A national second division is the logical place to introduce boutique stadia into the top tiers of Australian football and substantially improve the fan experience.
How good is the FFA Cup?
Pretty good in parts, as another entertaining midweek round of fixtures will attest, but still not as good as it probably should be.
My mate Grant and I ventured up to Redcliffe on Brisbane’s northern fringes on Wednesday night and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience of watching football at Dolphin Stadium.
We stopped in for a bite to eat along the way, got to the ground early enough to nab some primo grandstand seats, necked a couple of tinnies and aimed several polite nods of recognition at Brisbane Roar legend Henrique, who was sitting with his family a few seats further down the row.
I missed Bradden Inman’s goal because I was on the concourse trying to frame a decent photo for my tens of social media followers, so I simply fired up the My Football App and caught a replay on coverage produced by niche broadcaster BarTV Sports.
We were even close enough to the action to make out Robbie Fowler’s thick Scouse accent, although in truth, the former Liverpool legend keeps things pretty low-key on the touchline.
In short, it was the sort of viewing experience many of us thought we’d get when the A-League kicked off but failed to materialise because of the size of the grounds.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
And any Brisbane Roar fans who think they should skip the club’s A-League games in Redcliffe because it’s too far away or the car park is hard to exit or they need to wash their hair that afternoon have got rocks in their heads, if you ask me.
I still love Suncorp Stadium, and with its surrounding Caxton Street precinct, I still reckon it’s the best rectangular stadium in Australia.
But it’s safe to say the atmosphere at Brisbane Roar games has flat-lined ever since crowds started dwindling.
The quickest solution, as I occasionally point out to widespread derision, would simply be to fill all 50,000 seats.
I watched 1.FC Köln go down to Borussia Dortmund in their return to the Bundesliga on beIN Sports last weekend in a ground that could pass for Suncorp Stadium’s twin, and guess what? Every single ticket was sold.
But despite an army of online fans reminding anyone who’ll listen about how special and unmissable football supposedly is, actually prising them away from their keyboards and into an A-League stadium remains a tough ask.
The 6235 fans who turned out at Dolphin Stadium to watch the Roar lose on penalties to a resolute Central Coast Mariners outfit on Wednesday night deserve credit – even if I sometimes wonder about the accuracy of these crowd figures.
And the fact that more than 5000 fans turned out at Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney’s south west to watch the Western Sydney Wanderers crush neighbours Sydney United is also worth noting.
But it would have been better if that attendance was 15,000.
And football fans like you and I can’t go around pointing fingers at rival sports when our own code isn’t exactly setting the world on fire.
If an independent A-League needs to reconnect with the fan base this season, then it’s safe to say the fan base also needs to reconnect with the A-League and football in general.
One of the best ways to do that is to turn out at boutique venues like Dolphin Stadium and encourage organisers to host more football.
I have no doubt my mates and I will be at Perry Park for Brisbane Strikers’ upcoming quarter-final clash with Victorian giant-killers Moreland Zebras.
We just enjoy watching football in boutique venues.
They should be near the top of the list for any clubs aiming to enter a national second division.
Because the last thing football needs is an A-League Mark II – complete with oversized stadia.
Dart
Guest
Fair enough josh, Happy to be corrected. I was just going off what I’d heard from the media.
josh
Guest
Dart, I am one, and you're wrong on the recruiting stats. We have 5 crews, which is all you need because 1 submarine is always in Adelaide in refit.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
There are two types of people in this world: (i) those that can extrapolate from incomplete information
Quantum Physicist
Guest
This post happily existed in all possible states before you observed it. Now it has collapsed into a single state. I hope you're satisfied.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"And just like the stadiums, the subs are gonna be empty because they can’t recruit enough submariners." - For a moment there I thought you were going to say the stadiums are going to be underwater. Central Coast Submariners.
Dart
Guest
And just like the stadiums, the subs are gonna be empty because they can’t recruit enough submariners.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
A quark walks into 2 bars
anon
Roar Pro
I agree with your points, but in Australia stadiums (even boutique) cost tens of millions for something ramshackle to hundreds of millions for something respectable. What a waste of money.
