’t appointed because if his coaching record, instead he most likely made a better press/PR story. Attendances are far more complicated; the ffa will have us believe it’s the impact of the RL WC, Ashes, and the yet to come Comms Game. Others will have us believe it’s due to the FFAs lack of marketing and the civil war raging in football. Others again will point to a tired competition in need of refresh. Some say it’s incredibly poor scheduling. But let’s park all those as “macro factors” we know exist but are out of any clubs control. Roars average last year was 13,900 and the year before (which is a better comparison because it has the same opponents at home twice/once) 12,900. Either way Roars average is down significantly, what caused this is for debate. Personally I’m thinking there’s three things: 1. Preseason recruitment and results - the recruitment got negative press and people wrote them off and results backed them up. 2. Macro factors - whatever they are have dropped crowds 10-15% so when Roar opened up they got 10k when they would have expected 12k in early rounds. 3. Performances - any side that loses 6 out of its first 9 home games scoring just 7 goals in the process and wins just one game playing some really poor football is, guess what, going to suffer a big fall off in crowds. Theyre just lucky it’s been dry, put a wet match day in there and see what they get. The fix is to address the macro issues, understand the importance of preseason build up (yes John, that will also include taking the ffa Cup seriously) and addressing on field quality. That third one is the most important but needs the other two.

Ar - That is a rather introverted way of looking at a public facility and it's uses. 2 examples for your considereation. (1) The QE11 stadium was built in Brisbane for the Commonwealth games,On opening day 60,000 attended. Brisbane Broncos managed a 52,000 crowd to a RL Grand Final more than a few years ago. Since 1980 much more public money has been spent on this facility with a new grandstand which reduced the capacity to 43,000. By this time the stadium had been given to Queensland Athletics an organisation drawing crowds of schoolchildren to the annual events. To all intents and purposes this stadium, not he complex, but the actual stadium has been a complete waste of public money. (2) Around the same time 1981 a new stadium was being built in Vancouver in Canade called BC Place and what this stadium is used for today takes too long to relate on a column such as this. Suffice to say Football,ours and Canadian are played there regularly,Rugby sevens,ice hockey,Exhibitions, Olympic winter games are all held there regularly a truly public facility. Of interest to you, that stadium is fitted with "curtains" that can be , and are, raised or lowered to facilitate the expected crowd, .ie If only 30,000 are expected the curtains are lowered and the "crowd" is "forced" to sit down near the pitch, which is all weather. This creates terrific atmosphere and has no relation to "hiding" empty seats. Look it up on the Internet and you will see the curtains in use for differing crowds. Excellent use of public money. Cheers jb.

Waz - Anon may have a point or two. When Thijssen was coach 4 years ago Roars average gate for the season was 11,650. Sure there were a couple of 6-7000 crowds but they could have been caused by FFA scheduling.as opposed to lack of spectator interest. I think the Thijssen "experiment" was another example of bad management decision making. He hadn't coached a team for over 5 years before his appointment, and to the best of my knowledge, hasn't coached since leaving Roar. Undoubtedly a decision based on "player reputation" As of last night the HAL average attendance had dropped by nearly 16% As of last night Roar's 10 game average attendance had dropped by 36%. A drop of this magnitude would have caused ructions in every business I ever had a contact with and I suspect you would have the same experience. No Waz there are question,questions and more question that have to be asked ,and answered, before any clarity can start to emerge from the mist that surround Roar's workings. Cheers jb.

Agree completely JB. Even in the past when I have worked on Club committee in QSF times we had around 8 people - all coordinated together to ensure consistency and support across the mens womens and youth teams and each member had specific responsibilities as well split along well defined lines. Agree 3 is way too few and no doubt they are struggling to manage the different facets of a professional organisation.