jbinnie
Guest
Jimmy = As some others have pointed out the phrase "most used "runs off the tongue quite easily but surely has to be allied to the actual figures utilising the available spaces. The Broncos are averaging 32,000 to their "home" matches thus utilising about 60% of capacity. Roar are averaging 10,000 so are using about 20 % of capacity. These 2 sporting identities could be said to be Suncorp's "regular " year long customers and if you care to add large crowds watching a few Wallaby international matches during that year,and at the most a double state of origin games then it is left to the seasonal rock concerts to fill up the remaining space. Now if you had a multi-million dollar facility lying empty for around 4-5 days a week 200 days out of 365) would you not be looking at ways and means of expanding it's uses?. This is what they did with the Vancouver stadium. Not only did they ring changes all around the playing field but they encouraged the use of the stadium for other uses ,such as fashion shows, trade fairs, car shows,pop concerts, other sporting events away from football, with the result the stadium is almost constantly under use, or, preparation for use. They use curtaining to isolate the upper levels of the stadium when ticket sales warn them about the expected crowd size and in doing so position the attending crowd as near the "action" as is possible thus greatly affecting the atmosphere in ground. It would be relatively "cheap" to do something similar at our larger stadia but it seems that problem is beyond our stadium planners and management. jb
Onside
Guest
Haha, ok let's just buy 11. And hey, to get them up to speed with staff , snorkels , flippers and floaties, the total cost is now estimated to be over $100 billion. ....and so it goes.
Quantum Physicist
Guest
Why did Schrodinger's cat cross the quadrangle? It didn't have to because it was always there...and it also wasn't.
Nick Symonds
Guest
It's actually $50 billion for the full cost of the program for a total of 12 submarines.
Onside
Guest
Beer coaster politics ; regarding costs of community assets. Australia is buying 10 French submarines for 5 billion dollars. As $1 billion equals $1000 million, each submarine costs $1000 million. How about we buy just 9 submarines ,and with the money we save, spend $1000 million on sports stadiums. Your shout.
Onside
Guest
Too much discussion and second guessing short term repercussions. Think ahead fifty years , and imagine a landscape, where people will then be blogging about about a fourth division. (Ok 60 years, but it'll happen.) And while I am at it ,winning the FFA could easily be worth $1 million. 50 years in the past will always seem a lot closer than 50 years in the future. Decimal currency was introduced in 1966, just over 50 years ago. So when I say, 'a penny for your thoughts', you can 'put your two cents in' .
Nemesis
Guest
@Jimmy. Your analogy is not bad: "a restaurant that has a seldom used function room, not week in week out full but it’s there when needed". This is exactly the other option for stadiums. Have a 50k capacity, but have in the design structure the option to "curtain off" the top deck. There is a stadium used by one MLS club that does this. The proposed new stadium to replace Sydney Football Stadium was meant to have this type of curtaining functionality, but there was talk of it being scrapped to save costs. This curtaining would make an oversize stadium far more appealing. However, it still means you have to maintain, insure, secure a structure that is far bigger than required.
Nemesis
Guest
You can't make capacity decisions based on one-off events. It's the road to ruin. Brisbane Roar might not host a Grand Final for the next 10 years. You make capacity decisions for any business based on the regular demand for your goods. Not based the occasional surge in demand. And, for a surge based on hosting a Grand Final that surge might never happen.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
So what happens for events like State of Origin and A-League Grand Finals?
Nemesis
Guest
"every City needs a 50 000 plus stadium I believe and Suncorps is full more than most." Why? Why does every city need a 50k stadium? That seems to be the essence of: White Elephant meets Small Man Syndrome. I would posit that a city needs a 50k plus stadium when there is a history of demand exceeding supply. And, from what we observe with 21st century society, it's likely going to be a greater drift to viewing away from stadiums except for major events. In Melbourne, the MCG average crowd for AFL is 51k in a 100k stadium. That's just ridiculous over-capacity. Even if AFL has 20 matches over 80k (which they don't, there've been 4 matches over 80k in 2019) that means 20 matches must be under 20k if the average is 50k. Australia has a small population. And, in our big cities, the population is not densely concentrated; it's spread from the centres where stadiums are often located. Our public transport is extremely poor compared to other major cities. So, building big centrally located stadiums is just ridiculous.
oldpsyco
Guest
Fact 1. We desperately need a second division ! Fact 2. It HAS to be about the Football, NOT the Money! Fact 3. Football was doing very nicely thank you, long before TV came along, but then everyone got greedy! Players no longer want to earn a living, they want to get RICH! Then the Player Managers want a share, Add in Coaches and Administrators and the A-League is where you finish up! A bastardised version of Football ! Finally; A number of original 2nd division clubs WILL go broke, that is a certainty, its called natural selection, stronger better managed clubs WILL take their place, provided it all based on FOOTBALL not $$$$$.
c
Roar Rookie
the physics department is across the quadrangle